VOLUME 101, ISSUE 85
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WEDNESDAY GO NE ONLI NOW
JUNE 27, 2012
Another man’s treasure...
Robert Schmid, Texas Parks and Wildlife Fish Hatchery manager, collects discarded items from the river and uses them to create art. Visit UniversityStar.com to check out some of his work.
COSTLY MISTAKE
Senator speaks to campus about education By Taylor Tompkins Assistant News Editor
Texas State is being fined $17,150 by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for failure to report emissions tests.
Kathryn Parker, Staff Photographer
Texas State pays fine for past violations By Karen Zamora News Reporter Texas State has paid the price for failing to follow proper protocol after installing new boilers. Two failed boilers left a portion of the university without hot water for a week in the spring of 2009. They were replaced, but before new boilers are installed and operational, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality requires the university to perform
pre-tests and report them to the TCEQ — something Texas State failed to do. Consequentially, the TCEQ fined Texas State $17,150 in air quality violations, which include “failure to conduct initial compliance testing after the boilers were installed and failure to notify the TCEQ before the boilers were operating,” according to the case document. Juan Guerra, associate vice president of facilities, said the TCEQ noticed these violations in the summer of
2011 during a routine inspection of the Cogeneration Power and Chiller Plant, located near Matthews Street Parking Garage. Guerra said two new boilers were supposed to be tested, and all air emissions should have been sampled. The manager of the Cogeneration Power and Chiller Plant hired contractors to do most of the work, but did not hire anyone to run the tests, Guerra said.
READ BOILERS, Page 3
The Texas State and San Marcos community is becoming acquainted with a new leader. State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) spoke on June 20 to a crowded room of San Marcos residents, city officials and the Texas State community. Zaffirini represents District 21, which now includes Texas State along with other parts of Hays County after last year’s state redistricting. “I felt initially that I had to go to these new counties and apologize and say ‘I’m sorry that they did this to you,’” Zaffirini said. “But after this warm welcome I don’t feel like apologizing at all.” Zaffirini has been in the Senate since 1987. She is the second highest rated senator and is chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee. She has cast more than 40,000 consecutive votes in her career as a senator and has perfect attendance in the senate. “She is a public servant,” said Brian McCall, Texas State system chancellor. “She does things for the right reasons. She digs deep. She studies issues.” Mayor Daniel Guerrero, San Marcos city councilmembers and Associated Student Government President and Vice President Nathan McDaniel and Alison Sibley were also in attendance. Zaffirini stressed the need for bipartisanship within the senate during her speech, and praised Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for his work with herself and other Democrats. She also spoke on her belief that education should be a priority in Texas, and that educational facilities should strive for excellence. “To be perfectly frank with you, if I were governor, my number one priority would be to redefine education as a right, not as a privilege, to include early education so that all of our children can start first grade
READ ZAFFIRINI, Page 2
Hays, Travis counties to expand State Highway 45 By Taylor Tompkins Assistant News Editor Expansion plans for State Highway 45 Southwest are set to continue, despite their removal from the Imagine Austin plan by the Austin City Council. The council voted at a June 14 meeting to take out the expansion from the city’s comprehensive master plan per the recommendation of the Citizens Advisory Task Force. Mark Jones, Hays County Precinct 2 commissioner, said this does not affect the Commissioners Court’s plans for the highway expansion because Travis County
will have the final say on whether it will be built. The project is still on the table with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), allowing Hays County to continue to move forward with joint plans with Travis County. The estimated $17 to $20 million project will connect Loop 1, also known as MoPac Expressway, to FM 1626 with a two to three lane county road. Hays County commissioners offered to spend up to $5 million on the project last year and renewed their support of the offer in a unanimous vote during a June 12 meet-
ing. Jones said the Texas Department of Transportation has a plan to build a six-lane toll road covering the same stretch of land, but the county road is needed to alleviate traffic issues in Hays County sooner than the projected date of TxDOT’s construction. “It’s still in their 2035 plans as a toll road,” Jones said. “In the future if (TxDOT) wants to expand that road, it will already be there (as a county road) and it will be a little bit easier to get it done then.” John Casares, Staff Photographer Ray Whisenant, Precinct 4 com- Austin City Council rejected a plan to expand the Highway 45 in Travis County. The proposed expansion is intended to provide Hays County residents with READ HIGHWAY, Page 3 easier access to Austin.
Multi-million dollar Alkek renovations in foreseeable future
Kathryn Parker, Staff Photographer
Texas State will be conducting new renovations for the library, including the Alkek Library Learning Commons and Alkek Library Repository. By Megan Carthel News Reporter Texas State’s Albert B. Alkek library has not seen many renovations since its opening — the library administration and university are planning to change that. The university hired the Boston-based Perry Dean Rogers firm to conduct a feasibility
study of the library last fall. The group made four visits to the campus starting September 2011, meeting with staff and students for input. Perry Dean Rogers estimates the library is currently undersized by 35,949 square feet. The firm projects it will be undersized by 74,935 square feet in five years and by 136,939 square feet in 10 years.
The results of the feasibility study show Alkek came up short in the number of seats available for students, learning spaces and information technology infrastructures. The library failed building codes for heating and cooling systems, lighting, stair handrails and alarm systems. Mark Freeman, project architect for Perry Dean Rogers, said the building is not unsafe, but building codes change and must be kept up with. “The university has been growing and the library has been growing along with it,” Heath said. “We had reached the point where space was getting to be an issue.” Renovations will be made in three phases over several years. Joan Heath, associate vice president of Alkek library, estimates the first two phases will cost approximately $14 million. Nearly $4 million will be dedicated solely to upgrading the infrastructure of the library. The first phase of renovation includes creating an estimated $2.5 million “learning commons” on the entry-level floor of Alkek, with more multimedia technology, research facilities, new furniture and possibly a café. “The library is not just a place where you walk in and study quietly,” Heath said. “Students are using computer technology and multimedia equipment.” The “learning commons” area will provide students with more access to this type of technology. Lori Hughes, administrative director at Alkek, said this concept is one of
many that other libraries have already embraced. The amount of books, media files and other content in the library is increasing along with student enrollment every year, but the square footage of Alkek is not. To make more room for learning spaces and group study areas, the university plans to build a repository to house some of the lesser-used printed volumes. According to the university campus construction website, the Alkek Library Repository is envisioned as a 13,000 square foot facility with expansion possibilities for an additional 20,000 square feet. It will include book storage, a document intake and processing area, offices and a conference room. The estimated $5.9 million project will be located at the upcoming STAR (Science, Technology, and Advanced Research) Park at McCarty Lane and Hunter Road. Once the repository is completed, along with the first two renovation phases, the third phase can begin. Heath said she would like to begin the planning and finalization stages of the renovation project by the next academic year, but the timeline remains undetermined until sufficient funding is received. “Hopefully we’re going to get to do this relatively soon,” Heath said. “I think we could just improve upon (the library) so much if we did this renovation and hopefully we will get a chance to do it.”