SJDCwatch

A threat and call for therapy

2010-07-26T08:52:00.000-07:00

Outgoing Delta College president blasts trustees
By The Record
July 25, 2010 12:01 AM

The warning, and that might be the kindest way to characterize it, from outgoing Delta College President Raul Rodriguez would have been almost comical had he not been so serious.

"I have rights as an employee," Rodriguez lectured the college board. "Those rights are not to be violated. They have been in the past. I will no longer be employed by this district. If my rights are violated, you can bet I will take action in the future."

And with that, off goes Rodriguez to become the superintendent of the Rancho Santiago Community College District in Orange County, the state's third largest.

The Rodriguez warning - some might describe it as a threat - came as three board members publicly acknowledged that they are the ones the county grand jury was referring to in a report last month accusing some trustees of conducting "serial meetings" in violation of the state's open meetings law.

Trustees Mary Ann Cox, Ted Simas and Taj Khan made the admissions, but did not admit any violations of the Ralph M. Brown Act, which sets out the rules for conducting the board's business in public.

The specific Brown Act violation - although there have been any number of allegations the law has been violated time and again over the years by Delta trustees - involved an incident in the spring of 2009. Trustee Jennet Stebbins claims she was contacted by Cox about ousting Rodriguez, and that Khan and Simas also had been contacted. Assuming it happened, nothing came of it. But we know Rodriguez has been job-hunting for months.

Rodriguez is concerned about a closed door meeting June 1 to evaluate him. He said the evaluation went well, but he's entitled to privacy guaranteed any district employee in personnel matters.

Simas had waved a tape recorder, implying the June 1 session had been taped. It hadn't, he said.

Rodriguez suggested that trustees not only needed additional training on the open meetings law, but he also recommended they undergo conflict resolution therapy.

"Given the discussion that happened tonight, it's very discouraging," he told them. It's more than discouraging. It's disgusting.

Delta trustees are responsible for setting the policies for a district that sprawls across parts of seven counties, employs hundreds, educates thousands and spends millions of tax dollars. The least we should be able to expect is that they scrupulously obey the law - including the Brown Act - and that they conduct their public business in a mature, calm and reasoned manner.

Board meetings aren't some sort of fight club any more than board service should be viewed as a country club membership.

Delta College is one of the most important educational institutions in this area.

Its success is intricately tied to the economic and social success of our region.

Trustees are about to hire a new president. It is imperative they make a good choice. They can't do that if they're fighting among themselves; they can't expect any high-qualified candidate to accept the position if it's offered by a board clearly in need of therapy.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100725/A_OPINION01/7250305&emailAFriend=1

Board Censured.

2010-06-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

Grand Jury Report.

Jury suggests censure for 3 Delta trustees

2010-06-30T07:42:00.000-07:00

By Jennifer Torres
Record Staff Writer
June 29, 2010 12:00 AM

STOCKTON — Three members of the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees should be censured for violating the state’s open-meetings law, the county grand jury recommended in a report released Monday.

The trustees — identified in the report only as Trustees A, B and C — knowingly participated in a serial meeting, discussing public business outside of public view, in violation of the Ralph M. Brown Act, the report concludes. Two of the trustees also disclosed confidential information even after fellow board members tried to prevent them from doing so.

In October, Trustee Jennet Stebbins told The Record that several months earlier, she met Trustee Mary Ann Cox — at Cox’s request — at a doughnut shop, where Cox asked for Stebbins’ vote in a bid to oust Delta President Raul Rodriguez. According to Stebbins’ account, Cox told her she already had discussed the matter with trustees Taj Khan and Ted Simas.

Simas, Khan and Cox at the time denied participating in an illegal, secret meeting, and on Monday, Cox said that, based on her training, she does not believe a Brown Act violation occurred.

She said the grand jury report leaves questions. “I really don’t know what all this means yet,” she said. “We don’t know who A, B and C are. … I’m looking forward to finding out.”

Board President Teresa Brown said the board asked the grand jury to identify the members it accused of misconduct. She was disappointed they remained unnamed.

“Until they name them, it casts the same specter over the whole board,” she said. “It makes no sense to me.”
And, she said, without the names, there is no legal foundation for disciplinary action.

“There is no way we can censure them,” Brown said. “There are no Trustees A, B, C. We cannot censure people who are not named.”

Contact reporter Jennifer Torres at (209) 546-8252 or jtorres@recordnet.com. Visit her blog at recordnet.com/torresblog.

http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100629/A_NEWS/100629836

Your Voice: Drastic decisions at Delta College

2009-10-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

by Sam Hatch, Lodi

EDITOR,

Besides the budget crisis, the public should know a second storyline is unfolding at Delta College: the reshaping of the college’s mission without much reflection by faculty and staff.

The state budget crisis has become an opportunity to jettison support services for Delta’s most vulnerable students. This summer, the Economic Opportunity Programs and Services and Disabled Student Programs and Services suffered reductions of 31 percent because of cuts in state funding for the programs. Despite carrying over $10 million dollars from the most recent fiscal year, the college used none of that money to help students in these programs.

Although some funding has recently been restored, the college appears to be hedging on its commitment to ensure educational access to all students.

The current round of so-called “strategic” budget cuts have been focused on basic skills — reading, ESL, developmental writing — services for the college’s most vulnerable students.

Of course, judicious cuts to all programs are a financial necessity. However, balancing the budget by slashing these programs so deeply does a disservice to the majority of our students.

Roughly 38 percent of Delta’s students read at or below the sixth-grade level, and another 46 percent read between the sixth- and ninth-grade levels. Without a sound core of support services, many of our students won’t have a reasonable chance of success.

With more “strategic” cuts expected in the spring, the college will soon help many fewer students looking for an educational second chance.

• Sam Hatch is a San Joaquin Delta College faculty member.

Thanks for reading!
Tracy Press - News, events, classifieds and businesses in Tracy, Calif.

Candidates for Quote of the Week

2009-10-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Please vote for only "one" of these four IN THE POLL.>>>>

1. One of those in support [of cuts to basic skills], Delta Trustee Ted Simas wants the issue taken to the board for a vote once and for all.

"It just gets frustrating to hear the same thing over again," Simas said, referring to the parade of instructors and students who have protested the cuts in recent weeks. "I want this to become an action item so that this Board of Trustees can make a decision and we can get on with the business of the college."
Record, 10/09/09

2. “This public servant business is over-rated. And the voice of the people is the voice of God—gimme a break! The voice of the people is a dogfight in a back alley over butcher’s scraps. The guys with the juice decide what the public needs.” Boss Pendergast, Kansas City philanthropist and civic leader.

3. “Funny how everything sounds like ‘blah, blah, blah,” when you’ve already made up your mind and some sap keeps on talking when he never had a snowball’s chance in hell of influencing the decision.” Quoted in Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

4. “Who knew the business of a college wasn’t educatin’ people who need some learnin’? Sounds like déjà vu all over again. Tough decisions gotta be made, and I say when you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi Berra, philosopher and Hall of Fame catcher

Basic Skills Program Violates International Non-Proliferation of Non-Feasible Learning Treaty

2009-10-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

Sam Hatch, reporting
Stockton, CA 10/12/09

The college's aim has been to provide "everything to everybody," said Trustee Teresa Brown. "I don't think that's feasible. I don't think that's practical." Record, 10/09/09

Many students in Basic Skills courses have acquired knowledge and skills they could not possibly have learned through a practical and feasible course of instruction, Delta College officials revealed today.

Proliferation of impractical and non-feasible learning is a serious problem because many basic skills students have failed to transfer, earn an associate’s degree, or earn a certificate. Instead, they have left the college seeking better jobs or promotion in their current workplaces, thus straying from their appointed path and proliferating impractical and non-feasible learning. There is also anecdotal evidence that even more dangerous second-generation proliferation is increasing: former basic skills students are helping their children with homework. However, it’s
not easy to know what to do to stop it.

The Office of Destitutional Research is looking into the practical and legal ramifications of a region-wide effort to recover learning from students who acquired it under false pretenses because they later failed to meet any of the benchmarks of success recognized by the Chancellor’s Office. Former basic skills students, who declined to be identified, justify their bootleg learning with vague references to “improved quality of life” and “greater earning power.” In a telephone interview, Professor James Hartwig, who holds joint appointments at the UC Berkeley Schools of
Education and Business, observed that “Region-wide mental repo is basically unexplored territory. Way outside the envelope. Some attempts have been made using consultants trained in VMMT [for non-initiates, Vulcan Mind-Meld Techniques]. But the costs have been prohibitive.

You’ve got to admire the Delta leadership for thinking outside the box. They have a vision, and they aren’t shy about hiring consultants.”

A source at the college, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, commented, “The mantra here is that we can’t provide ‘everything to everybody.’ So I guess that means we’re still providing ‘something to somebody,' otherwise we'd be out of business. The students who are somebodies seem to be adapting well to getting some of the things they want.”

He lamented that “the real sticking point in our transformation of the college is really those balky former somebodies, the Basic Skills students. And of course, their myopic allies among the faculty. Under current policy these students are being phased out and must adapt to being nobodies. For some reason, they can’t seem to get with the reverse Jesse Jackson thing. You know, ‘I am--Nobody, I am—Nobody.‘ Hello, can’t they see it? It’s as plain as the nose on your face. In a down economy, in a
down budget year, these people just aren’t economically viable, they aren’t practical and most of all, they aren’t feasible, and unfortunately, they are going down, too.”

However, he said the college would “remain flexible. I mean, hey, enrollment. We need quite a few of them until the census date. We do the Emma Lazarus thing until the census date. It’s sad. They all have stories that tug at your heart strings--if you listen. But money talks, level 1 walks. We’ve got a responsibility to the long-term solvency of the college and the transfer and voc. ed. students.”

President Rodriguez's Comments on Probation @ SJDC

2009-03-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon everyone,

On February 6th I received notification from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges that they have placed Delta College on probation. Additionally, the Commission is asking us to provide a second report by March 15, 2009.

As you know, the college has been on warning status since June of 2008. Since that time, we have accomplished a great deal toward addressing the recommendations provided to us by the Commission. We provided evidence of this continuing work to the Commission in the form of a follow-up report dated October 21, 2008. Being placed on probation was clearly not the result that we hoped for or expected for our efforts. However, that work did have some positive results. That is, the Commission has now reduced the number of recommendations on which we have to report from eleven down to six. Without downplaying the significance of the remaining recommendations, the good news is that we have been consistently working on these recommendations since we submitted the last report. This does not mean that there is not work to be done. There is a lot yet to be done and we will have to redouble our efforts to get it done. We will have to make this our top priority and marshal our resources to make improvements that remedy our deficiencies and that satisfy the Commission.

It is of little solace that we have plenty of company across the state. A number of colleges are already on warning, probation, or show cause status and a number of others have just been placed into those categories. There is a general consensus across the community colleges that the Commission is taking a hard line on colleges that deviate from the accreditation standards and recommendations. There are a number of reason posited for this change. Among these are pressure from the federal government for greater accountability and to bring our colleges in line with the standards imposed by the other major accrediting agencies. Whatever the reason for this change might be, it is not really of concern at this point. Our task now is to focus on how to fully comply with the remaining six recommendations and to change our status so that we are not on the negative list. As one step in that direction, I will be speaking with Dr. Beno, the president of the Commission,this afternoon to get more specific information about the remaining recommendations and the Commission action.

Next week we will begin the task of reconvening the accreditation task force to help resolve the remaining issues. Our accreditation liaison officer, Dr. Hart, will be sending out information about that process. To jump start that work, I have attached the letter from the Commission and the team report. Please take the time to read both documents. In the days ahead, we will all need to work together as we aggressively respond to the Commission's recommendations. To do so, everyone needs to be fully informed.

Raul

Editorial's inaccuracy harms Delta College status

2009-02-28T12:33:00.000-08:00

February 28, 2009 6:00 AM
The Record editorial of Feb. 20 titled "Time to get serious; Probation a prospect not to be taken lightly by Delta College" left me with several concerns.

The most important of these is your contention that San Joaquin Delta College has ignored or put off action on more than half the suggestions of the accrediting commission. This has no basis in fact. Significant efforts began immediately to address all 11 recommendations mentioned by the commission in its initial report in July, and these efforts continue today. The latest report from the commission contains only six recommendations and has allowed us to adjust our focus and to accelerate our responses to the remaining issues.

Make no mistake: Accreditation weighs heavily on everyone's mind at Delta College. While being placed on probation is indeed a serious matter, it nonetheless serves no positive purpose to suggest that anyone at Delta College is taking this issue lightly.

Further, I find it dispiriting that The Record correctly printed in an article by Alex Breitler on Feb. 18 that the college Board of Trustees took definitive action to resolve a key accreditation issue: namely, to establish and adopt a code of ethics governing their actions. Then, two days later, The Record inexplicably wrote in an editorial that the Board of Trustees had failed to adopt a code of ethics.

While such inaccuracies may appear insignificant to your editorial board and perhaps even to those who read your paper, you may find it interesting to note that a contributing factor to the accrediting commission's decision to place the college on probation had to do with its continuing examination of local media coverage as it pertains to the Delta College Board of Trustees.

The November election resulted in the replacement of four of seven seats on the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees. Since that time, another seat has been vacated and filled. The five new board members are working diligently with the two remaining members on a wide variety of inherited challenges as well as current issues raised by the financial crisis facing California and the rest of the country.

At Delta College, we recognize and support the media's responsibility to shine the light of public scrutiny on the operations of public agencies. When we err, we stand ready to accept any deserved criticism for our actions. However, given the seriousness of the college's accreditation situation, it is more important now than ever before that The Record's coverage of these issues be both accurate and fair.

Raúl Rodríguez
Superintendent/president, San Joaquin Delta College

» NOTE: We erred in our editorial. The news story of Feb. 18, "Delta College placed on probation by peer group," does indeed say the new Board of Trustees has adopted a code of ethics.

Time to get serious

2009-02-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

Probation a prospect not to be taken lightly by Delta College
By The Record
February 20, 2009 6:00 AM

It was disappointing to learn that San Joaquin Delta College has been placed on probation by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

In June, the same group issued a warning to the college telling officials there to bring things up to an acceptable level or face probation and the possibility of losing accreditation.

Losing accreditation is no slap on the wrist. Among many other things, it could undermine the availability of financial aid to students and jeopardize the academic future of students wanting to go on to four-year schools.

Like last summer, college officials seemed to say don't worry about the threat. It's not uncommon for colleges to be given warnings or even placed on probation, they said.

Maybe so, and it's true that last summer, the commission issued warnings to about 20 other colleges in the West. But just because being threatened is common doesn't mean it isn't embarrassing.

In the fall, Delta officials did send the commission a 250-page report outlining the progress they felt had been made addressing the commission's concerns. They hoped that would be the end of it.

Apparently not.

Probation indicates the college "deviates significantly" from standards, commission President Barbara A. Beno told Delta President Raul Rodriguez in a Feb. 3 letter.

In fact, of 11 recommendations to the commission, six still have not been addressed. Ignoring - or at least putting off action on - more than half the things suggested by an accreditation commission is not the way to make the group happy.

To be sure, there has been a huge change in the trustee leadership at Delta. In November, district voters swept from office the two incumbents on the ballot and elected two other new trustees in districts where the incumbents did not run. A fifth was replaced last month after she resigned during an embezzlement case. Five of the board's seven trustees are new.

That might slow progress. But it's troubling that one of the commission's continuing concerns is the lack of a trustee code of ethics.

The problems the district has faced in the past will not be cured overnight. But the time to begin working on them is before the sun gets any higher in the sky.

Source...

Mountain House Residents Looking Out for #1

2009-01-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

Written by Mountain House Press
Thursday, 15 January 2009

Mountain House's board sets up committee to watch Delta's doings.

MOUNTAIN HOUSE — Getting San Joaquin Delta College to Mountain House is a strong priority in this small, windswept community.

The Mountain House Community Services District board of directors Wednesday night voted to create a Delta College advisory committee to keep its citizens informed of what transpires during Delta’s board of trustees meetings in Stockton.

The committee will be chaired by board member Matt Balzarini and will include Bernice King-Tingle and three other Mountain House residents picked by the board.

New Delta Board trustees who campaigned on the promises of moving the proposed campus from Mountain House to Tracy prompted the urgent formation of the committee.

“We think this is a very important committee, and that’s why it showed up so quickly on your agenda,” MHCSD General Manager Paul Sensibaugh told the board. “The idea here is to have the community involved in a level of authority or at least recognition for some people who can go to the Delta board of trustees and express Mountain House’s concerns on certain items.”

The board will also ask Delta College trustees to keep them informed when an issue of importance to Mountain House comes up.

The board had some debate on the size of the committee, but decided to go with five members.

“I think that it would be good to have two people from the board and from the community at large, three people,” director King-Tingle said. “It shows that Mountain House as a board and a city are interested in that project.”

Mike Klinkner was one of many concerned citizens of Mountain House who voiced concerns about a Delta College campus in Mountain House.

“We have to stand up for this campus,” he said. “We have to keep the campus here.”

A safety advisory committee was also formed Wednesday night that will work jointly with the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department to address the community’s law enforcement needs.

The board’s next meeting will be on Jan. 22 to discuss the 2009 Mountain House budget.

Source

Delta trustees up to task of challenges ahead

2009-01-09T13:58:00.000-08:00

Written by Steve Castellanos
Tuesday, 06 January 2009

The new president of the San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees say its time for the college administration and the board to mend the college's reputation.

On Nov. 4, [2008] voters of the San Joaquin Delta Community College District elected me along with C. Jennet Stebbins, Mary Ann Cox and Teresa Brown, to positions on the college’s board of trustees. On Dec. 10, we were sworn in, and on Dec. 16, my fellow board members appointed me as their president.

It is now time for the college administration and the board to roll up our sleeves and collectively begin the difficult work of mending the reputation of this college that is so vital to the economic and cultural strength of the region.

During the past several months, Delta has been the subject of intense public scrutiny and criticism. This is unfortunate, but with a new year upon us and a renewed spirit of cooperation in the air, it is now our challenge to replace the public’s suspicion and frustration with optimism and trust. We will do this by consistently making well-informed, student-centered decisions in the full light of public scrutiny.

