Photo by Deb Gau SMSU President Kumara Jayasuriya answered questions from Sen. Charles Wiger, DFL-St. Paul, during a tour of campus Wednesday evening. Wiger and other members of the state Senate Capital Investment Committee visited several communities in southwest Minnesota on Wednesday.
MARSHALL — Minnesota legislators will need to consider around $5 billion in requests for state bonding dollars in their next session. This week, members of the Senate Capital Investment Committee made stops in several different area cities, to hear some of those requests firsthand.
“It makes a world of difference,” Sen. Gary Dahms said. Senators get to see the impact of proposed capital projects in person, he said.
Some of the stops for senators on Wednesday included the Farmers Cooperative Elevator in Echo, the cities of Slayton and Tyler, and Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
Dahms, a member of the senate committee, said Wednesday’s visit was the third leg of a statewide tour.
Members of the House Capital Investment Committee visited SMSU last week as part of a similar tour.
One of the proposals senators heard Wednesday was a $6 million request to help create a regional special education and alternative learning center in Marshall.
The project would be a collaboration of the Southwest West Central Service Cooperative, Marshall Public Schools and SMSU, said SWWC Executive Director Cliff Carmody. Organizers are proposing to renovate the Social Science building at SMSU into a roughly 48,000 square-foot learning center. Currently, the Social Science building is under-used due to changes in university enrollment and the building’s location at the edge of campus.
“This $6 million investment will repurpose that facility and extend its use,” Carmody said.
Carmody said part of the building could become an Educational Learning Center serving students with autism, disabilities or behavioral issues. SWWC has been looking for a facility that meets students’ needs better than the current ELC in Belview.
Carmody said the proposed learning center would be a truly regional program.
“We have kids from all over the region, and then some,” he said. “You’re not bonding for Marshall Public Schools.”
With the available space and a location near Marshall High School, the Social Science building would also be a good location for an Alternative Learning Center for high school students, said Marshall Superintendent Jeremy Williams. Marshall’s alternative learning center has had different locations over the years, but none that were built as a school.
MATEC’s current location in Marshall is in a building that was formerly a call center and a retail store, Williams said.
The total cost of the renovations is estimated at just under $9 million, Carmody said. While the SWWC cooperative does bill school districts for services provided to them, the cooperative doesn’t have levy authority like a school district.
Senators heard several different bonding requests over the course of the day Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot more sewer and water projects, especially for small communities,” Dahms said. “The rules and regulations are changing faster than communities can keep up.”
Minnesota colleges and universities also have facilities needs that they’re seeking Higher Education Asset Preservation and Replacement (HEAPR) funding for, he said.
Some of the requests the committee heard included:
• A $15 million request from the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority to help upgrade 13 miles of railroad track between Fairfax and Morton. The Farmers Cooperative Elevator is one of the regional cooperatives and businesses that would benefit from the rail line.
• A $7.29 million request from the city of Tyler to expand part of Tyler’s sanitary sewer system.
• A $1 million request from Area II Minnesota River Basin Projects to help fund flood mitigation projects in a nine-county area.
• A $1.15 million request from SMSU for design work on planned renovations in the Bellows Academic Center and Physical Education buildings. The project would link space in the two buildings to help create new class and laboratory spaces for the university’s exercise science and physical education programs.
• A bonding request for a safety and road improvement project on Murray County Road 13, near Lake Shetek.
During the upcoming legislative session, the Minnesota House and Senate will each develop bonding bills.
In going through that process, legislators consider factors like how great the need for each proposed bonding project is, Dahms said.
“And they try to make sure the money gets spread through the state,” he said.
Dahms estimated that the Legislature would probably pass a bonding bill of about $1.5 billion.
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