Board approves $3 million for emergency lockdowns, parking construction

The Alamo Colleges board of trustees unanimously voted to approve a $3 million emergency management program that would lock down all buildings in the event someone is threatening the safety of the college population.

Trustees approved the program at the regular board meeting May 23.

Alamo Colleges Police Chief Don Adams told the Building, Grounds and Sites Selection Committee May 8 that 65 percent of the buildings in the district have building access controls for lockdown, and it would cost $3 million to equip the rest.

He said all buildings at Northeast Lakeview College can be centrally controlled to lock down; however, buildings at this college cannot.

“We would have to rely on other employees to help us lock it down because the officers would be tied up doing other things relative to the event. So, that puts our people at risk,” Adams said.

In their regular board meeting, trustees on May 23 also approved the construction of a five-level parking garage with 748 spaces at Northwest Vista College.

According to the minute order, the garage will cost $12 million and will be funded with 2012 revenue bonds.

John Strybos, associate vice chancellor of facilities, said construction began Mondayand is scheduled to be completed August 2013.

In addition, the board also approved construction of a parking lot at Northeast Lakeview College, which would provide 459 parking spots.

According to the minute order, the parking lot will cost $1.7 million and will be funded with 2012 revenue bonds.

Strybos said he is waiting for the contractor to bring insurance and bonds before construction can begin. He said construction can be completed by January.

Northeast Lakeview has 1,903 parking spaces.

In other business, the board approved amendments to Policy C.2.7, Equipment and Property Management, to designate the vice chancellor for finance and administration as the approving authority for the disposal of district-owned excess, surplus and expended property.

Under the current policy, the inventory control section of the district’s material management unit is responsible for the disposal of district-owned property.

In other news, the board unanimously approved Policy B.10.1 and Procedure B.10.1.1 to promote environmental sustainability with an estimated cost of $100,000 for fiscal year 2012-13.

The district will fund seven areas of concentration on environmental sustainability: sustainability literacy; energy; air quality; waste management; water; facility maintenance, renovation and construction; and purchasing.

For example, the procedure says that a $500 stipend will be awarded to 20 instructors per year plus a stipend for the instructor or coordinator for attending a 15-20 hour summer workshop "Lighten Up! Sustainable Living" in return for incorporating sustainability into at least one class.

Strybos said the co-chairs of the District Sustainability Council recommended passage of the policy and procedure at the May 8 Building, Grounds and Sites Selection Committee. The co-chairs are Stephen Colley, Green Initiatives program manager at Palo Alto College, and Denise Barkis Richter, communications professor and chair of the Go Green! Viva Verde! Committee at that college.

In other business, trustees approved an amendment to Policy C.1.4 establishing a savings incentive program that would allow colleges and vice chancellors to carry over up to 25 percent of net savings to the next budget year to fund initiatives.

According to the proposed amendment, “Up to 25 percent of ‘net savings’ (as defined by the vice chancellor for finance and administration) may be carried forward from the prior year to the next budget year to provide a funding mechanism in each college president’s and vice chancellor’s budgets for priority initiatives and to incent a culture of savings.”

The vice chancellor for finance and administration would provide a savings incentive program report to the board of trustees every January.

At the May 8 Audit, Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Diane Snyder, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said the proposal would allow the net savings “to create a funding mechanism, an incentive throughout the college or district department to be frugal and to do the right thing, and give them a mechanism in the future to help fund those bigger strategies and initiatives that, in our day-to-day budgets, we may not have the money for.”

In other news, the board approved travel expenses for two trustees to attend the Southern Education Foundation: Governance and Institutional Effectiveness Seminar June 21-23 in Atlanta.

Board liaison Sandra Mora said Monday that District 2 trustee Denver McClendon and District 3 trustee Anna Bustamante will attend the conference.

Costs include $199 for registration and hotel, about $345 for airfare and $80 per day for meals per trustee.

According to the Southern Education Foundation website, more than 200 presidents and trustees from minority-serving institutions will convene to engage government officials, accreditation leaders and higher education leaders on issues of institutional effectiveness, innovation and organizational change.

The board will not meet in June.

Committee meetings are scheduled at 5:30 p.m. July 17 in Room 101 of Killen Center, 201 W. Sheridan.

The next regular board meeting is 6 p.m. July 24.

For more information, call Mora at 210-485-0030.