By Bethany Peterson/reporter

The new District 2 trustee was sworn in at the board of trustees meeting Nov. 17.

Conrad Heede was welcomed to his first board meeting with some good-natured heckling from the other trustees including a race with trustee Gwendolyn Morrison to second a motion and board president William Greenhill’s presentation of a Toro cardboard cutout.

Also, the board approved a contract of up to $430,000 with Jacobs Engineering Group to conduct the Alliance Learning Center feasibility study. The proposed center would increase the scope and size of the TCC aviation program.

“After the work is done, April or May is the timing to complete this work, we’ll come back to you, and at that point, we’ll have a program that clearly states the concepts we need, and you’ll have a cost,” said Nina Petty, vice chancellor of real estate and facilities. “And at that point, you make a decision to take the next step.”

Heede reported on a meeting he and Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley had with John Terrell, vice president of commercial development for Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, on a potential new project.

“They do want an educational job training/skills training facility located on the airport,” Heede said. “They have contacted other educational facilities, but nobody has really stepped up to the plate at this point. They are looking for people not only to give an education facility, not only to give basic education but also to give skills training from low skills to very high skills.”

The airport has several buildings that will soon be vacant, Terrell told them, which could possibly be used for an education center.

“They are very open to a partnership with Tarrant County College, which means hopefully a little less money and a facility at a very reasonable cost if the college decides to go along with it,” Heede said.