As the president of the board, I commit to the public that we will move quickly while learning from the past to make sure that it is good policy and not political concerns that guide Delta College to a much brighter future.

As an architect, I am acutely aware of how important it is to build on a solid footing. While it is no secret that the college has some challenging issues it must immediately address, it does, however, have an unshakable foundation.

Simply put, the faculty, staff and administrators I’ve met in my short time at the college get up in the morning and go to work determined to change lives. They understand and hold sacred the extraordinary role they play in the well-being of the more than 20,000 students who place their dreams of a better future in the college’s hands each semester.

Also, Measure L controversies notwithstanding, Delta has a long tradition of making responsible financial decisions dating back to its first days as a public institution. Accordingly, the college has prudent reserves, has very little long-term debt and, in relation to its peers, is well prepared to navigate the difficult financial issues we all know lay ahead.

But perhaps the greatest reason for my optimism about Delta’s future is the fact that members of the public have demonstrated time and time again that they place enormous value on the work of the college and are unwilling to accept anything less than excellence from those of us who have the privilege of serving such a fine school. Seldom does one get to build on a stronger foundation than that.

I understand that when the public trust is strained, sentiment means little, and words mean even less.

Action is what counts, and I think it is important to state publicly that the board and the administration are fully aware that we have a great deal of work to do if we want to restore the college to its rightful place in public opinion — and we intend to do just that.

• Steve Castellanos, a resident of Valley Springs, is the new president of the San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees.

Source

Letter to my colleagues and friends

2008-12-28T20:42:00.000-08:00

For the past 18 years I have faithfully served on the Delta College board and given my life for the betterment of Delta College.

My family and I have been deeply involved in education for many years, and I continue my commitment to making the Delta College system a better place for students to receive their education.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my many supporters, who have contacted me over the last several days with their support and kind words. Since the recent death of my husband, and my own medical problems, I have received so much support and kindness that I am deeply moved by the outpouring of emotion. Needless to say, you have all made these difficult times more bearable.

I look forward to spending time with my family and supporters over the weeks and months to come. I am forever grateful and am truly humbled by the outpouring of emotion, especially from Delta College students. I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank all of my supporters and family for their continued support, kindness and prayers.

Maria Elena Serna
Lodi

Source

New Delta board owes taxpayers due diligence

2008-12-28T09:24:00.000-08:00

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.

Source

Maria Elena Serna's lawyer says charge is a technicality / He also 'thinks there are political issues involved'

2008-12-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

By Maggie Creamer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 12:36 PM PST

A day after Maria Elena Serna resigned from the San Joaquin Delta College Board and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor offense of doublebilling the college, her attorney characterized the charge as a technicality and said it may have been politically motivated.

Serna, 67, received three years probation in San Joaquin County Superior Court on Monday. The Lodi resident "double-dipped" by asking and receiving reimbursements from Delta and the Community College League of California for travel costs and other expenses. The total amount of the reimbursements were $1,642.10.

Her lawyer, Al Ellis said the case was a technical violation of the law.

"She never had any intention to cheat anyone. ... This is the same woman to march with Cesar Chavez, and after he died, she started a scholarship named after him for the college," Ellis said.

During the time Serna received double reimbursement, Ellis said she was dealing with her husband's death and recovering from back surgery.

He also said the college's decision to take the case to the authorities may have been motivated by politics.

"I think there are political issues involved," Ellis said.

Contacted at her home, Serna declined to comment and directed all questions to Ellis.

In her resignation letter, Serna said she is resigning on the advice of her physician.

She thanked the students, faculty, administrators and other board members for her 18 years on the board.

"I look forward to observing the 'ideals' that I have espoused being carried out by our new board," she wrote.

Serna is the latest departure of veteran trustees from the board. Several incumbents lost their bid for re-election in November, and Dan Parises, one of the longest-serving trustees, opted to retire rather than seek re-election.

On Monday, Parises praised Serna for what she has done for the school, including her work on the Cesar Chavez Community Leadership Award.

"I've known her for 18 years; she has high integrity and is honest ... maybe she wasn't paying attention," he said.

Delta spokesman Greg Greenwood reiterated on Tuesday that the college sent the case to the Stockton Police because the college will not tolerate elected officials pocketing money, no matter how small.

"From the college's perspective, this wasn't an accident," he said. "This is the college trying to ensure we are being responsible to the community."

The board has 60 days to either make a provisional appointment or hold a special election to replace Serna. Greenwood said that he did not know how much an election would cost. The board meets today to swear-in the four newly elected trustees. Its meeting on Dec. 16 is the first board meeting where the group will be able to vote on action items.

According to a report by the Stockton Police Department, questions first arose about Serna's reimbursement claims when Valerie Stewart-Green, an administrative assistant in the president's office, said Serna said she received a reimbursement from the league. Stewart-Green thought this was odd because reimbursements from the league are supposed to go directly to the college. She called the league and found out that Serna specifically requested the reimbursements be sent to her home address.

Other incidents that raised questions at the college were also detailed in the report.

Delta College Trustee Janet Rivera recounted when she and Serna attended a conference in San Jose in November 2007. Rivera was driving herself and Serna to the conference when Serna asked her to not tell Delta College officials they were riding together. When Rivera said she already told Delta President and Superintendent Raul Rodriguez, Serna reportedly said, "Oh shoot, I was going to claim the mileage."

In another incident, Reen Perez, an administrative assistant in Rodriguez's office, said Serna tried to collect money for a meal Rodriguez paid for with his college credit card.

At the Delta Associated Student Body Government office, Navid Shaghaghi, the president and chairman of the interclub council, said he thinks the way the administration handled the problem is reflective of its inability to work with people on campus.

"They didn't want to solve the problem. They just saw a great opportunity to get rid of this person," he said.

Source

Serna resigns from Delta board / Trustee pleads no contest to charges she took double reimbursements

2008-12-22T12:09:00.001-08:00

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
December 09, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - Longtime San Joaquin Delta College Trustee Maria Elena Serna resigned from the board Monday moments before pleading no contest to a charge that she claimed reimbursement twice for several business trips dating back to 2005.

Serna's letter of resignation, which her attorney handed to board President Janet Rivera in the hallway at San Joaquin County Superior Court, cited Serna's health.

"On the advice of my physician, I can no longer fulfill my obligations with the college, and due to personal reasons, I will be having this resignation effective immediately," the 67-year-old Serna wrote. She declined further comment.

Past problems

Police reports say former San Joaquin Delta College Trustee Maria Elena Serna had past problems with travel expenses and reimbursements:
• An administrative assistant at Delta said Serna asked to be reimbursed for meals that President Raul Rodriguez had already paid for on a college credit card.
• The same assistant said Serna once became "belligerent" when she learned she would not be receiving a full travel allowance for a conference in San Jose, even after she was told the conference would be providing meals.
• When Rodriguez and Serna took a business trip to Washington, D.C., in February 2007, Rodriguez paid for a cab ride and a meal at a Brazilian restaurant; Rodriguez learned later that Serna tried to claim reimbursement on both.

Serna, a Delta trustee since 1990, was accused of claiming nearly $1,650 from both Delta College and the Community College League of California, which held conferences attended by Serna in San Francisco and Sacramento. The money has been paid back, prosecutors said.

"It's not the amount of the money. It's the audacity of the conduct," said Deputy District Attorney Stephen E. Taylor. "When people do that in public service, they have to leave."

Delta administrators noticed inconsistencies in Serna's reimbursement records and contacted prosecutors, who sent the case to Stockton police. A criminal complaint was filed Friday following a two-month investigation.

The case was set to go before a grand jury today before the last-second plea deal was arranged, attorneys said.

The single felony charge levied on Serna could have resulted in up to three years in state prison.

But Judge Richard J. Guiliani said the court viewed the case as a misdemeanor and sentenced Serna to three years' informal probation, requiring that she obey all laws.

Delta President Raul Rodriguez, who sat in the first row at Monday's arraignment, said the college has long struggled to help Serna understand how reimbursement works.

"It's a shame we've come to this," he said. "But a trustee should know better."

One example: According to an internal Delta College memo, Serna attended a meeting of the nonprofit college league June 20-21 in Sacramento. Delta College used a $179 credit card payment to reserve her room at the Hyatt Regency hotel; Serna wrote up her own reimbursement for the same amount and filed it with the league.

So she was paid by the league for an expense the college had already covered, the memo said.

Overall, the league reimbursed Serna $1,642 for expenses already covered by the college dating back to 2005, the report said. Serna signed reimbursement forms stating that no more money would come from any other source.

Serna's attorney, Albert Ellis, called this a "technical" violation of the law and said Serna's intent was not to defraud anyone.

"This is a horrible thing for someone to have to go through after so many years of distinguished service," he said. "This is the type of woman they're normally talking about naming schools after."

Serna, a retired Bear Creek High School social science teacher, had represented the Lodi area on the Delta board since 1990; she was the first Latino woman elected in San Joaquin County, according to a Delta College news release earlier this year.

She is also the sister of Joe Serna, who served as mayor of Sacramento from 1992 until his death in 1999.

Maria Serna was part of the board majority that favored building a south-county campus in Mountain House, a decision derided by new board members. She recently had back surgery and was not present for some key decisions about how trustees should divvy up a dwindling pool of bond money.

Her resignation means just two of the seven previous Delta trustees will be returning to the dais. Two others did not seek re-election in November, and the last two were ousted by challengers. Only Rivera and Ted Simas will remain on the board.

State law says Delta must either order an election or appoint someone to fill the vacancy. The organization of the new board will be discussed at a special meeting Wednesday night.

Prosecutor Taylor accused Serna of "felony conduct" and said the case was treated very seriously because Serna held public office.

Ellis, her attorney, questioned whether the case would have been filed at all had she been an ordinary citizen.

In a memo to the campus community Monday, Rodriguez said Serna's resignation and other recent negative news - such as allegations of overspending by student government - are "not random or accidental events" but are part of an ongoing effort to "correct longstanding problems, to ensure that we are abiding by laws and regulations, and to bring about necessary and positive change."

Said board President Rivera, after court: "We're cleaning house."
Source

Letter about Serna's Crimes.

2008-12-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

Former Delta trustee getting special treatment

Regarding the resignation of Maria Serna from the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees, there are questions that need answers:

If she pleads no contest and resigns, does she still receive lifetime medical and retirement benefits?

Who pays for the investigation?

If she were an ordinary resident, would Ms. Serna not go to jail, not post bond, not defend herself at her expense at trial, not be able to resign and keep medical and retirement benefits? Or have a school named after her?

I'll answer the last one. No, if she were treated like an ordinary person, she'd go through all the above and not retire with benefits or get a felony plea bargained to a misdemeanor or have a school named after her.

Now could a representative from the District Attorney's Office or Delta College answer the first two questions? Transparency is needed.

Ms. Serna has done many good things for the community. However, in this instance the public is the victim, not Ms. Serna.

George Kininmonth
Stockton

Source

President Rodriguez Issues Memo on Serna's Resignation

2008-12-22T07:39:00.000-08:00

CAMPUS MEMORANDUM
Office of the President

Date: December 8, 2008
To: Campus Community
From: Raúl Rodríguez
Re: Trustee Resignation

As the Superintendent/President of Delta College, one of my responsibilities is to inform the campus of serious events. Today I have the difficult responsibility of informing the campus community that at approximately 1:30 this afternoon at the San Joaquin County Courthouse, Trustee Maria Elena Serna pleaded no contest to a charge of submitting fraudulent reimbursement requests for travel related expenses dating back to 2005. Under section 72 of the California Penal Code, this is a felony offense with potential penalties of prison time, monetary fines, loss of professional credentials, and loss of the position of elected official. However, the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor in consideration of Trustee Serna’s resignation from the board. Board president Janet Rivera and I received Trustee Serna’s resignation letter and filed it with the County Superintendent of Schools this afternoon.

While this may come as a surprise to most of you, this matter has been under investigation since early October. After I was made aware of the possibility that Trustee Serna had been submitting fraudulent reimbursement requests, I asked my staff to gather the evidence, which was then reviewed and confirmed by Vice President of Business Services, Dr. Jon Stephens. His analysis confirmed what my staff had discovered, i.e., a disturbing pattern by Trustee Serna of submitting requests for and subsequently receiving reimbursement from Delta College for travel and then receiving a duplicate reimbursement from the Community College League of California (CCLC) for the same trip.

I turned the results of our investigation over to the Stockton Police Department who performed their own investigation and quickly turned the issue over to the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office. The District Attorney’s office then filed charges against Trustee Serna. On October 17th and again on November 6th, Trustee Serna made restitution to the CCLC for duplicate funds she received illegally. Those funds have since been returned to Delta College.

There is however a much larger concern. As the Superintendent President of this college, I am deeply aware of the string of events that have fueled a negative perception in the media. Obviously, this event and other recent revelations, such as the ASBG flea market problems and the out of control spending by the ASBG, may further damage the reputation of this college. However, please understand that these difficult revelations are not random or accidental events. They are part of an ongoing and concerted effort by the college’s administrative team to correct longstanding problems, to ensure that we are abiding by laws and regulations, and to bring about necessary and positive change.

While I realize that recent events have been painful and often discouraging, I urge you as a campus community to join me in viewing all of this from a much larger perspective. Specifically, we are at a pivotal place in the history of this great college. The work we are doing is complex and often contentious, but that is to be expected when the stakes are so high. We must however always be cognizant that not all learning at Delta happens in classrooms. As we move forward, it is important for all of us to model the type of behavior we expect from our students. Principles such as honesty and integrity can not simply be words, but must be reflected in both our individual and collective behavior.

I look forward to the days ahead with a renewed sense of purpose, determination and a great deal of optimism. We have a tremendous opportunity for a fresh beginning with the newly elected Board of Trustees. I hope that each of you will join me in rallying behind our Board of Trustees and in shifting our focus back to the multitude of positive actions that occur on this campus every single day.

Reason for hope

2008-11-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

S.J. Delta College, too essential to fail, is unlikely to lose its accreditation
By The Record
November 20, 2008 6:00 AM

Good news for San Joaquin Delta College, an important asset in this area that has endured its share of bad news in recent months.

Likely the college will not lose its accreditation.

Although not official yet, it is "very unlikely" accreditation will be pulled, according to Brian King, president of Cabrillo College in Aptos, who was at Delta this week representing the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

A complete report is expected from the association by February, and it should spell out what the college has done that pleases WASC representatives. But King, speaking at a public forum after meeting with college officials, said, "A lot of things have changed since the (last) time we were here."

There probably was no actual danger that the college would lose its accreditation. Losing accreditation would make degrees from Delta afterward worthless in the eyes of many, including schools where students might transfer. Accreditation is so important that school officials would be expected to do anything possible to keep it. And apparently they did.

When the accreditation team first visited, it voiced concern about a number of issues, including the lack of a trustee ethics code, the lack of stability among the district's leadership ranks, the lack of planning and the perception of bias on campus.

Delta officials put together a 250-page response, which took issue with some of the accreditation team's findings but also said the college was moving aggressively to make improvements.

That kind of quick, positive response is refreshing and noteworthy. A highly critical grand jury report and an equally critical state audit chastised college officials for the way a $250 million bond was handled. Grand jurors also questioned the district leadership, especially the Board of Trustees for its bickering and lack of unity.

The college's responses to the grand jury report and the audit showed more interest in defending district practices than in improving them.

And in response, voters on Nov. 4 ousted two incumbent trustees and found replacements for two others who did not seek re-election.

But the series of critical reports has prompted change, according to English instructor Sam Hatch.

"A lot of institutional denial has broken down, and people are willing to go to work to make things better," Hatch said at the public forum.

Let's hope. Delta College is too incredibly important to this area to be allowed to fail.

Source

Delta College flea market under investigation

2008-11-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

Ex-student activity chief also focus of criminal allegations
By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
November 22, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - San Joaquin Delta College police are investigating allegations of fraud, embezzlement and sexual harassment in connection with the college's weekend flea market, a fundraising staple for student government and clubs.

Delta's former supervisor of student activities is one, but not the only, subject of the ongoing investigation, according to a police memo obtained by The Record.

The memo says the supervisor - who is not named in the document - knowingly hired flea market employees with criminal records, ranging from property crime to murder. Some were students, a college spokesman said.

The supervisor allegedly spent $600,000 in personal funds over five years for the student government and was reimbursed by the college, allowing large sums of money to be spent without prior approval. The report also says that cash receipts and documents were shredded, as noted by an outside auditor hired by the college to investigate.

The supervisor "failed to provide positive leadership to the students in regard to spending," the report says. Travel expenses for student government exceeded college policy, and an "inordinate" amount of money was spent on clothing, luggage, scholarships, expensive meals and hotel suites, the report says.

Delta College officials released the document to the Associated Student Body Government earlier this week after students criticized new and stricter policies governing spending.

Students and club advisers have for weeks paraded before the college's Board of Trustees protesting the new policies, which require pre-approval of minor purchases among other safeguards. This is not always practical, students and some advisers argue.

Delta spokesman Greg Greenwood said the report about the ongoing investigation was released to explain these new policies.

"We want to make sure the (student government) understands why we're placing all of these controls on them," Greenwood said.

The college plans to implement 14 new procedures to ensure accountability, he said.

The state Education Code says community college boards already "must provide for the supervision of all funds raised by any student body ... using the name of the college."

Greenwood said the flea market, which brings in about $500,000 a year, has been scrutinized at times for more than a decade. The new investigation suggests a "much more severe" situation, he said.

The money in question does not belong to the college. In a 2003 interview with The Collegian, Delta College's student newspaper, President Raul Rodriguez questioned student-body government expenditures for admission to Disneyland as well as a $546 meal at Le Bistro.

These may not be illegal purchases, Rodriguez said at the time, "but it's a matter of appearances and ethics."

Student Body President Valerie Novak acknowledged Friday that the flea market needs management. "We recognize there is a problem and that it needs to be addressed," she said.

But, she added, the current student government inherited the problem.

"It's not us," Novak said. "The problem was not the students. It was the adviser."

She defended current student government spending. Yearly trips to a Washington, D.C., community college convention are valuable networking opportunities, she said. Some students need help with dress or luggage to be able to make such a trip.

