Gavilan moves money from PE project

Gavilan College Trustees voted to reallocate $1 million in Measure E funds from renovating a Physical Education Building to other projects during the regularly scheduled board of trustees meeting last week.
The 5-2 vote in favor of the change in funding was opposed by Trustees Mark Dover and Tony Ruiz.
“I’m just not sold on it. I can’t vote yes on it,” said Dover, one of three trustees who sits on the facilities committee. “What I heard in the facilities meeting is not what I heard tonight.”
The Measure E budget had allocated $7.5 million toward P.E. Building modernizations, with a plan to secure a 50 percent matching grant from the state. The anticipated state school bond did not materialize on the ballot for the November election, throwing the original plan into disarray.
“If they’d put that money on the ballot and it had passed we’d have been hoping to get matching funds for the P.E. building,” said Jan Bernstein-Chargin, the college’s director of public information, in an interview Tuesday. “Without that on the ballot there is no source of (state) money to apply to.”
The P.E. building modernization project submitted to the state was a $14 million project. At the most recent facilities committee meeting held Aug. 11, Dover asked how much of the building could be renovated using just the Measure E funds of $7.5 million, according to minutes from the meeting. Trustee Tom Breen requested a critical need list be developed for renovating the P.E. building during the same meeting, according to the minutes.
With the overall facilities plan, trustees have the power to reallocate Measure E funding from one project – such as the P.E. building – to another one, Bernstein-Chargin said.
Kinsella suggested trustees cut the Measure E funding for the P.E. building from $7.5 million to $6.5 million, freeing up $1 million to go to other projects, including the San Martin Aviation Program.
The 2016 deadline by which all Measure E funds must be spent is fast approaching. At this point, three large projects remain: the Coyote Valley Educational Center, the San Martin Aviation Program and renovating the P.E. Building. Other remaining funds will be used for technology, furniture and small remodeling and renovation projects.
Kinsella noted that once the school touches the P.E. building to begin renovation projects, it will have to go through the costly process of bringing the entire structure up to code with the current Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
“That’s my concern – $6.5 (million) may not be enough,” said Trustee Walt Glines, as he thought about the renovation costs.
“Oh, it definitely won’t be enough,” Kinsella said.
Glines suggested the school could possibly borrow money to finish the project, and Kinsella suggested scaling down the project.
Originally, Measure E money was put aside to match potential state funding for library, theater and student center projects. The Measure E funding for these projects has been redirected, meaning the projects will be funded only if the state gives 100 percent of the funding. Trustees agreed that renovations must be made to the P.E. building as it was “important to the life of the athletics program,” according to the minutes from the recent facilities committee meeting.