Mesalands approves outdoor activity fee

The Mesalands Community College board of trustees during its March 19 meeting unanimously approved a new outdoor activity fee for students.

Brandon Smith, president of the college’s Wind Energy Club and member of student government, and Alyssa Arellano-Reveles, student affairs specialist, proposed the fee of $6 per credit hour during the meeting.

The fee will be used to buy camping gear, canoes and other equipment for outdoor outings; pool tables, disc-golf discs and cornhole equipment for the forthcoming student center at the newly purchased armory building; and subsidize organized trips for students. They estimated the fee would generate $42,000 per year.

Smith said he surveyed 70 students on whether they supported such a fee. Support was high for the idea, he said, with no objections.

Arellano-Reveles said she earlier tried to organize a Route 66 trip from Tucumcari to San Bernardino, California, but the $1,200 cost was “excessive” for many students wanting to go. Many students, she noted, never have ventured out of New Mexico.

Aaron Kennedy, vice president of student affairs, said the college long has levied a student activity fee of $3 per credit hour, but it has not increased in the 12 years he’s worked at Mesalands. He noted other colleges impose similar fees as high as $75 per credit hour.

College President John Groesbeck said the new fee and the activities it would create would make Mesalands more attractive for recruiting students and make it more enjoyable for those enrolled.

In other business during the meeting, the board:

• Approved a telecommuting policy “heavily borrowed” from City College of New York and other institutions. Groesbeck said the policy addresses liability issues, whether telecommuting would affect service at the college and if there was a “strong business rationale” for doing so. Board Chairman Jim Streetman asked Groesbeck to have an attorney review the policy.

• Heard a report from Groesbeck about the completed New Mexico Legislature session. He said the college likely would receive $10,000 more than it had requested, and new legislation may reduce its future liability for pensions and other retirement benefits.

The Legislature also approved $350,000 in capital-outlay money for Mesalands’ proposed integrated renewable energy program that covers wind, solar, transformers, microgrid controllers, battery storage, smart buildings and other renewable-energy systems. With company partnerships added, Groesbeck said the amount of aid the college might receive could rise to $700,000. The governor must approve the capital-outlay allocation.

• Approved the annual board of trustees’ calendar of reports, with minor revisions.

• Natalie Gillard, vice president of academic affairs, and trustee Liz Estrada gave separate statements about how they will not be involved in college transactions that involve family-related businesses — Steel Heating and Cooling for Gillard and a hay operation for Estrada.

• Approved an amendment to its Nov. 13 meeting minutes that clarifies an ownership transfer of a Building G parking lot from the Mesalands Community College Foundation to the college for a paving project. The title company requested the amendment. The action occurred after a short executive session.

• Groesbeck said Larry Wickham, interim director of information technology, was optimizing the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum’s website so it would generate more online sales. The museum’s store manager, Linda Morris, also has been restocking the museum’s gift shop with more items.

• Groesbeck and Smith talked about a January visit to the college’s Wind Energy Program by former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke before he announced he would run for the Democratic nomination for president. Students explained to O’Rourke the benefits of wind energy, and “it had quite an effect on him,” Groesbeck said, noting the candidate had signed on to the Green New Deal resolution.

“He’s balanced, coherent and reasonable — so unusual for a politician,” Groesbeck quipped, adding he’d been interviewed by CNN and the Dallas Morning News about O’Rourke’s visit.

O’Rourke also went to Tucumcari at that time to research his family history there. His great-grandparents, who immigrated from Ireland and Wales, lived on Second Street in Tucumcari in 1910, according to U.S. Census records.