Is Delta in too deep?

From Tracy Press

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth / Tracy Press

Saturday, 21 June 2008

The grand jury bashed Delta trustees for mismanaging $250 million and for violations of open meeting laws when they voted to build in Mountain House instead of Tracy. But it may be too late for the college to reverse that vote — even if the board wants to. San Joaquin Delta College may have another shot at building a satellite campus in Tracy instead of in Mountain House, where progress has languished because of what the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury called a failed partnership with a private developer. The grand jury charged in a report released Wednesday that trustees wasted millions of the $250 million Measure L bond, approved by voters in 2004. That money was to build a satellite campus in Lodi, possibly one in Galt and one near Tracy, the last of which college trustees voted to build in Mountain House despite construction costs that jumped from $50 million in 2005 to $94 million this year. Tracy’s original offer, made in 2005, would have given Delta $10 million in land off 11th Street and Chrisman Road, including sewage treatment, electricity and roads. College trustees eschewed the offer and partnered instead with Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos, who agreed to prepare a site in the master-planned subdivision with sewer lines, electricity and roads — something that should have been finished last year. Today, the Mountain House property is still an empty, overgrown field. Since the offer three years ago, however, Tracy officials have tried to woo other colleges, and the conditions extended to Delta in 2005 would be a little different if the community college decided to consider the 108-acre Tracy site again, Mayor Brent Ives said Friday. For one, it would play a smaller role in what the city has decided will be a consortium of four or five college sites. "The economy’s different now," Ives said. The City Council has new members and the city’s financial situation has changed, too, he added. "But if they’re interested in talking to us, then we’re interested in talking to them." It’s probably too late to look back, though, said Delta College President Raul Rodriguez. With all the agreements, the money and time spent, and the planning that went into the Mountain House site off Interstate 205, he said, it would likely waste more money to pick up and leave. "We’re so far along that it probably wouldn’t make sense at this point," he said. "But really, that’s up to the board." Trustee Ted Simas, who represents the Manteca-Escalon area, thinks relocating to Tracy is still feasible and might be less expensive, in light of the price jump at Mountain House. "I would highly recommend that someone on our board or on our bond team at least enter into a dialogue with the city about the Tracy site," he said. "I’m still convinced, and have been from near the beginning, that (building a campus in) Mountain House was a huge, huge mistake. If we can still get out of this mess we’re in, I definitely support that." Retired college administrator Janet Rivera, a 2½-term trustee, agreed. She said that she voted for the Mountain House site only because college staff and some other board members stretched the truth in favor of a public-private partnership. "Lies had a lot of influence on my vote to move the project to Mountain House," she said Friday. "In hindsight, I can see that the Tracy site would have been a lot better for low-income and Hispanic students, and it’s close to public transit and closer to students who attend Tracy High, West High and Manteca High." Jurors who slammed trustees in a report issued earlier this week said that a board member leaked closed-session information to Kamilos’ company, which prompted it to come up with documents that basically secured Delta’s place in Mountain House. In that closed session, trustees talked about how Kamilos had missed deadlines, delaying construction, and whether they

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