New Delta board owes taxpayers due diligence

Written by Shelon Arbuckle
Friday, 26 December 2008
The decision to build a college campus in Mountain House raises questions.

San Joaquin County Supervisor Leroy Ornellas said nobody put a gun to the head of the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees in regard to the college’s decision to build a campus in Mountain House.

That’s probably true, but with a board member (Maria Elena Serna) who was willing to compromise her reputation and ethics for $1,600, future payoffs would have been negotiated and promises made behind closed doors.

Dean Andal, who ran for Congress and lost in November, has a stake in future revenues at Mountain House. Thanks to the voters, he didn’t beat out Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton.

The only ones now pointing guns at the new board of trustees seems to be Ornellas and Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos, and now they’re pushing the new Mountain House Community Services District board members to load theirs.

What’s in it for them? Property values.

What’s in it for the taxpayers? Future commitments involving more bond elections to complete the project and more money to establish public transportation in that area.

I hope that before anything else is done at Mountain House, in reference to the south county Delta College campus, the new board will investigate everything before making any final decisions. The taxpayers made a decision and voted in November to eliminate the old board for the bad choices made in regard to this potential white elephant (the south campus called Mountain House).

There are so many unanswered questions: Where are the portables and on whose land will they be placed? Who will receive rent, and for how long will they get it? How much is the rent? Is it, as Ornellas and Delta President Raul Rodriguez have said, too expensive to move out of Mountain House? Where are the binding contracts, what contracts can be relocated and what is just another threat of pending lawsuit by Kamilos?

The Mountain House land purchased may not be good in today’s market, but it can be sold by the college when the value returns.

We should let our new board members have the time to have every question answered and every rock turned over. They will have to justify this bad decision with truthful facts, not threats, if they continue down this same path.

They owe this to the people — the taxpayers and the students — not the few who had and have hidden agendas for this monstrosity of waste.

•Shelon Arbuckle is an 21-year resident of Tracy and has been self-employed for 18 years as a printer repair technician and toner supplier. She lived in Alaska for eight years and served on a parks and recreation commission.

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