Workgroup no.5, charged with looking at facilities, talked about the project completions that need to be made and how to present their recommendations at their meeting Thursday.

Workgroup chair Steven Daniels, department chair of the physics department, said at this point the group is considering a number of different recommendations in their draft materials.

He said because those are not finalized materials, they are not at the stage of going public with drafts right now and are considering the best way to report them.

However, Daniels said the need for project completion is one thing the Workgroup can all agree on.

“If you’ve walked across campus you’ve seen things I’m sure,” Daniels said. “We’re trying to get things repaired (because) we want the campus to be a showcase for students to come and have wonderful student experiences.”

Matt Brown, associate director of facilities of housing and dining, said the idea of project completion and an investment in staff are supported by the data.

Daniels said the group has talked to a lot of people and there are a number of different ways and things they are considering.

“We’re trying to consider all the facilities on campus: academic, health, facilities planning and management,” Daniels said. “We’re trying to consider everything around campus and come up with ideas that will help take the university forward.”

Though Daniels said some things are more important than others, and that project completion is a top issue, Brown said it was a “chicken or egg” scenario.

Brown said while he agreed that the project completions have to be done, there are other aspects that need to be looked at and other things needed before they can be done.

“Here’s the umbrella, you have to do this this or this and here’s how to get it done,” he said.

Brown said to work on project completions, there needs to be an increase of resources and the group needs to study the history and present conditions before giving recommendations on how to move forward.

He said though the Workgroups have worked hard in the amount of time they have, they also recognize that they do not have exhaustive knowledge of all the issues that go on in the facilities.

Daniels said some of the things suggested were bigger projects, and that none of them are really “hardcore cheap.”

Scott Hall, superintendent of grounds, said the projects had many variables such as their expense.

One example he brought up was the scaffolding outside McAfee Gym, where he does not know the cost now, though knows it will be an expense.

Daniels said with the staffing discussions the group is having, though the projects may not be completed in the month or even year, they can all be completed in a reasonable amount of time with the staffing recommendations the group is making.

The group discussed softening the recommendations to make it so it was about what the group was proposing to be done as opposed to them mandating what should be done.

Daniels said it is true the group does not know all the details of the projects, and that there may be many more issues that come up, though the group talked about some of them such as the various funding sources.

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or cjbuchman@eiu.edu.