Bond issue for Hawkeye Community College fails

A second try at approving a 26-million dollar bond referendum failed for Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo Tuesday night. Voters in Grundy and Tama counties passed the referendum, but the majority of voters in the other counties within the merged Area Seven district–including Black Hawk County–did not make the required 60 percent majority. School officials were disappointed with the result, but encouraged by the fact that the vote failed by 109 votes. In May, the bond referendum failed by more than 400 votes. Hawkeye College president Bettsey Barhorst says she’s disappointed, but they’re going in the right direction.College vice president Greg Schmitz says a third try could very welltake place because the need is there.The money–spread over ten years–would have allowed the college to expand and renovate buildings on the main campus and at the school’s satellite centers.