William Weber, vice president of business affairs, said the Renewable Energy Center has received its first delivery of wood chips and is working on straightening out the problems with the material delivery system.

“Our contract is for 27,000 tons of woodchips per year that the facility will burn,” Weber said. “We are required by our EPA license to burn only virgin material so these are not recycled wood chips.”

Weber said the renewable energy center is supposed to be cleaner for the environment as opposed to the coal plant that is currently in place at Eastern.

“The wood chips leave behind a high-quality pot ash which is useful for fertilization,” Weber said. “Sometimes it’s not cheaper, but it’s less than 1/5 of the emissions that would be permitted.”

The wood chips arrive from a company in Missouri, but Weber said the contractor could save money by getting the wood chips local.

“The closer they can find wood chips for us, the better their profits are going to be,” Weber said.

Eastern has plans to use the north side of the renewable energy center for sample plots of biomass, where they will be able to grow willows or switchgrass.

Weber said he anticipates this to be an attraction that brings in people from across the state.

The plant uses advanced technology, such as solar arrays, which are estimated to produce enough energy for the plant.

“It’s something we can be really proud of,” Weber said. “It’s a really stunning facility.”

The strategic planning committee will begin phase 3 of the 5-phase process this summer.

In March and April, the steering committee held 60 sessions and engaged 950 individuals in how they may make Eastern and the community a better place.

“The emphasis on smaller class sizes and teacher-student interactions is something we heard from all the groups,” Weber said.

The six groups the committee came up with were academic excellence, marketing and communication, campus and community life, financial sustainability, emerging technology and global competition & changing demographics.

“Students today have different technology expectations than students 10 years ago,” Weber said. “Students appreciate the convenience of online courses.”

The strategic community also heard from students and faculty that want to bring school pride to Eastern.

“We have to have a strong a vibrant campus and community life,” Weber said. “It’s very strongly connected to community and retention.”

Eastern’s fiscal year ends in three weeks, and the institution has only received nearly half its required funds.

Of the $47.4 million owed, Eastern has only received $20 million.

“It’s a testament to how well we run this place and how everyone contributes,” Weber said. “We’re slowing down spending as much as we can to handle this sort of cash flow situation.”

Weber expects there to be a six percent cut to the funding for next year, which could eliminate $3 million from Eastern’s fiscal year budget.

Even though Eastern has not received the funds, they will meet the financial requirements to make it through the rest of the year.

In fact, Eastern has the best graduation rate of state universities in Illinois, but the institution receives the least amount of funding, Weber said.

In other news, the benefits office has set up meetings for people who have Health Alliance HMO or Personal Care HMO.

Those individuals who are covered under these HMOS must contact the benefit office by June 17 at 4:30 p.m. or they will automatically be defaulted to the Quality Care program, Weber said.

“It’s the most expensive of the health care options,” Weber said. “It has a higher deductible to take money out of your paycheck and higher co-pay costs.”

Jennifer Brown can be reached at jebrown2@eiu.edu