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Members of the House Capital Investment Committee made the first of several stops Tuesday, including visits in Austin, part of a two-day tour of southeast Minnesota to hear proposed projects in the 2024 Capital Investment Bill.

Tuesday’s itinerary took them from Eagan through to Riverland Community College in Austin with several more stops to follow on Wednesday. Austin has benefited from such stops before, with prior visits helping pave the way for money recently secured for the city’s Wastewater Treatment Project.

“What’s important is when you are able to highlight specific needs locally, especially those that fit closely into bonding that’s now a really important thing,” said Rep. Patricia Mueller, who even though isn’t a member of the committee, was making stops with the group in Austin. “Not every place gets a visit. Not every place gets access to the committee. When they choose your area to visit, that means you are a priority.”

Stops in Austin included a visit to hear about The Hormel Institute’s Bioimaging Center project as well as a tour of the Austin campus of RCC where they heard about the FAARM project being eyed as being based in the Austin area, a Blooming Prairie Water and Sewer project and the Semcac Austin Headstart project.

However, committee members also got a run down of Riverland’s own Student Services Design Renovation project that would update the school’s student support infrastructure.

Riverland is requesting $17,140,000 in bonding money for the project, which would renovate the busiest part of the campus’ East Building to create a Student Services Hub.

During her presentation, Riverland President Kat Linaker, told committee members that the project, when completed, would be a welcoming point for students coming to Riverland Community College.

“This renovation will provide a home base for all student and academic support services, enabling our staff to better serve students regardless of which of our three campuses — Austin, Albert Lea or Owatonna — they attend,” she said. “By creating a sense of belonging and increasing accessibility to support services we expect this project to contribute to an increase in enrollment, retention, completion and an overall increase in student satisfaction with their experience here at Riverland, particularly among first-generation students.”

According to the project timeline, the school is eyeing a start in construction in June of 2025 with pre-construction work followed by two phases of construction coming to a completion in 2026.

Once completed the project would have renovated 25,000 square feet and renewed 28,500 square feet.

Projects like Riverland’s are rarely small, so it’s because of this that legislators find the usefulness in visiting sites.

“It’s important to be on site so we can hear the impact that the state can make for the local community and I think in turn it helps us when we go back to make our decision on what we should consider for funding,” said Rep Fue Lee, DFL-Minneapolis, chair of the committee. “Hearing about some of these state investments into our local and regional economies and how much of an impact it has on our education, the dollars that’s going to help local communities.”