Flint Hills Technical College

INFORMATION REGARDING BOARD AGENDA ITEM

TO: Board of Trustees

DATE: September 14, 2026

PREPARED & SUBMITTED BY: President Daugherty

SUBJECT: Facility and Construction Updates

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

College Leadership provides the Board regular updates on the status of the College facilities. The College receives KBOR funding for capital outlay to support facility maintenance and institutional and program equipment. The College maintains a Facility Operations budget line. While the College receives capital outlay and some facilities managements funds from KBOR, KBOR does not regulate the College's facilities. This responsibility is undertaken by the College's local governing Board of Trustees.

Discussion re: Construction Advisors. A representative with Switchgrass Construction Advisors will present to the Board at the October meeting.

3% charge- He represents owners. Essentially, half a million or more to the owner related to construction overages. He is the logisitics liasion. Keeps the contractor accountable and acts as the voice of the owner.

Charles Bartlett Maintenance Building. The fenced laydown yard is scheduled for completion before December 2026.

Downtown Campus departure. The College is relocating the backup server to the Adult Education Center. This relocation will be final before December 31, 2026. The College has paid a quarterly rent through September 2026.

615 Overlander Facility.

September 2026. Sewer lines, water hookup, right-of-way, and discussions related to relocating the CDL program to the Overlander facility are underway. FHTC infrastructure needs (IT, phones, office setup) will begin transitioning to the facility.
August 2026. Summit Oil and Glacier Oil staff have completed their move from the offices. Water and sewer hookups are under review by the architect, the electrician, and College staff in working with the City engineer's schematics. The CDL Simulation Trailer will be housed at Overlander.

July 2026. Asphalt milling is placed on the west lot to support the CDL units. Some items are relocating for storage. We continue to search grants for the needed renovations to accommodate students and the public.
April 2026. Annexation approved by City. The request moves to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
April 2026. I submitted an appropriation request for 2027 to the City for support related to the ADA, sprinkling, infrastructure, and other improvements for public use / student use at the Overlander facility.
March 2026. The annexation documents are in process for submission to the City for review with Zoning & Planning.
February 2026. The septic tank was pumped and cleaned. Since this property is still in the County, we were required to submit this information to CareArc. We will pursue the annexation process over the next few months.

Advanced Industry Education Center. Meetings with the architect and designer continue every 2 weeks. These conversations review the plumbing, engineering, HVAC, and other infrastructure needs for the facility.

The most recent discussions include the faculty feedback to review power and equipment needs for the layout of the labs.

The Board was provided updates at the July 2026 retreat. These efficiencies have been detailed by the architect:

Green space: Concrete absorbs heat during the day and releases it slowly at night, causing HVAC to work overtime. Concrete touching a building tends to reflect sunlight into windows causing solar gain. The site has concrete pulled away from the building on the south and west facades where this will be the most prevalent. The east will be shaded by the proximity of the Metcalf Building.
Low-E coatings on windows: reflects sunlight reducing solar gain. Standard for most window companies in the last decade.
Wall insulation: The building will have fully insulated walls as standard for framed construction (no added cost). Emporia hasn't adopted an energy code but we would still use this for guidance on determining R values. The buildings on campus built with concrete block likely have minimal, if any, wall insulation.
Roof Insulation: Again, Emporia doesn't have an energy code, but we would follow minimum recommendations. As an added cost we could super insulate the roof with R-60 insulation, which is being recommended more and more. The foam roofing has the benefit of reducing thermal bridging. To simplify thermal bridging, steel framing conducts heat better than foam, so having the foam on the roof prevents the steel frame from touching the exterior and heating up. Additionally, the white colored membrane roof will reflect heat away from the building during the summer.
Roof top units (RTUs): Efficiency has improved greatly in the last decade (no increased cost). Add-ons like economizers sense outdoor temperatures and pull in outdoor air with a fan when conditions are favorable, reducing the work of the compressor. The cost for the economizers is usually recouped in a few years.
LED lighting: These have extremely low energy consumption compared to fluorescent or incandescent lighting. LEDs are also so common that they're the lowest cost fixtures. We would recommend installing occupancy sensors so lights turn off automatically if a room isn't occupied. This is a minimal cost and will pay for itself if you have faculty and staff prone to leaving on lights.
Low flow plumbing fixtures: Low flow commercial fixtures are pretty much standard due to most large cities adopting an energy code. We've also discussed specifying touchless faucets. This is a minimal upcharge and reduces water use. As an added benefit, they're far more sanitary.

Advancing Tomorrow Capital Campaign: We will provide updates in this space as they develop.

September-October 2026. Jessica Corpening has the Public Works And Economic Assistance (PWEAA) EDA grant in final review for submission. The review team met Friday to prepare the final submission.
June 2026. Lewis H Humphreys Charitable Trust $100,000.
May 2026. Evergy $100,000.
May 2026. Tom Stebbins Memorial Scholarship Golf Tournament committee $10,000.
February 2026. John North Ford donated $20,000 to the Advancing Tomorrow campaign.
November 2025: Joey and Amy LeMay were recognized for their $10,000 donation. Other $5,000 donations continue to come in as a result of the dinner August 7.
September 2025: Simmons Pet Foods donated $500,000 to the campaign, and the College hosted an announcement on September 15 to celebrate the partnership. See the poster in the Hollenbeck Student Commons (photo is attached).
August 2025: The Foundation hosted a dinner event August 7 to select community and industry partners. Emporia State Federal Credit Union was recognized on August 6 for their $20,000 donation and naming of the conference room in the student services area of the Advanced Industry Education Center.
April 2025: The College kicked off this campaign with the Foundation with the announcement of the $2 million gift from Jones Trust.

FHTC Board of Trustees: Monthly Meeting

Meeting Information