Though it will ultimately be left up to voters in November, local cities are backing what may be the first College of the Sequoias (COS) bond measure to ever pass in the schoolís history.

Exeter City Council voted to support Measure I at their Sept. 23 meeting. If approved, Measure I would generate local funds so that COS would receive state money to fund improvements and upgrades to the Visalia campus. The total bond amount would not exceed $28 million and all funds would have to be used for construction or improvement of facilities, with no funding going to salaries.

Measure I would help COSís nursing program which currently trains 75% of all the nurses working in the areaís medical facilities, by funding new equipment and technology. The bond would fund security updates, new computers, fund land expansion and go to renovate some of the collegeís aging facilities.

Measure I is one of two measures on the ballot this election for COS. The other, Measure J is a $60 million bond measure to build a new Tulare campus for College of the Sequoias.

Lindsay City Council members voted 4-0 at its Aug. 26 meeting to support Measure J. City Manager Scot Townsend said that $1.5 million of the $60 million bond would be used for computer and health educational programs at the McDermont Field House and the future Wellness Center.

Measure I would not only rev up the nursing program at COS, but deal with the ongoing struggle for parking that students find on a daily basis. With enrollment at College of the Sequoias at an all-time high, students are finding it harder to find a parking spot on every side of the campus.

If passed in November, Measure I would change that, giving COS $4.65 million to pave its newest parking lot and purchase the homes south to Tulare Avenue to expand the campus and create more parking for students. The newest and seventh parking lot is a dirt lot used for student parking, but once paved it will provide more parking stalls for students, said Eric Mittlestead, dean of facilities at COS.

ìTwo years ago you could pull in anytime and find a spot, but parking has become a challenge,î said Mittlestead.

With COS enrollment at an all-time high of 12,784 students this semester and 1,463 student parking spaces on campus, there is roughly one parking spot available for every eight students.

Students such as Frank Trejo, of Woodlake, say they welcome the passage of Measure I for the many improvements it will bring to COS, including parking.

ìIt would be nice if for once people couldnít use parking as an excuse for being late to class,î Trejo said.

Trejo, a student of COS for the past two years, said he arrives at school at 6 a.m. every morning to get a space. At that hour, he says itís not uncommon to see others doing the same.

ìYou even see students sleeping in their cars,î he said.

In order to pass, Measure I requires a 55 percent vote of residents living in Visalia, Farmersville, Ivanhoe, Exeter, Three Rivers, Woodlake, Cutler and Orosi.

The measure would cost property owners an average of $14 per year or $8.42 per $100,000 assessed valuation.

For information on Measure I, contact Bob Line at 734-3338.

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