By Trent Moore
The Cullman Times
HANCEVILLE —
More than $15 million in repairs to the Wallace State Community College James C. Bailey Center have been approved.
A $16.5 million bond issue to fund the work has been green lit by the state school board, plus the Cullman County Commission has offered to let the college use a $4 million low-interest federal bond to cut costs.
To help pay for the project, a new $10-per-credit-hour building fee for students was also approved by the state board, which will take effect in the fall.
Located in the center of the college’s campus, the 14-story, 130,000-square-foot Bailey Center was built in 1996. A lack of expansion joints in the building’s original design has caused the brick exterior to detach from the structure. Large cracks are clearly visible in the exterior facade, and bricks could eventually detach from the building and fall to the ground. Makeshift covers have already been installed over walkways to and from the building to deflect any potential debris in the meantime.
Shoddy planning by the building’s architect, Birmingham-based Samuel F. Donze, led to the current problems, college president Dr. Vicki Hawsey said. The college had considered filing a lawsuit against Donze, but the statute of limitations had already passed.
With a timetable for repairs now in place, Hawsey said she hopes to bid the work out as soon as possible.
Construction is projected to begin in September, though the improvements will not be completed until late 2011 or early 2012.
Hawsey said the financial aid, admissions, advising and business offices will be temporarily moved out of the Bailey Center and into four modular units that will be stationed in the front of campus once construction begins.
“When we learned we would have to vacate the building, out of necessity for construction, my only dictate was that we keep front-line services easily available for students,” Hawsey said. “We want to still make sure they can maintain a one-stop approach. Convenience, and trying to reduce confusion, are top priorities.”
Offices will transition to the modular units in June, with the moving process expected to continue until construction begins.
Hawsey said an Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) moratorium on the City of Hanceville’s sewer system created some initial concern over if the college could connect the modular units to the city’s sewer system — but those concerns have since been addressed.
“It’s our understanding that there shouldn’t be an issue with us using modular units, since there will be no increase in sewer usage,” Hawsey said. “We’ll just be redistributing our usage to another part of campus.”
Wallace State faced a similar architectural problem in 2007, when the brick work on the campus’ seven-story Bevill Building started to detach and required $2.1 million in repairs. The Bevill Building was also designed by Donze.
* Trent Moore can be reached by e-mail at trentm@cullmantimes.com, or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 225.
