Douglas Hall will undergo renovations over the summer after the Board of Trustees approved $3.42 million for construction at Friday’s meeting.

The bathrooms of Douglas Hall will be expanded to allow for more privacy.

A fire sprinkler system, an emergency announcement system and electric service upgrades will be completed throughout the building.

The construction will begin after the spring semester and will be finished by the start of the fall semester in 2008.

Funds for the project come from a capital dollar project budget from the Housing and Dining budget.

The Board of Trustees also listened to a presentation from Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs, about the condition of the steam plant.

Cooley said the plant is $14 million behind in deferred maintenance.

He showed pictures of cracks in the facility and equipment that cannot be purchased because the plant is about 80 years old.

Even in the summary of purchases report, there was a $149,500 emergency repair to rebuild the stoker in the plant.

The stoker feeds the coal into the boiler, Cooley said.

The future solution to the problem is to build a new $60 million steam plant.

Currently, Eastern purchases coal to create steam for the campus and it also purchases electricity from an electric supplier.

If a plant is built, the new steam plant would also create electricity for the campus, and the electric suppliers would be used for standby power, Cooley said.

To pay for the plant, the university would need $25 million from federal and state government, and would pay off bonds from the energy savings.

The university would partner with a company to build a new steam plant to form an ESCO project.

The company would guarantee the savings from the project would pay the bonds off in 20 years.

The plant would not be the first time the university has entered a performance contract.

Performance contracts the university previously entered have reduced electric consumption by 35 percent and water consumption by 45 percent.

If the university entered a performance contract, the utility dollars the university has would be used to produce electricity and steam on campus. The savings would pay off the bond Eastern would have to take out to pay for the plant.

In other business, Rachel Fisher from the Health Education Resource Center presented the “Good Neighbors” campaign to the board.

The campaign was designed to improve relations between off-campus residents and the residents of Charleston.

The program ran alcohol-free tailgate parties at football games and created a social planning guide for students.

Also, the board approved a three-year labor contract with the Teamsters Local #26, which would provide the 16 members a four percent raise in 2007 and a three percent raise in 2008 and 2009. The union ratified the contract Sept. 25.

The board tabled a 10-year $500,000 paving contract with Consolidated Services, Inc. in Charleston.

The board plans to take another look at it and possibly make the contract shorter, Cooley said.