Right now, it’s just plans and an artist’s rendering, but East Central College officials hope to open a new building, at least 50,000 square feet, that will house all its Rolla classes and offices on one campus.
“The really big news for us – and you may know something about this – is our plan to have a comprehensive facility to put everything under one roof in Rolla,” college President Jon Bauer told the Rolla City Council Monday night. “And our plan is to have this facility open by January of 2027.”
The college already has $16 million of what it will need, but it needs a place to build to combine its local presence.
“Rolla has been one of our strategic priorities for a number of years,” said Bauer, who served a couple of years as the director of the Rolla campus. “One of the challenges has been being in two locations.”
ECC classes are held in leased space at the Rolla Technical Center, and in a building on North Highway 63.
“The state asked us as an institution what our priorities would be, and we identified Rolla as one of those, and we have $13 million in state funds that have been allocated over the course of this fiscal year, next fiscal year and then the following fiscal year,” he said, meaning state money is either waiting or will be allocated to build a new facility for East Central College in Rolla.
In addition to that, U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt “was instrumental in getting federal funds in the amount of $3 million allocated to this project,” Bauer said. “So without any institutional dollars, which we know we'll have, or any other sources of funds, we have $16 million allocated already.”
That’s a good start.
“We have a lot to do between now and then. We need to find a location,” he said. “We need a site of between 10 and 15 acres.”
Bauer said campus officials have looked at several sites already and are continuing to look at tracts that would be suitable.
“We need visibility. We need accessibility. And we need some practical considerations,” he said. “Our students need to get back and forth to clinical sites, for example, if they’re in the nursing program, so the proximity to those sites is important for us.”
The need to find sufficient and suitable land cannot be put off, either.
“We also have some deadlines,” he said. The funds allocated must be spent on the facility by the end of 2026. “So we're very eager to acquire a site-find the appropriate site for this facility. We need to get under construction once we have that site.”
In addition to the deadlines, there is simply eagerness to get into a bigger building and continue working on the potential that is here.
“We're very eager to have the facility opened in Rolla and continue the growth we have already seen over the last several years,” Bauer said.
Showing the council the artistic versions of the building, front and back, he said the structure of between 50,000 and 70,000 square feet will house general education classes and health professions classes, including nursing, radiological technical and surgical technician.
“And we also want to expand what we're doing in terms of the career and technical offerings, especially in advanced manufacturing,” he said.
Putting all that under one roof – and expanding the educational offerings will be beneficial for students and programs.
Moreover, he said, the new building “will be just a key strategic addition to the community,” Bauer said.
Acknowledging that the renderings of the building likely won’t be exactly what the building will look like, the president said, “We're going to work with our faculty and staff and students – and we want community input – on the design and construction of the site. And even more importantly, we want that input in terms of the programs and services we offer in the community.”
Bauer said two-year community colleges have long served a unique role in Missouri’s higher education sector.
“We're affordable for students,” he said, pointing out that “students with the A-plus benefit can come and have tuition and general fees funded through that program. It really provides that opportunity for a student then to go into the workforce or to go on to a four-year institution that, frankly, might not be there otherwise, without the community college presence. So, that's what we're about.”
Bauer said that in the 2004-2005 period when he was the Rolla director he would drive around the community looking at sites that might be suitable one day.
“We didn't know when that day would come,” he said. It’s here now, he declared, and “to get the state and federal funds allocated for this makes it not ‘will this happen?’ but ‘it's going to happen.’”
All that is required now is to go to work and planning to figure out “how do we get from here to there to make it a reality?”
In other council business or discussion:
• Amanda Wiggins, of Kean, Wiggins and Co., presented a summary of the 2022 tourism audit;
• Stevie Kearse, executive director, and Aimee Campbell, tourism director, Rolla Area Chamber of Commerce, presented the first-quarter tourism report.
• Steffanie Rogers, city finance director, introduced the auditor who “zoomed” a remote presentation of FY 2022 independent audit of the city’s financial statements . A motion to approve the audit will be sought at the next council meeting.
• Two requests to close – one a parking lot and one street – for spring festivals were approved by the council. The street closing was for Rolla’s Route 66 Summerfest June 2-3. The parking lot closure was for an LGBTQI+ Pride Event for June 10.
• A bid from Capital Paving & Construction for an asphalt improvement project was accepted.
• Mayor Pro Tem Lister Florence, acting in the absence of Mayor Lou Magdits IV, noted a proclamation for Local Government Week (May 7-13).
• Also noted was a proclamation for Building Safety Month
• Councilman Nathan Chirban was selected by the council as its representative to the Planning and Zoning Commission for another year was ratified by the council.
• The council ratified these mayoral reappointments: Nick Barrack for the Board of Public Works for a four-year term; Steve Jung to the Rolla Regional Economic Committee for a one-year term and Bill Jenks to the RREC for a two-year term.
• Also ratified was the appointment of Dale Martin to the Industrial Development Authority to serve the unfinished term of Elizabeth Smith through September 2026.
• Councilwoman Victoria Steen, Ward 1, asked that the council reconsider the UTV ordinance that prohibits use of those vehicles on city streets, although they can be used elsewhere. No action was taken.
