Community college expects September groundbreaking

If all goes as planned, Central Louisiana Technical Community College's new campus in downtown Alexandria will be completed in about two years.

With the new building, the school's chancellor hopes, will also come a new way of doing things.

Speaking to the North Rapides Business and Industry Alliance Monday, Jimmy Sawtelle said CLTCC's leadership is "not satisfied with what we're doing and not content with what we've done." He said the school's staff has been directed to review all its practices, and jettison the ones that aren't working before programs move into the new main campus.

"We're re-engineering the college so that it provides the best outcomes," said Sawtelle, who was promoted from acting to permanent chancellor earlier this month. "We want to refine these things so our human resource and instructional capital is every bit as state of the art as our new building."

A groundbreaking for the new campus is expected in September. If the weather is good, construction is expected to take about 20 months.

The $22 million project will replace the current Alexandria campus on South MacArthur Drive. CLTCC has six other campuses throughout Central Louisiana.

The new campus is being developed on two blocks of property between Jackson and Murray streets.

"The building we have has been a good soldier for the last 40 years," Sawtelle said. "But we believe the business and industry and students of Central Louisiana deserve the best instruction, students services and work force development we can provide."

Alexandria Mayor Jacques Roy told the City Council last week that the city has finished its role in helping secure property for the project and has turned the process over to the Rapides Foundation, which is acting as a third-party partner to facilitate quick transfer of properties.

Sawtelle stressed that, no matter what kind of brick and mortar facilities CLTCC has, the key to realizing the goals laid out in its "Our Louisiana 2020: Building the Workforce of Tomorrow" plan lie more in streamlining operations and continuing to build partnerships.

"I'm looking to put a smile on business and industry's face that will take two hours of surgery to remove," he said.