Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES — A campus-wide energy conservation project presented by Eastern New Mexico University Vice President of Business Affairs Scott Smart was approved at the college’s board of regents meeting Friday at the ENMU-Ruidoso campus.
The conservation project was developed after a campus-wide, investment-grade audit of the university’s energy consumption by Bernhard Energy to determine if the campus could implement energy conservation measures to reduce consumption and utility costs.
The project developed after the audit consists of 20 energy conservation measures “that will save ENMU $405,000 per year in utility costs,” according to a summary of the project in the meeting’s information packet. The cost of the project is $4.5 million.
The project “must generate savings sufficient enough to pay for the project costs ... savings must be guaranteed so there is no risk to ENMU,” and the “project design and projected savings must pass vetting by the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and comply with relevant state law with regard to energy savings projects,” according to the summary.
The project will now require approval by the New Mexico Higher Education Department and the New Mexico Board of Finance.
The following were actions taken at the Eastern New Mexico University Board of Regents meeting Friday at the ENMU-Ruidoso campus:
• Regents approved a $7 per semester credit hour increase for online courses, increasing the fees to $17 per semester per credit hour.
• Regents approved a 1 percent tuition increase for the 2017-18 academic year, raising the rate to $5,918.
“We had told student government at the time, when we took our tuition and fee increase to them, that if the cuts appeared to be larger than we anticipated, we might go back for more, so we just went back for one additional percent,” said ENMU President Steven Gamble.
• Regents approved the use of $120,000 in funds by KENW-TV to invest in various pieces of equipment.
Purchases are to include an engineering vehicle ($45,000), a travel and production vehicle ($25,000), maintenance on signal towers ($30,000) and additional replay equipment for sports broadcasts ($20,000).
• Regents approved an award of tenure to Jerolyn Wagner, an instructor of nursing at the Roswell campus.
• Regents approved the renewal of ENMU-Ruidoso’s community college operating agreement, which “establishes the relationship, associated authority and responsibilities of the Eastern New Mexico University president, the board of regents, ENMU-Ruidoso president and the Community College Board,” according to ENMU-Ruidoso President Clayton Alred.
• Regent Dan Patterson was elected president of the board, replacing regent Susan Tatum, who died in February.
• Regents Dan Patterson and Terry Othick were appointed to the university’s budget and audit committee.
• Regents Jane Christensen and Terry Othick informed the board that the five ENMU presidential finalists will be on the Portales campus the first week of April.
“Approximately three weeks after that, the board will be able to announce who we believe the next president is going to be,” said Gamble.
