San Juan College's new School of Energy building nears completionJun 4 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Joshua Kellogg The Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.
Randy Pacheco, dean of San Juan College's School of Energy, believes the program's new, $15-million building will help it become a leader for education in the energy industry. "We can be -- we will be the Harvard of energy training in the United States," Pacheco said. During a tour of the nearly 65,000-square-foot building on Wednesday, crews from contractor Jaynes Corp. and college staff were installing oil field equipment in the large, two-story labs. The new building, located on the northeast corner of the college's main campus in Farmington, is expected to open for the fall semester. In March 2014, crews started working on the site by first pouring the concrete foundation. Now, classrooms, offices and meeting rooms throughout the building are finished, and most of the furniture and technology has been installed. While a few minor items have yet to be finished, Pacheco said the building is complete and the college is awaiting a certificate of occupancy. Officials expect to receive the certificate of occupancy soon to allow staff to relocate and work, said Garry Smothers, the college's physical plant interim senior director, during a college board work session on Tuesday. The board also approved two items during its Tuesday meeting to pay for further work on the new building. Board members approved increasing the construction cost from $13.1 million to $13.2 million. Officials said the San Juan College Foundation received additional funds for the project, which is what led to the $100,000 increase in cost. The project cost was last increased in a September board meeting when the board approved an increase of about $700,000, raising the cost from $12.4 million to $13.1 million. The second item the board approved was amending the language in the contract between San Juan College and Jaynes Corp. to allow the contractor to continue working on the project. Smothers said the change was required to keep Jaynes as the contractor because the original contract ended the college's relationship with the company after the certificate of occupancy was awarded. Under the original contract, the college held 5 percent of the project cost for the last payment after the contract was fulfilled. The contract change frees up that money now and leaves $50,000 for a final payment to Jaynes. Some of the remaining work includes installing cases to display portions of a mineral collection donated by the family of oilman Sherman Dugan. Pacheco said the collection consists of minerals Dugan collected during his life. The collection was donated to the School of Energy after his death. Joshua Kellogg covers education for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 and jkellogg@daily-times.com. Follow him @jkelloggdt on Twitter. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=36382296 |