CC moving forward with new library plans

Clarendon College will likely begin soliciting bids for the construction of a new library next month following last Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting.

Architect Jim Doche presented blueprints for the facility at the meeting, and CC President Myles Shelton discussed the timeline for the project.

The college anticipates starting the bidding on or about December 8.  The bids will be opened on January 8, 2004; and the regents will meet on January 15 to consider awarding a bid.

The library, which will be built between the Administration Building and the Harned Sisters Fine Arts Center, is expected to take eight to ten months. CC officials hope to be using the new facility for the 2005 spring semester.

The $1.4 million library project is being built with funds which have been donated to the college.

The present library on the west end of the Administration Building was determined to be inadequate by the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools (SACS) during CC’s last accreditation visit in 1994.  SACS officials will make another accreditation visit in the fall of 2005.

In other CC business, regents accepted final completion of the new softball field and the Livestock & Equine Center. Officials reported that the contractor is still working to complete items on the punch list for the new residence hall. Those items include some remaining work on doors and effacing and concern about inconsistent coloring of the patio.

The board received a report on the Texas State Performance Measures. CC students completed courses at a rate of 92.3 percent during 2003, and more than 97 percent of students required to take a licensure exam (such as LVN and EMT students) did so successfully.

Regents approved a resolution authorizing a grant application to the Chapman Forestry Foundation for landscaping around Regents Hall.

Regents accepted the resignations of custodian Ramona Santos and assistant softball coach Brandi Perry. Henry Hermesmeyer was hired as a custodian, and the contracts of Sharron Rust and Gay Tibbets were renewed.

Drafts of the strategic goals and institutional plan, entitled “Opening Doors, Changing Lives,” were distributed to the board The plan is an outgrowth of visioning exercises done earlier this year.