Delta drafts grand jury reply

STOCKTON — The San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees agreed Monday to six of a grand jury's recommendations that included following an ethics code, ensuring the board complies with the Brown Act and working more closely with the school's bond oversight committee.

Trustees voted to accept the recommendations at a special meeting Monday. The meeting was part of the trustees' efforts to reply to a scathing report from the San Joaquin County Grand Jury, which accused the board of mismanaging its $250 million Measure L bond.

The six-member board (with Maria Elena Serna, who represents Lodi, being absent) approved six of the grand jury's nine recommendations, including agreeing to closely evaluate staff and consultants' recommendations, follow an ethics code, make a new Measure L team, make sure the board is in compliance with the Brown Act and work more closely with the Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee.

Since the grand jury's report, which questions the decisions about how the school is spending its $250 million Measure L bond, was released last spring, little progress had been made about what to do with the allegations.

During Monday's meeting, the trustees sifted through the remaining 10 of the grand jury's 14 findings, coming to conclusions on whether or not they were accurate before voting on all nine of the grand jury's recommendations. The trustees did not agree on the report's recommendations to not enter into a partnerships with developers to build a campus in Lodi or Galt, or to come up with new estimates for development based on the current student numbers, or that the oversight committe has to meet once a month to pre-approve all expense charges to Measure L. Delta President Dr. Rual Rodriguez had prepared responses to each, and the purpose of the meeting was to make sure those responses reflected the feelings of the board. The board needs to submit its response to the jury by Sept. 18.

"We have to meet the deadline, and we are taking this very seriously," said Manteca-Escalon Trustee Ted Simas. "That's why most of us are willing to take the time rather than just airbrush through this thing … I think overall it would have been simple to say yes we agree with this and it would have saved us a lot of hours, but I think the majority of the board knows that is just not the way to go."

The trustees debated some of the findings, splitting 3-3 on the first two topics of the meeting. They were deadlocked as to whether or not the partnership between Delta college and developer Gerry Kamilos delayed construction at the Mountain House campus, raising costs and detering public support, and whether or not the board has to completely revise the Mountain House plan.

When the board revisited the items, one or more board members changed their position, and the board disagreed with the grand jury on both issues. There were hardly any arguments.

"Overall, I was satisfied with the responses. Compared to last time, I thought the board was overly sensitive and on the defensive side, and I think we faced reality a little bit better this time," Simas said after the meeting. "I was satisfied that we stood up to the fact that the grand jury is 99.9 percent correct. That's why I was willing to compromise somewhat on some of the responses."

The loudest critical voice came from Motecuzoma Sanchez, who is running for a spot on the board in the upcoming election. He thanked the board members who are retiring or not running after this year and asked for the firing of Dr. Rodriguez. When items were deadlocked on 3-3 votes, Sanchez adamantly told the Trustees to "get it together" and "make a decision."

Trustee Dan Parises stood his ground, stating that the grand jury's report was erroneous on several of its findings, including whether the trustees heeded the warnings and recommendations from the consultants hired by the board.

"I think we are in trouble because we listen to them," he said during discussions.

The board members and Rodriguez agreed for the most part that the report was too general, and in some cases the items were specified and then agreed upon. The board also agreed that it lacked oversight and felt rushed on several of the decisions it made in the past on the Measure L spending, which have lead to the problems.

Dr. Rual Rodriguez will present the board with Monday's additions and revisions to the trustee's response to the report in another board meeting scheduled for today at 4 p.m.

San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees response to Grand Jury

Recommendations

1. Delta College Trustees and administrators avoid making the same mistake by gathering into a public-private partnership to develop a campus in Lodi or Galt.

Response: Will not be implemented because it is based on an erroneous assumption.

2. The Board of Trustees thoroughly evaluate all staff and consultants' recommendations prior to making bond decisions and commitments.

Response: Has been implemented.

3. The Board of Trustees use the most current student usage numbers to determine curriculum needs for students, i.e., brick and mortar vs. Internet usage.

Response: Will not be implemented because all of the projects are past the stage of gathering demographic information. However, it will be implemented in the future.

4. The Board of Trustees refocus on the needs of the students and not personal agendas and work together as a cohesive unit.

Response: Has been implemented and trustees have attended workshops to improve function of the board and have adopted a code of ethics.

5. Delta College Trustees and administrators support and work with their new, recently formed committee, Measure L Team, to oversee various bond programs.

Response: Has been implemented.

6. The Delta College Board of Trustees to comply with the Brown Act. Further training on the Brown Act to be given to ensure understanding and compliance.

Response: Will be implemented.

