SWIC to get millions in state funding to manage former Lindenwood campus in Belleville
Editor’s note: This story was corrected late Tuesday afternoon to indicate that the Illinois state budget totaled $46.5 billion, not $46.5 million.
Southwestern Illinois College is expected to receive $5.9 million to spend on the former Lindenwood University campus in Belleville in the next year now that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed a 2022-23 budget passed a week ago by the Illinois General Assembly.
The appropriation solidifies a tentative agreement that SWIC made in February with the city of Belleville to manage buildings, grounds, tenants and activities at what is now called Belleville Educational Complex.
The deal was contingent on state funding. SWIC’s specific plans still have to be approved by the Illinois Community College Board.
“We think it’s very important to keep the campus operational and functional and allow it to grow, since Lindenwood basically walked away from it,” said State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea.
Hoffman worked with State Rep. La Toya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, and State Senator Christopher Belt, D-Swansea, to get money for the project included in the $46.5 billion state budget, he said.
“People on the west end of Belleville should be really happy because this is going to make sure that (the property) doesn’t become an eyesore,” Hoffman said.
The massive brick complex at 2300 W. Main St. originally housed Belleville Township High School and later Belleville West. Missouri-based Lindenwood operated a satellite campus from 2003 to 2020. The city bought the property in August for $3 million.
According to Hoffman, SWIC estimated that it needed a one-time grant of $2.4 million to get vacant buildings up to code and ready for training programs and other activities; and $3.5 million to pay for the first year of operations.
“Eventually, we’re hopeful that it will be self-sustaining, but initially, that’s what the money is for,” Hoffman said Monday.
10-year agreement
SWIC is a community college with a main campus on Carlyle Avenue in Belleville, satellite campuses in Granite City and Red Bud and off-campus sites at Scott Air Force Base and in East St. Louis.
SWIC announced in February that it planned to move its Southwestern Illinois Police Academy from Carlyle Avenue to the Belleville Educational Complex. It would occupy classrooms and offices and use former Lindenwood dorms to house students from out of town, officials said.
Under SWIC’s intergovernmental agreement with the city, the college wouldn’t be required to pay rent like other tenants.
The agreement covers a 10-year period but allows either party to terminate, with or without cause, by giving six months written notice. It was drawn up by Garrett Hoerner, a Belleville attorney who represents both SWIC and the city.
“(The college has) the experience and administration that is capable and willing to maintain that campus, subject to approval by the Illinois Community College Board,” he said earlier this month.
SWIC won’t be responsible for maintenance or repair of “structural or systematic components,” according to Hoerner. In other words, the city would have to pay for costs related to heating and air conditioning units, plumbing, electrical and parking lots.
The agreement states:
“SWIC shall maintain and manage the operations at the Campus, including staffing SWIC employees at and/or relative to the Campus to perform user scheduling, facility, maintenance, custodial, groundskeeping, cafeteria, housing and public safety services.”
Broad language
Belleville City Council held a special meeting on Feb. 28 to approve four agreements with tenants at the Belleville Educational Complex.
The Illinois State Police plans to operate a forensic institute. The Southern Illinois Law Enforcement Commission will expand training programs for police officers, and the Southwestern Illinois Jets Basketball Club is using two gymnasiums for practices and games.
SWIC President Nick Mance and other tenant representatives spoke at a news conference after the February meeting. Mance subsequently has declined comment through a college spokesman.
“We are as big as we can get at the SWIC campus, and (moving to West Main) will give us an opportunity to double our enrollment,” police academy Director Van Muschler said at the news conference.
The city’s four-page intergovernmental agreement with SWIC states that terms are contingent on “grant funding” and approval by the Illinois Community College Board. It doesn’t mention the police academy and includes only one line related to the college’s use of facilities.
“SWIC may locate any of its educational programs at the Campus, without additional cost to SWIC,” it states.
According to Hoerner, the agreement is a starting point that simply acknowledges that the college and city are forming a partnership for operation of the Belleville Educational Complex.
“It provides flexibility to the parties as necessary to fill other space because, obviously, the goal is to utilize the campus,” he said.
Special funding
Illinois lawmakers passed the $46.5 billion budget, which outlines a state spending plan for fiscal year 2022-23, in the early morning hours of April 9 after working on it all night. Pritzker signed it into law Tuesday morning.
The Illinois Community College Board appropriation for SWIC is listed on page 754 in Article 134, Section 57.
“This is not part of any existing grant program that our agency administers,” said Matt Berry, board spokesman. “This is special funding that was put into the budget for a grant for the purpose of the Lindenwood project.”
SWIC will have to submit a formal plan for board approval, which could take a couple weeks or a couple months, he said.
“Basically, there’s $5.9 million that was put in the budget (for the project),” Berry said. “How those funds will be used and other specifics are questions that are too early to answer right now.”
One known factor is that SWIC plans to ask the Illinois Community College Board to approve its relocation of the police academy to the Belleville Educational Complex, according to Hoerner.
Other major program additions would have to be OK’d by the board and city, he said.
“SWIC’s use of that space beyond the policy academy is very preliminary, and of course the operations and maintenance are related to the occupancy,” Hoerner said. “This is a developing situation.”
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 11:54 AM.
