The most talked about item on Thursday’s agenda for the Texas A&M system’s board of regents meeting did not take place.
Regents chairman Cliff Thomas of Victoria has approved chancellor John Sharp’s request to postpone consideration of a three year contract extension until the August meeting. In a letter Sharp sent to Thomas…provided by the system…the chancellor says there continues to be persistent rumors the extension is being rushed to keep the Governor’s newest appointee to the board from voting on it. Thomas was asked to wait until after Tim Leach of Midland joins the board…according to Sharp…”just to stop these goofy rumors someone has started.” Sharp went on to write Leach is “a dear friend” and Leach “has said publicly he is a supporter of the direction we are going.”
Click HERE to read John Sharp’s letter to Cliff Thomas.
Because the state senate has not gotten around to the Governor’s appointment of Leach and the reappointments of Thomas and Elaine Mendoza…who is from San Antonio…that allowed Judy Morgan of Texarkana to participate in Thursday’s meeting. Leach was in the audience for Thursday’s meeting.
The regents approved nine new construction projects. Only one involves Brazos County. It’s a $70 million dollar new headquarters for the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) on the A&M system’s RELLIS campus facing Highway 21. Construction is scheduled to start next month and be completed at the end of next year. The system’s director of facilities planning and construction, Russ Wallace, says the new headquarters will allow the existing TTI offices on the A&M campus to be used by the Colleges of Economics and Political Science…and allow the Gilchrist Building to be used for the Colleges of Education and Liberal Arts. Both buildings would also contain classrooms.
Click HERE to read the background information about TTI’s new headquarters.
After meeting behind closed doors, the regents in open session approved the purchase of a building at an unidentified location in College Station for unspecified offices and laboratories and approved the funding source to buy a building for the A&M experiment engineering station at an unidentified location.
