Special election is Dec. 6
(Editor’s note: The following press release is from Paul DeCoursey, director of public information at Iowa Central Community College)
Voters in Iowa Central Community College’s service region will be asked to approve a $29.5 million bond issue on Tuesday, Dec. 6. Iowa Central has during the past year celebrated 50 years of providing service to the region. The Dec. 6 election will “close the celebration by asking our local constituents for their help in building our future.”
This bond referendum will support the Iowa Central Campus master plan that is used by Iowa Central’s administrators to plan for future growth of the college. For the past 50 years, Iowa Central provided students the opportunity to earn a degree, transfer to a four year college, or enter the workforce. The college has helped many students that did not finish school earn their GED. Iowa Central has become an important center for economic development by providing job-specific training for employees.
Despite the growing importance of Iowa Central, state funding for the college has declined while its history of enrollment has increased. Since Iowa Central’s founding in 1966, community colleges have seen a significant shift in revenue sources.
Iowa Central is funded through state appropriations, local property tax, and some federal funding, but the majority of funding comes through our student tuition and fees. In 2016, student tuition and fees accounted for 62 percent of revenue. The amount of state general aid received by Iowa Central is less than what the regent universities, private colleges, and public schools receive.
The community college system does not receive infrastructure funds through state appropriations like public schools and regent universities. Under current state law, issuing general obligation bonds or revenue bonds is the primary funding mechanism for community colleges to finance new construction and major renovations. “We must improve our aging infrastructure that was built in the late 1960s and early 1970s so, we can be competitive in recruiting students to attend Iowa Central Community College,” the press release states.
After thorough discussions and research, the following projects have been identified as necessary improvements to retain exceptional facilities for students and area citizens for the next 50 years.
Safety – $3,000,000
In light of all the incidents across college campuses and worldwide we need to continue to review and upgrade all our security measures from camera systems to door locks. Over the past five years we have heavily invested into the safety of our students that live in our residential halls. Now, we need to expand that effort to all our campuses and buildings. Included will be a new state of the art security system that will allow for remote management of video surveillance cameras as well as new automated access control locks on exterior doors in case of an emergency.
Career Academies – $5,000,000
Building on the success of the North Central Career Academy in Eagle Grove, which serves six school districts on our eastern service area, Iowa Central wants to start two new Career Academies in the northwest and southwest portions of our region to serve all high schools in Area V. The academies allow participating school districts to pool resources and instructors to provide more educational opportunities to students. Career strands offered by the academies, allow students to earn college credits that save both time and money when continuing their postsecondary education. Depending on the number of classes that students take it can save a family more than $6,000 in college tuition before a student graduates from high school. The academies will also allow our service area employers to conduct training for their employees and non-credit educational opportunities closer to home.
Student Services Center – $9,000,000
The challenges we face include students coming to college less prepared academically and socially, due to a variety of reasons. Many students come from single parent families and broken support systems at home. Students bring emotional problems that also interfere with their academic success and many students are leaving us with significant student debt.
This project is to improve student retention through a stronger early intervention program which will require co-locating our support services. When struggling students are identified and connected with campus support services at the earliest possible moment, we improve their chances of success. With all student services consolidated in one facility, staff can collaborate to provide all the services that students need to be successful via a ‘One Stop Student Success Center’.
Iowa Central has continued to add multiple student centered services but they are housed in different buildings across our campus. Students must navigate the campus to find the services they need and too often do not take the next step. The proposed new 44,000 square foot student success building would allow us to offer all the student services to be housed in one building and give staff the opportunity to seamlessly transition the students to the services they need. Our goal is to provide the necessary services to increase persistence, academic standing, graduation rates and job placement to our students. This building will also have space to allow us to expand student services in the future.
More Classroom Space – $1,500,000
The current student services building will be repurposed to an academic building. We need more classroom space to continue to add new programs to meet the workforce needs across our region. This will give us approximately 10 new classrooms along with space to office faculty.
Webster City Elevator – $500,000
A new elevator in the Chelesvig Center in Webster City will allow us to expand program offerings on our Webster City campus because all the buildings will then be handicap accessible to all students.
Remodel of Decker Auditorium – $4,000,000
Decker Auditorium opened the summer of 1978 and has never received any major improvements. The facility is used by both Iowa Central students and by many local organizations within the community and region. Thousands of area residents enjoy a variety of programs in this building throughout the year. Proposed improvements will include:
- New seating: spare parts are not available to repair existing seating, overall seating capacity has been decreasing over time as existing chairs are salvaged for their parts.
- General facelift: new carpet, ceiling grid and tile, stair treads, and handrails
- Energy efficiency Upgrades: replacement of existing lighting fixtures with new LED fixtures
- Electrical equipment Improvements: replacement of the building’s main distribution panel and other obsolete service panels
- Equipment and safety u”pgrades: stage lighting, motorized rigging sets, and a new proscenium fire curtain, updates to the catwalk area above the ceilings
- Conversion of primary HVAC heat source, from electric to hot water, will also be addressed with this project.
General Updates – $5,000,000
As we turn 50 so do many of our facilities. For Iowa Central to continue to serve Area V for the next 50 years we need to reinvest in our aging infrastructure in Fort Dodge, Webster City, Storm Lake, and Eagle Grove. We want to continue to build on the projects that we started in our last bond referendum. This would include upgrading windows, roofs, HVAC, electrical, and parking lot resurfacing. The College has been adding and expanding programs to the point that we need to upgrade electrical systems to accommodate the needs of technology to support our students in the classroom.
Reserve – $1,500,000
With interest rates low and with inflation nonexistent we are creating a reserve so we can fully implement the above plan to hedge ourselves against the possibility of escalating costs associated with multi-year projects.
Iowa Central is an important source of economic growth for our communities. We hope to continue to help produce a skilled and educated workforce for our region. The affordability and quality of education is key as we provide our students educational opportunities to better their success, lives, and prosper our region.
The above investment in the future of Iowa Central will be minimal burden on our taxpayers. For the average homeowner, the bond issue will cost approximately $1.04 per month based on a home valued at $100,000.
The Iowa Central board of directors, our administrative team, faculty and staff, and students are asking for your support in the December 6 bond election. We take our role seriously about managing our limited resources so we can best serve area students, high schools, workers and businesses.
