Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 | 11 a.m.
Community College of Southern Nevada officials are scrambling to secure private donations this morning for a new automotive technology center out of fear that the building may be moved off the Board of Regents' capital construction priority list.
Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers had told CCSN President Richard Carpenter and several regents that he was planning to request that the project be moved off or down the list because the college had failed to raise enough money in private donations.
Carpenter said the CCSN Foundation will have checks in hand for the building at Friday's special meeting of the Board of Regents, and that several members from the automotive industry would be on hand to testify in favor of the project.
"There's tremendous support for this program," Carpenter said. "We've been trying to get this off the ground for eight years."
At the minimum, the Foundation will have a check for $500,000 for the first $5 million phase of the 95,000 square-foot, $20 million automotive technology center, Carpenter said. If regents agree to bump the project to $10 million, the foundation will provide a check for $1 million out of money members have already raised for the college's construction needs.
Carpenter also said he and foundation members were also making calls to nail down some of the industry members who have made oral commitments to help fund the building, and he was hopeful he would be able to announce at least one major donation by Friday's meeting.
Carpenter said Rogers became frustrated with the college because they had no formal commitments in hand for the automotive technology center, which several regents confirmed. Rogers was not available for comment this morning.
The foundation had promised to raise $2 million toward the $20 million center, Carpenter said, which is more than any other community college has been asked to raise for its construction projects.
Unable to secure that kind of funding from the Legislature amid more than $300 million in capital construction requests for the entire University and Community College System of Nevada, Rogers broke the project into four phases, placing it as No. 7 on the priority list with a state commitment of $5 million.
The problem, Carpenter said, is that Rogers still wanted the college to raise $2 million, but now for a $5 million building. And by breaking up the project Rogers postponed the implementation of new programs such as diesel repair, making it difficult to secure promised funds from that part of the industry.
The auto body repair industry has already committed funds to start a new program in that area, Larry Thomas, chairman of the college's transportation industrial technology department, said. Dupont, the paint manufacturer, has donated part of its lease at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to give the college space to start an auto body repair program, and others in the industry have donated equipment and start-up money.
Those donations are a stop-gap measure to help the college meet the needs of the community for technicians in those areas, Thomas said. The automotive technician program at the college currently trains about 800 students a semester, but turns about 400 away. The college is unable to train students in critical areas such as auto body repair, diesel engines, estimating or auto parts.
Regent Steve Sisolak said he wants the automotive technology center to stay where it is on the capital construction priority list. The students who graduate from the two-year associate's program find immediate, good paying jobs, provide an essential service to the community, and are able to provide for their families and contribute toward the state's economy.
"I think that's a great building," Sisolak said. "I think that's a great project."
Sisolak said it's not fair to ask the CCSN Foundation to raise $2 million for a $5 million building, because the community college just does not have the fundraising power that a university would have. It's also not fair to ask CCSN to raise that kind of money when Nevada State College has failed to raise the $9 million more it needs for the college's first liberal arts building in Henderson, Sisolak said.
Rogers said last week he wasn't planning to change or remove any item on the construction wish list, but was seeking regent approval to give him the power to negotiate with the governor and other lawmakers about ways to fund the projects.
Regents will vote on whether to give the chancellor that authority, and whether to change or omit any items on the list, in a special videoconference meeting at 1 p.m. in the University and Community College System of Nevada Las Vegas office, 5550 W. Flamingo, Suite C-1.
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