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Plans for JCC Extension Center in Lowville Remain on Hold
05/23/17 08:30am
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    Lowville, NY- Lewis County Director of Planning Frank Pace reported to the
    Economic Development committee of the Lewis County Legislators on Monday
    that plans for an extension center with Jefferson Community College remain on
    hold indefinitely.

    Officials at JCC had been waiting on the state budget to assess their funding
    allotments before moving forward with signing an agreement for the proposed
    center. Earlier this month, officials told Mr. Pace that they would not be able to
    operate a full-scale center here at this time, citing cuts in funding.

    Mr. Pace said officials still hope to expand some programs at the Maple Ridge
    center in the near future. JCC is also planning a community survey to gauge
    interests and needs of county residents before moving forward with any new
    plans.

    The county is also in talks with a regional consortium of  education providers,
    including Mohawk Valley Community College and SUNY Polytech, to see what
    educational opportunities and programs can be brought to the county.

    County Manager Liz Swearingin said that everyone involved is disappointed in
    the news from JCC, but all parties remain committed to offering programs on a
    smaller scale for now and will continue to move towards the larger vision.

    Back in August, legislators  committed $4 million to develop an educational
    extension with JCC to offer non-credit manufacturing and agribusiness training
    and certificate programs to Lewis County. At that time they approved the
    property acquisition for and the construction of a 20,000-square-foot building
    with classrooms and laboratories, if JCC provided a commitment of at least ten
    years to provide the programming, staff and operation of the extension campus
    in Lewis County.

    Legislators held a special meeting in February, where they were expected to
    review the engineer/architect proposals submitted for the project. It was then
    we first learned that JCC had decided to "hold off" signing an operating
    agreement until they had reviewed their funding in the 2017-18 state budget.