CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Laramie County may see a special election this fall.
The Laramie County Community College Board of Trustees passed a formal resolution to pursue a special election for a $29.9 million bond issue to cover construction at the college.
That resolution does not mean the board certainly will call for the election. LCCC President Joe Schaffer said the board will make that decision at its Aug. 16 meeting.
For now, the resolution means the board will continue to look at designs for the buildings and will begin a community education campaign to help residents understand the need for the projects, Schaffer said.
The board passed the resolution 6-1 with Trustee Don Erickson voting against the motion.
"If we don't do this, the consequences are pretty significant," Schaffer said.
"These aren't things that are intended to bring excess. They're not intended to add all these nice-to-have amenities. They really are critical for us to be able to recruit and retain the young people into Cheyenne and Laramie County."
Before the vote, Schaffer and Rick Johnson, LCCC's vice president of administration and finance, presented the trustees with possible plans for each of the three projects that would be included in the bond request.
The presentation included three options for a new residence hall, all of which would cost no more than $28 million. Schaffer said administrators plan to cover $20 million of that with $3 increases to student residence fees. The remaining $8 million would be part of the bond request.
Additionally, the board heard about three options for the planned renovation and expansion of the Recreation and Athletic Complex.
RAC options vary in cost from $14.1 million to $16.1 million. None of them includes possible community facilities discussed in two public forums held July 12.
"In the end, we just don't have the budget to play much of a role in community recreations," Schaffer said.
Erickson said he believes an indoor turf — one of the community amenities discussed in the forums — is important to LCCC and the community.
"My observation here with this piece of the project going forward -- I would like us to revisit the indoor sports arena. I wouldn't just shut it off," he said.
Schaffer said initial estimates for such a facility show it might cost $7 million to build. That could bring the RAC renovation cost to $21 million, which would be the least of the three renovation options.
"At what threshold do you start just looking at leveling the building and redoing it if you're going to spend that much money?" Schaffer asked.
A RAC project costs summary provided by Johnson shows administrators would ask the public to cover $11.2 million in the possible bond issue.
Schaffer also explained the current plan for the Fine Arts Building renovation and expansion. The plan would renovate and rearrange the classrooms, as well as add a 450-seat performance hall on the north side of the building.
The Board of Trustees first began trying to fund this project several years ago. It has changes cost and scope several times since.
Schaffer said the project can't cost more than $14 million. Of that, the board may ask for $7 million in the proposed bond election. LCCC administrators will ask the Legislature to fund the remaining $7 million.
Schaffer said if the Legislature chooses not to provide the money LCCC will lose the proposed performing arts hall.
Erickson told other trustees that they must consider this possibility, as well as consider that the public may not approve a bond issue.
He said they need to consider a much smaller plan that would allow them to complete some of the essential renovations without money from the community or the Legislature.
"We have to be realistic," he said.
Schaffer said if they shrink the size of the residence hall and still try to pay for it, they would have to increase student fees to high to be competitive in the region.
He added that if they attempt to make renovations to the Fine Arts Building out of their own funds, they will be losing their fund balances to place Band-Aids on the building.
Eventually, they might have to determine if they could financially afford to continue offering the programs houses in the buildings, Schaffer said.
"Those options aren't what anybody wants, but that's what we would be relegated to," he said.
Before voting against the resolution, Erickson proposed two amendments. The first would have had the college's staff look into the possibility of placing the three projects on the ballot separately, rather than as one large project.
He said his observation through speaking to local residents is that they would prefer to have a choice of projects in a bond election.
Trustee Brenda Lyttle said projects must be listed as one project to continue the message that these are the projects that will improve LCCC, rather than pitting projects against one another.
The amendment failed when only Erickson supported it.
His second amendment, which also failed, would have instructed LCCC staff to consider the possibility of asking for the full $14 million for the Fine Arts Building in the bond issue.
"I do not think we have a snowball's chance in hell to get any money from the Legislature in the next couple years," Erickson said. He added that he doesn't believe any community college will receive money for capital construction projects.
Lyttle said she could not support the amendment because it would place LCCC at the statutory debt ceiling. Johnson said the college can accumulate about $36 million more in debt before it hits the ceiling.
If the college asked for the full $14 million, that would place it above the debt ceiling. Johnson recommended to the trustees that they leave a little space in case a crisis should emerge in the coming years.
"I am uncomfortable with LCCC being at its bonding limit. I don't feel comfortable even asking the staff to look into it," Lyttle said.
Erickson said although he voted against moving forward with the special election at this time, he might still vote in favor of it in August.