Novak said delays in clearance from the administration have forced students to book pricier hotel rooms.

She said the student government would get professional help to audit its own books, but she continued to argue that pre-approval of all expenses for many clubs is not practical.

As for the criminal investigation, Greenwood said the case would be forwarded to county prosecutors if the evidence confirms the allegations.

The five-page report contained no specific details on the allegation of sexual harassment.

Source

Delta President Delays Seating New Board Members

2008-11-16T10:38:00.001-08:00

SJDCwatch Exclusive.

In case you missed it, the voters recently elected four new board members at Delta College. Since there are a total of seven seats on the board, we have a new board. So, why is President Raul Rodriguez doing everything he can to delay seating the new board? Why should the college administration be allowed to push through business that is against the stated views of the new members?

-President Up To His Same Old Tricks-
Even as voters spoke loudly for change on the Delta board, President Rodriguez is working to thwart their will by delaying the seating of the new members until long after the first day that they can legally be seated (Friday, December 5).
In a recent e-mail, Rodriguez claims that "we plan to swear in the new trustees, hold an organizational meeting to select the new board officers, and then transact any business that might be before the new board" on December 16, 2008.
Rodriguez defends his idea on the dubious premise that this is the "normal schedule of holding board meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of the month."
Rodriguez does not seem to appreciate the historic nature of the recent election. Voters rose up, like never before, and demanded change. Four incumbents were either voted out or chose not to run on their record.
In a time of such unprecedented change, the President must honor the will of the electorate.

-Never Missing An Opportunity... to Miss An Opportunity-

There was a window of opportunity in the first week after the election to contact the new trustees, work with the old board, and synchronize calendars. There should have been at least a sketch of a plan for welcoming and installing the new members before the election. We doubt anything was done.
As things stand now, even with a measure of goodwill and competence on the part of his subordinates, we doubt Rodriguez could arrange for the new board to take office before Dec. 9. Under the law, the old board has full authority to continue to make decisions until the new board is sworn in and installed. It would show some self-restraint and respect for the voters if the old board conducted nothing more than routine business after Dec. 5.

-What To Do Now?-

Cancel the December 2, 2008 board meeting.
Seat the new board on December 5, 2008.
Hold the meeting on December 16, 2008 with the new board.
Start conducting the District's business in a transparent manner.

-SJDCwatch

Hardly a 'hit piece'

2008-11-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

State auditors find disturbing practices at Delta College

By The Record
November 16, 2008 6:00 AM

In the words of a San Joaquin Delta College spokesman: "It's a hit piece."

More precisely, a politically motivated hit piece, according to spokesman Greg Greenwood, reacting to yet another highly critical assessment of how the college has handled the $250 million bond approved four years ago.

And our response: So?

Who cares if the audit was politically motivated (it came at the urging of state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden)? What district taxpayers should care about is what state auditors say they found. And they found plenty, just like county grand jurors did last summer.

In pushing Measure L, Delta officials made pie-in-the-sky promises about satellite campuses and sprucing up the main campus. What did college officials do? They built athletic fields and bought electronic message boards - check them out the next time to drive by the campus on Pershing or Pacific avenues - instead of fixing leaking roofs, faulty electrical wiring, upgrading existing buildings or building new ones.

The excuse offered up earlier by Delta President Raul Rodriguez: "It was important for people to see the visual results of bond spending."

Huh? Really? They didn't even start pushing dirt around for the new athletic facilities until last year, three years after Measure L was passed. And the idea that most district voters associate improving higher education at a community college by building athletic fields is absurd on its face.

To most people, especially those who for years will be paying off the $250 million bonds, what comes to mind are things like biology labs and classrooms and updated library facilities and more classes available to the far-flung reaches of the college district.

There's not a lot to show for $250 million, not a lot of "visual results".

State Controller's Office auditors did find that in addition to spending millions on athletic fields and message boards, the college also spent $283,382 in bond on a new financial information system that included sending college staffers to 18 campuses around the nation.

Only later were those expenses shifted out of the bond account and to the college's general account.

"Not one penny has been charged to the bond," Greenwood said, adding that there has been "an enormous amount of scrutiny on this (bond) money."

Not everyone agrees, especially state auditors who called the Citizens Oversight Committee "passive, perfunctory and ineffective." At least one member of that panel argues that auditors didn't understand the committee's job, and besides its authority is limited by state law.

And the question that statement begs is: if true, why have an oversight committee?

College officials promised a point-by-point rebuttal to the audit, and last week the 10-page answer was sent to Jeffrey V. Brownfield, the chief of the division of audits in the Controller's Office.

The college's response was somewhat similar to its answer to the blistering grand jury report last summer.

Among other things, jurors said the college had essentially lost about $30 million in bond money on its Mountain House campus project in the south county by delays and plain old bad decisions.

The district's answer to jurors: yeah, we could have done better.

The district's answer to state auditors: on five specific points auditors raised, the college disagreed with four, and agreed with one (that the college could have done better retaining oversight committee members).

The college awaits the auditors' final report, to which the district rebuttal will be attached.

Before that, college officials will face Dr. Brian King, head of the recent accreditation team that visited Delta College earlier and placed the college on warning status. He will be at Delta on Monday for a follow-up and plans a public town hall meeting in the Tillie Lewis Theatre at 3 p.m.

Accreditation is imperative. Without it Delta College becomes a high school with fees. Students wanting to transfer to four year colleges will have more trouble.

This storm of reports and continued controversy goes a long way toward explaining why two long-term trustees did not seek re-election Nov. 4 year and two others were thrown out of office by voters.

A new board majority is promising a new attitude, more oversight of the taxpayers' money and more engagement with district residents.

No matter how energetic this new crop of trustees they can't get back the millions squandered and the time wasted.

They can set in motion the actions to see that things change, that it doesn't happen again.

Source

Area 1 Outcome Still Undecided...

2008-11-08T17:23:00.001-08:00

C Jennet Stebbins and James Grunsky are in a near tie, with many mail-in ballots yet to count.

Grunsky, the SJDCTA endorsed candidate, may still have a chance to win the Area 1 seat on the board. After vote totals were posted late Tuesday evening or early Wednesday, showing Grunsky trailing Stebbins by 1,348.

But, there are still MANY ballots to be counted:

--23,000 vote-by-mail ballots
--12,500 provisional ballots
-- 5,400 damaged ballots

Over 40,000 votes uncounted in San Joaquin County alone. There must be at
least a few thousand more from Contra Costa and Calaveras counties.

The outcome is far from certain!

The SJCROV is shooting for final totals and certification before Thanksgiving.

SJDCTA Appreciates Election Success

2008-11-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

A Message from the SJDCTA Organizing Committee and DeltaPAC

Here are the results of the Delta College trustee raises as of Wednesday morning (11/5/2008). Both incumbents were defeated and 3 of our 4 endorsed candidates were elected to the board. (One race, Area 1, has yet to be certified. Our endorsed candidate is in a virtual tie for first place.)

We hope this election is the start of improved leadership for the college and a better relationship between the board of trustees and the faculty. Our candidates ran thoughtful, energetic races, and Delta College faculty helped them to succeed.

Our PAC will not go away. We’ll debrief, take a breather, and start thinking about our strategy for 2010. If you know of possible candidates for the next election cycle, please send names and contact information to Lynn Hawley, Lisa Perez, or me.

Thanks,
Sam Hatch

DELTA COLLEGE TRUSTEE AREA NO. 1 (NOT YET CERTIFIED!)
C JENNET STEBBINS 50854 38.04%
JAMES GRUNSKY 49506 37.03%
ANTHONY E. BUGARIN 32914 24.62%
Write-in Votes 403 0.30%

DELTA COLLEGE TRUSTEE AREA NO. 2
DAVID RISHWAIN 43329 32.13%
MOTECUZOMA PATRICK S 18187 13.48%
THOMAS LABOUNTY 9350 6.93%
MARY ANN COX 56755 42.08%
GREGORY BENIGNO 6961 5.16%
Write-in Votes 289 0.21%

DELTA COLLEGE TRUSTEE AREA NO. 5
AL LENNOX 39112 30.35%
STEVE CASTELLANOS 89313 69.31%
Write-in Votes 440 0.34%

DELTA COLLEGE TRUSTEE AREA NO. 6
GREG MC CREARY 36798 28.81%
CAROLYN GAMINO 34415 26.94%
TERESA R. BROWN 56076 43.90%
Write-in Votes 451 0.35%

Tracy Press Endorsements: Board Needs a "New Dose of Blood"

2008-10-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

Written by Press editorial board
Tuesday, 28 October 2008

San Joaquin Delta College has not used the $250 million Measure L bond wisely, and we think the board could use new administrative leadership.

Without a doubt, San Joaquin Delta College is in trouble after its gross mishandling of the $250 million Measure L bond, a scathing grand jury investigation and threatened loss of accreditation. The dysfunctional board needs new blood, and the first order of business should be to find new administrative leadership that can work with the new board to rebuild trust in the institution’s governance.

The good news is that two of the rooted incumbents aren’t running for another term, and in the other two districts having elections, the incumbents are not running unopposed — for the first time. So change is coming.

Voters throughout the community college district will choose one trustee for each of the four district seats out of a total of 13 candidates.

Eleven out of those 13 attended our candidate forum Oct. 22, and we’ve had numerous conversations with members of the Delta community about which candidates to endorse. Here’s our take:

• For Area 6, which has three candidates from Tracy, Greg McCreary — 70-year-old businessman, former New Jerusalem Elementary School District superintendent and 12-year board member — is the only incumbent we’ll back.

If elected, he’ll serve as president of the board.

McCreary has often been at odds, for good reason, with his fellow board members. He pushed for a satellite campus in Tracy, and at the very least, he wants to stick it out for one more term on the board to make sure we don’t lose the campus at Mountain House.

He’s out for our best interest on the board.

One of his challengers, Teresa Brown, is a program developer at the CSU Stanislaus-Stockton Center. She’s a smart and articulate newcomer who impresses us, and we hope she’ll still be interested after McCreary serves his last term.

• For Area 5, we endorse Steve Castellanos, an architect from Valley Springs who has been an outspoken critic of the Delta board. He would offer a unique perspective with his experience as a former state architect whose responsibilities included reviewing community college construction projects.

• Mary Ann Cox is our choice for Area 2, the district with the most competition in this race. Cox is a retired Delta dean who brings an insider’s understanding of the school and its problems. She’s a passionate supporter of education who said she believes it’s not too late for Delta to put a campus in Tracy.

• In Area 1, James Grunsky is an energetic trucking company owner and boxing promoter who is our choice to unseat 16-year incumbent Anthony Bugarin. Grunsky, 26, is a former Delta student who would bring thoughtful, fresh energy to a board that needs it badly.

Source

One Teacher's Take on the Candidate's Forum....

2008-10-25T23:00:00.001-07:00

Random thoughts on last night's [Oct 23, 2008] forum for the candidates for San Joaquin Delta Board of Trustees...first, PIPELINE, its members, and the faculty (Jeanne-Marie Velickovic and Peggy Scully) who organized the club are to be congratulated on their stellar efforts. It is important to personalize the Nov. 4 election, and the many students in the audience last night received a lesson that could not have been taught in the classroom.

I was impressed that 10 of the 13 candidates were present and acquitted themselves in a professional manner. I would have been doubly impressed if all of our current Board of Trustees were present. The forum was well-moderated by Record editor Kevin Parrish, and the questions developed by the panel covered the bond, student services, fiduciary responsibility and administrative oversight. There were also questions taken from audience members, who were given index cards with their program and even a second or third card if needed. (There were no questions about improving "education" or "teaching." On numerous occasions the faculty was cited as exemplary.)

I felt like I'd won the lottery when my question was the first from the audience put to the candidates. I wrote (and I am paraphrasing): For years, there has been fearful discussion on campus that the administration was "after" the money raised at the flea market by the Associated Student Body Government. What would you do, if elected, to prevent that from happening?

Now, for anyone who feels this fear is unjustified, look no further than the conservative George Will, who on today's Record opinion page begins his column with: "Washington is having a Willie Sutton moment. Such moments occur when government, finding its revenue insufficient for its agenda, glimpses some money it does not control and would like to."

Trustee McCreary answered the question by referring to the current, contested expenditure approval process. Delta clubs and the administration have started down the slippery slope of who gets to determine how clubs spend their monies. "Approval" implies control simply because it can be withheld. And more questions have arisen than have been answered.

For the most part, candidates addressed the questions put to them. There were, however, several instances, where candidates only addressed a portion of the question or deflected the question with an answer of their own. In addition, I wish all the candidates had taken a cue from the presidential debates and written the questions down as they were being put. This would have saved time repeating the questions, and we could have asked more questions and leaned more about the candidates.

While some may equate outspokenness to viability, there is room for error in this approach. Jennet Stebbins was frequently flustered by the buzzer that indicated the 60 second time limit, and audience members may have discounted some of her answers due to performance rather than content. This morning, in English 1D: Critical Thinking, PIPELINE treasurer Antoni Tomas, who was also on the panel last night, recapped the event for his classmates, citing this question (and I paraphrase): Should there be a health care center on campus?

Trustee Bugarin wandered into health care insurance. Businessman James Grunsky said do the numbers, check the feasibility. Stebbens said partner with local health care agencies. Tomas liked her response. He said (and I quote): "She nailed it."

Two candidates stood out in their area of expertise. It was obvious from Mary Ann Cox's response on Middle College High School that her insider knowledge and institutional "memory" would be an asset on the board. From their facial expressions, most of the other candidates did not know about the program. In addition, Steve Castellanos made it apparent that his expertise in architecture from blueprints to ribbon cutting would really help the college through its growing pains.

This crude review of the evening is in no way an endorsement of any candidate, nor is it complete by any measure. I did not take notes and agreed to write up these remarks with the understanding that others could also contribute thoughts on the evening's content in order to be fair to all the candidates. I am making no attempt here to be "fair."

That said, Motecuzoma Sanchez's brazen alacrity is refreshing. In his final statement, he turned to his rivals for the Area 2 seat and pegged David Rishwain as the developer's choice and inferred that Mary Ann Cox represented the status quo. The man has guts. I personally like someone who will say what people are thinking, refusing to be silent out of phony politeness or, even worse, fear of reprisal.

All good things,
Paula Sheil

At a pivotal time for Delta College, Lodi News-Sentinel endorses: Castellanos, Cox, Grunsky and Brown

2008-10-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

Updated: Friday, October 24, 2008 11:57 PM PDT

Voters face a delicious dilemma in the varied contests for Delta College trustee.

It's delicious in that each of the four districts holding elections is strongly contested. That's rare for the Delta board, where incumbents have often become rooted and unchallenged for years.

This surge of competition is a good and timely thing indeed; Delta is in sore need of new leadership. A $250 million bond measure has been grossly mishandled; the phrase most frequently used to describe the board now is "dysfunctional" — and the college leadership has been blistered by everyone from the faculty to the county Grand Jury to acceditation officials.

This is the dilemma, though: How are voters supposed to discern who among the baker's dozen of candidates should join the board at this pivotal time in the college's history?

Voters throughout the district vote on all districts. So voters in Lodi will be allowed to vote on the districts representing South Stockton and Tracy.

The candidates are a far-flung lot, from Calaveras County to Tracy to Stockton. Some have attended candidate forums, some have not. Some filed candidate's statements, others not.

Let us be frank here. Figuring out who to endorse in this sprawling campaign was a test for us.

But we did interview each candidate in person or by telephone, and also interviewed, on background, numerous faculty and staff members and other members of the Delta community.

Here is our take:

District 5, a sweeping geographic zone that extends from Rio Vista, skirts north and east of Lodi to Calaveras County and down to Linden.

Incumbent Dan Parises has decided to step down after 33 years, and two challengers have stepped forward: Al Lennox and Steve Castellanos.

We like the fact that Lennox, the CEO of an ambulance firm, knows business. He has experience balancing the budget at the Valley Mountain Regional Center for the developmentally disabled, where he has served as a board treasurer.

He's also a leader, holding national positions for the American Legion and as president of the Amador County Chamber of Commerce.

We are also impressed by Castellanos, a Valley Springs architect who has closely — and critically — followed the board's activities in recent months. Castellanos strikes us as reasoned and experienced. As a former state architect, he knows plan review and has a savvy sense of construction budgeting.

He'd be a unique asset in squeezing every last penny from Measure L.

He believes Measure L has been badly piece-mealed and that trustees should call a time-out, develop a needs assessment and master plan, and only then proceed with locking down plans.

Questions have been raised about whether Lennox in fact lives in District 5 and is even eligible to run. He says he has homes in both Amador County, outside the district, and in Calaveras County, inside the district.

We don't pretend to know the truth of the matter, but on balance, we are tilting toward Castellanos, whose interest in serving on the board seems both very genuine and, relatively speaking, long-standing.

Area 2, central Stockton.

There are two strong candidates here: Mary Ann Cox and David Rishwain.

We appreciate the others. Thomas LaBounty is an accountant with a thoughtful take on the issues. Gregory Benigno is a retailer and a real estate broker with land use experience. Motecuzoma Patrick Sanchez is a Marine veteran and a recent Delta graduate. All have a good command of the issues.

Cox and Rishwain have additional experience and valuable insight on moving Delta ahead.

Cox has promised to re-examine the Mountain House campus proposal. She hopes to undo that decision and use the savings to go forward with a Lodi campus. Rishwain is less inclined to slow progress for another examination of the Mountain House commitment, but promised to keep an open mind if the idea gets pushed by others.

The Grand Jury has criticized Delta for violating open meeting laws, and Rishwain is committed to ending. We don't doubt Cox's shares the same goal, but Rishwain's legal background will be very helpful on this.

Cox has expressed suspicion of Rishwain's membership in a prominent Stockton family and his connections to real estate developers. This isn't a city council or planning commission seat, and we don't see a conflict.

In fact, Rishwain's real estate law practice might equip him to be a leader as the college begins an aggressive building program. The Grand Jury has urged Delta to stay away from tricky public-private partnerships, but that would mean giving up the chance to leverage precious tax dollars. Rishwain's knowledge will be helpful.

