SouthArk to upgrade lighting
Staff Writer EL DORADO — The South Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees approved a campus-wide energy efficient lighting upgrade, introduced themselves to new staff and heard several reports during its meeting Tuesday.
SouthArk president Dr. Barbara Jones introduced three new employees during a personnel report — Robert Norman, Marcus Tatum and Christy Cottrell.
Norman was hired as the college’s new distance learning director.
Tatum is an administrative specialist working in the student services department. Tatum is involved with the Back on Track program, which uses the National Emergency Grant to move displaced workers into new, high wage fields in advanced manufacturing.
Cottrell started working with SouthArk Foundation director Cynthia Reyna as a foundation development assistant earlier this month. Her work as an event planner and fundraiser helped her land this job, Reyna said. Cottrell previously worked with the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce.
“She took time to raise kids … We’re glad that when she came back, she came to SouthArk and is an alum of SouthArk,” Jones said.
At its September meeting the board of trustees approved the Facilities and Finance committees’ recommendation to enter into a performance contract with Johnson Controls and financing through Bank of America.
According to a letter signed by Arkansas Department of Higher Education Director Maria Markham, the project includes full interior and exterior campus lighting retrofit to LED, new lighting controls and energy management control for both campuses; control integration in the Health and Natural Science Building, weatherization and high efficiency boilers for the Whitfield and Administration buildings, a new 200T Air Cooled Chiller for the Computer Technology (CT) Building and adding the CT Building to the campus chilled water loop.
To finance the project, budget and finance committee chairperson Steve Cameron said that Bank of America recommends a finance lease. “We had a couple items on the agenda. The first is a resolution that the committee recommends to the board to authorize various individuals on the board of trustees and the college to amend a document to provide financing through Bank of America for the project we approved last month,” Cameron said. “Bank of America wanted to structure it as a financing lease for whatever purposes they have.”
According to the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, a finance lease is one that transfers substantially all the risks and rewards incidental to ownership of an asset to the lessee.
Several SouthArk departmental officers, vice presidents and directors gave trustees report during the board meeting Tuesday.
Chief institutional effectiveness and advancement officer Dr. Stephanie Tully-Dartez announced that the continuing education department received a grant from the AARP Foundation for the “Work for Yourself at 50 Plus” program, which is designed to help older adults make employment and entrepreneurial decisions. Reyna and liberal arts Dr. Jim Yates gave the board an assessment of the Clint Hill lecture, the college’s first of its 20162017 series.
Prior to the lecture, Hill, journalist Lisa McCubbin, foundation donors and staff gathered for a reception. About 25 people attended the reception, Reyna said. Hill and McCubbin wrote a letter of thanks to SouthArk and the city of El Dorado for its hospitality. The bookstore sold out of books prior to the lecture, Yates said. The next SouthArk Board of Trustees meeting will be held at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15 in the administrative building board room.