Bond efforts making steady progress

Hayden Hunter

the advocate

 

Progress for Mt. Hood’s proposed General Obligation bond (GO bond), targeted for the May 2016 election, is continuing at a steady pace.

As reported by The Advocate on Feb. 27, an outside (non-MHCC) bond committee has been formed, with co-chairmen Doug Walker and Fred Sanchez.

Mt. Hood also has developed its own internal committee, consisting of administrators and faculty members which, according to President Debbie Derr, will only be “exploratory and Informational, because we (the college) can not campaign” directly to support the bond.

The committee is in the interview process, looking for a bond consultant to “help with crafting our messaging, and looking at how we can do a great job of getting out into our communities and telling our story,” said Derr.

A survey done by the internal committee looked at the surrounding (Gresham-Portland) community and, according to Derr, found there is “general support” for projects the college is looking at with the proposed bond support, “which really focuses on workforce development, jobs, modernizing the campus, (and) expanding the Maywood campus.

“We will go back out for a second survey, and if our community is supporting us, then we will take that information and present it to the (MHCC) Board, and they will have to make a decision to move forward or not,” said Derr.

The panel has interviewed two companies and is set to interview one more.

“We will look at the information and cost they provide to us and make a decision from there,” said Derr.