Cox, a retired Delta administrator, brings a hands-on knowledge of Delta's inner workings such as finances, labor relations and college personnel practices.

Which brings us to what may be the most important job of a new Delta board — evaluating and directing the top administrators.

As with anyone who rises from inside an organization to a position of authority, there is a danger that Mary Ann Cox may play favorites. We believe and expect she is above that. Her experience in evaluating staff comes through when she says the board needs to set clear expectations for President Raul Rodriguez and hold him accountable. Rishwain has his own experience with nonprofit boards, the Stockton Redevelopment Commission and his business.

But Cox convinced us she is ready to make a big contribution to either rearranging the Delta leadership or pushing it forward.

It's a tough call, but we favor Mary Ann Cox.

District 1, South Stockton.

The candidates are Jennet Stebbins, a businesswoman; Anthony Bugarin, the 16-year incumbent; and James Grunsky, a trucking company owner.

Stebbins knows Delta quite well as both a former student and the mother of Delta graduates. She is earnest and personable, but we believe this contest boils down to either Bugarin or Grunsky.

Bugarin, a fifth-grade teacher, is serious-minded about his trustee duties. By all accounts, he has served the college well. But it is on his watch that things began to unravel. He is candid about that, saying the public has the right to be angry at the Delta board.

We do not believe Bugarin has been at the core of Delta's malaise, but we aren't convinced he is a vital part of the solution, either.

The best hope, we believe, is Grunsky, the young, energetic trucking company owner. He's a former student at Delta who has an entrepreneurial spirit; at 26, he's among the youngest licensed mixed martial arts promoters in California.

Grunsky is a political newcomer. Granted, he's a bit of an unknown quantity. Could he lack the maturity to be an ideal trustee? Perhaps.

But we believe he is smart, sincere, and will bring fresh energy to a board that badly needs it.

District 6, Tracy.

Another toughie. Incumbent Greg McCreary faces challengers Teresa Brown and Carolyn Gamino.

Gamino is running because she believes the college needs new direction. She is a hair stylist and church school custodian.

Brown is a former TV journalist who returned to college to earn both master's and doctoral degrees. She now serves as a program developer at Stanislaus State University. Brown is an articulate and polished communicator. She has a deep knowledge of Internet education and building college curriculum that's cost-effective. She is on the board of the Stockton ARC, which serves the needs of disabled people.

She isn't steeped in financial experience, but appears to be a quick learner. She'd like to untangle the Mountain House project and see if more money can be spared for projects like the proposed (but now-drastically underfunded) satellite campus in Lodi.

McCreary has served 12 years on the board. He's plain-spoken and has business experience as the owner of an insurance agency.

To his credit, McCreary opposed Mountain House and pushed for a site in Tracy proper, a site that now seems more and more appealing.

If McCreary did not face a challenger of some stature, we'd be comfortable endorsing him.

But Brown, we believe, is a strong candidate who can be a strong trustee.

So, with all due respect to the incumbents, we are suggesting that voters bring in fresh blood.

We are also suggesting that, in the future, it may be better for trustees to serve a maximum of say, eight years, instead of the protracted terms that have been typical to date.

Longevity has its merit; so does a fresh perspective.
Source

Behind closed doors

2008-09-26T07:08:00.001-07:00

Secrecy in Delta College audit will ensure full public disclosure

By The Record
September 25, 2008 6:00 AM

State auditors will work behind the scenes as they try to determine how San Joaquin Delta College spent the $250 million bond money approved by voters four years ago.

This private work will result in what officials from the state Controller's Office say will be a very public report. In fact, some public hearings may take place during the investigation.

Two members of the citizen oversight committee object to the private protocol. They want the audit conducted in full view of the public, and on first blush, that seems reasonable.

It's not. The auditors' reasoning is simple: They want to get as much information as possible. And they want as much accuracy as possible.

Interviewing people in public could hamper those goals. When it's over, we may find out why the district has only about $66 million of the $250 million left. Why there are enormous differences between what was promised and what will happen. And who is responsible for the shortcomings.

When the tough questions are finally asked, the auditors worry that in a public setting, those being questioned would hedge their answers. There also is the worry that others to be interviewed will know what was said beforehand.

Think of it as the routine practice of a judge excluding witnesses from the courtroom until it is their turn to testify.

The Record supports public disclosure and the public's business being done in the open. Delta College trustees have repeatedly taken lightly the provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state's open meetings law. They as much as admitted they had done so in responding to a grand jury report that accused them of just such violations.

But an audit is different. And as long as the results are fully disclosed, the public's right to know is sustained.

Source

San Joaquin Delta College Faculty Vote to Support Four Board Candidates

2008-09-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

Following its pledge to restore responsible leadership to the college board, the Delta College faculty has voted to support four candidates in the San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees election Nov. 4.

“The upcoming trustee elections are absolutely crucial to the future of the college,” said Joe Gonzales, president of the San Joaquin Delta College Teachers Association. “We believe these candidates have the skills, the talent and the commitment to rebuild the community’s trust in our community college.”

The SJDCTA Executive Council has voted to support:

James Grunsky of Stockton, a businessman, and former Delta College student, for the Area 1 seat;
Mary Ann Cox of Stockton, a retired Delta College administrator, for Area 2;
Steve Castellanos of Valley Springs, former California state architect, now in private practice, for Area 5; and
Teresa Brown of Tracy, an administrator for CSU, Stanislaus, for Area 6.

“All four candidates impressed the association with their commitment to a new brand of leadership on the board — one with its focus on civility in public discussion, responsible management of taxpayer dollars, and close attention to the educational needs of students,” Gonzales said.

A grand jury report released in June sharply criticized the board for wasting millions of dollars of bond money and expressed “no confidence in the Delta College Board of Trustees as currently constituted.”
An accreditation team also took the trustees to task, concluding that the board “has devolved into a group reduced to in-fighting and micro-management of college operations.” The college is currently on probation with the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges.

The faculty’s political action committee is working with other community groups interested in the welfare of the college to support candidates who will restore public and student confidence in Delta College.
The PAC is mobilizing resources to support the associations endorsed candidates. Activities will include working with student groups critical of the board, supporting voter registration drives to involve as many students as possible in the board election, and working closely with the Stockton Teachers Association to support teacher-recommended candidates.

Gonzales urged members of the community who care about Delta College to “please join us in our campaign to take back the college for the sake of our students.” For more information, contact Joe Gonzales at 209-298-7414 or Sam Hatch at 209-339-1211.

'We have not officially abandoned Lodi, but we have officially abandoned Highway 12'

2008-09-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

Has Lodi been 'sold down the river?' Is there still hope for Delta College classrooms?

By Andrew Adams
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Thursday, September 11, 2008 6:26 AM PDT

San Joaquin Delta College has abandoned plans for a campus on Victor Road — but there may still be hope for classrooms in Lodi if trustees reduce the funding for the Mountain House project near Tracy.

That may not be enough, however, to satisfy the people who supported the school's original plans for a large campus east of Lodi on Victor Road.

"I don't think they lived up to their commitment, I don't think they lived up to the bond and I don't think they lived up to the voters," said Lodi City Councilman Larry Hansen. "I'm extremely disappointed about how this turned out."

At the Delta board meeting Tuesday night, trustees voted 5-0 to abandon the school's plans for a campus in Lodi off Victor Road.

After spending $4 million on the project, the school had not even purchased property and it had become apparent that earlier plans would just be too expensive. The school spent the money on consultants, lawyers, planning work and property options.

Hansen said Delta's failure to live up to its promises to Lodi can be blamed on the school's administration and its board, which suffered from lack of direction and "paralysis by analysis."

In the 2004 election campaign to pass Measure L — and in subsequent years — Hansen had been a staunch supporter of Delta's plans for Lodi.

"Delta College came to us and told us what they were looking for, and we worked hard to assist them and they encouraged with their vision," he said. "I feel like they have really sold us down the river."

Options in Lodi
The leaders of San Joaquin Delta College's bond team presented three options to the school's board of trustees at its meeting Tuesday. College spokesman Greg Greenwood described the options and said the board is expected to discuss them during a public workshop in early October.

The options, and their costs, include:

1. Do nothing and close out remaining contracts, $200,000.

2. Continue with Victor Road project and finish in 2013, $28.4 million. (The board rejected this option with its vote Tuesday.)

3a. Purchase 15 acres with a long-term option for buying 15 more in a "master planned community" in Lodi, $4.5 million.

3b. Buy the land for $4.5 million, build needed infrastructure for $10 million and build a campus. Total cost $26.1 million to be completed in 2012.

4. Purchase an existing building in Lodi with two additional buildings for a total of 70,000 square feet, $54.7 million to be completed in 2012.

— News-Sentinel staff

With the $250 million Measure L bond reduced to around $66 million, the San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees will have to make tough decisions soon about its remaining plans for Mountain House, Manteca and Lodi.

Trustee Ted Simas said it will probably comes down to either a fully funded Mountain House campus at the sacrifice of Lodi and Manteca, or scaled down versions of all the projects.

"We have not officially abandoned Lodi, but we have officially abandoned Highway 12," he said, referring to the Victor Road site.

Trustees are expected to make a decision on the future of the satellite campuses at a meeting in October.

Simas, who represents Manteca, said based on past decisions, he wouldn't be surprised if the board opts to fund Mountain House with the remainder of the bond.

"For years, the board majority's 'yes' votes for Mountain House pretty much rammed Mountain House down our throats," he said. "I would probably imagine the board majority would go with the higher cost scenario for Mountain House."

Simas also said the demand for a campus in Lodi may not exist, pointing to a significant drop in enrollment at Lodi Unified School District this year. Instead, a smaller building serving about 100 students could really be all that Lodi needs for the time being.

Lodi Trustee Maria Elena Serna did not attend Tuesday's meeting because she is recovering from spinal surgery.

Contacted by phone at her home in Lodi, Serna said the residents in Lodi deserve a campus because of their strong support for Measure L.

"We have to stay with it and find a way," she said. "I have a couple of ideas that I think may be feasible."

The trustee did not describe her ideas, saying she wanted to discuss them with college staff first.

Serna also stressed that it's important for people to remember that Delta College is a community "cornerstone," which offers an education that is even more valuable at a time of a slow economy.

It was the vision of this higher education coming to Lodi that had so excited local leaders.

Lodi City Manager Blair King said he doesn't understand how Delta's clearly defined vision for the city has fallen to the wayside.

"I thought that it was well thought out, well vetted and supported by the board and the administration. We were certainly led to believe that was the direction of the board," he said.

King said in his experience if a public entity sinks $4 million of taxpayer money into a project, it usually means the organization is going to go through with the project.

If the college is too far along on its Mountain House plans, King said he would have expected that the same reasoning would have applied to Lodi, especially after several million dollars.

King didn't have an opinion on any possible plans for Delta's future in Lodi, but Councilman Hansen said he's not expecting much.

"I don't have any confidence in them accomplishing anything at this point," he said.

Source

Delta abandons Lodi campus plans

2008-09-11T07:08:00.000-07:00

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
September 10, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - A Lodi campus long envisioned by San Joaquin Delta College officials was scrapped Tuesday by trustees who are struggling to divvy up dwindling voter-approved bond money.

Roughly $4 million had been spent planning the proposed 120-acre campus on Victor Road just east of town. On Tuesday, trustees voted 5-0 in closed session to abandon that campus.

Trustee Dan Parises abstained, and Trustee Maria Elena Serna, who is recovering from surgery, was absent.

"I guess the students that would be using (the Lodi campus) aren't being thought of," Parises said after the vote.

There's simply not enough money left from the Measure L bond to make every project happen, officials said. About $66 million remains to pay for three proposed satellite campuses: Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca.

As originally planned, Mountain House alone would cost somewhere shy of $90 million.

"Obviously, there's way more in options than there is in funding," said Kathy Roach, a consultant helping Delta manage the $250 million Measure L bond, approved by voters in 2004.

Still in limbo are the Mountain House and Manteca campuses. College officials say it's too late to turn back on Mountain House, but the campus will have to be scaled down from the original plans.

Roach and college administrators gave trustees a range of options Tuesday night, with a final decision to be made in October.

Many Measure L projects on and off the Stockton campus are costing more than originally expected. In some cases, past consultants hired to manage the bond did not include the cost of furnishing buildings, for example, college officials have said.

Rather than build a brand-new Lodi campus from scratch, other choices include buying existing buildings or purchasing property that is already within city limits.

Lodi Mayor Bob Johnson could not be reached for comment Tuesday. In a letter earlier this summer, Lodi City Manager Blair King said he was concerned that the board's commitment to Lodi was "waning."

A $27 million spike in the cost to construct Delta's Mountain House campus would, in and of itself, be enough to build the Lodi campus, King wrote.

"Plain and simple fairness demands that the board uphold its commitment to voters and move forward with a Lodi Education Center," he wrote.

Roach has told board members that the Lodi campus was risky. Opposition from neighbors and possible litigation were among the threats, she said during a bond workshop in June.

While college officials say it's too late to pull the plug on the controversial Mountain House campus - a civil grand jury alleged in June that the board wasted millions by building there instead of Tracy - some observers disagree.

"It's not too late. We haven't gone too far," former Delta administrator Mary Ann Cox told the board Tuesday night. She is seeking a seat on the board in November.

Delta President Raul Rodriguez said the college is "so far into this now, it's going to be very hard" to pull out of Mountain House.

Source

Don't Make An Irrevocable Mistake!

2008-09-06T17:34:00.001-07:00

The Board of Trustees of San Joaquin Delta College is rumored to be voting, in closed session this Tuesday (Sept. 9, 2008), to make an IRREVOCABLE TRUST for "OPEB" (Other Post-Employment Benefits).

No one seems to remember that it only costs the district about 10% per year of SJDC's budget to fund the retiree's benefits, and that there is no legal requirement to use an irrevocable trust (as clearly shown by the CTA seminar in fall 2007, that the Trustees and Pres. Rodriguez attended! The lack of a requirement to utilize an irrevocable trust is also documented in a report by GASB and a recent memo from the CCCCO (please see the "document" links, below)). Furthermore, retiree's benefit costs are likely to decrease over time, due to reductions in benefits negotiated in contracts between the District and Employees.

The amount to be placed in the irrevocable trust is rumored to be $5.7 million. The new finance VP, Jon Stephens, is said to be proposing the vote. These funds will come out of the reserve. Recently reserves were reported to be $9.9 million, but are likely higher now.

As stated by the Community College League, the Trust is NOT required!

According to the CCL (which is an organization of CCC administrators), the implementation process for GASB 45 includes four basic steps:
1. A community college districts hires an actuary to calculate its Annual Required Contribution.

2. OPEB expenses are recorded on the modified cash basis of accounting within the governmental funds (funds reported on the CCFS-311) and on the full accrual basis of accounting for propriety funds, fiduciary funds and in the government-wide financial statements prepared under the Business-Type Activity model.

3. The district then decides whether to contribute all, none or part of the ARC into an irrevocable trust (i.e. the Retiree Health Benefit Program trust).

4. Disclosure information is provided to the auditor according to GASB’s implementation schedule.

Over the long-term, retiree benefits will shrink. Under existing contracts, the principal benefit (Medicare supplemental premiums) will disappear as a benefit in the mid-term future. Placing such a large amount of money into an irrevocable trust would be a rash decision which will greatly limit the College's financial flexibility.

Documents:
The California Community College Chancellor's Office recent memo regarding GASB and OPEB clearly show that an irrevocable trust is not a requirement.

GASB's "Plain English" introduction to OPEB (other post-employment benefits). (GASB = Governmental Accounting Standards Board" www.gasb.org)

Delta Teachers Insist: District Bargains in Bad Faith

2008-08-31T22:57:00.000-07:00

SJDCwatch has obtained a copy of a recent letter from the SJDC Teachers Association sent to the President and Board of Trustees.

To: President Rodriguez, Trustee Serna, Trustee Rivera, Trustee Bugarin, Trustee Burke, Trustee Simas, Trustee Parises, and Trusty McCreary

From: SJDCTA Organizing Committee

I’ve enclosed a flier that went out to SJDCTA members on Friday (8/29). I’m certain you’ll disagree with the opinions I’ve expressed. However, I’ve tried to make my factual claims as accurate as I can. You can check their accuracy at the Chancellor's DataMart.

You may also disagree with my tone, which I grant has some anger in it. However, I and many of my colleagues feel that the board and President Rodriguez, as a group, have bargained in bad faith; devalued teaching (one of the core activities of the college); repeatedly misrepresented the financial resources of the college; shown no interest in finding common ground with the faculty; and (at times) neglected the most basic interests of the college. Please be aware that glib pieties from President Rodriguez and Vice-President Brown only further inflame the situation.

I can’t see how the current stalemate serves the interests of our students, the faculty, top administrators, or the board of trustees. I also don’t know of anyone on campus who believes the public image of the college needs more battering. As a result, I continue to hope we can heal this rift. But the first step will have to be a commitment from you to bargain in good faith.

Sincerely,

Sam Hatch
for the Organizing Committee

Dear Colleagues [e.g. SJDC Faculty],
I thought you might be interested to know that in the fall of 2006, Delta College full-time instructors had the 7th highest base salary in the California Community College system. If our college had more reasonable leadership, relatively high salaries for Delta faculty would make good economic sense because we’re one of the 5 or 6 most productive faculties in the entire system over the last five years. Yet in the fall of 2007--the most recent data available in the Chancellor’s DataMart—Delta had slipped to 14th. Take a look at the charts below that document these changes.
Of course, the fall in ranking only begins to tell the story. For the last two years, many of us have been paying thousands of dollars in health-care premiums. We are all paying more for food and gasoline. And strangely, we work for a board that begrudges us a raise that would cost a couple of million while it squanders tens of millions in bond money. I hope this absurdity is not lost on you.
At the end of fiscal year 2007, according to the bond-rating firm, Fitch Rating, the district had a reserve fund of $9.8 million—10.9% of its annual budget. We built that reserve with student-teacher ratios 15 to 20% above state averages (See Chart B).
For over a year, our union leadership has been negotiating with the people who ran the college into a ditch—mismanaging both our accreditation and the bond, bargaining unfairly year after year, and deciding which state laws, parts of our contract, and even their own board policies they will follow or flout.
It’s time to start asking yourself: What am I willing to do to get a fair contract, a responsible board, and a better college—one that can actually settle down to serving the interests of students, staff, and community? Will you attend Exec Board meetings? Will you join the union listserv so you can stay informed? Will you attend board meetings and express your dissatisfaction with the dismal performance of our board? Will you picket? Will you pass out leaflets in a board member’s neighborhood? Will you work for union-endorsed board candidates?
Your colleagues—and the college—need your help.

