The Challenger Learning Center in northeast Alabama receives its contribution in advance from the Etowah County Commission, contingent on approval by members of its advisory board.
On Tuesday, commissioners approved an amendment to their original 2023 agreement to provide $100,000 for the project, which would be based in Rainbow City and, in the style of a space shuttle, would provide a science, technology, engineering and math educational experience to young people in a dozen Alabama counties.
The money was to be paid in annual installments of $25,000 over four years; the first installment has already been paid.
However, under the agreement, Challenger Center will receive the remaining $75,000 all at once. The compromise is that anything the county’s money is spent on must go through a competitive bidding process.
More: Ford insists on $250,000 support for Challenger Center: “We can’t nail jelly to the wall”
During the Commission meeting on July 30, Commissioner Craig Inzer Jr. indicated that he would work to ensure compliance with this requirement, responding to what he believed were contracts signed for the project for which there was no competitive bidding process.
That’s not required by law because the center and its project partner, the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama, are both 501(c)(3) nonprofits, not government entities. Inzer said, “Legal doesn’t always mean right,” noting that he was elected to be a good steward of the tax dollars that come into the county.
However, Inzer said on Tuesday that Tony Smith, the new chairman of the advisory board, had met with the commissioners for a productive meeting in which “cleared the air” and all problems were “resolved”.
Commission President Tim Ramsey said: “It’s all about communication and cooperation.”
More: Rainbow City makes progress on its new $15.3 million recreation center
Smith, the local manager of Alabama Power, and another council member, retired educator Teresa Rhea, both attended Tuesday’s meeting.
Inzer thanked Smith for understanding his and the commission’s position on funding, stressing that this action was “nothing against the Challenger Center board” but was simply intended to ensure that county funds would be subject to county regulatory standards.
Smith, in turn, thanked the commissioners for “standing by our side as partners to make this happen” and said groundbreaking for the project is expected to take place in September.
Rhea said board members toured various STEM education institutions in the eastern United States to look for ideas “to ensure our children have the best opportunity to learn all the skills needed for 21st Jobs of the century.”
She said they had seen “amazing things in other areas” and were determined to offer the same here.
The Challenger Center, the only one in Alabama (there are more than 30 in the U.S.), is being built on a 5-acre site on Lumley Road in Rainbow City, near John S. Jones Elementary School, Rainbow Middle School, Kia Sports Plex RBC (formerly Etowah County Mega Sports Complex) and a planned new recreation center and aquatics complex in Rainbow City.
The project received $8.5 million from the state, appropriated in last year’s Education Trust Fund supplemental budget, and $2.4 million from the federal government, provided through Representative Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville), for a Challenger simulator. In addition, the project received more than $1 million in other pledges, grants and donations, both from the government and private individuals.
