The UNM Board of Regents’ Finance and Facilities Committee met Monday to discuss, among other things, the SUB construction project and the function of Lobo Energy, Inc. within the University.
Julie Weaks Gutierrez, vice president for Business and Finance, said that the University is in the final stages of negotiation with potential new construction managers to oversee the SUB project.
“We hope to announce someone this week,” Weaks Gutierrez said.
The University fired Silver Construction Co. from the project on Feb. 20, but extended the contract last week, until a new construction manager could be hired.
“We didn’t want the site to be completely abandoned,” Weaks Gutierrez said.
She listed keeping equipment warranties and relationships with subcontractors intact as other reasons for the extension.
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Weaks Gutierrez reiterated that the SUB would be completed sometime in May.
No action concerning the SUB project was requested of the committee.
Per the terms of its corporate bylaws, Lobo Energy, Inc. asked the Board and Finance and Facilities Committee to appoint Warren D. Baur to the Lobo Energy Board of Directors.
If appointed, Baur, who has served in various positions at the UNM Health Sciences Center since 1972, will be the newest member of the eight-member board.
The action was passed by the committee and will be put before the Board of Regents next Monday.
Formed in 1997, Lobo Energy, Inc. is a nonprofit organization which addresses failing infrastructure issues within UNM, said Jeff Easton, the group’s president and CEO.
“It was initially thought that Lobo Energy would own all of the utilities on campus,” Weaks Gutierrez said. “But they do not do that. They are primarily a business planning entity who also aid the University in the procurement of natural gas.”
Easton added that Lobo Energy has been involved in $54 million worth of utility renovations on campus, including the installation of new lights and ballasts in nearly every building on campus — a project that reduced UNM’s energy consumption by nearly 30 percent.
Tim Canova, professor at the UNM School of Law, presented a socially responsible investing policy for the committee’s approval. The policy’s beginnings go back about 18 months to when a group of students wanted the University to ban buying World Bank Bonds. World Bank had received widespread criticism for its closed decision-making processes, Canova said. The committee approved the policy.
The committee also approved the disposal of $1,150,951 worth of surplus property.
Weaks Gutierrez said that the items would be either auctioned off or donated to various charities.
The UNM Retirees Association asked the committee for approval to create a formal association.
The association was designed to give the large contingent of University retirees a voice and some representation in the UNM community, said Susan Carkeek, associate vice president of Human Resources. The committee granted approval to the organization.
Also on the committee’s agenda of action items was the appointment of Howard L. Smith to the Board of Directors of Science and Technology Corp. at UNM — an organization that handles patent issues within the University. The action passed unanimously.
Other action items included the University’s purchase of two pieces of property, the lease of 77 medical cabinets for the Health Sciences Center and approval for an operating agreement between UNM and UNM-Gallup. The committee passed all actions.
