The C. Cloyd Miller Library on the Silver City campus of Western New Mexico State University is a place of hundreds of thousands of books, meeting rooms, archives, and government documents.
It is also the only structure on campus with its own bell tower.
Now, the building is in store for an extensive exterior renovation as the result of the big $900 million capital outlay bill just approved by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
That legislation will provide $1.3 million in funding for both the library work as well as renovation work to the school’s Student Memorial Building.
Western New Mexico University is also receiving $1.2 million for security enhancement projects; $400,000 for information technology infrastructure improvements; and another $50,000 for the planning and design of a veterans center.
The capital outlay bill is additionally providing $1.2 million for the planning, design and construction of electrical infrastructure work on the Roswell branch campus of Eastern New Mexico University; along with $100,000 for the equipping of a virtual reality system for the branch’s health care education program.
With its main campus in Portales, Eastern New Mexico University is also in line to receive $346,000 for infrastructure work at its Ruidoso campus, along with another $30,000 for the working on a retaining wall there.
One of the largest appropriations at $650,000 is slated for the construction of a new president’s residence on the school’s Portales campus.
That building, upon completion, will additionally serve as a public event venue for the school.
Members of the Eastern New Mexico University’s board of regents in January voted in favor of building a new presidential residence as a result of asbestos and mold issues in the current president’s house.
By Garry Boulard
