T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM — Iowa Valley Community College Chancellor Kristie Fisher tells the board of directors about some changes made to the upcoming projects. The board held a special meeting on Monday to host a public hearing, approve the plans and set bid dates.

The Iowa Valley Community College District Board of Directors held a special Monday meeting to host a public hearing for the exterior improvement project at the Marshalltown Community College campus.

The board approved the plans and set the bid opening date of May 5, and a bid approval for May 12.

Chancellor Kristie Fisher said her team and OPN Architects have spent the last few weeks looking at the full scope of the project. Many changes to the project have been made, and Fisher said more will be added during a retreat in the near future.

“What I want everyone to think about in this project is that this, the Marshalltown community, is the most visible,” she said. “As we’re upgrading the exteriors, this building was built in a time that is very basic architecture and it is not very visually appealing. We’re excited to see this first exterior project.”

Fisher said a second exterior project is also planned. Senior Project Architect Aaron Twedt and Project Architect Joseph Feldmann were present virtually for the meeting and gave brief descriptions of what the project looks like.

Feldmann said they are trying to target potential savings. One feature he highlighted was some aesthetically pleasing aspects, such as an updated welcome sign.

“The whole idea is to draw attention,” Feldmann said. “We’re pretty excited with what we have.”

Twedt spoke about many features and said some buildings will have canopies to allow people to drive up and drop off entrances.

Fisher said a large part of the project is the parking lots and adding some safety features.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed how bad of shape those are in,” she said. “By adding the sidewalk, we’ll give students a safe way to get up to the bike path. Right now, they walk on the edge of the road, which is not safe.”

Fisher also said some lights will be added to provide better lighting when students are walking outside at night.

“Those are some of the problems we’re solving with this work, as well,” she said.

The majority of the construction will take place this summer and fall.

Board Vice President Paul Pohlson asked how much money had to be added to the budget to accommodate all the changes. IVCCD Chief Financial Officer Kathy Pink said the total project is $4.9 million, which is about an 18 percent increase from what the estimation was in November.

Fisher said it is important to do this work correctly, because the district will not have the chance to do it again.

“At this point, we’re zeroing that out, hoping that as we go through, there will be some funds that will come available,” she said. “We believe we’ve built in more than enough to not have a surprise on bid day. We won’t know until we get there.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.