Supporting charts

State plans to audit Delta bond spending

2008-08-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

By The Record
August 30, 2008 6:00 AM

SACRAMENTO - The state Controller's Office announced Friday that it will conduct an audit of San Joaquin Delta College's management of $250 million in voter-approved bond money.

The audit was requested by state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden.

In a letter to Delta administrators, Jeffrey Brownfield, chief of the Controller's Office Division of Audits, said he would examine whether bond proceeds were properly managed and spent, among other things.

Delta trustees were told in June that they must cut $62.5 million worth of projects that were to have been funded by the 2004 Measure L bond.

A satellite campus in Mountain House has been scaled back, and officials are considering significantly altering a proposed campus in Lodi, because there's not enough money left.

Among other problems, the San Joaquin County civil grand jury reported in June that Delta trustees squandered millions when they decided to build that south county campus in Mountain House rather than Tracy.

The college has blamed past consultants for underestimating the cost of a number of bond-funded construction projects.

Source

Hey brother, can you spare a satellite campus?

2008-08-31T18:20:00.000-07:00

San Joaquin Delta College now looking for 'anything' to establish a Lodi presence
By Andrew Adams
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Saturday, August 23, 2008 7:22 AM PDT

The new San Joaquin Delta College satellite campus could be a storefront in Downtown Lodi.

It could be the new tenant in the Blue Shield building on Guild Avenue.

Or, possibly, a new building in the industrial area of east Lodi.

At this point, Delta College is willing to consider any option for a Lodi campus.

"We're just looking at anything," Delta's president and superintendent Raul Rodriguez said this week. "Highway 12 is not dead, and we're pursuing everything else."

The Highway 12 site is a group of properties off Victor Road that at one time seemed like it would be the future home of a Delta campus. Several years and several million dollars later, the college is no closer to building the campus and is looking at other options.

Rodriguez said the college has looked at the Blue Shield buildings on Guild Avenue as well as other properties throughout Lodi. He concedes that with much of the $250 million Measure L bond already spent or committed to other projects — especially Mountain House — it would be a challenge for the school to construct a new building.

Instead, Rodriguez said the school may have to move forward with something that could work in the short term and hope to expand on that in the future.

This could be a storefront campus that Delta could lease for a few years while it organizes funding and drafts a plan to build a permanent home in Lodi.

Delta has an $18,000 contract with the consulting firm Project Management Applications based in Stockton and Sacramento. That firm is working with the Lodi company Sandhill Development Company LLC to search for a site on Lodi.

Sandhill owner Wayne Craig said he had signed a confidentiality agreement and couldn't disclose any details about his search.

PMA worked on Delta's Mountain House site as well. According to the firm's Web site, the company helped plan the 460-acre project, manage other consultants and work on "cash flow and budgeting."

Rodriguez said the leaders of the school's bond team are putting together a list of potential locations in Lodi and that list may come to the college's board of trustees in early September.

"This is not a time to out of hand dismiss anything," Rodriguez said. "That is why it's taking a little longer; they're being comprehensive."

Such a campus may not be what folks in Lodi envisioned, but Rodriguez said it's the long-term vision of building a Lodi site.

Tad Platt, one of the partners of DGP Real Estate, helped broker the initial deal with Delta and the property owners at the Victor Road site.

Platt said he looked "for months and provided a number of different locations," and the Victor Road site was the best fit.

He said he couldn't think of another property in the Lodi area that could match with what Delta said it needed.

Another commercial broker, Jim Verseput, said he couldn't think of many options for Delta. He said land to the east of Lodi could be a good fit, as any property south of Lodi is close to Stockton, and properties to the west are pretty expensive.

City Councilman Bob Johnson is an ardent supporter of the Delta satellite campus as well as the Victor Road site. Johnson said if the school decided on a storefront campus, he "would not be jumping up and down about it."

The beauty of the Victor Road site, Johnson said, is that it had the space for all of Delta's plans, and it was close enough to the city limits to make annexation and extending infrastructure relatively easy. The partnership between the college and developers also would have paid for that infrastructure work.

Johnson, Platt and others trying to predict Delta's next move admit that the college is now in a situation where it may be difficult for the school to decide what it wants to do, but it's rather a decision on what it's able to do.

(Marc Lutz/News-Sentinel)

Possible campus sites
1. Blue Shield's Guild Avenue building

Often touted as a good fit for Delta, the building will be vacant once Blue Shield's new center is constructed south of Harney Lane. The 73,954-square-foot building could accommodate a satellite campus, but it would require a major refit, and parking likely would be an issue. The college could also find itself locked in a building with little options for expansion. Cost: The building is for sale for $9,244,250, or $1.25 a square foot to lease, according to a real estate listing site online.

2. Eastside industrial Lodi

The industrial area east of Highway 99 has open parcels, easy access to highways 12 and 99 and connections to the city of Lodi's infrastructure. Land averages $200,00 to $250,000 an acre, and that doesn't include the cost of building a campus. Lodi Unified School District built its Arieda Education Support Center on East Vine Street for $4.5 million in the early '90s but a comparable building in today's dollars would probably be triple that. Estimated cost: $15 to $20 million.

3. South Lodi

Large parcels here are for sale, but neighboring development is driving up property values. The area is served by Harney Lane and Highway 99, but the southern edge of Lodi is close to growing Stockton, which almost defeats the idea of a "satellite" campus for a college based in Stockton. Cost: $12 to $15 million, based on land values estimated to be $200,000 to $400,000 an acre.

4. Downtown

It could be a boon for Lodi's commercial and cultural hub, but a college campus would be a tight fit. There is a 9,000-square-foot building for sale at 9 N. Sacramento St. that is close to the parking garage and the coming World of Wonder science museum. Delta officials have expressed an interest in a small, Lodi "presence" that could eventually become a campus. Cost: $1 million and up.

5. North of Lodi

Early in Delta's search, the old Victor Meat plant came up as a possible site. The cost of cleaning up the property as well as extending infrastructure across the river seems to have knocked that site off the list early on in the process. Mokelumne Christian School also has plans to use the old plant to expand its high school. Farther north, the cost of building a campus on Delta's property in Galt and connecting it with roads, sewer and power could prove prohibitive, yet, the school does own 140 acres there. Cost: $10 to $15 million.

(Costs are an approximation based on current land values and estimated construction costs.)

Source.

Delta drafts grand jury reply

2008-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

By Joelle Milholm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 6:12 AM PDT

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 committee has to meet once a month to pre-approve all expense charges to Measure L. Delta President Dr. Raul 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 deterring 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. Raul 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.

Source

Delta College trustees agree bond money wasted

2008-08-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

ASSOCIATED PRESS

10:39 a.m. August 26, 2008

STOCKTON – The embattled trustees of San Joaquin Delta College say a grand jury is correct in its assessment that the board wasted millions of dollars of bond money.

In June, the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury had criticized the college's board for deciding to build a southern campus in Mountain House instead of Tracy. It said the decision cost taxpayers as much as $50 million.

The board voted unanimously Monday to accept the grand jury's findings.

Also this summer, the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges gave trustees two years to develop a new code of ethics or risk losing accreditation. The commission said the board needs to stabilize management, be sensitive to the diverse student body and stop micromanaging the school's president.

Source.

Machado asks for Delta board audit

2008-08-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

By The Record
August 16, 2008 6:00 AM

State Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, has asked the office of California state Controller John Chiang to conduct an audit of the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees in the wake of reports that the board has mismanaged voter-approved bond money.

Machado said in a statement this week that he wants a "thorough review of exactly how Measure L funds have been spent."

Measure L is the $250 million bond passed in 2004.

A San Joaquin County civil grand jury in June said the board has squandered millions, particularly in its decision to pursue a south-county campus in Mountain House rather than Tracy.

The campus has yet to be built.
Source

San Joaquin Delta College District needs new people, fresh perspective

2008-08-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

By The Record
August 13, 2008 6:00 AM

In one of the healthiest election signs recently, a dozen candidates have surfaced for the four seats up for election in the San Joaquin Delta College District.

In recent years, unfortunately, there has been a decided lack of interest in college-board service. That means some incumbents, who are not inconvenienced by term limits, have served for decades. While there is an argument to be made for the accumulated institutional knowledge they bring to the task, a more convincing argument cries out for new blood, new thinking.

Recent news revelations about cost overruns and project delays surrounding a $250 million bond approved by voters four years ago no doubt stirred some candidate interest. A nasty report by the county grand jury was another wake up call. Among other things, jurors charged the board with being dysfunctional and that the decision to build a south county campus in Mountain House rather than Tracy unnecessarily cost district voters about $30 million. Then there was the threat to the district accreditation. While the loss of accreditation is unlikely, the very threat is an embarrassment.

Enough is enough, the crowded field seems to indicate. There are two candidates running against Area 1 incumbent Anthony Bugarin - James Grunsky and Jennet Stebbins. There are five candidates for the Area 2 seat of Leo Burke, who did not seek re-election - Mary Ann Cox, Motecuzoma Patrick Sanchez, Thomas LaBounty, Gregory Benigno and David Rishwain. In Area 5, Steve Castellanos is the lone candidate to replace Dan Parises. And Area 6 incumbent Greg McCreary who hasn't faced an opponent since being elected 12 years ago now has two - Carolyn Gamino and Teresa R. Brown.

The challengers face an uphill battle against incumbent trustees, controversies, bad press, vicious grand jury reports and accreditation problems notwithstanding.

That's because in addition to no term limits which keeps office holders in place, so does the way they are elected. They run from districts - Area 6, for example, is the Tracy area - but they are elected at large. All voters in the sprawling district vote in all area elections. That means a candidate must somehow develop name recognition beyond the area that person will represent. That's a tough, expensive proposition and goes a long way toward explaining how some incumbents have camped in office for more than 30 years.

The district should rethink how trustees are selected and how long they stay once elected.

Source

A dozen candidates vie for Delta board

2008-08-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
August 09, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - It'll be an unusually crowded ballot for the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees come November.

A dozen candidates filed to run for the board by Friday's deadline, some of them citing widely publicized reports of board dysfunction and alleged mismanagement of a $250 million voter-approved bond.

New blood on the board is already guaranteed for the first time in more than a decade after longtime Trustee Dan Parises announced he would not seek another term.

Also, board Chairman Leo Burke, first elected in 1975, did not file for re-election. He was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment.

Five people are seeking Burke's seat.

"Delta has not been getting what it deserves," said one of them, Stockton native and business and real estate attorney David Rishwain.

Here's how the competition breaks down:

» AREA 1 (Stockton): Incumbent Anthony Bugarin, a schoolteacher, is challenged by businessman James Grunsky and businesswoman Jennet Stebbins. Stebbins in June campaigned unsuccessfully for the state Senate.

» AREA 2 (Stockton): Burke's seat is sought by five challengers: retired Delta administrator Mary Ann Cox; former full-time Delta student Motecuzoma Sanchez; accountant Thomas LaBounty; broker Gregory Benigno; and Rishwain, the attorney. Sanchez in June campaigned unsuccessfully for Stockton mayor.

"It seems like there's going to be several new faces on the board, and I think that's encouraging," said LaBounty, 49. "It seems like any change on the board will be positive."

» AREA 5 (Galt, Rio Vista and Calaveras County): Architect Steve Castellanos is the lone candidate to replace Parises.

» AREA 6 (Tracy): Trustee Greg McCreary, who has not had an opponent since he was elected in 1996, now faces two: Carolyn Gamino, a Tracy school employee; and Teresa R. Brown, a university program developer.

Delta Trustees Maria Elena Serna, Janet Rivera and Ted Simas are not up for re-election this year.

Source

Democracy needs choice

2008-08-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

Written by Jon Mendelson
Friday, 08 August 2008

The Delta College trustees might make term limits sound like a good idea, but columnist Jon Mendelson says the real solution is much more simple.

It took long enough, but the San Joaquin Delta College trustees — including Tracy trustee Greg McCreary — will face challengers in the November election.

At long last, democracy is being served in school.

Democracy, you see, requires choice. And for far too long, voters had no choice when it came to electing the Delta College board.

Since the year George W. Bush first ran for president, only four people over four elections have challenged the seven elected directors of the county’s most-used school. So the incumbents were often merely appointed. No need to waste an election if there’s nobody running.

At the time, it seemed like no big deal. In retrospect, it turned out to be huge.

As voters were deprived — or deprived themselves — of electoral choices, the powers that be entrenched themselves at Delta, and the results are easy to read.

According to the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury, the long-tenured board members frittered away huge chunks of a $250 million taxpayer bond.

As if that weren’t enough, the grand jury also said certain board members were found to have violated the Brown Act, passing along closed-door information to those who stood to win or lose big from the board’s decision.

Hence the money quote in the jury’s report: "The grand jury has no confidence in the Delta College Board of Trustees as they are currently constituted. The district needs capable trustees who are able to meet the task of bringing Delta College into the 21st century."

In other words: Vote the bums out.

Since that mandate, plenty of campaigners have filed papers for the upcoming election. It would have been better if we’d had the flood of challengers before the money was wasted and law flouted, but we’ll take what we can get.

Still, it’s disappointing that it took a scandal to rock the board’s boat.

Isn’t there a better way? A way to cycle rascals out of office despite public apathy?

Some would say term limits are exactly the answer this case points to. The same some, no doubt, have hoisted a City Council term limits initiative onto Tracy’s fall ballot.

They say that our council members and mayor, not unlike the Delta trustees, have sat for too many Tuesdays on the dais. Limiting council terms is the best way to end the reign of poor decision-making.

The initiative’s supporters won’t get much argument that the past’s haphazard planning has led to a mess in Tracy. It’s also true that several council members have served several terms and are responsible, to varying degrees, for that planning.

Unlike the Delta situation, however, these folks have been challenged. The long-term incumbents on the City Council — Brent Ives, Suzanne Tucker and Evelyn Tolbert — have all faced serious competition, and voters decided they were the best for the job more than once. And whether I — or anyone else — agrees with that overall decision is beside the point.

No doubt long flirtations with power tend to corrupt (read: Alaskan Sen. Ted Stevens and his oil industry buddies).

But voters can remedy that.

We have the chance with the Delta board this fall to weed out the incompetent and retain the dedicated, and we’ll have the same chance with the City Council.

It’s true that term limits make sure charlatans have only so long to do their damage. Limits also arbitrarily kick out dedicated public servants, and legislative bodies lose expertise and strong working relationships.

Limits just aren’t as smart as an engaged, informed citizenry.

The quick stop-gap fix offered by term limits is a tempting siren’s song, but they don’t address the underlying problems of influence peddling, corruption and money. They only treat certain symptoms.

The real solution, as it always has been, is simple:

Vote the bums out.

Source

Delta no-go

2008-08-09T14:55:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth
Friday, 08 August 2008

The city of Tracy still wants to host Delta College’s south county campus, but the school’s president says that’s just not possible.

Delta College again rejected an offer by the city of Tracy to locate a south county satellite campus on this parcel of land just east of town. Press file photo
San Joaquin Delta College has rejected an offer from City Manager Leon Churchill to reconsider setting up a satellite campus in eastern Tracy instead of in Mountain House.

In a letter sent mid-July, Churchill asked Delta president Raul Rodriguez to sign on as part of a multi-college complex proposed for city land near 11th Street and Chrisman Road.

"I’m disappointed," Churchill said Friday of the college’s refusal. "I think the college has a unique opportunity to correct what we think is a wrong decision, and I would hope that they have better quantitative skills, because we think we offered a superior option."

It wasn’t the first time the city has asked to partner with the Stockton-based community college. Three years ago, the city offered to give the college 108 acres and promised to cover the costs for fees and roads.

City officials and some council members said they weren’t surprised the college rebuffed the offer.

"It’s more political than anything," said Amie Parker of the city’s development and engineering department. "They’ve never been really open to the idea."

Tracy has yet to secure anything more than spoken interest from a few colleges for the planned east Tracy campuses, Churchill wrote in the letter, so plans are still open for an east Tracy Delta campus.

Churchill touted the city’s commitment to higher education and urged Rodriguez to look into the benefits of the Tracy site before finalizing plans for a south county campus.

Electricity, plumbing and other work to get the Tracy land ready for an 85,000-square-foot college building would cost about $3.2 million, according to the city.

The city offered to sell the land directly to Delta or to a private, already contracted company, which would take over building and sell the finished campus back to the school after construction.

In the meantime, the college would also be welcome to set up its already-ordered portable classrooms at the Tracy site, the letter invited.

"At this point, many options are available," Churchill offered.

He asked, if anything, that the college place the offer on the next Delta board of trustees agenda as a discussion item.

The college refused that, too.

Rodriguez wrote that the Measure L bond team decided that "it is not feasible from just about any perspective to consider scrapping the plans at Mountain House for another location," Rodriguez wrote back two weeks later. "The college has simply too much invested in planning, infrastructure and partnerships to consider any other options."

The college has $64 million to spend on satellite campuses in Lodi, Manteca and Mountain House. A few months ago, the Mountain House campus alone was slated to cost $94 million.

Tracy also offered to build a place to house Delta’s heavy equipment and diesel technology department, which the college planned to build in Manteca.

Rodriguez wrote that Delta will consider renovating the existing Stockton department instead. But he said the college is still unsure if it even has enough money to do that.

To pull out of Mountain House would send the public a mixed message, Rodriguez continued, and would oppose the direction given by both the college’s administrative staff and governing board.

Councilman Steve Abercrombie echoed city officials’ lack of surprise.

