Committee formed to find possible campus locations

Published Thursday, March 27, 2008

By Mandy Bourgeois

The Weatherford College Wise County Branch study group elected Thom Lambert, Decatur Economic Development Corporation director, and William Meyers, Bridgeport EDC director, to the WCWC site study committee on Monday. Lambert and Meyers will work with Wise County Commissioner Kevin Burns and County Judge Bill McElhaney to determine possible locations for the proposed Weatherford College Wise County branch campus.

Wise County will decide whether to fund the project through a 5 cent Branch Campus Maintenance Tax in the November general election.

The proposed campus will be located between Bridgeport and Decatur along U.S. Highway 380.

In other business, the group discussed the formation of a political action committee and the type of information the committee would need to provide to the community.

"There are two philosophies on how to promote," said Weatherford College president Dr. Joe Birmingham. "One is to start real early. The disadvantage is that you are still four or five months away from the election and people may forget the information. Or you can start later so that it's fresh on the voters' minds."

Bridgeport Mayor Don Majka stressed that the committee members should be well versed in all the positive aspects of the campus, as well as any negative response they may hear from county residents.

"We all need to talk about the positive impact," Majka said. "What negative comments should we expect, other than the fact that this is a new tax?"

Fred Meyers said that one negative comment may be the location.

"A way to answer that is that the location being considered is central in the county where all residents will benefit," Birmingham said.

"We have to concede that it's going to be more expensive to build between two cities rather than in the city. We understand that," committee vice chairman Roy Eaton said, adding that county residents should respect the cooperative effort between Bridgeport and Decatur to complete the project.

The group decided that the political action committee should continue to spread information about the proposed campus by making presentations at meetings, then begin a big push through advertising after Labor Day.

Estimates project a cost of $20 million for the branch campus structure. If the maintenance tax is approved by Wise County voters, the tax will not exceed 5 cents per $100 of evaluation.

Homeowners 65 and over or disabled with an exemption will be exempt from the tax.

The maintenance tax will go before the county commissioners annually for approval. All money raised through the maintenance tax would fund the operations and maintenance of the Wise County branch. The college will also be in charge of any maintenance issues or security issues as the lessee of the campus.