City Council OKs funds to improve conference center

EL DORADO — The El Dorado City Council approved Thursday a $163,932 funding request to help improve energy efficiency in the El Dorado Conference Center.

Robert Reynolds, chairman of El Dorado Works Board, presented the proposal, which was granted by the board Tuesday.

South Arkansas Community College is undertaking $2.4 million worth of upgrades to make its campus facilities more energy efficient, per an initiative by the state.

The conference center is owned by the city and operated and maintained by the college.

Reynolds told aldermen that the improvements are expected to yield $23,675 in savings on energy bills, with an average payout of seven years for the conference center.

Meanwhile, overall cost-savings for SouthArk are projected at $3.2 million over 11 years with upgrades that include weatherization to the building envelope; new campus lighting controls; interior and exterior LED lighting retrofit for

both campuses; high-efficiency building condensing boilers in the administration and Whitfield Classroom buildings on the west campus; a new air-cooled chiller and air and heating unit for the Computer Technology buildings; and expansion of the campus’ chilled water-piping loop to add the Computer Technology building.

For the conference center, the project entails an interior and exterior lighting retrofit with LED technology, including motion sensors and dimmers for the parking lot, and an integration of the system management controls for the college’s facilities.

Murphy Hall is excluded from the lighting component because SouthArk previously installed LED lights there.

“Are there some energy credits that might come down the pipeline?” Alderman Billy Blann asked.

Reynolds said any rebates from an Entergy incentive program would be placed back into a contingency fund that was created in 2012 for the conference center by the former El Dorado Economic Development Board.

At the behest of Mayor Frank Hash and the city council, the $1 million fund was established to cover major, non-routine repairs, alterations, etc. for the conference center.

The $163,936 will be taken from the $1 million fund, from which total of $66,125 has been spent so far for a walk-in freezer and scissor light and trailer for the facility.