By Jeff Murphy, November 2, 2021
This architectural rendering provides a glimpse of what the new terminal and education
building at Max B. Swisher Skyven Airport would possibly look like.
WARRENSBURG, MO 鈥 In its plenary session Oct. 29, the 欧美视频
Board of Governors voted to amend the design-build contract for construction of the
new terminal and education building at Max B. Swisher Skyhaven Airport. This decision
will expand the project which previously had a projected $2.8 million budget to one
that will cost approximately $5.1 million, and will enable the facility to better
serve community and student aviation needs.
The university in October 2020 awarded a contract to McCown Gordon Construction, Kansas
City, to provide all labor, materials and provisions to produce conceptual designs,
final design, construction documents, permitting and constructing this 10,000-square-foot
structure. The scope of the original project included site work, the structure 鈥渟hell鈥
and some finished space to accommodate fixed-base operations at Skyhaven. Since this
contract was awarded, however, available funding for UCM has increased significantly.
This provides an opportunity to expand the scope of the project to encompass complete
site work and finishing all interior areas including the aviation education center,
along with facade enhancements. This work was initially expected to be done in later
phases when funds became available.
In addition to initial donor funding of $2.8 million through the UCM Alumni Foundation,
the state of Missouri has allocated $1 million in Fiscal Year 2022 funding for the
aviation education center within the terminal building through the House Bill 19 capital
reimbursement program. The university also will fund the balance of approximately
$1.1 million utilizing a combination of university funds and financial support from
federal Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds (HEERF). The project is expected to
be completed in Fiscal Year 2023.
In other action related to the airport, the board approved a contract with Crawford
Murphy & Tilly Engineers & Consultants in the amount of $564,000 for completion of
the airport master plan. To comply with grant assurances and ensure receipt of federal
funding for future development, the airport is required to have an updated, approved
Airport Layout Plan on file with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The contract
will be funded by the State Block Grant Agreement totaling $534,666 and $29,334 from
UCM鈥檚 Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies. This action is instrumental
as the university considers planning at the airport for the next 10-20 years.
After considering a proposal from the College of Education, the board approved a $25-per-credit-hour
fee for all 鈥淐OUN鈥 prefix courses offered to graduate students within the School of
Professional Education and Leadership. This will assist in meeting fiscal needs for
the nationally accredited graduate programs to prepare graduates to practice counseling.
The fee applies to all courses taken for graduate credit in the program regardless
of modality 鈥 online, hybrid, or face-to-face, as well as location. It is essential
to help the Master of Science in Counseling and Education Specialist in Professional
Leadership-Counseling Option to remain viable and competitive, to support growing
program resource needs, the higher cost of personnel necessitated by the need to meet
accreditation standards, and create sustainability across delivery modes.
The board approved entering a five-year contract to purchase three new hosted Banner
applications from Ellucian. Two of the applications will replace existing applications
that are scheduled to be discontinued in the 2022-2023 timeframe, and one application
will replace an existing home-grown application that will expand functionality between
Banner and the existing Blackboard LMS application. The total cost covers the initial
purchase, implementation fees, licensing, and maintenance over a five-year period.
Funds come from the Office of Technology (OT) reserves and the OT budget. These tools
integrate data between various learning management systems that impact a wide range
of areas such as admissions, financial aid, student accounts, housing and much more.
In another discussion about technology needs, board members authorized entering a
five-year contract with Oracle to move the UCM Oracle servers and storage to Oracle鈥檚
Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The total cost of this new agreement is not to exceed
$1.35 million. The transition to OCI provides redundancy of servers and storage arrays,
reduced backup costs, reduced workload on specific tasks, better disaster recovery
options and features, reduced hardware costs, and locked-in rates for the term of
the agreement.
Board members approved a contract with Garland/DBS, Inc. totaling $776,958 for the
replacement of Panhellenic Hall鈥檚 25,060-square-foot roof. The single-ply Ethylene
Diene Monomer roof has exceeded its useful life expectancy. This project will include
removing the existing roof membrane down to the concrete deck, installing new insulation,
and adhering two-ply roof membrane with flood coat and gravel ballast to help prevent
water intrusion.
A $412,500 contract was awarded to Westport Construction Company, Clinton, Missouri,
to replace entry door systems at the Martin Building and W.C Morris Science Building.
This project consists of removing existing entry door systems, precast concrete door
surrounds and side lights; repairing existing surfaces and preparation for new and
modified electrical systems; installing thermally broke storefront entry systems with
insulated aluminum entry doors; and installing new door lighting into existing circuits.
An initial one-year contract for digital marketing management services provided by
Net Natives, Brooklyn, New York, was approved for the period, Nov. 1, 2021 to Oct.
31, 2022, with four additional one-year options. This contract, estimated at $76,000
for the first year, will provide knowledge, experience and technology that will allow
the university to more fully integrate its digital marketing efforts with its Slate
customer relationship management tool. This will help Integrated Marketing and Communications
(IMC) and Admissions better coordinate efforts related to digital marketing strategy
combinations that lead to inquiries, applications, acceptances and enrollment. It
is expected to yield more and higher quality leads within the current overall digital
marketing budget.