Board of Trustees Report

District Office

November 4, 2009

Legislative Affairs Committee

Three representatives from Cassidy, our lobbyists in Washington, described the work they’ve undertaken for us. Their focus has been on gaining stimulus money and the new Obama Initiative money (otherwise known as the American Graduation Initiative), as well as traditional grants. So far Valley, City, West, and Southwest have all been beneficiaries of their work. Four college presidents have now made the trip East, but others are encouraged to do so also. M. Martinez said we hope to get $2 million in earmarks this year, some $5 million in grants, plus possibly $8 million for Pierce (a land-grant college funding possibility due to its agriculture programs), beside other college proposals. Cassidy strongly urged us to do district-wide grants, in order to maximize our appeal, given our many diverse communities. Chair Sylvia Scott-Hayes described Cassidy’s work as “an aggressive and ambitious agenda.” She does want to hear more from them, however. Annual visits are planned, among other steps.

By phone, Patrick McCallum reviewed the situation in Sacramento. He said more allocation deferrals are possible, as is another property tax shortfall. He mentioned recent accountability talk, as well as some new discussion about guaranteed admission plans for community college transfers to CSU and UC.

Infrastructure Committee

There was a detailed presentation regarding the new Science Complex at Harbor. The plans were very well received. Remaining items covered were the proposed Braille trail at City and its nature planting program, as well as East’s baseball field.

Open Session

Velma Butler complained about an aspect of the Chancellor selection process. While a representative from units other than the Faculty Guild is called for, Classified is not specified, as she feels it ought to be, given their size. Chancellor Wieder reviewed past practice, which is being followed with this selection.

Carl expressed thanks for the steps taken to meet the concerns he expressed at the last meeting about health benefit enrollment problems. In the end, 97% of all employees enrolled by the deadline.

There was a complaint from a Mr. John Lee from Asset Workers about a bond matter.

Mark Smolin, a pre-vet major at Pierce, complained about a reduction in quality of the program there (see last report). Joy McCaslin responded again that the program is being protected and not cut back.

There were three speakers urging the formation of a Chicano Studies Department at Mission, a topic we heard a lot about a few meetings ago. Judith Valles answered that if all goes well, there should be a department by spring.

No items were reported out of Closed Session

Committee reports were given (see above).

The Board directed the staff to "investigate and develop" six pieces of legislation, five of which were listed in the Order of Business (with #2 being pulled), and with Larry Eisenberg adding an additional one. The proposals will then go to the Legislative Affairs Committee, which may recommend to the full Board that these bills be endorsed.

Included are four bond items and one having to do with concurrent enrollment.

The Board voted to debar an electrical contractor from any further work in the district for the next four years. An Infrastructure Committee hearing was held to consider the evidence in this case.

Four classified employees were commended on their retirements from the district. One Trade custodian had served 40 years!

Verizon Inc. presented the district with a check for $66,000 to fund virtual counseling pilot programs at West and Mission. 200 at-risk high school students will be targeted.

The Consent Calendar was approved unanimously, as always, but not until a number of questions were answered. Miguel Santiago asked about a contract with Chevron for up to $2 million to build solar facilities. The agreement to bring in an outside analyst, as described in the press release I sent you a few days ago, was also reviewed. Georgia Mercer asked for clarification about the role of this firm. Capstone Advisory Group was given a two-month contract to do an organizational assessment of the entire bond program. That will include looking at BuildLACCD’s structure, consultant performance and fees, et al. Finally, there were questions about the contract for further design needs at Van de Kamp, given all the money that has already gone into it. Larry Eisenberg said there were additional design needs due to the change in usage plans. Some tenants have particular needs. John Clerx will be coordinating the classes there, and City will be offering some itself. It was added that the Mayor intended to have a press conference there sometime this week to emphasize its green tech curriculum possibilities.

The last major discussion concerned L. Eisenberg’s request for approval of a resolution imposing a proposed end user fee on renewable energy projects. This technical decision relates to the power purchase agreements that the district is pursuing with Edison and DWP, by means of which we may be able to expand our solar energy production a great deal for much less cost than building the systems and paying for them ourselves right away. The Energy Oversight Committee has been dealing with PPA's since February, and we had just met with L. Eisenberg the day before the Board meeting. Amazingly enough, he did not inform us that this item would be on the agenda, and it took us by surprise. I pointed this out to the Board and reviewed the analysis of First Southwest, a firm we brought in to give us a disinterested opinion. Jeanette Gordon and I noted the committee’s increasing concerns about the details of this PPA agreement, as did Ernie Moreno in a more muted way. The Board did proceed to approve the resolution nonetheless, though Miguel Santiago abstained, saying that he wanted to hear more information before making a decision. Sylvia Scott-Hayes said we should have read the agenda and known the item was coming forward. Mona Field stated that the project would lead to clean energy, as opposed to using coal-generated energy, and so should go forward, given the likelihood that it would be financially neutral.

Finally, Mark Rocha announced that West LA had been given a prestigious award for the design of its planned Allied Health and Wellness Center.

Comment

The fact that L. Eisenberg did not notify the committee about this resolution was startling. I have since written to M. Field, asking her what the point of the committee is, if we’re going to be kept in the dark on such a key step (or on what appears to be a key step—the financing process is very murky). Meanwhile, word is the Times articles could start any week now. It will definitely be a series, looking at all aspects of the bond program. Expect it to be highly critical.

David