CONWAY — A committee reviewing the University of Central Arkansas president’s home plans to offer three options - including buying an off-campus house - during a board of trustees meeting Saturday near Heber Springs.
The board opted to hear the committee’s progress report during a weekend retreat rather than wait until its regularly scheduled Aug. 26 board meeting on the UCA campus in Conway.
University presidents’ homes are traditionally used to entertain alumni, donors and others. UCA’s two-story brick house, built in 1936 on Donaghey Avenue, still needs major work to be suitable for a university president, the committee of alumni, staff, one faculty member and one student recently concluded. Repairs and improvements on the house, already totaling roughly $400,000 since June 2009, have become a source of contention among some faculty and staff members.
Carol Daves, the committee’s secretary and assistant to the UCA provost, said Wednesday that the panel opted not to address the question of whether President Allen C. Meadors and his wife, Barbara, should live in the current home. She said the panel’s task was to consider whether the house was suitable for a family of four.
If all committee members agree to some revised wording suggested by committee and faculty member Ed Powers, the panel’s report to the board will say in part, “The house as currently configured has the space to easily accommodate an average family of four. However, the layout of the house lacks practicality and there are design elements of the house that make it inconsistent with standards of executive living.”
The Meadorses, who have no children still living at home, moved out of the house in March while major repairs and other work took place. They have not moved back. Nor were their dishes nor all of their furniture in it Thursday, when UCA allowed journalists to tour the home.
The house committee plans to offer three options to the board during a presentation scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Red Apple Inn at Eden Isle near Heber Springs.The committee is not prioritizing the options, obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and does not consider them recommendations, Daves said.
Under one option, the board would provide a stipend for the president to use toward buying or renting a house. State law now limits such a stipend at $18,000 yearly, so any additional money would have to come from private funds.
Under a second option, the board would authorize the purchase of a house of the presidential family’s choice, though UCA would maintain ownership and the ability to sell it at the end of that president’s tenure.
For this option, the committee asked Pam McDowell Properties to provide “examples of executive houses in the Conway area,” Daves said.
McDowell submitted four examples, ranging in cost from $699,000 to $799,000.
Also, Joanne Stevens, owner of Ward Mansion Bed and Breakfast in Conway, sent information suggesting that the 22-room house, which was built in 1950 and restored in 2007 and 2008, be considered. Stevens’ letter provided no list price, but inns.com lists it at $990,000. Daves said the committee did not request Stevens’ submission.
A third option would include either an expansion or a remodeling of the present house. Daves said Wednesday that the committee hoped to present three architectural drafts with cost estimates to the board but wasn’t sure it would have them in time. She said a Little Rock architectural firm had not given the panel any cost estimates.
Daves said the most expensive of the architectural plans would be to build on a private living area behind the current house, which would become an event venue. The least expensive, she said, would be to renovate the house’s upstairs master bedroom and bathroom and a downstairs bathroom used by the public during special events.
The midprice option, she said, would be to build on a master suite downstairs, to enlarge that downstairs bathroom and to change the upstairs bedroom that the Meadorses had converted into a large closet back into a bedroom or office.
The two lower-priced plans also would include a kitchenette.
The door of the first-floor bathroom in question measures 36 inches by 80 inches. UCA spokesman Venita Jenkins said Thursday that, according to the physical plant staff, “you are supposed to have [5 feet] of clear space in front of the toilet for a turnaround area” for a wheelchair under federal disability standards. She said this bathroom has 41 inches.
Daves previously has said the bathroom met federal disability guidelines. But she said Thursday that she thought she had been told that but wasn’t certain whether it actually did meet federal standards.
After first refusing Arkansas Democrat-Gazette requests for pictures or video to be taken inside the UCA-owned house, citing security concerns, the university relented and allowed photo and video access to the first floor, but not to the private living quarters upstairs.
UCA officials allowed media representatives to tour the upstairs but prohibited the taking of any pictures of the private living area. UCA allowed the first-floor video or photo access only after being shown a video tour given of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville chancellor’s new house. UCA also released floor plans to the Democrat-Gazette under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. In an e-mail, Meadors said, “We, at the recommendation of our Police Chief (and I agree) has not agreed to once allowed video taping by outside entities of personal areas. ... Again, we did not denied access to living area, just outside video taping of this area.”
It was unclear whether the board will vote on anything Saturday. Spokesman Jeff Pitchford first said no action would be taken but later sent an e-mail saying that while he did “not anticipate any vote or action by the Board, a decision by the Board to take a vote or to act on any issue resides with the Board.”
Further, UCA first issued a news release saying in part that there were “no action items on the agenda. However, the board could decide to convene a meeting during the retreat to conduct official business.”
Reminded of state law requirement of at least a two hour advance notice of any meeting, UCA later issued another release, which said the board would “meet” Saturday at 8:45 a.m.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 08/05/2011