"There’s more stuff going on behind the scenes that we’re not privy to," he said. "You have to wonder if maybe they ought to stop and take a good look at what the actual bottom line is."
Source

Delta trustee race suddenly crowded

2008-08-08T08:21:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth
Thursday, 07 August 2008

The day before a filing deadline, three people have turned in papers to run for Greg McCreary's Tracy-area seat on the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees.

Three candidates have filed to run against longtime San Joaquin Delta College governing board trustee Greg McCreary for the Tracy seat — one of four spots slated for the general election ballot.

Tracy physician James Halderman, elementary school food service worker Carolyn Gamino and university administrator Teresa Brown filed just days before the 5 p.m. Friday deadline.

McCreary registered for re-election in mid-July for what could be his fourth term and his turn as board president.

This year marks the first time the 70-year-old retired teacher’s spot on the board has met with some competition.

McCreary, who was unavailable for comment, has said that he welcomes challengers and the public’s renewed interest in Delta governance.

Gamino today said it made her upset to learn that with a few days left to file, no one had declared intent to run against McCreary.

The lifelong Southside Tracy resident told her husband Larry Gamino — a Tracy City Council candidate — that she was going to Stockton that afternoon to register.

Trustees, she said, “are not being held accountable. Somebody needed to run against these people to get them to answer questions about their mismanagement.”

Like Gamino, Tracy anesthesiologist Halderman read that still no one had stepped up to compete against the incumbent.

Brown, who works at the California State University, Stanislaus, Stockton extension, registered on Wednesday.

Trustees create and enact school policies and hire the college president, among other responsibilities. Elected members get a $400 monthly stipend and qualify for district-paid health benefits.

Criticism by state and academic agencies of board mismanagement has sparked more interest this election than in past years.

Teachers formed a political action committee at the college to rally more people to run against the rarely challenged incumbents. The aim, members said, is not necessarily to support opponents, but to keep sitting trustees accountable.

Typically, because no one or very few run against Delta trustees, the incumbents are re-appointed in lieu of an election.

This year, for the first time in many years, that will apparently change.

Source

Our Voice

2008-08-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Written by Press Editorial Board
Tuesday, 05 August 2008

It's not too late for concerned citizens to take on the too-long-unchallenged San Joaquin Delta College trustees in this November's election.

We aren’t done ranting about Delta — neither the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and its detractors, nor the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees and its debacles.

Today we’ll focus on the college, as the deadline to file for a seat on the board is just two days away. When Election Day comes around in November, all of us who vote in San Joaquin County will be asked to choose four people to serve on this seven-member board that oversees our community college.

In years past, it’s really been no contest. Incumbents who are unopposed for their four-year terms are merely appointed to office. In both 2000 and 2004, no votes were cast, because there were no challengers.

Greg McCreary, who has represented Tracy since 1996, has never, in 12 years, had an opponent. And so far, only five challengers have thrown in their hats, but none of them are for McCreary’s Tracy seat. If no one steps forward, he will be unopposed once again and will move up to be president of the board.

We have no qualms about McCreary, who has said he wants to serve one more term, but we would like to hear him defend what’s happened under his watch and try to convince voters that he can help resolve the mess. We’d also like to have choices, because that’s the democratic way.

This is a board that manages our taxpayer dollars — $250 million of them in the Measure L bond — hires the college president, oversees the budget and crafts policy that affects thousands of citizens who want to extend their education past high school.

This is also a board that has been widely criticized — from the civil grand jury to a regional accreditation commission to a teacher-led political action committee — for mismanagement, misspending and infighting.

There appears to be little confidence in this board’s ability to lead, and that’s a very big deal.

Of the $250 million bond that voters passed in 2004, only $64 million is left for the college’s Lodi, Manteca and Mountain House campuses. The Mountain House project alone is budgeted for $94.2 million, and ground has yet to be broken.

We hope the board will consider whether it would be cheaper to build that south-county campus in Tracy. After all, three years ago, the city of Tracy offered to give the college 108 acres at Chrisman Road and 11th Street and promised to cover the costs for fees and roads, in exchange for scrapping the plans in Mountain House.

This isn’t the last time we’ll devote this space to Delta College. But this is our last plea for candidates — the only antidote for a ho-hum trustee election in 2008.

Source

Five will offer challenge to Delta trustee incumbents

2008-08-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

By Natalie Flynn
Special to the News-Sentinel
Updated: Friday, August 1, 2008 6:15 AM PDT

Incumbents on the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees will face a field of challengers this election.

That stands in stark contrast to elections in 2000 and 2004 when they ran unopposed and in 2006 when only two challengers came forward.

This year, five people have filed paperwork with the San Joaquin County registrar of voters.

Challengers are seizing on a report by the San Joaquin County Grand Jury that criticized the board for misspending the $250 million Measure L bond passed in 2004. Many have also questioned decisions by the trustees because of delays and cost overruns associated with the bond projects.

Jennet Stebbins, of Stockton, will run against incumbent Anthony Bugarin in Trustee Area One.

Mary Ann Cox, a former Delta instructor, Thomas LaBounty, of Stockton, and Motecuzoma Patrick Sanchez, a former Delta student, are running against incumbent Leo Burke of Area Two. Burke has not decided whether or not he will run.

Steve Castellanos is currently running unopposed for Area Five, since Dan Parises announced he was not seeking re-election.

Greg McCreary, next year's board president, is currently running unopposed.

Stebbins, who served on the Stockton Unified School Board in the 1990s said she has wanted to run for the Delta board for some time. "I announced before the grand jury mess came out ... I was looking for something to get back into," Stebbins said, adding she has run for many offices, looking to make change wherever possible.

One of her primary concerns for the college is the nursing program. Stebbins hopes to expand the classes.

"You are looking at a major campus. People should be drawn to it," Stebbins said. "It's just like having a world-class library in Stockton."

LaBounty, owner and head accountant of Constar Supply, is running for Area Two against incumbent Leo Burke.

His sister-in-law is an instructor at Delta and recommended he file to run for the board about three weeks ago.

He said he has plans to set the college's finances straight.

"(My goal) is on the monetary side; looking at what they've done with a quarter of a billion dollars, they have very little to show of it after four years," LaBounty said.

Sanchez, a former Delta student, hopes his connection to the college will allow him to better serve the community.

"I'd like to add integrity," Sanchez said. "The board needs a connection to the community they serve. The current members have been together for so long, they've lost sight of the people they serve."

The final candidate for Area Two, Cox, is a former teacher and businesswoman. Cox was unavailable for comment.

Castellanos, a Stockton native and former California state architect, is currently running unopposed, and hopes to refocus the board on educational issues.

"For this district ... there is a tremendous need for a greater focus on education, economic development, changing communities," Castellanos said. "Delta plays a critical role in all of that."

Castellanos was the one candidate who has been contacted by a newly formed political action committee of Delta instructors looking to put new faces on the board.

"We're hoping, at a minimum, to replace two or three people in this election," said Sam Hatch, a Delta English teacher and one of six committee members.

However, Delta history teacher Lynn Hawley said the group does not necessarily refuse to back an incumbent. They just want things changed up a little.

The group, through affiliations with the teachers' union, hopes to have at least $20,000 to pay for promotional materials to encourage people to file before the Aug. 8 deadline.

The Tracy Press contributed to this report.

Source

Is Delta College's new $84 million math and science center really needed?

2008-08-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

A science lab in the Cunningham building at Delta College. Some instructors find the labs outdated. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Saturday, August 2, 2008 6:18 AM PDT

When Delta College trustees committed to building a new Cunningham Math and Science center, they agreed to spend nearly a third of the college's Measure L bond money on a single, high-tech building.

Now that building is funneling money away from other projects and has some people connected to the college asking if the school really needs it.

The new Cunningham building is envisioned as a large science and math complex with cutting-edge technology and a modern, open design that is much different than the cramped corridors and busy laboratories of the existing structure.

The college initially budgeted the Cunningham building at $38 million in December 2003. The budget grew to $61 million some time later, and in June, San Joaquin Delta College's new bond team told trustees that even that budget was a gross underestimate for the 100,000-square-foot structure.

Raul Rodriguez, Delta's president and superintendent, picked Lee Belarmino, vice president of information services for Delta, to lead the new bond team in April, said Greg Greenwood, spokesman for the college. Belarmino formed the rest of the team, which consists of about a dozen Delta employees and one consultant.

A few weeks after the June bond workshop, the team recommended that the Cunningham project be completed as designed.

Board agrees building needed

Team members said that not only is the building needed to accommodate extra students, but if the college backs out or changes its plan, it would risk losing $30 million in state funding for the project.

The board agreed.

"The great push in this country is math and science," trustee Anthony Bugarin said at the meeting where board members voted to go through with the project.

The agreement to go ahead with the Cunningham project contributed to the decision to nix an $8.5 million district support services center. It also dipped deeply into funds that could have funded other up-in-the-air projects, including a satellite campus in Lodi.

Out of the $250 million bond that the college passed in 2004, only $64 million is left to go toward the college's Lodi, Mountain House and Manteca campuses. That's $31.6 million less that what the board originally budgeted for the three projects. The Mountain House project alone is currently budgeted for $94.2 million.

Delta trustees have yet to decide the fate of the satellite campuses. District officials seem to be getting increasingly comfortable with the idea of a pared-down plan for each of the sites.

The new bond team recommended that the college build the Cunningham building for several reasons, Belarmino said.

First, he said, the current Cunningham building, constructed in 1975, is inadequate for the college's math and science needs.

"My understanding is we really needed more lab space," Belarmino said.

Instructors also told the bond team that the current building's layout is inefficient for running lab classes smoothly. Supply rooms can be quite a distance from the labs they serve, creating headaches for instructors and lab technicians.

One instructor said the tables in the labs are too wide for group work. The lab stations don't have Internet access, which makes it difficult to run simulations or share data. In his classroom, none of the tables have gas piped to them to run experiments. They also don't have a sufficient number of electrical outlets.

Belarmino said the people who built the Cunningham building and the rest of the Delta campus designed as far into the future as their vision could carry them.

"They had no idea how computers were going to work," Belarmino said.

Bond team considers options

The bond team considered all its options: delaying the project, constructing a smaller version or remodeling the existing building. Each option had downsides, they said, and could incur greater or equal costs with lesser results.

The biggest of the fiscal issues is that the college would most likely lose close to $30 million in state funding if they change the project significantly.

The plans, which have already been submitted to the state, call for demolishing the existing Cunningham building. Should Delta decide to keep the existing Cunningham building, the college would violate their agreement with the state and lose its funding.

Pulling out of the agreement with the state might also jeopardize future funding requests, members of the bond team said at the June 26 bond workshop.

The bond team cautioned that putting the project out to bid now, while the market is favorable, would keep costs down. Redesigning the building, on the other hand, would incur additional costs and delay the project further. It's assumed that the cost of materials needed to construct the building would continue to increase during the delay.

Greenwood said one of the reasons that the project has become so expensive in the first place is the rising cost of materials over time.

Still, knowing the circumstances, some instructors say that the building is a money pit, draining bond funds away from other projects.

"Most of us have been against this since the conception," said one veteran science instructor, who preferred to remain anonymous. "There's absolutely no reason for a new building, as far as I'm concerned."

The instructor suggested that the administration has let the existing Cunningham building decay as an excuse to build a new one. He said most staff members won't even use the restroom unless they absolutely have to because they're so dirty.

He also worries that the new Cunningham building will be filled with the old equipment. If that's true, he said, all instructors are going to have are new walls, which, he says, doesn't make sense.

"I could teach my class in a tent," he said.

Disagreement

Other staff members don't feel quite the same way.

Nina Bookman, a senior science laboratory technician, works in the Cunningham building, making sure lab classes get all the materials they need. Her office, the first-floor prep room, is packed with chemicals, test tubes and models.

In the last few days of summer session, working in the prep room isn't too bad, she said. Come fall semester, though, she'll have students, assistants and professors crammed into the small space from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

"When it isn't working, it becomes pretty obvious," said one professor about the prep room.

Bookman's looking forward to the day when she has a better-planned space to work with.

According to current designs, the new building will consist of two interconnected structures with open-air walkways, similar to the spaces already found on Delta's campus, Greenwood said.

Renderings show the building has have a crisp design with lines that fit into the campus, skyline and a glass-contained staircase.

Though the new Cunningham building was designed to fit in with the rest of the college, some say it's fairly modern-looking as well.

Whether one agrees or not, the building is sure to be the jewel of the campus.

Belarmino has high expectations for the new Cunningham building, too.

"It is totally state-of-the-art," he said. "All the things that (we) wish were in the building, are."

The Cunningham project at a glance.

Cost of the project

# $4.5 million to design the project.
# $62.5 million for site development and construction.
# $2.5 million for demolition.
# $14.9 million for secondary, or indirect, costs, including relocating portables that are in the space where the Cunningham building will go, fees for state and local agencies, testing, inspection, construction and program management fees and contingency funding.

Funding

# $29.5 million comes from state, Proposition 1D funding.
# $54.9 million comes from the Measure L bond.
# The college has spent approximately $4.2 million to date on testing, design, engineers, the architect, program management and other miscellaneous fees.

Construction timeline

# Date construction is expected to start: Sept. 18, 2009.
# Length of construction: 24 months.
# College moves into the building: June 30, 2012.

Source: Delta College

Source

Looking for leaders

2008-07-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth / Tracy Press
Wednesday, 30 July 2008

A group of teachers is trying to rally challengers to replace longtime Delta College trustees in this fall's election.

A handful of San Joaquin Delta College teachers have formed a group that aims to rally as many people as possible to run against the school’s longtime trustees, some of whom have sat on the board for decades.

Even if a couple trustees go unchallenged, the group wants to hold incumbents to task by hearing why they’re running again, what they hope to accomplish and how they justify past actions.

The teacher-led Delta College Political Action Committee, which coalesced in June, plans to bring new blood to a board long known for its divisiveness and, according to some agencies, incompetence.

"We’re hoping at a minimum to replace two or three people in this election," said Sam Hatch, a Delta English teacher and one of six committee members.

The California Teachers Association-chartered organization was born out of teachers’ frustration with standing trustees, said chairwoman and Delta history teacher Lynn Hawley.

"It just became clear that if we wanted better governance at the school that we’d have to get involved politically," she said Tuesday. As other government agencies have recently determined, she added, "we’re not happy with the board as it stands now."

Delta instructors at a public meeting last month overwhelmingly voted for a resolution of no confidence in the board for many of the same reasons laid out in recent reports from the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury and the school’s accreditation commission — notably mismanaging bond money and flouting open-meeting laws.

The condemning vote proved a catalyst for Hawley, Hatch and a handful of other teachers to form the committee.

Through the affiliated teachers’ union, the committee plans to get at least $20,000 to pay for mailings, phone banks and other promotions to support the candidates it decides to endorse.

Though the group seeks to mobilize a healthy number of challengers for each seat, Hawley said that doesn’t necessarily mean she or anyone else in her committee refuses to back an incumbent.

They just want them shaken out of their perceived complacency, she said.

Four trustees’ seats are up for election this November, and the newly formed group has kept busy calling folks to recruit them to run against "the Delta establishment," as one member put it.

The filing period ends Aug. 8.

Tracy trustee Greg McCreary is the only incumbent to run unopposed so far.

Thirty-three-year trustee Dan Parises will step down in December. Board president Leo Burke has yet to file for a campaign.

Valley Springs resident and former state architect Steve Castellanos will run unchallenged for Parises’ seat, unless another candidate registers before the mid-August deadline.

Castellanos is so far one of the few candidates the committee has contacted. He said they asked him mostly about the mishandled Measure L bond, which voters approved in 2006 to pay for new construction and a few satellite campuses around the county.

Trustee Anthony Bugarin will run for re-election against Stockton businesswoman C. Jennet Stebbins.

Teacher and businesswoman Mary Ann Cox and warehouse worker/real estate agent/student Motecuzoma Sanchez, both of Stockton, will run for Burke’s seat.

During the last election, in 2006, when Manteca-Escalon Trustee Ted Simas and Lodi’s Maria Elena Serna ran for re-election, Serna ran against a cable news executive and Simas against a farmer.

Otherwise, challengers have historically been relatively few and far between, according to records from the San Joaquin Registrar of Voters.

In 2004, all four incumbents up for re-election ran unopposed and were appointed to office in lieu of a vote.

McCreary said he hopes the best for the newly formed committee, though he said no one from the committee has contacted him yet and that he knows next to nothing about it.

"But it’s good to get people involved," he said. "I wish they would’ve been around three or four years ago."

Source

$3 million: Nothing to show for it

2008-07-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

Collapsed Victor Road deal has Delta officials looking at other options
By Andrew Adams
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Saturday, July 26, 2008 6:08 AM PDT

Delta College spent more than $3 million on the ill-fated Victor Road site — without buying a single acre.

All the money went for options, fees and studies. No land.

Now, what had been envisioned as a new Lodi campus is likely to remain a bucolic spread of vineyards and stately homes.

With cost overruns at other Delta sites — especially Mountain House near Tracy — and inflation, the school's $250 million in Measure L bond money has quickly diminished.

Now there's only about $64.5 million to pay for regional centers at Lodi and Manteca and a campus at Mountain House.

That has left the school looking at other options in Lodi, such as an existing building or another piece of land.

Much of the money the school spent on the Victor Road site was for site analysis and planning. The firm Carter & Burgess received a little more than $1 million for reviewing the property as well as developing two master plans.

The city of Lodi received $32,780 for work on the environmental impact report.

The firm Private Public Ventures Inc., based in Pasadena, received about $760,000 to help Delta pick the site off Victor Road in Lodi as well as establish the development agreement with private companies to add housing and retail.

Delta has also spent $450,000 on option payments to retain the right to buy the property.

However, the college's board of trustees voted 5-2 on July 15 to forgo paying another $150,000 to hang onto those options.

Some are relieved

Landowners near the Victor Road site say they are relieved to hear that Delta is looking elsewhere, especially because they found the development agreement troubling.

Initial plans called for homes, retail outlets and possibly even a hotel.

Mary Hoff, who led a group of residents opposed to the school's plans, said Delta should be looking at opportunities to establish a campus within the city limits of Lodi.

"We're happy that they're hopefully not going to build a campus here," she said. "We never thought it was a good idea from the beginning."

