Trustees of Texarkana College will consider accepting a donation to demolish the school's College Annex property during Monday's regular meeting.
The former Medical Arts Hospital was donated to the college and used for dormitories, but it has been completely closed for 18 months, TC President James Henry Russell said.
"It was costing over $100,000 per year to keep it open," he said.
The school's budget crisis, in addition to maintenance and plumbing problems, led to the close, he said.
"We do not want to let it sit there deteriorating," Russell said of the building.
In looking for solutions for the property, administrators asked the city of Texarkana if they wanted to use the facilities, but it's too costly to operate in the building, he said.
Stan Excavating in Texarkana, Texas, has offered to demolish the building and parking lot and return the area to a grassy community space.
"We can't thank them enough for offering to do this," Russell said. He added that it was filler work for them, and it wouldn't be done as fast as if the school was paying for it. The work is expected to be complete within 12 months.
"It's a cost avoidance to TC estimated about the $300,000 to $500,000 range," Russell said.
Part of the demolition process includes testing the building for asbestos. An item on Monday's agenda includes considering requests for proposals for asbestos abatement for the building, but Russell said he expects that item to be tabled because they want to have the building tested again. The RFP is based on asbestos testing done during the 2013-14 school year.
"We want to do additional testing to make sure the initial testing done a few years ago is accurate, whether the asbestos is widespread or not," Russel said. "Our goal is to get this building gone and the new play area back for as little as no cost to the college as possible while doing it within all codes."
The space will end up as a grassy area for the community to use for tee-ball and soccer practice, with TC adding backstops and soccer goals.
Trustees will also consider adopting a Multidisciplinary Studies Associate Degree Program. Donna McDaniel, TC's vice president of instruction, said it won't be a new degree.
"The state mandated that we have to have Multidisciplinary Studies degree," she said. TC has a General Studies degree, the requirements of which are the same as those for Multidisciplinary Studies, McDaniel said. The school doesn't have to rename the degree, just designate it as the Multidisciplinary Studies degree to meet that mandate.
Trustees will also consider a Memorandum of Understanding between Northeast Texas Community College, Parish Junior College and TC for a surgical technician program. That program is costly, Russell said, and doesn't have a high demand in the local market to support training up to 15 students each semester.
"Instead of all of us duplicating these programs, we are all going to split this," he said.
Prior to the regular meeting Monday, trustees will also hold a Prioritization Workshop for TC's 2016-17 Strategic Plan. That will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Great Room at the Truman Arnold Student Center, 2500 N. Robison Road, Texarkana, Texas. The regular meeting will follow the workshop.