Building up for Job Corps

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

OTTUMWA — Indian Hills Community College has backed the idea of a Job Corps center coming to Ottumwa. Now it’s time to give them some room to build.

At next week’s Board of Trustees meeting, IHCC President Jim Lindenmayer will tell trustees about what the “remodel” will include and why it’s so important.

“The Department of Labor has stated Indian Hills will be doing a significant amount of training for the Job Corps center, and we want to have expanded facilities to handle that,” he told the Courier. “That’s what their plans are [and] we want to be sure to accommodate that.”

To help make certain programs available, those programs will move from the main Ottumwa campus and will relocate to the aviation building at the Ottumwa Industrial Airport.

“The remodeling at the airport is to get ready for Job Corps in some sense, but also to realign some programing space so we have room for expansion in the Advanced Technology Center,” said Lindenmayer.

So the diesel program will stay at the ATC but can expand because auto collision is moving to the airport. Lindenmayer said such moves won’t be upsetting because the departments actually get more room.

“Everyone is going to get expanded space on this, so it’s a ‘win-win’ situation,” Lindenmayer said.

The welding program will also move out to the airport.

“We’re remodeling what was a vacated welding lab. There’s a tremendous need for welders in the area, and we’ll be tripling our training space.,” Lindenmayer said. “That’s a 65,000-square-foot [airport] building.”

Darrell Downing heads the aviation department located at the airport.

“The technical programs started here, so it’s very interesting from a historical standpoint,” said Downing, whose pilots share the building with truck driving students.

For those who have been to the aviation building, he said, imagine taking a bulldozer to the inside and just starting over again.

“You should see the blueprints. It’s wonderful. [Our classrooms] are going to be updated and modernized.”

He said the remodeling will provide the building with services not previously available.

“There’ll be a cafeteria for the students as soon as it’s completed; previously, they had to go to the downtown [campus] for lunch. And who knows?” asked Downing. “We’re welcoming. Maybe airport people or Job Corps people will come out [for lunch], too.”

“We’re going to have more students out there, so we need to have more services out there,” said Lindenmayer. “It’s going to be a nice facility.”

Also on the meeting agenda will be a discussion of a high school academy concept.

“[That’s] something we’re going to present to the board as an idea, taking some technical courses out to the area,” said Lindenmayer.

He said the idea has been bounced around between IHCC and area high schools where there is interest. Lindenmayer said it’s especially important now that funding for “vocational training for high schools is drying up at a time the workforce needs trained workers the most.”

He said the needs in Chariton may be different than the needs in Oskaloosa.

“We want to establish five academies out there that reflect the needs of the area,” he said.

Before the actual meeting of the board can begin, though, there is the required public hearing of the budget estimate of the 2009 budget.

Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.

For Your Information

The Indian Hills Community College Board of Trustees meeting will be held at 4 p.m., Monday in the Ottumwa campus board room. The meeting is open to the public.