The Board of Trustees approved an additional $8 million in bond fundraising at an emergency 8:30 a.m. meeting today.

The money will be used for support costs for the energy conservation project, which includes the Renewable Energy Center and 23 smaller projects.

The project is entering its third phase. In the previous phase, support costs were not included in the contract.

“I had just included the construction costs in the original proposal,” said Paul McCann, director of business services/treasurer.

The support costs will be used to monitor the performance and verify the operational cost savings of the project.

This costs $400,000 for each of the 20 years of the contract for a total of $8 million.

William Weber, vice president for business affairs, said, “It’s important to understand support costs are an important part of the contract.”

Sarah Ruholl can be reached at 581-7942 or at [email protected].