North Country Community College President Steve Tyrell presents a plan to start a School of Applied Technology Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Glynis Hart)

SARANAC LAKE – North Country Community College announced a proposal to start a School of Applied Technology yesterday, saying it would serve the Adirondack community and be a financial success for the college.

The school would offer two-year Associate of Applied Science degree programs in carpentry/painting, HVAC/plumbing, electrical trades, and auto and diesel mechanics, plus a certificate program in facility maintenance technology. (Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said all the programs would be certificate programs.)

College President Steve Tyrell presented the proposal along with Donna Wotton of the Ticonderoga Revitalization Alliance (Ti-Alliance). The college looked at opening a trade school in the old Lowe’s building in Ticonderoga two years ago, but nixed the plan for lack of funding. However, Tyrell said that the college has been saving money and growing its fund balance since that time, despite a decline in enrollment.

“We feel we’re in a much better position today,” said Steve Reed, chair of the NCCC Board of Trustees. “If we work our fund balance into the equation we feel we can do it using 20 percent of our fund balance.”

The total project cost is estimated at nearly $5 million. NCCC expects to contribute $100,000 in program development and $900,000 to the start-up, an estimated 20 percent of the total cost. (Correction: An earlier version of this article only mentioned the $100,000 NCCC would contribute.)

Wotton indicated that the Ti-Alliance could muster funding for the school from private donors.

“The Ti revitalization resources are significant,” Wotton said. “We have the ability to secure a home for it and to raise substantial funding.”

In addition, Tyrell explained that the state will supply matching funding for some costs.

Wotton said the Ti Alliance hopes to “move aggressively” on the project, with the first classes at the new SAT beginning in September 2019. (Correction: An earlier version of this article said the college hopes to move aggressively, but Wotton was speaking for the Ti Alliance in this, not the college.) Donors who had been interested in funding the project two years ago may no longer be interested, but Wotton said she was hoping to turn that around. Further, NCCC has received a windfall of federal aid for its Second Chance Pell program, which brings teachers into the prison system to reduce the rate of recidivism. Second Chance Pell, a two-year pilot program authorized by the Obama administration, brings almost $600,000 a year to the college, but is expected to expire at the end of 2018.

Reed emphasized that the trade school plan relies heavily on input from the current faculty. “We enthusiastically embrace the faculty oversight process,” he said.

The SAT plan had been presented to the faculty earlier in the day. If they approve it, it will be up to the faculty to hire a project feasibility manager, who will vet the plan before moving it forward.

As presented by NCCC and the Ti-Alliance, the numbers look good. Tyrell said an investment of $5 million could be returned to the economy within two years. “This could operate at a profit immediately,” he said.

The Ti-Alliance is a non-profit dedicated to economic development in Ticonderoga and the surrounding region. Wotton said they see this project as a key to economic development, as it brings in students and faculty, as well as keeping interested young people in the area by providing training for jobs that are, currently, not being filled.

“We do not have enough services to the extent that we need to support our population,” said Wotton. Wotton, who lives in Hague eight months a year, recently had a furnace breakdown. She tried to get her plumber to do it, but was told he has more work than he can handle and can’t find helpers.

“He’s not only not taking new customers, he’s cutting back on his old customers,” she said. “My caretaker told me that if I call an electrician, I’m going to run into the same problem.”

Wotton said the proposed two-year degree would set graduates up for “immediate self-employment.”

College officials said there will be more community outreach events as plans evolve.