With a little consideration and cooperation, Eastern and its hometown have been able to establish and enact plans beneficial to both.

Mayor Dan Cougill said the city and the university need each other, and by working together, they have been able to meet a lot of those needs.

“Look at the city, and see if we need a big ladder truck,” he said. “We wouldn’t, except that on Eastern’s campus you will see a lot of big buildings and dorms.”

These bigger buildings have been a concern for Eastern administrators as well.

“From our perspective (we were looking for) something that would reach the upper floors of our high-rise residence halls,” said Jeff Cooley, vice president for business affairs. “We’ve had ongoing discussions with the city for some time about Eastern helping to support a new fire truck.”

Cougill said he had been talking with President Lou Hencken and developing plans to attain a fire truck that would be more helpful for the university before last spring.

The Blair Hall fire solidified those plans.

“It certainly made the need for the truck more obvious,” Cooley said.

Though he said the original proposal was met with very little resistance, the fire in Blair Hall turned fire response fears into a reality and had a significant influence getting the new truck as soon as possible, he said.

“Nay-sayers saw with the Blair fire that Charleston’s trucks just couldn’t hack it,” Cougill said.

By then, Hencken and Cougill had considerably narrowed their options for a new truck, and by the city’s Fourth of July Parade, they had one, which Cougill, Hencken and their families rode on in Eastern’s Homecoming Parade.

The university and the city split the $790,000 bill equally and split a special loan granted to the city allowing for $250,000 without interest that will go toward paying for the truck.

“Eastern pays the city for fire protection services,” Cooley said. “We will simply be increasing the amount we pay the city by about $35,000 for the next 15 years to help defray half the cost of the new fire truck.”

The fire truck endeavor is not the only way Eastern and its home community collaborate future plans to ensure both parties will benefit from upcoming projects.

When Eastern began its strategic plan, which included plotting out changes for the Doudna Fine Arts Center, the city was planning too.

Charleston involved the community in the city’s strategic planning process, which meant university administrators and students became involved as well, Cougill said.

“As part of that, we developed a close relationship that would be obvious to any normal person,” he said. “Eastern is a big part of Charleston and Charleston is a big part of Eastern; we should know what each other are doing.”

When the city began its comprehensive plan, it adopted Eastern’s strategic plan.

“A spinoff from that was the fine arts center,” Cougill said. “We knew Eastern wanted to build it, the obvious place would be where they wanted to build it.”

However, Eastern would need control of Seventh Street but was unable to pay for it.

In exchange, the city traded that section of the street for university credit hours to be administered to select community high school students.

“It was a win, win, win, win, win situation for everybody,” Cougill said. “Eastern got Seventh Street and people of the community who may not have gotten to go to college now have the opportunity.”

The city will also benefit, he said, by the extra visitors the renovated center will bring to town.

Student convenience and safety became more important to the community as the city became more aware of student issues. The Student Senate approached Eastern with concerns about the traffic on Fourth Street not slowing for the crosswalk, and as a result, Charleston put up lights at the crosswalk, Cougill said.

Over time, the lights have been increasingly successful at making the street safer for students to cross.

Another project intended to benefit students is the city’s plan to extend a sidewalk from Carman Hall to Route 130.

“You’d be surprised how many students walk to WalMart,” Cougill said. “There is no sidewalk for them from the Carman Hall area until it begins on 130.”

The city intended to have that complete before the beginning of this school year, but the project will use motor fuel tax funds and the city needs to find certified workers to build the sidewalk.

Cougill said the city is working with the state and contractors, hoping to have the sidewalk project in the works as soon as spring weather permits.

Eastern’s students and administration and the city have found success in cooperative efforts and will continue working together, Cougill said.