MCC Board Discusses Non-Referendum $42 Million Health Club, Health Sciences Classrooms

In the public comment period Tuesday night, Jane Collins spoke out about the proposed $42 million health club and health sciences classroom addition.

First, she suggested to Dan Curran, MCC Attorney, referring to the amendments to the Open Meeting Act, that he advise the Board to use more specificity in agenda items. As an example she asked him to encourage the Board to do so now, even though the requirement does not take effect until January 2013.

She used an item on Tuesday night’s Committee of the Whole agenda as an example.

She cited to “Item 10, public/private partnership,” which gives no clue as to what the partnership involves.

She said the College should keep the public in mind to informing readers od what they are considering.

Next, she noted that this partnership looks a lot like the stadium proposal where the public provided the funds, the private party took the profits.

“Deja vu all over again,” to put in the words of Yogi Berra.

Collins questioned the wisdom of the college competing with the private sector health clubs.

But she also noted that health care is a growing sector for new jobs, encouraged the board tothink a bit larger, how they could find other parties — even beyond the county — who could work with them to use the Motorola facility to create a high tech, cutting edge health care training institute that could make a difference in the region.

That’s something taxpayer constituents might support, Collins continued.

She said the $42 million project, as proposed,would be taking the county in the wrong direction.

Ron Parrish

Ron Parrish

When the Board reached that item on the agenda and Ron Parrish was giving his report, he started by saying,

“Frankly, I’ve shared many of the sentiments [voiced by Jane Collins].

He then explained the December 5th meeting on which he, a skeptic of the health club project, had been designated to represent the Board.

Going into the meeting he was concerned about “moving too quickly” on the project.

“At the conclusion of that meeting, that’s not my concern today.”

It was decided to increase “the funding of the feasibility study by one-third to make it a true feasibility study.”

Real estate consultant Don Besse [?] of CDBC [?] was assigned to look at facilities from 50,000 to 150,000 square feet that might be available in the district.

Future consideration will be given to whether there is adequate parking, space for expansion and even nearby food, since MCC President Vicky Smith had pointed out that is a requirement for accreditation.

Empty big box stores will be under consideration. [Off the top of my head, I can think of empty Walmarts in Crystal Lake and McHenry. ]

Smith had also suggested that recommended square footage might be reduced from 20-25% by the utilization of online courses.

Subsequent to the meeting, Parrish did some research and concluded that was “very feasible, very viable.”

Parrish said that financing might not require debt certificates, that a long-term lease or a lease with an option to buy might be alternatives.

And, it might “not [be] as expensive as we thought.”

Concerning prospective partners, he said he was reaching out to Centegra, Good Shepherd and other health care providers.

Nothing final, “just shopping.”

The health club corporation that brought the idea to MCC, Power Wellness, is planning to engage a Dallas firm–Maritage Health Strategies–to survey health science students, regular students and “a couple of hundred community members.” Parrish noted that this would include taxpayers.

When fellow Board member Linda Liddell questioned him about the large range in size for the building search, Parrish said that facilities with lower sizes, such as Sherman Hospital’s Ambutol on Route 31 in Crystal Lake, which he brought up previously, wold have to be capable of expansion. The Ambutol has 9-10 acres, most of which is undeveloped.

A biology instructor who attended the committee meeting had pointed out that MCC has 900 biology students and that the location would have to be near enough to campus for them to be able to make it to other classes they were taking.

Trustee Cynthia Kisser wanted to know if there were other potential operators of the health club besides Power Wellness.

A list will be developed, Parrish said.


Comments

MCC Board Discusses Non-Referendum $42 Million Health Club, Health Sciences Classrooms — 5 Comments

  1. I’m amused that the board is increasing funding to make it a “true” feasibility study.

    Doesn’t that mean they’re admitting what they had before wasn’t a true feasibility study?

    But it CAN’T be a true feasibility study as long as they Power Wellness because that firm that has an obvious conflict of interest.

    No matter what they get back, the results will be suspect because Power Wellness has a strong financial interest in a positive answer.

    Next, Health care is NOT growing, at least not here in McHenry County.

    The fact is that the federal government is putting tremendous pressure on health care providers to keep costs down, and that means reduced personnel, which is why health care employment actually FELL in McHenry County between 2009 and 2011.

    You’ve read my report.

    There will likely only be a couple of hundred job openings per year in health care in McHenry County for junior college grads.

    Training people for nonexistent jobs is absolutely cruel.

    The college should work with local employers to figure out how many jobs there are likely to be for their graduates, what those jobs are, and train these kids for real jobs, not some pie-in-the-sky figment of their imagination.

    And I’d still like to know why they need more classroom space when their current facility is under-utilized.

    I was there yesterday afternoon at 1:00 and the parking lot was less than half full.

    I would guess that my estimate of 60% to 70% utilization of classrooms was actually generous.

    But they don’t need to guess.

    They can generate the numbers.

    They simply refuse to do so.

  2. Is there a method to force the MCC Board to go to referendum to obtain any desired financing (alternate bonds, debt certificates, etc.) for the project?

  3. The campus appears more empty this week because it is finals week.

    Try to find a parking spot on a Tuesday in the middle of the semester.

    Then you will see it is crowded.

  4. Today’s word is Boondoggle- Term for a scheme that wastes time and money.

    Hey, how about a report on return on investment?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *