Vice President of Finance and Administrative Services David Burdette will request authorization Thursday to fund two additional deferred maintenance projects at the Board of Trustees meeting.

The meeting takes place at 9 a.m. Thursday in the president’s conference room in the Bovee University Center.

The total amount being requested is $1.5 million, where $1.42 million will go toward additional renovations in Brooks Hall and $80,000 for classrooms and safety rules.

“We’ve had temperature control problems in that building, so this money will address those issues,” said Steve Smith, director of public relations. “The university has been moving quickly to try and resolve the issues, but we’re still investigating as to why these errors were made.”

The deferred maintenance fund maintains the buildings and facilities on campus.

Renovations to Brooks Hall, built in 1964, began in August 2008 with new underground water piping and installation of air supply duct work for the air conditioning. Piping, duct work and the installation of 120 heat pumps were among some of the additions this past summer. Facilities management has performed most of the additions and fixtures.

The Board also authorized $750,000 at its September meeting for renovations.

There have been noise level problems since the new heating ventilation and air conditioning system has been added, Smith said.

“We need to do some upgrades,” he said.

Burdette also will request approval of the capital outlay budget for 2010-11 consisting of a bio-technology building, with a proposed cost of $75 million.

Other agenda items

Interim Provost Gary Shapiro will propose the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is funding intended to help stabilize budgets in order to minimize and avoid reductions in education. CMU has the opportunity to apply for funding up to $2,342,100.

Any grant exceeding $500,000 in one year requires prior formal Board action before the university accepts the grant.

“When state government approved its state appropriations for CMU, they took into account the federal stimulus dollars that were designed to keep our appropriations at a continued level from last year,” Smith said.

The Board also will discuss changing the name of the Department of Art to the Department of Art and Design, along with the election of Board of Trustees officers for 2010.

Also on the agenda is discussion to authorize rights to market, sell, distribute and further develop the Authorizer Oversight Information System software. Corporate Computer, Inc. entered an agreement with the Center for Charter Schools on June 25, 2003.

The National Science Foundation has provided a grant of $463,150 for the purchase of confocal microscope to be used by faculty in development biology, cell biology and neuroscience. The Board will vote to authorize negotiations to form a contract to purchase a microscope not to exceed that amount.

Student liaison meeting

The Student Liaison Committee will meet with the Board at 4:30 p.m. today in the UC’s Terrace Room C Student Government Association President and Mount Pleasant senior Jason Nichol will discuss several topics.

One such topic is the request to make student opinion survey results available to students online. As of now, students may obtain SOS results in Charles V. Park Library on a compact disc.

“We, as students, think it’s beneficial because it’s a consistent measurement,” Nichol said. “All we’re hoping to do is move it from its current form on CD to the Internet, which is the medium our generation prefers to consume information.”

Other issues SGA will discuss with the Board is the possibility of removing phones from residence halls. Nichol said an estimated $400,000 to $600,00 can be saved just from removing the phones from the residence halls since students do not even use them to begin with.