Annual Dog Day Afternoon & Pet Photos this weekend
October 13, 2009
Richard Anthony Savoie
October 15, 2009
The remaining land needed to construct a new campus for Fletcher Technical Community College is being purchased, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Monday at an appearance at Fletcher’s Allied Health building in Houma. Fletcher’s new 74.2-acre campus will be located in Gray near the intersection of La. Highway 311 and U.S. Highway 90.
The state is using $2.7 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to buy the final 38.6 acres of land for the facility, Jindal said.
“This is a tremendous victory for Fletcher,” Jindal said.
A total of $21.3 million in bond funds is financing the construction of the new Fletcher campus, he said. Around $3 million in bond funding was used to buy the first 32.2 acres for the site, and 3.4 acres of land is being donated for a road. The remaining acreage that needed to be bought was located in back of the 32.2-acre initial purchase, said Fletcher Chancellor Travis Lavigne.
A news release from Fletcher stated that $4 million in bond funding was used for the initial land purchase, which included money for design work.
The money remaining from the $21.3 million in bond funding for Fletcher can be used for construction of the new campus, Jindal said.
The school’s current enrollment of 1,823 students is at a record level and a new campus is needed, he said.
Fletcher’s new facility is part of a state effort to strengthen workforce development, he said. The push is the third of three initiatives – along with reforming ethics laws and eliminating some taxes on business – advocated by Jindal since taking office in January 2008.
“Workforce development is the third leg of the stool,” he said.
Seventy percent of employers in Louisiana say the state’s workforce needs to be improved, according to Jindal.
He said Fletcher is important to the region’s economic development.
“This region has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country,” he said. “We provide seafood and oil. It’s important to have the most skilled workers not just in the country, but in the world.”
The governor pointed to the creation of 456 jobs at Houma’s Gulf Island Fabrication from the company’s recent expansion and one thousand jobs at the LaShip shipyard under construction at the Port of Terrebonne-as well as jobs at Grand Isle Shipyard in Lafourche Parish-as examples of regional economic development.
“Louisiana has been leading the country in technical colleges,” he said. “They’re important for our economy and our quality of life.”
Joe May, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, said the bonds were sold to finance the purchase of land for Fletcher in the face of the country’s recent financial crisis.
“The bond market was falling apart,” he said, “but the governor’s office approached us. We sold the bonds on Sept. 30 this year.”
According to the release from Fletcher, bond funding for the initial purchase of land was closed sometime earlier in October.
“This will allow us to begin our planning,” Lavigne said. “We can start our environmental studies, so we can be ready for construction.”
He said not all of the construction for Fletcher’s new campus can be completed with the bond funding remaining, but the money is a start.
In March, the college received $5.1 million of state budget surplus money for the Marine Construction Transportation facility in its Louisiana Marine and Petroleum Institute.
Gov. Bobby Jindal flanked by state Rep. Gordon Dove (R-Houma) and state Commissioner of Higher Education Sally Clausen, announced that the remaining land needed for Fletcher Technical Community College’s new campus is being purchased. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER
