Action by voters in nine counties early in 2018 led to the upcoming flurry of new construction and repairs to buildings that date to the college’s founding 51 years ago.

On Feb. 6, 2018, voters in Buena Vista, Calhoun, Greene, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Sac, Webster and Wright counties approved a $25.5 million general obligation bond issue to pay for physical improvements at college facilities.

The bond was approved with 67.5 percent of voters in favor of it. A margin of 60 percent was needed.

The money will pay for a variety of projects. The biggest of those projects is the Greehey Family Student Success Center.

-Messenger file photo by Hans Madsen
Iowa Central Community College students line up to vote in a satellite polling place set up in the Triton Cafe in 2018.

That center is named for the family of Bill Greehey, a Fort Dodge Senior High School graduate who was the chairman of Valero Energy Corp. He donated $3 million for the facility. The rest of money needed for the roughly $6 million facility will come from the bond issue.

“I can’t thank Bill Greehey and his family enough for what they have done,” college President Dan Kinney said.

The center will consolidate veterans services, enrollment services, student advising, financial aid, counseling, health care, career services, distance learning and early intervention support in one facility. Currently, those services are scattered among multiple buildings on the Fort Dodge campus.

Initial plans called for a two-story building of about 4,400 square feet. Kinney said those plans are being finalized.

The center will be located where a parking lot now sits next to a pond in the middle of the campus.

-Messenger file photo by Hans Madsen
Members of the Iowa Central Community College Shooting Sports Team, including Travis Jones, of Dayton, make their way into a satellite polling place in the Triton Cafe to cast their ballots.

Kinney said he expects college officials will open bids for the project in March. The building is expected to be done before the start of the 2020-2021 academic year.

Several of the offices to be moved into the new Student Success Center are located in the Student Support Services Building. When the new center opens, their space in the Student Support Services Building will be renovated to create 10 new classrooms.

The bond issue also includes $3 million for electrical, heating and ventilation and air conditioning improvements in Decker Auditorium on the main campus. The auditorium was built in 1976.

Another $3 million will pay for security upgrades at the college facilities in Eagle Grove, Fort Dodge, Storm Lake and Webster City. Improved video surveillance systems and new door locks are proposed.

The bond issue included $2.5 million for a new industrial training center at the Storm Lake site. Kinney said construction is to begin there this summer and take a year to complete.

Other key components of the bond issue include:

• $3 million for updating the Science Building on the Fort Dodge campus

• $2 million for career academies

• $2 million for a new biofuels testing lab that would replace the one in the Bioscience and Health Sciences Building.

• $1 million for electrical system improvements in the Applied Science and Technology Building

• $500,000 for new windows, roof repairs and electrical upgrades in the Liberal Arts Building

• $500,000 for new windows, a new roof and electrical upgrades at the Webster City site

Work is under way or completed on updated electrical systems, windows in the Science Building, and the heating and ventilation system in the Liberal Arts Building. Also, the badly rusted stairs in the parking ramp have been replaced.

At the same time the college is updating its current facilities, it has added property to its campus.

In a deal that closed Dec. 10, 2018, the college purchased the Budget Host Inn site at the corner of Kenyon Road and U.S. Highway 169. It was bought from Joseph D. McMahon Jr. and Tamara McMahon, of Fort Dodge, for $1,450,000.

The purchase includes the former hotel, Eilers Steakhouse and Laser Auto wash.

The property is immediately west of the college’s Woodruff Apartments.

“The opportunity is perfect for us,” Kinney said. “We’re excited to be able to get that property.”

The future use of the property hasn’t been determined yet.