The Southwestern Illinois College Board of Trustees on Wednesday approved $143,000 worth of change orders as it finalizes construction of the school's new Liberal Arts Building II.

SWIC spokesman Mike Fleming said the changes are improvements allowed by left over money in the construction contingency fund.

"Change orders typically occur at the end of any construction project," Fleming said. "A project of this size typically carries a contingency of 10 percent."

Fleming said since the new SWIC building came in on budget, options and add ons were able to be included in the construction.

Among the changes to be considered are:

* $37,560 worth of upgrades to the air conditioning system.

* $64,006 to install a vapor barrier on all areas of the building's first floor that are to receive carpet and vinyl floor tile.

* $9,572 to add ceramic wall tile and floor tile in the student lounge and Starbucks coffee shop.

* $12,294 to modify acoustical wall panels and hand rails.

Fleming said the new building, which opened before the spring semester started and which is currently hosting classes, cost about $19.1 million to build. Of the $1.9 million contingency fund, about 14 percent remains unspent or about $266,150.

While he couldn't guarantee no more change orders would come through, the action Wednesday marks the expected end of the construction project.

"We're about as close to closing it out as we could possibly be," Fleming said.

In other business Wednesday the SWIC board voted to hire a new mailroom coordinator at a salary of $30,078 for its Belleville campus and an assistant instructional technology manager at a salary of $46,000.

The board also voted to join the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.

According to SWIC attorney Garrett Hoerner the move would "benefit to the community as well as the campus to have the major case squad available if there is an incident."

Contact reporter Scott Wuerz at swuerz@bnd.com or call 239-2626.