[May 15, 2013] College board approves additional $10,000 for health center planning Tweet May 15, 2013 (Kilgore News Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Kilgore College board of trustees decided Monday night to forge ahead with possible plans to lease and renovate the KC Health Sciences Center at Laird Hospital in Kilgore. The board approved a motion to continue with documentation authorizing engineering and architectural services up to an additional $10,000. In December 2012, the board authorized the increase of the amount paid for engineering and architectural services up to $50,000. The college has spent $48,000 so far, and Holda said he thinks the total amount should be around $53,000 to $55,000. "Rather than getting too close to the wire and having to come back to the board and ask for more, we asked the board for that $10,000 allowance above and beyond the amount they already approved," Holda said. However, board member Carlos "Scooter" Griffin, Jr. said he did not agree with the amount of money being spent. "I do not like coming back and getting more and more money without a commitment," Griffin said. "I've got $60,000 before I even know if I can do a project. We're gambling. I don't like it, from a taxpayer's standpoint." If the board eventually decides to allow the college to least the hospital, KC would have to sign a sublease with Allegiance. The City of Kilgore owns the facility. "The city signed a lease with Allegiance, and the way the lease is structured is that if anyone comes in there, then they sign a sublease with Allegiance," Holda said. "Allegiance signed the original lease with the City of Kilgore then Good Shepherd Medical Center subleased with Allegiance." Holda said he thinks Allegiance only has three years left on their lease, and that KC would want a longer lease. "We would probably be signing some secondary agreement that assured we would have a continuing lease if at such point the city and Allegiance didn't have a lease," Holda said. The board has three options for the health sciences program: they can choose to move four health science programs to Laird Hospital and renovate the Technical Vocational Building and the Whitten Applied Technology Center Building, remodel the TV Building and the ATC without moving to Laird Hospital or they can choose to build a new 40,000 square foot facility. If the college moves health sciences from the current location and renovates the TV and ATC buildings, the surgical technology program would have adequate classroom and lab space, Turpin said in his presentation to the board Monday night. The nursing program would also have adequate classroom and lab space, and would be able to centralize their program space, create tutoring space and private office space for instructors, Turpin said. The radiologic science program would have adequate room for additional radiographic tables and separate lab space for skills labs and radiographic tables, as well as adequate computer lab space. The physical therapist assistant program would have adequate space for storage and using lab equipment, decreasing safety hazards, Turpin said. "One of the big problems the physical therapy assistant program is having is adequate space for their lab equipment," Turpin said. "Right now, as I understand it, they have equipment sort of crammed into a closet and they have to pull their equipment out every time it's used." Relocating to the hospital not only would meet the health science program's current needs, but would prepare for future program expansion. "Program expansion is a possibility, but at this point we have to be mindful not only of the demands of the workforce but of the limitations of the workforce, so we don't flood the market with a lot of workers that can't get jobs," Turpin said. Overall, moving the health sciences program to the hospital would allow KC to stay competitive with other area colleges, enable students to learn in an authentic hospital setting and provide an environment more conducive to healthcare education, Turpin said in his board meeting presentation Monday. This option also means implications for other high demand workforce programs like process technology, corrosion technology, welding and a new program called instrumentation. If the TV and ATC buildings were renovated, Turpin says this could mean more classroom space and possible expansion for several of these programs. "One of the big problems for corrosion technology is that they don't offer morning classes," Turpin said. "All of their classes are in the afternoon or the evening because there simply isn't room." The ATC would have minor remodeling for repurposing classrooms and labs. Remodeling the TV building would increases possible class size to 40 students per class. Another option includes remodeling the ATC and TV buildings without moving to the hospital or constructing a new building. "We are capable of going in and remodeling the current space and consolidating the health science program and trying to get them more space, but there are implications," said KC president Bill Holda. These implications include relocation of network security, drafting, advertising and graphic design to the TV building and negatively impact the health science, corrosion and process technology programs. "The health science programs will still be crowded, but at least we'll have them all together," Holda said. This option would mean a loss of competitiveness against other area schools like Tyler Junior College and Panola College, Holda said. "You'll still attract students, but it will make a difference in the quality of the student pool. That quality of the student pool has a ripple effect as it affects your license, your pass rates, your credibility and program accreditation." This option would also decrease the process technology program's size from 137 students to 80, resulting in lost revenue. The third option of building a new 35,000 to 45,000 square foot health sciences facility could cost anywhere from $8 to 10 million. Renovations to the ATC and TV buildings would cost $400,000. "It would take until 2018 to generate enough revenue to pay off that new facility," Holda said. "That may be what we still end up bringing back to the board if the ability to move to Laird Hospital doesn't happen." "At some point, if the Laird option is open and we proceed forward and we have an ability to bring a recommendation back to the board, you the board can decide: do you want to have about $1.5 million return on investment with relocation " "I think we owe it to the taxpayers and the students and to the community to at least explore the option of relocation and see if it's a possibility," Holda said. The earliest the health sciences program could occupy the hospital could be Fall 2014, Holda said. Return to top ___ (c)2013 the Kilgore News Herald (Kilgore, Texas) Visit the Kilgore News Herald (Kilgore, Texas) at www.kilgorenewsherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]