The agriculture and electrical distribution systems programs at Ozarks Technical Community College will gain some classroom space.
The college’s board of trustees on Wednesday approved a construction bid to build an almost 17,000-square-foot building at its Richwood Valley Campus in Christian County. The building will be used to instruct students studying agriculture or power line maintenance.
The board approved spending $4,518,544.45 for the entire project. The biggest expense is $3,206,000, a construction bid awarded to Branco Enterprises, based out of Neosho.
Helpful expansion for programs
The building will offer four classrooms, a garage area, offices and a common area for students in two popular programs that have a lot of synergy, said Matt Hudson, executive dean of technical education.
“When we moved agriculture there, it was the only technical program that we moved down there and built a building for,” Hudon said. “Shortly thereafter we added a cohort and program for line workers at that facility. Because of their outdoor nature, we co-located them, but really had no interior space designed for direct instruction of the line worker program.”
The building will also offer storage space for large equipment used by both programs, Hudson said.
“The current line worker programs are in the annex, which is the storm shelter,” Hudson said. “There are actual pieces of equipment that really don't belong in a classroom that are stored in there right now.”
OTC started its line worker training program at its Lebanon campus. The program has grown in popularity since its start in 2018 — students earn an associate’s degree that teaches skills such as working with live power lines, pole climbing, transformer operation and earning a commercial driver’s license.
The college’s agricultural program has grown since it was moved from the main Springfield campus to Richwood Valley. The Christian County property on Missouri Highway 14 has enough open land for livestock grazing.
Students can study in programs about animal science, plant science and general agriculture, and turf and landscape management. The three programs currently have about 200 students, Hudson said.
“They have really met a need that I think southwest Missouri (as a region) sometimes tends to ignore,” Hudson said. “We live in a predominantly agriculturally driven state, but the size of Springfield and the communities around us are not necessarily representative of that. You don’t have to drive very far to be very much in the middle of that industry.”
Low bids lead to more building
Branco’s bid was the lowest against three other companies. Bids came in low enough for the OTC Board of Trustees to approve five alternates, which will allow for an additional garage bay and a gabled entrance.
The lower bids were a bit of a surprise to board members, one of whom asked if construction material prices were recovering from sky-high increases over the last few years. Board member Larry Snyder, who is the owner of a commercial and industrial construction company, said lower costs should not be considered a new trend.
“I can’t tell you that prices are going to come down much,” Snyder said during the meeting. “This is more a reflection of the amount of work that’s available, not materials.”
Money from MoExcels and the Economic Development Administration will help fund construction costs. Other expenses in the project include $489,628.75 in owner-supplied construction costs, $359,426.69 for furniture, equipment and fixtures, $331,880.91 in design costs, and 3% contingency of $131,608.09.