She said a college campus could be an "in-fill" development, and locating it in the city would preserve farmland.

Another property owner, Terry Fena, said he has always supported a Delta campus in the Lodi area, even perhaps in the rural area near his home. He just balked at the idea of a large commercial development.

"I've never been against Delta College," he said, "just the developers that came with it."

Those developers were Capitol Avenue Development and Investments, or CADI, and Granite Land Co.

Granite Land Co. is the real estate development arm of construction giant Granite Construction Inc., best known for building highways, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure. In 2004, the company employed 6,000 and had revenues of $2.1 billion, according to the firm's Web site.

CADI and Granite formed a partnership company, Victor Ventures, LLC., which assumed CADI's side in a development agreement with Delta College in August 2007. CADI and Delta formed their original partnership in March 2007.

The college had initially been looking to develop 114 acres off Victor Road itself.

When that appeared to be too costly, it opted to use only 40 acres for an "academic village" and leave the remainder for Victor Ventures.

CADI staff have rarely discussed their plans for the area in public. The company did not return a call for comment or respond to an e-mail.

David Rodriguez, the consultant with PPV, helped lead the search for a location in Lodi.

His company also helped negotiate the development agreement, according to its Web site www.publicprivateventures.net.

PPV lists the Delta project as one of its successes, saying it "arranged a complex, five-party agreement" between Delta, the city of Lodi, CADI and property owners to create a "master-planned, mixed use" development.

The company also notes the land was being purchased "well below market value," although Delta College still has not purchased the land.

Contacted at his office Friday, Rodriguez declined to comment on the Victor Road project.

Public and private partnerships

Trustee Ted Simas said he wasn't sure how Delta became linked to CADI. He said he remembered that in 2006, when the college voted to buy the property, the trustees did not know which company would help develop the Lodi site.

Simas said the college's consultant, Rodriguez, would only say "it was a reputable developer from the Sacramento area."

Trustee Marie Elena Serna also said she could not recall how CADI and Delta came together ,but thought it was "some type of bid process."

Delta spokesman Greg Greenwood said he did not know how the college and CADI came to form a partnership.

He also said the board's decision not to proceed with an option on the Victor Road property does not necessarily preclude the college's agreement with CADI.

"The college is analyzing all of the aspects surrounding the proposed Lodi site, as well as exploring the likelihood of alternatives. That said, the agreement is currently in effect," Greenwood said.

Even if the agreement is in effect, it's hard to tell if anything will happen at the Victor site. Delta doesn't appear to have enough money, and San Joaquin County planning staff could not find any development applications submitted by CADI or Victor Ventures.

Part of Delta's agreement with CADI established an escrow account into which funds would be deposited for work on the project site.

Delta has spent millions on planning work, but it's unclear if CADI or Victor Ventures has deposited anything.

Greenwood said the account is processed by a neutral third party and could not say if CADI had made any deposits.

"We recommend you contact representatives of CADI for information as to what they have, or have not, deposited," he said.

CADI did not respond to inquiries from the News-Sentinel.

Trustee Simas said he did not believe CADI had contributed anything for Delta's Lodi project, and characterized the endeavor as "gambling with taxpayer money."

Serna, however, said she still views public and private partnerships as a method to building a Lodi campus.

"There are those that are just negative on public/private partnerships, and I'm not," she said.

She said she still thinks the Victor Road site may work out, but would be willing to consider other options that Delta staff may discover. The trustee is dead set against a "storefront" location, however, because such an arrangement would not allow Delta to expand.

"We'll probably have to get very creative, but that's OK," she said. "These things don't come cheap."

The following is a breakdown of San Joaquin Delta College's spending on the Victor Road site. Consultant costs are current as of March 31 and dealt mainly with site analysis and planning work.
Property option payments: $450,000.
Private Public Ventures: $758,083.20, planning and site search.
Dennis E. Barnhart Program Services: $165,547.14, planning.
Lozano Smith: $116,440.93, legal review.
Carter & Burgess: $1,009,487.21, land use and master plans.
CCS: $111,038.51, curriculum planning.
City of Lodi: $32,780.02, environmental impact review.
Palmero Reporting: $608.75, notation services for a public meeting.
Design, Community & Environment Inc.: $44,948.35, land use report.
EDAW, Inc.: $260,698.38, land use and environmental impact review.
Unallocated: $148,521.
Total: $3,098,153.49.

Source: San Joaquin Delta College

Source of article

Answer to Delta College dysfunction

2008-07-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Written by Sam Hatch / His Voice
Friday, 25 July 2008

English professor says the mess can be cleaned up, but not without citizen involvement.

If the voters care about the institutional health of San Joaquin Delta College, they’ll take a hard look at the record of the college’s current board. They’ll ask themselves whether any of the incumbents deserve re-election.

In March, an accreditation team concluded that the college’s board of trustees was dysfunctional. In the words of the committee, the board has “devolved into a group reduced to infighting and micromanagement of college operations” and “has consistently failed to live up to its own standards of good practice.”

The accreditation team’s conclusions have been confirmed from the two other independent sources. The San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury observed similar dysfunction in the board and indicated it had “no confidence in the Delta College board of trustees as currently constituted.”

In late May and early June, the San Joaquin Delta College teachers voted overwhelmingly for a resolution of no confidence in the board, citing many of the issues raised by the grand jury and the accreditation team.

The board’s public responses to these serious charges have been feeble at best — an uneasy combination of denial and public assertions of their good intentions.

The board now faces a number of problems of its own making. First, the trustees and top administrators have wasted tens of millions of bond dollars on poorly drawn contracts, poorly supervised consultants and indecision. The $250 million bond was never sufficient to pay for all the projects on the board’s wish list. Yet the board, in one of its clear signs of dysfunction, could not make the tough decisions about which projects should be downsized or scrapped completely. While the board dithered, millions of dollars slowly hemorrhaged away on consultants, feasibility studies, and designs — in all sorts of preliminaries for projects that will never be built.

A million here, 2 million there, another 3 million on another project — they mount up to substantial sums when a board goes years without making tough, responsible decisions. Loss of the money is bad enough, but there has also been a more important loss in public confidence in the college and in the delayed construction of vital facilities for our students.

The board has also jeopardized the college’s accreditation by failing to hire, retain and then allow qualified administrators to do their jobs. The result has been drift — a failure to support administrators and faculty in doing the strategic planning the accrediting agency expects of a properly functioning college.

The board lacks what a former U.S. president called “the vision thing.” As a group, the trustees seem to have forgotten how the board fits into the running of the college and who ultimately is served — the students. The board’s job is policy and oversight; implementation of policy is the job of the administration. When board and administration can’t work cooperatively, the students suffer.

Given such clear evidence of dysfunction, voters should ask incumbent trustees to explain and defend their stewardship of the college. Unfortunately, too often Delta trustees have run unopposed, without even giving the public a ballot statement to express their vision of the college. In effect, unopposed trustees have been relieved of the burden of explaining and defending their records.

The mess at Delta College can be cleaned up, but not without significant turnover in the board. The answer to the board’s dysfunction is citizen involvement.

The college needs thoughtful candidates and informed voters. We need you, and more important, the students need you — especially in those areas where trustees run unopposed.

At a glance
• The Delta College board has three openings, one of which represents Tracy. For information on running: Austin G. Erdman, San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters, 468-2885 or www.sjcrov.org.

• Sam Hatch taught high-school English for 22 years and in 2001 joined the San Joaquin Delta College English department. He lives in Lodi and is a graduate of Delta College.

Source
Published simultaneously in the Lodi News Sentinel

Divisions at Delta run deep

2008-07-18T03:13:00.000-07:00

By Michael Fitzgerald
Record Columnist
July 18, 2008 6:00 AM

Truth is the first casualty in a closely contested election, and nothing illustrates this as well as the controversy over San Joaquin Delta College's new campus.

A recent grand jury report scalded Delta for delays and cost overruns of satellite campuses planned after voters approved a $250 million bond in 2004.

The grand jury paid particular attention to officials' decision to stick with a $55 million Delta campus in Mountain House when the city of Tracy offered a much sweeter deal.

Delta's president, staff, consultants and three of seven board members favored Tracy's offer. But four members of the bitterly divided board stayed with Mountain House.

The majority prevailed. Unfortunately, this played out over several very inflationary years in the construction industry. The satellite campus' cost soared close to $100 million.

This boondoggle became a national political issue when Delta Trustee Ted Simas alleged Dean Andal telephoned him with knowledge discussed by trustees in closed session.

The Stockton-based Andal is the project director for Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos, who is to build the Mountain House campus.

Andal is also a Republican candidate for the 11th Congressional District seat held by Jerry McNerney. The race is one of the nation's few closely contested.

Simas alleged Andal knew two confidential items: that Simas liked Tracy's offer and that the board was considering bouncing Kamilos for missing a deadline.

Andal had called Simas within hours of the closed-session meeting in which these issues were discussed, though he and Simas did not connect until the next day.

Simas says Andal could have learned this only one way: One or more trustees violated the Brown Act. In fact, Andal explicitly said two board members called him, Simas alleges.

The dominant interpretation of these facts goes like this: an illegal leak gave Kamilos an unfair advantage, keeping the Mountain House project on track, thwarting Tracy, though Tracy could have saved taxpayers millions. And Andal was a party to this shady fiasco.

This take has been parroted all the way up to the premier political blog Daily Kos, though Andal denies wrongdoing and though nobody bothered to call Kamilos.

"It's double trouble for a candidate running on ethics reform and a Boy Scout image," Kos scolded Andal. [Citation]

It is worth interjecting that receiving information from a Brown Act violation is not illegal. Only disclosing the information is.

I don't share Andal's politics, but fair is fair. This story admits for another interpretation.

First, there are valid concerns that Tracy's offer was shaky and that Delta might never get approvals necessary to abandon Mountain House and sell that land.

Second, for all the bad press Delta has received, the extent of its mismanagement is still not thoroughly grasped.

Incredibly, Delta officials bought the Mountain House land without understanding they would have to pay $14.5 million in traffic and utility fees. They could not afford those fees.

This mistake alone delayed construction by years at a time when such delay might increase costs by $10 million a year.

Kamilos bailed them out by offering to donate $14.5 million to $17 million, probably the largest contribution by a private citizen to education in San Joaquin County history.

The board thanked him by distrustfully ordering him to securitize the donation with letters of credit, causing more delay; when he did, the board rejected one or two letters because they came from Oregon banks.

The deadline for producing these letters was the one Kamilos missed.

The board further thanked him by flirting with Tracy, another year's delay.

Third, this leads to something else not fully appreciated, in my view, namely how deeply dysfunctional Delta's board is. "Divided" is not strong enough. Hatreds exist.

Simas, for instance, publicly supported Trustee Maria Elena Serna's rival in 2006, taking out print ads, a rare instance of one board member going after another this way.

The board is so factionalized and filled with animus it seems entirely possible that the pro-Tracy minority is monkey-wrenching Mountain House to thwart their enemies on the board. I'm not saying this is the case, but it is an equally plausible scenario.

Kamilos said he did not receive any closed-session information.

"I would probably throw it back to Mr. Simas and ask him why is he pursuing this," Kamilos said. "Because I can tell you that year delay (over Tracy) with inflation, just because of time, probably cost Mountain House $10 million."

Andal says it was not necessary to receive illegal information to know that Kamilos was missing a deadline; Kamilos knew it.

He denies saying anything about board members calling him. That point comes down to a he said/she said scenario.

Andal's rejoinder: "Ted (Simas) accused his colleagues ... of violating the Brown Act without any evidence. That cast a pall on all of his colleagues."

Simas did not back down: "I stand by everything I said," he retorted. He offered to show his diary in which, he says, he meticulously documented Andal's every word.
Source

Delta trustees get ethics lesson

2008-07-18T03:08:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth
Thursday, 17 July 2008

The board that's been sharply criticized for allegedly violating open meeting laws may adopt an ethics code after a training session today.

STOCKTON — Delta College trustees met this morning at a Stockton country club to draft their first formal code of ethics, which in recent months the school’s accreditation commission and the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury found lacking.

The closest thing the board had to an ethics code — guidelines up until now called “standards of good practice” — left out how to deal with trustee misconduct.

It also lacked a tenet that solely addressed the Ralph M. Brown Act, a law that spells out how public officials should conduct themselves in open and closed meetings.

Trustees were accused by the grand jury last month with at least twice violating open-meeting laws. Some trustees have named as many as five violations.

Today, a legal expert conducted a training session that touched on open-government laws and gave trustees a draft of ethical standards to work with.

“You are an essential link between the college and the community,” school-hired legal counsel Carmen Plaza de Jennings told the five of seven trustees who attended today’s training session.

Trustees are role models who set the tone, vision and policies for the institution, Plaza de Jennings reminded the board and college president Raul Rodriguez.

With that in mind, she warned them that mismanagement could lead to “a loss of respect from the public,” difficulty securing future bond measures and risking the school’s accreditation.

Plaza de Jennings’ disinterested advice as an outside consultant echoed charges made in the scathing grand jury and accreditation reports.

Among additions to the code, the San Francisco-based lawyer added clauses that restrict trustees’ interaction with college staff, expressly define a trustee’s role as policymaker and encourage honesty about conflicts of interest.

The four-page draft also addressed how authority is to be divided among trustees and college employees.

The recently issued accreditation and grand jury reports criticized trustees’ for overstepping their roles as policymakers — basically charging them with illegal “micromanaging” — which the added clause addressed.

Trustees “do not do the work of the institution, they make sure the institution gets the work done,” Plaza de Jennings summed up.

Trustees asked during the meeting about how to separate personal political leanings from their capacity as board member and how where to draw the line between loyalty to the group and individual opinion.

Dan Parises — who this week announced he’ll step down after 33 years as trustee — suggested that only the board president speak publicly for all trustees.

Tracy Trustee Greg McCreary countered that a board member retains rights as a private citizen to espouse whatever political views they like, even it’s to endorse an incumbent’s opponent.

“It may not be nice, it may not be courteous,” he said, “(but as a trustee) you don’t lose your right as a citizen.”

Plaza de Jennings agreed.

Ted Simas and Maria Serna were absent from the meeting.

The new ethics guidelines will go back to the college for staff approval before trustees vote sometime within the next few months to codify the 20 tenets, which once established, the board is set to annually revise.

Source

Delta teachers say they have no confidence in board

2008-07-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12:30 AM PDT

Delta College's teachers' union announced its vote of no confidence in the college's trustees at Tuesday night's regular board meeting and has started work to help unseat board members up for re-election.

The few dozen faculty members who attended the meeting vigorously applauded union president Joe Gonzales' announcement.

Most faculty members wore solid-white, pin-on buttons, which one instructor explained are sort of a silent protest that teachers can wear in the classroom because it does not convey any particular message.

The announcement stemmed from a faculty-wide vote that took place between May 27 and June 16. Ninety-five percent of the ballots turned in indicated that teachers have no confidence in the board.

The San Joaquin Delta College Teacher's Association referenced its ongoing struggle to settle its contract with the college, but said it is even more concerned with what it perceives as the trustees' inability to steer the college in the right direction.

"We're less interested in a contract than helping to put the college's house in order," said Sam Hatch, a Delta instructor and communications officer for the faculty union.

Hatch cited last month's less than favorable grand jury report, which said the board squandered millions of dollars of Measure L funds. Voters approved Measure L, a $250 million bond meant to make number of improvements to Delta's home campus as well as build satellite campuses, in 2004.

The union's spokesman also referenced the college's recent run-in with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges' accreditation committee, which suggested the trustees adopt a code of ethics among other things.

Hatch said union is also looking for members of the community who will run against board members up for re-election, including Trustees Leo Burke, Anthony Bugarin and Greg McCreary.

Hatch said the union was partnering with other civic groups for the search, but declined to say which ones.

Trustee Dan Parises, also up for re-election, announced Tuesday that he will not seek another term.

Other trustees had little to say about the faculty's announcement.

"I appreciate that the faculty was honest with us," Trustee Janet Rivera said.

Trustee Maria Elena Serna emphasized that the board is not avoiding adopting a code of ethics. It just simply ran out of time while dealing with more important matters, she said.

Both Serna and Rivera said the board will adopt a code of ethics at Thursday's meeting.

At the end of the meeting, Gonzales took the podium once again to say things were not all bad.

Since the vote was taken some progress has been made, he said.

"Personally, we'd like to extend the challenge to prove us wrong," [Gonzales said].

Source

Delta votes 'no' on buying land on Victor Road

2008-07-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Some on board say they are not abandoning a Lodi campus site
By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12:30 AM PDT

Delta trustees decided not to make a $150,000 payment to extend its option to buy property in Lodi at Victor Road, where it originally intended to build a satellite campus.

At least a couple of board members and San Joaquin Delta College's President Raul Rodriguez say that doesn't mean they are abandoning Lodi — or even the Victor Road site — altogether, though.

Trustees Maria Elena Serna and Dan Parises, who objected to passing up the payment in a 5-2 vote, say they are still committed to a presence in Lodi.

However, Parises will only be committed, at least in the capacity of a trustee, for another few months.

He announced his decision not to run for re-election due to health reasons and to spend more time with his family. Parises' announcement will put an end to a 33-year career as a trustee at the college.

"Looking back, it's not always been an easy road, but through respectful collaboration during my tenure, many people working together have made outstanding things happen," Parises said in a prepared statement.

Rodriguez said the college's decision to not extend its option on the Victor Road property is an effort to conserve bond money. Delta has already spent $450,000 on options for the property.

"We're looking at all of our options," Rodriguez said. "Why make another payment if we're not sure?"

The college could still purchase the Victor Road property should it still be available in the future, Rodriguez said.

Other college officials have suggested that Delta look into another site, possibly an existing building, for its Lodi campus.

However, the board did approve of "augmenting" the budgets for several main campus projects deemed by the college's bond management team to be either too far along or critical.

"When we say augment, what we really mean is we don't have enough budgeted," said Lee Belarmino, the head of the management team.

Altogether, the augmentations totaled more than $27 million, most of which comes from the grossly underbudgeted Cunningham building. The building will provide a much needed expansion to the college's math and science departments and house two data centers.

Had the board decided not go forward with the project as planned, the bond management team said the college would lose $30 million in state funding.

