State University of New York at Fredonia College Council members Richard Alexander and Steve Keefe have formed a “North Chautauqua County Growth Coalition.”

College Council President Frank Pagano approved the group at the council’s meeting Friday, and designated Alexander as its chairman. It’s intended to bring together stakeholders both on and off campus who have a keen interest in SUNY Fredonia and its relationship with the community.

Alexander said “the idea of a collaborative effort” evolved out of conversations he had with his next-door neighbor, Keefe. Former Fredonia mayor Keefe was invited by village officials to join discussions about SUNY Fredonia’s challenges.

Among the goals of the coalition:

— Advocate for increased state funding for the SUNY system, and SUNY Fredonia in particular.

— Marketing, recruitment and retention of students.

— Local business development.

— Advocacy for a new Brooks-TLC Hospital. “It’s been seven years in the making,” Alexander noted of the plan for a new facility in Fredonia, held up by the state’s refusal to release millions of dollars in grant funds.

— Enhance and reinvigorate the “Central Connection” initiative that brought together Fredonia, SUNY Fredonia and the city of Dunkirk.

— Push for a sustainable, safe water system in Fredonia. Alexander said the coalition will take no position on how that should be done, just that it should be done.

Members of the coalition will come from the College Council, the University Senate, village of Fredonia government, the Chamber of Commerce, and administrative vice presidents on campus. The coalition is a special committee of the College Council.

This coalition comes in the wake of years of deficits at the university, currently totaling $17 million, and an enrollment decrease that is now under 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students.

“Our charge as the College Council is to interact with the community,” Alexander said. “We’re hoping they’ll help — and when they need help, we can help them.”

“I know you’ve put a lot of time and effort into it. This sounds like a great proposal,” Pagano said to Alexander.

Alexander added that he is interested in adding coalition participants from what he called the “north shore,” or neighboring communities along Lake Erie.

However, another College Council member, Richard Morrisroe, added notes of caution.

“There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Several groups are trying to do the same thing” as the coalition, he said.

Morrisroe added, “If this is just another meeting, I have no interest, frankly.” However, if it gets people “laced together” to advocate for SUNY Fredonia, he will have more interest.

He warned: “I’ve been on these kind of things before, where it fizzles out the wheels after two years.”