WCC Board of Trustees and New Automotive Complex

The Wilkes Community College Board of Trustees met on Thursday, July 12, at the WCC Alleghany Center.  The business meeting began by electing officers. Based upon the recommendation of the nominating committee, the board elected Dick Johnston as chairperson, Larry Stone as vice chairperson and Gerald Lankford as secretary.College officials have been meeting with CBSA Architects to discuss possible site layout changes for the Automotive Technology Complex. The architects were asked to review ways to reduce or eliminate the construction of retaining walls from the original design due to the high initial construction costs and potential future maintenance issues. The study concluded that there may be a net savings by moving the building sites to eliminate the retaining walls. CBSA is currently working to finalize the design based on this change. In addition, the collision repair building was changed as a result of building code requirements. Estimated costs of changes to the project will be available when the design work is completed.  Construction of the Automotive Technology Complex should begin in September. The board granted the building and grounds committee authority to advertise for construction bids for the complex.  For now, colleges are allowed to expend state allocations for equipment for repairs and renovations (with no match required) and new construction (with a 50 percent match required). The board of trustees granted authority to the building and grounds committee to approve 2012-13 renovation projects funded through transfers of state funds. Numerous renovation projects were completed in 2011-12 at the Wilkes, Ashe and Alleghany sites utilizing state funds.