Delta College trustee candidates debate at Hutchins Street Square

Candidates for the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees introduce themselves during a debate at Hutchins Street Square on Wednesday. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Delta College trustee candidates debate at Hutchins Street Square

By Chris Nichols
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Thursday, October 9, 2008 6:33 AM PDT

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Calls for fiscal conservatism, ethical reform and keeping the promise of a satellite campus in Lodi rang out Wednesday night from candidates for four open seats on the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees.

Seven challengers and two incumbents attended the lively candidates forum, which alternately focused on the mistakes of the current board and, looked forward to restoring trust in Delta's leadership.

The event was held inside the Charlene Lange Powers Theater at Hutchins Street Square.

It included a call by one hopeful to immediately remove all current trustees from the board.

The seven-member board has been blasted in recent months by the public, press and the San Joaquin County Grand Jury for a lack of transparency and for squandering tens of millions of dollars of voter-approved bond money.

"The major problem with the board of trustees is their lack of integrity," said Montecuzoma Patrick Sanchez, a recent Delta College student who along with four others is seeking to represent the college's Area 2, or central Stockton, on the board. He later made the call to remove all current board members.

"You can have workshops all day, but you cannot learn a moral compass from a workshop," Sanchez added, referring to incumbent Anthony Bugarin's statement that the current trustees are educating themselves on ethics through workshops.

The forum was sponsored and moderated by the Lodi branch of the American Association of University Women.

All candidates, including the incumbents, called for restoring trust, seeking more input from the public and placing more attention on the college's students. Several, including Teresa Brown, who is seeking to represent Tracy, urged for the creation of a comprehensive "strategic plan" to guide the college's future.

The candidates were spilt, however, on how to prioritize Delta's remaining Measure L bond funds — money that will determine how soon, if ever, Lodi sees a satellite campus.

Voters approved the $250 million bond in 2004, to fund satellite campuses in Lodi, Galt, Manteca, Mountain House or Tracy and make improvements at the main Stockton campus.

After four years of planning, trustees this summer scrapped blueprints to build a campus just east of Lodi, off Victor Road, citing cost overruns at the Mountain House satellite. Plans for the sprawling Lodi campus, complete with descriptions of a viticulture center and at one point even an amphitheater overlooking the Mokelumne River, were promoted leading up to the 2004 bond vote.

Sanchez, along with challengers James Grunsky, Mary Ann Cox, Steve Castellanos and Teresa Brown, said promises to build a Lodi satellite campus, in some form, should be kept.

Several said money should be pulled away from the Mountain House project and used to build in Tracy and Lodi.

"There are a lot of options that are viable," said Castellanos, a Valley Springs architect who is seeking to represent Area 5, which includes the Galt and Lodi areas.

Castellanos and Cox, a retired Lodi High School teacher and former Delta administrator, said they both see Lodi's Blue Shield building on Guild Avenue as a possibility for a future campus. The Guild Avenue building will soon be vacated once workers move to the new Blue Shield office under construction in south Lodi.

Cox is seeking to represent Area 2. Incumbent Leo Burke is not running for re-election to that post.

Incumbent Dan Parises, who represents the Lodi and Galt areas, is not seeking re-election either.

Incumbent Maria Serna, who represents the Lodi city limits on the board, is not up for re-election.

Trustees this week said they will consider purchasing a new site for a Lodi campus in two to three years, once the Mountain House campus is built. They set aside $2.8 million for that possibility. By comparison, they spent $4 million on land options and planning for the Victor Road site.

Incumbent Greg McCreary, who represents Tracy in Area 6, distanced himself from a majority of the current board. He noted that he has been opposed to building the Mountain House project from the beginning, arguing for construction at a Tracy site.

Bugarin said he opposed the Tracy site because it is too close to railroad tracks and therefore unsafe.

Additional challengers at the forum included David Rishwain, seeking the Area 2 seat and C. Jennet Stebbinss, seeking south Stockton's Area 1 seat.

Challengers who did not attend included Al Lennox, vying for Area 5, and Gregory Benigno and Thomas LaBounty, both pursuing Area 2.

Following the hour-long forum, one audience member said she's ready for change.

"Both of the incumbents did not impress me in the least," said Georgia Potts, who attended with her husband, Warren. "I just didn't see their vision for the future."

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.