7. The Bond Oversight Committee meet once per month in an effort to pre-approve all expenses charged to Measure L funds.

Response: Will not be implemented because it is not legal or proper to have the (oversight committee) pre-approve expenses and it is a volunteer committee without time to meet once a month.

8. The Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee question all changes in projects selected for funding, project plans, or delays in construction. This is a precautionary measure to ensure that Measure L funds are not being wasted.

Response: Will be implemented.

9. The Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee to ensure that all aspects of the Brown Act are adhered to in order to give the public a clear picture of the committees' workings. The grand jury believes that the Brown Act ensures a transparent democracy. The violation of the Brown Act cannot be tolerated.

Response: Always has been and will continue to be implemented in the future.

Contact reporter Joelle Milholm at Joellem@lodinews.com

Reader Feedback

DeltaEnglish wrote on Sep 3, 2008 8:06 PM:

" The section from the California Ed. Code dealing the Citizens' Bond Oversight Committee is sections 15278-15282. Section 15280b dealing with committee obligation to provide accessible information to the public:

(b) All committee proceedings shall be open to the public and
notice to the public shall be provided in the same manner as the
proceedings of the governing board. The citizens' oversight
committee shall issue regular reports on the results of its
activities. A report shall be issued at least once a year. Minutes
of the proceedings of the citizens' oversight committee and all
documents received and reports issued shall be a matter of public
record and be made available on an Internet website maintained by the
governing board.

Sorry about the long posts. But this mess won't be cleaned up until new trustees form a new board majority that changes the "mushroom culture" of the board(spread a lot of "fertilizer" around and keep people in the dark). The voters are going have to vote out incumbents who refuse to accept their accountability to the public. "

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DeltaEnglish wrote on Sep 3, 2008 7:53 PM:

" The Brown Act violations are not the result of lack of training. It's simple really: Some members of the board see it as their pre-rogative to follow or flout employee contracts, board policies, or laws as they choose.

Early in the summer, the Citizens Oversight Committee seemed totally unaware that they were actually obligated by law to see that annual bond audits and budgets were supposed to be posted on the college website for public inspection. Most of these document were not posted in June. The audits are posted now. But the law also requires that the agendas and meeting packets received by the committee members are supposed to be posted on website or otherwise made available to the public. Most of the materials posted since June are the result of the efforts of Greg Greenwood (the new Public Information Officer) and Jon Stephens (the new VP for Business Services). They are trying to follow public information law in a culture that has done pretty much what it damn well pleased for years. "

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JF wrote on Sep 2, 2008 11:58 AM:

" Ok, #1, Than PLEASE Delta Trustees,tell us in the name of "CLARITY", what the "erroneous assumptions are? I guess you want us, the taxpayers, to believe that ALL the under oath private testimony from ALL the witnesses, including you trustess that testified just happen by sheer coincidence or act of God to fully COMPEL the grand jury, a PANEL/GROUP of people to write their recomendation to not partner or comisserate with Developers is out of line? So you are saying that all these individuals testimony was misleading or lies to the grand jury, right? What am I missing here? Please clarify it for me. "

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commonsense1 wrote on Aug 29, 2008 8:10 PM:

" Lodian2.....That would mean there was one less rational voice in the mix. Why would you object? "

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Lodian2 wrote on Aug 28, 2008 5:43 PM:

" Unless that was an emergency surgery on the day of the meeting, she should have been on a conference
call for that meeting. She's copping out of the whole ordeal, leaving it to the other trustees to make up for her. "

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commonsense1 wrote on Aug 27, 2008 5:57 PM:

" Nellie.....Ms Serna is recovering from surgery. "

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Whoa Nellie! wrote on Aug 26, 2008 9:53 PM:

" It's the BIGGEST meeting of the year and our supposed big-time educator and trustee was absent from the meeting.

Really, WTF?!

Ms. Serna, where the heck were you?!

What, what, could be more important than this meeting? Due to the Brown Act you surely knew of this important meeting well in advance. "

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TandC wrote on Aug 26, 2008 8:19 PM:

" How about you poor, repugnant losers and cheerleaders read the

capitalelector.com

and see how the Delta College Board explains their wasting $50 million.

You're so in denial and certainly lost any little bit of credibility you think you ever had. "

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TandC wrote on Aug 26, 2008 7:35 PM:

" The cheerleaders are waiting for T&C to blog so they can call him a liar once again. I think they're related to Rodriguez, Serna or Parises. Or maybe even are them. "

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OTH wrote on Aug 26, 2008 6:01 PM:

" Where are all of the Delta trustee cheerleaders? Awful quiet. "

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OTH wrote on Aug 26, 2008 3:33 PM:

" I love the response to number 4. After all these years as trustees they have to go to workshops on how to be a trustee. "

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