Meetings watch: ENMU Regents approve renovation

At the Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regents special meeting Thursday:

• President Steven Gamble said the campus had a record number of participants in summer camps.

• The board approved spending $740,000 to renovate the University Annex in Portales, creating an animal science laboratory as well as a welding shop shared by the agriculture and art programs.

Portales campus Vice President of Business Affairs Scott Smart said the state Higher Education Department had approved the project at a cost of $790,000, but he believed it could be done for $740,000. If the department would approve the change without requiring submittal at a September hearing, Smart hoped to finish the work for the spring 2011 semester.

• The board approved a one-year, $75,000 lease by ENMU-Ruidoso of land belonging to the Spencer Theater near Ruidoso. ENMU-Ruidoso President Clayton Alred said he planned to establish a long-term lease in which the branch campus paid $75,000 a year for the first five years and $1 a year for 99 years after that, the equivalent of renting the property for $300 a month. Gamble said the money would come from the Ruidoso branch campus budget, not the main campus budget.

• The board approved a new capital projects plan for ENMU-Roswell. Roswell campus Vice President of Business Affairs Eric Johnston-Ortiz said the plan had been updated to include infrastructure projects to bring buildings up to date. A project that would have added classroom space to the planned campus educational center was dropped because planners didn’t expect to receive state approval for it, he said.

Compiled by PNT Senior Writer Argen Duncan.