GCC Board Meeting discusses pool, more

IRONWOOD - The Gogebic Community College board met on Tuesday to discuss the options for the Lindquist Center pool, as well as focus groups and a meeting of the Upper Peninsula college and university presidents.

Pool discussion

Community members and some individuals representing Snowflake Aquatics and the Barracuda Swim Team specially requested to speak during public comment on agenda items, and a group of about 20 people came to voice their concerns regarding the condition of GCC's pool.

Members of the swim team, Snowflake Aquatics and others had a meeting on Nov. 21 to discuss possible ways to raise funds to repair and maintain the pool, as well as program expansion ideas. Several of the things discussed at that meeting were also brought to the board.

During Tuesday's meeting, one woman spoke about current community classes who use the pool and that there is always some interest, but she also felt that there has not been enough focus on publicizing the pool and it's accessibility to the community.

"We haven't had the publicity we probably should have," she said.

She also brought up the common discussion on available grants.

"I understand how expensive it is," she said about maintaining the pool. "But there has to be grants available."

Most of the grants available tend to be program based, said GCC President Jim Lorenson. He encouraged college and community members to look for pool renovation grants, or the like.

Lorenson also said that he'd like to see how many community members use the pool, what they use it for and demographics. This information could possibly assist the college when looking into grants and funding options.

There are two main issues associated with the pool-equipment failures and operating costs.

"The equipment has outlived it's useful life," Lorenson said. Several pieces of equipment have either failed or do not work as well as they should. He also referenced OHM Advisors recent evaluation which said the pool repairs that are known, will cost over $300,000 to fix.

Lorenson said engineers cannot get the full picture without draining the pool, and he does not "want to drain the pool in the middle of the season" for the swim team.

In terms of operating costs, the pool is very expensive to run and maintain. Lorenson said he is thankful that the Barracudas and Snowflake Aquatics have raised "upwards of $20,000" for the pool.

Overall, he knows that it all depends on what is best for the school, but that the pool issue is "certainly not insignificant."

Other business

Lorenson discussed institutional changes, including making professors available for student meetings every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 2 p.m.

He also discussed the creation of an administrative council who will have members from all areas on campus, and who will meet the first and third Mondays of each month. This program will begin a pilot phase soon.

GCC has also just received a $10,000 Rural Community College Alliance grant, said Lorenson. GCC was one of 10 schools in the nation to receive this competitive grant. The money will be used to cover trainings and mentoring on campus.

Kim Zeckovich, Director of Admissions, Marketing, and Community Relations, spoke at the meeting. She discussed recent focus groups to assess how the campus is doing, which have taken place in counties all over the western Upper Peninsula and into Wisconsin.

She also said that the college is trying to increase retention rates by sending emails and texts to students reminding them to register for classes before leaving for the winter break.

GCC has new commercials that are starting to air in both Michigan and Wisconsin, she said.

In new business, Lorenson brought up December graduates, a renewal of an unchanged contract with the GOISD, canvass vote acceptance and the purchase of a new wheel balancer for the automotive technology lab. These were all approved with no opposition.

Lorenson then discussed his time spent with other Upper Peninsula college and university presidents recently and the programs that could possibly be implemented, connecting the schools even further.

The board approved a $30,000 amount for Erik Guenard, Dean of Business Services at GCC, to seek a new snow blower or something similar for clearing sidewalks on campus.