SEMO PLANT WORK, PRISON INCLUDED

Missouri's $409.4 million capital improvements budget includes $5 million to revamp Southeast Missouri State University's power plant and $94 million for a new prison at Bonne Terre.

The budget, signed by Gov. Mel Carnahan Monday, includes construction projects for fiscal years 1996 and 1997. The 1996 fiscal year begins July 1.

The $5 million to Southeast Missouri State involves renovation of the boiler and steam electrical generators. It also pays for upgrades to the electrical distribution system on campus.

Ken Dobbins at Southeast said the two-year project should save the university money in the long run.

For example, he said, costs of running the steam turbines are marginal. But the steam generators are inoperable right now, and the project will make the steam turbines work again, he said.

At times the university would save money using the steam turbines; other times it would be more economical to buy power from Union Electric.

The second part of the project is improving electrical distribution across campus. Dobbins said it is important to have redundancy for electrical power. If power goes out, the university should be able to reroute the power. Now, if the university has an outage, depending on where it happens, parts of campus could be without power as long as two weeks.

Dobbins said a power plant upgrade isn't a very glamorous project. "But when you turn on a light switch, you expect the lights to come one When you go into a room, you expect the air conditioning to work." The project will help guarantee that happens, he said.

The university will spend another $1 million from its budget to complete the project, Dobbins said.

The Bonne Terre prison is one of five prison expansion or construction projects. Forty four percent of the state's construction budget will be spent on correctional facilities.

At Bonne Terre, a 1,820-bed reception and diagnostic center and a 1,000-bed medium security prison will be built.

Chris Sifford of Carnahan's office said several state departments have money included in the total that will be spent statewide.

For example, $53 million will be spent for new conservation projects and another $5.5 million to improve state parks, including construction of a $100,000 drainage control system at Big Oak Tree State Park near East Prairie.

Sam A. Baker State Park near Piedmont will receive a new $244,835 bathhouse. Other specific projects haven't been outlined.

Another project approved for the Ozark foothills area was a new library for the W.E. Sears Youth Center near Poplar Bluff. About $223,000 was budgeted for it.