Support staff’s walking path project reaches completion
By Heather Bowers
IV Leader Staff, May 3, 2007
With just a few bumps along the way, Support Staff has
completed its annual service project: a walking path around campus. Because of
various issues, the Support Staff was only able to get a couple of the proposed
paths completed. These paths include the already paved walkways around the gym
and through the middle of the parking lots.
According to Support Staff member Vera Adams, the idea behind
the walking paths was to “enhance the experience of the campus.” With over
$2,000 raised from fundraisers, the Support Staff is purchasing a kiosk for the
path map, a park bench for students and staff to enjoy, and various flowers and
plants to beautify the pathways.
The Support Staff is also donating money to the college’s
Horticulture Club. Horticulture program coordinator Lauri Carey said that the
club was given $400 to purchase plants. The club plans on planting later this
year. “We will work on this through the rest of this year and likely into next
fall,” she said.
Along with the Horticulture Club, IVCC’s Beautification Team
is working with the Support Staff to enhance the paths. According to Vice
President for Business Services Jerry Corcoran, “The Beautification Team is
fortunate to have two members of the walking path service project group on our
team and they have done a nice job of keeping us apprised of plans and
activities related to the walking path project.”
Money for the walking path also came from IVCC’s new
Terracycle program. Originally, the walking path project included adding trails
around areas such as IVCC’s pond and the river bluff outlook; however, the
college ran into insurance issues.
According to IVCC President Larry Huffman, the cost of
insurance would “rise too high” to create walking paths that were not already
paved. He added that the promotion of the unpaved paths could lead to injury and
the college would be held liable. The pond could act as an “attractive nuisance”
to younger children who come to walk these paths with their parents.
Along with insurance issues, the project ran over its
proposed one year time limit. Adams said that disagreements and multiple
meetings caused the project to be delayed. Huffman agreed that the plan ran over
its time limit and said that if he were at the college when the project was
started, he would have “asked more questions.”