By approving the Cunningham building as well as several other projects — including a student services center, portables to house the police department and infrastructure improvements — the board agreed to nix plans to build a $8.5 million district support services center.

That leaves approximately $64 million for the college's Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca projects, more than $31.6 million short of what was originally budgeted for those projects.

Still, Rodriguez and some board members insist that the college can complete projects at all three locations, just maybe not as originally planned.

"We still want to do all of them," Rodriguez said. "Instead of the Cadillac we might go with the Chevy."

Serna, especially, emphasized her intention to stick with the satellite projects.

"My concern is we keep our commitment to the voters," she said.

Trustee Ted Simas, on the other hand, apologized for Delta College's unfulfilled promises, but said when the college campaigned for the bond, it knew it had $250 million for $350 million worth of projects.

Rodriguez said the bond management team will present recommendations for board's decision about Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca projects near Labor Day.

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com.

Source

Trustee of 33 years to step down

2008-07-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

Parises cites family, health in decision to leave Delta;
Trustees also pump $30 million into about 10 projects

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
July 16, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - The longest-tenured trustee at San Joaquin Delta College announced Tuesday he will not run for re-election in November, the same night that the college faculty publicized a vote of no confidence in the beleaguered board.

Dan Parises, 71, said his decision was about family and health. He was hospitalized with internal bleeding in May, and his wife recently battled ovarian cancer. This has lent some perspective to life, said Parises, a trustee for 33 years. "It's time to do some of the things we've put off for many years," he said.

In a written statement explaining why he's leaving the college and board in a state of "dysfunction," Parises said, "Well, you can only do the best you can. For the past few years, the dynamics involved have been very difficult."

His announcement came after a night of painful choices for the board, which is forced with scaling down or scrapping projects that had been promised under a $250 million voter-approved bond.

Trustees agreed Tuesday to pump $30 million into about 10 projects, most significantly a math and science center that is $22.9 million over budget.

While officials say the new building is badly needed, it comes at a cost. Most of the money used to bring these projects out of the red will likely bleed proposed satellite campuses in Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca.

Trustees in closed session voted 5-2 to not pay $150,000 to extend a purchase agreement for the college's proposed Lodi campus on Highway 12 east of Highway 99.

This does not mean a decision has been made not to build there, President Raul Rodriguez said. Rather, it allows the college to continue considering other options - such as buying an existing building or buying and developing property that is already in city limits.

Administrators said again Tuesday that they're not abandoning Lodi, Mountain House or Manteca. But the simple fact is there's not enough money to build all of the campuses as they were originally conceived.

After Tuesday's actions by the board, about $65 million remains to pay for the satellite campuses. Mountain House alone will cost more than that, a bond consultant said earlier this week.

"We still intend to do those projects," Rodriguez said. "But we have to make tough decisions. We think we can do them, (but) maybe not in the grandiose way we first thought."

Trustee Maria Elena Serna - who voted against Tuesday night's Lodi decision, along with Parises - said voters were told regional education centers were a priority.

"I find it very disturbing, and I'm greatly concerned," she said.

So is the city of Lodi. In a letter to the board, City Manager Blair King wrote that he is worried the board's commitment to Lodi is waning.

"Plain and simple fairness demands that the board uphold its commitment to voters," King wrote.

Also Tuesday, the College Teachers Association announced a no-confidence vote in Delta's Board of Trustees, citing four years of controversial decisions about the college and voter-approved Measure L.

"If the board doesn't change, it may be time to change the board," association President Joe Gonzales said in a statement.

Source

Many questions, little response

2008-07-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

Written by Steve Castellanos / For the Tracy Press
Tuesday, 15 July 2008

The Delta College board needs to show more concern and committment to answering the public's questions.

EDITOR,

On Monday I attended a special meeting of the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees, intending to discuss the state of the construction bond program and the recent San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report.

I was shocked and frustrated that there was so little forthcoming from the board. I was surprised at the lack of action taken by the board and its reluctance to say anything regarding the bond program, a recent accreditation report and the grand jury. It makes one wonder where and when they do talk about these things.

Even the notion of recording the session (as the board did) and then preparing a response to public comments and questions leaves questions.

These are complex issues, but, as I said, a simple commitment not only to respond but also to truly address the concerns by proposing the necessary changes as to how the board operates is a matter that demands public input and a public response.

(Mr. Castellanos is running for a seat on the SJDC Board.)

Source...

Trustees mute to critics, eye cuts

2008-07-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth
Monday, 14 July 2008

A few people laid into Delta College trustees today for mismanaging $250 million in bond money that will force them to break promises to voters. The board said little in response.

Where has all the money gone? And what should San Joaquin Delta College officials do with what’s left of the $250 million Measure L bond, approved by voters in 2004 to fix up the college’s main campus and build three new satellite schools?

These were some of the questions Delta's bond team addressed at a lengthy meeting today with college trustees, where they suggested cancelling or downsizing projects voters thought would be done by now, including a proposed satellite campus in Mountain House.

The campus, about six miles outside Tracy, was originally budgeted for $90 million. If trustees on Tuesday go with today’s bond committee suggestion, just $65 million will be left for Lodi, Manteca and Mountain House campuses.

The public today also had a chance for the first time to sound off before school trustees about an investigation that charged the San Joaquin Delta College policymakers with squandering many millions of dollars in taxpayer money and breaching open government laws.

Echoing the San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury report, the public called trustees to task for their alleged mismanagement — a problem more recently raised in an accreditation report.

Trustee Ted Simas joined the public in scolding fellow trustees. He berated them today for cornering themselves into a position where they have to consider scaling back some of the college’s biggest projects.

“When in the hell are we going to consider the students in this district?” he asked the bond committee and his peers. “We’re going to give the public our little scraps and cut Mountain House to pieces.”

The college refused to take questions about the grand jury report at a June workshop held to discuss the bond.

Even today, trustees refrained from responding on the spot to the mostly critical comments. They said they’d record them and come back with official answers at a later date.

Only a handful of people spoke up during the public hearing.

The meetings about the bond and the grand jury report — scheduled for a combined 4½ hours — lasted no more than a couple.

Matthew Wetstein, a former teacher and interim dean of planning at Delta, charged the seven-member board with violating open-government laws this very afternoon, in the hour prior to the day’s second public hearing.

“You have to get better at the way you discuss matter in front of the public,” he said, accusing them with having brought up the grand jury report during the just-finished closed session, despite it being absent from the printed agenda.

Board president Leo Burke denied as much.

“We didn’t have time today,” he replied to Wetstein’s question of whether trustees brought up the report behind closed doors, when the agenda said they’d be talking about the proposed Lodi campus.

Basically, the board needs to get better at sticking to the agenda, summed up Wetstein, who nine years ago sent a letter to a county prosecutor to investigate whether trustees were indeed guilty of violating the Brown Act.

“Even then I knew,” he said after the meeting. “That’s why I got up there today.”

The board has two months to draft a response to the grand jury report.

The first half of today’s meeting picked up where officials left off with last month's Measure L bond workshop.

The newly formed bond oversight committee urged trustees to pool the budget for the Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca campuses into one "regional fund," which would give the school nearly $83.5 million in remaining bond money to work with for all three proposed satellite campuses.

The bond team talked about what projects trustees could vote to cut. As is, the bond is $60 million over budget, officials revealed last month.

Plans to build a $10 million shipping and receiving warehouse on the main campus will likely get nixed and the money used instead to pay for the satellite campuses, should the board at its regular meeting Tuesday night follow the committee’s suggestion.

In recent weeks, trustees have had to examine which of the nearly two-dozen projects to scale down or cancel. Thirteen of them are over budget, especially the proposed Mountain House campus, which trustees say would cost about $30 million more than originally approved.

The committee will also research whether it’s still practical to move the satellite campus to Tracy, near Chrisman and 11th Street — an option that would undoubtedly take longer, reminded Kathy Roach, a bond committee consultant.

Still, the Mountain House site ran into yet another delay when planners realized that an application to the California Department of Fish and Game to build on a streambed was never filed.

“We don’t know who dropped the ball on that,” Roach told trustees.

At the regular board meeting set for Tuesday this week, trustees will officially decide on how to use what bond money is left.

On Thursday, trustees will meet at a Stockton country club to put start drafting a formal code of ethics — something the grand jury suggested at the end of its two-year investigation.

Source...

Delta College has big decisions ahead

2008-07-15T16:05:00.000-07:00

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
July 15, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - The tough decisions begin tonight.

San Joaquin Delta College's $250 million voter-approved bond will not go nearly as far as officials had hoped. A majority of the projects are over budget, and the Board of Trustees must make tens of millions of dollars in cuts.

College administrators recommended Monday that 10 projects receive an infusion of $30 million to get them out of the red. That leaves less money for other improvements.

If the college's Board of Trustees approves the plan tonight, about $65 million in bond money will remain to build satellite campuses in Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca. The Mountain House campus alone, as originally designed, would cost somewhere shy of $90 million, a college consultant said Monday, meaning cuts are inevitable.

"We all agree this is what we should do," said Lee Belarmino, a Delta administrator heading a new team appointed this spring to oversee Measure L expenditures.

At a workshop in June, college trustees were told that the college is $62.5 million short of paying for all of the projects outlined in the bond. Officials blamed bad estimates, which did not account for inflation and in some cases did not include money for furniture and other necessities.

The San Joaquin County civil grand jury blasted the board last month for wasting bond money, in particular by choosing a Mountain House campus over a proposal to build in Tracy.

Administrators on Monday morning recommended funneling some of the remaining bond money into infrastructure improvements, a student services building that already is under construction, and, most significantly, a math and science center that is well over budget. The center is funded in part with about $30 million from the state, a sum the college loses if it drops the project.

Trustee Ted Simas said it appeared the Mountain House campus would be cut to bits and the Lodi campus delayed until 2013.

"When in the hell are we going to consider the students of this district?" Simas asked of administrators.

Belarmino said the recent cost estimates are not guesses and are more precise than earlier figures.

"We are all motivated, believe me, to get this done right," he said.

President Raul Rodriguez said the decision to put extra bond money into projects on the Stockton campus did not mean the college was moving away from its plan for campuses in other communities.

It may be a matter of paring down Mountain House. "We weren't going to be able to build the Taj Mahal there," he said.

And, Rodriguez said, "We don't want to completely abandon Lodi."

Administrators said they will take more time to decide how the remaining $65 million should be shared among the three proposed campuses.

At Mountain House, it is already too late to turn back on an interim campus of portables, meant to serve students there until a permanent building can be constructed. But in a new wrinkle disclosed Monday, college officials apparently never applied for a streambed alteration permit with the Department of Fish and Game.

It is unclear if this will delay the project, bond consultant Kathy Roach said. A delay of as long as three months is possible if the state requires the college to get such a permit, she said.

Meanwhile, bids to renovate the college library had to be put off because of a lack of coordination between two different designers of the building. That will delay completion about three months.

Administrators recommended one building be canceled entirely, a district support services center that would have housed police, financing and other departments. Nearly $1.5 million already has been spent on that $10 million project.

Trustee Maria Elena Serna said she was anxiously waiting to see what options administrators would suggest for Mountain House, Manteca and Lodi. She said the college has been "visionary" in trying to meet expected growth in students, by refurbishing the existing campus and then growing outward.

ON TONIGHT'S AGENDA

Delta College's Board of Trustees will decide tonight whether to beef up bond funding for the following:

• Math and science center (needs $22.9 million)

• Infrastructure (needs $2.7 million)

• Student services building (needs $1.9 million)

• Police portables (needs $1.3 million)

• Title IX compliance for sporting facilities (needs $869,000)

• District data center (needs $789,000)

• Atherton Auditorium safety (needs $476,000)

• Football, track and softball field parking (needs $275,357)

• Planetarium safety project (needs $22,000)

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the school's administration building, 5151 Pacific Ave., Stockton.

Source...

Labor leader seeks AG investigation into San Joaquin Delta College scandal

2008-07-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

By Jeff Mitchell

The president of the San Joaquin-Calaveras Central Labor Council has sent an urgent letter to California Attorney General Jerry Brown asking him to open an investigation into the findings of a Grand Jury report that alleges wrongdoing on the part of local college district board and a prominent development company who has extensive business dealings with 11th District GOP challenger Dean Andal.

A copy of the letter written by labor council President Joe Coy was provided to the campaign staff of incumbent Congressman Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, who in turn forwarded a copy to PolitickerCA.com.

"I am not representing the council or the congressman on this," Coy said in a brief interview Tuesday morning. "I really feel that the Attorney General needs to get involved in this situation. We need a full, complete and impartial investigation of all the parties involved."

In his letter, Coy, who has contributed personal funds to McNerney's reelection campaign, connects the dots where the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury stops short. He directly implicates that Andal was the "(unnamed) consultant" working with builder Gerry Kamilos and his firm, PCCP Mountain House LLC, on the development of second campus for the San Joaquin Delta College District in the community of Mountain House outside of the city of Tracy.

Andal has consistently denied any wrongdoing or any connection with the incident. He has, however, openly acknowledged his business dealings with Kamilos and federal disclosure records show that he earned slightly more than $217,000 last year serving as a consultant to the Sacramento-based developer.

Distribution of the letter may be a harbinger of the kind of race voters in California's Congressional District 11 may encounter this fall. Pundits have said the race is expected to be among the most hotly contested House battles in the nation this fall. And that prediction comes on the heels of a bruising 2006 race between then Republican incumbent Richard Pombo and McNerney.

The June 18 Grand Jury report sharply criticizes Delta College trustees for their botched handling of the overall development of the satellite campus. The report says that one or more of the elected board members is believed to have violated the state's Brown Act by communicating vital closed session information from a February 2006 meeting to one of Kamilos' consultants. This private information in turn allowed the high-profile developer to keep the project at the Mountain House site alive.

(The report also pointedly notes that had the trustees gone with a property offered to them by the city that was inside Tracy, the project would not have wasted an estimated $40 million of the $250 million Measure L funds that voters approved in 2004.)

For their part, the Andal campaign staffers said they were concerned about the timing of and the motivation behind Coy's letter.

"Dean has been very clear on this issue -- he did not receive any leaked information from any closed door meeting of the Delta College Board of Trustees. The labor council, who authored this letter, is a McNerney supporter with a clear political agenda," said Andal spokesman Richard Temple. "McNerney should reject low road politics like this, and instead he should explain to voters why he opposes drilling for new oil anywhere in America even though gas prices are skyrocketing, and why he supports higher taxes on families even though the state's economic problems are making life for Californian families a day-to-day struggle. Voters deserve to hear about issues, not unsubstantiated political attacks."

Complete article

Delta College in accreditation danger

2008-07-13T22:02:00.000-07:00

High education commission says school has 2 years to fix problems
By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
July 08, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - A higher education commission Monday warned San Joaquin Delta College that it is in danger of losing its accreditation, a form of peer-review approval that is critical to the future of the college.

Should accreditation be revoked, degrees earned by Delta students "wouldn't be valid in many people's eyes," college President Raul Rodriguez said Monday.

"If we lose our accreditation, we basically shut down," he said. "But we're far from that point."

Delta has two years to fix problems before such a disaster could take place. Among the challenges: The college's Board of Trustees must develop a code of ethics, and should essentially step back and let Rodriguez do his job, according to a letter from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

For perspective, 20 of the roughly 170 colleges in the commission's region - California, Hawaii and the Pacific islands - are currently under "warning" status. Among them are Solano, Sierra, Ohlone and Diablo Valley colleges, and now Delta, to name a few.

So Delta's predicament isn't terribly unusual, although this is the first time Trustee Dan Parises can recall an accreditation warning in his 33 years on the board.

"I think we'll be able to resolve what they want us to resolve," he said Monday.

The board has been accused of as many as five Brown Act violations in the past seven years. Most prominently, the San Joaquin County civil grand jury reported last month that one or more board members may have relayed confidential information to the developer of a controversial Mountain House campus in 2006.

The board, against advice of college staff and consultants, voted 4-3 to build in Mountain House instead of Tracy, an outcome that the grand jury said may have cost taxpayers up to $50 million.

Monday's accreditation letter does not specifically mention these incidents. It does say the board needs a code of ethics, and the trustees' roles should be as policymakers.

The college also needs a comprehensive strategic plan and a stable management team to improve communication, the commission said in its four-page letter. Its full report was not available Monday afternoon.

Rodriguez said the college is already moving to improve planning. "We think we have all the pieces," he said. "We just need to tie them together the way (the commissioners) want us to do it."

Also, when the commission visited Delta this spring, four administrative jobs were vacant. Three of the four positions have since been filled, Rodriguez said.

As for the board, the commission appears to be telling trustees to "stop micromanaging," the president said.

But Parises said that if anything, closer scrutiny by the board was needed when outside consultants were brought in to manage a $250 million bond passed by voters in 2004. College administrators have said early estimates on the cost of a range of projects were too low, and now $62.5 million worth of improvements must be cut.

"We needed to do more micromanaging," Parises said. "That's how we got into this problem to begin with."

Trustee Ted Simas, who had not seen the letter Monday afternoon, said he's heard of only one case in which a college has lost accreditation and that the commission doesn't want that to be the ultimate outcome.

"But I don't take this lightly," he said.

The college must respond to the commission in a report due Oct. 15.

NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

Among other recommendations made by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, San Joaquin Delta College and/or its trustees should:

• Develop a code of ethics.

• Have the board make policy but delegate operations of the college to President Raul Rodriguez.

• Develop a revamped strategic plan that examines the effectiveness of the college.

• Keep a "stable" management team.

• "Increase collegewide sensitivity to the needs of its diverse population."

Complete article here

More Delta distress

2008-07-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth / Tracy Press
Tuesday, 08 July 2008

Delta College was given a plan for improvement by a commission this month, and if the plan isn’t followed, the school could lose its accreditation.

San Joaquin Delta Community College has two years to get its act together before it slides a step closer to losing its accreditation, which would effectively close the school.

Raul Rodriguez, the school’s president, said it’s unlikely the school will sink that low.

A loss of accreditation — the state’s approval to operate — would render the school’s credits and degrees essentially meaningless and bar it from getting public money, according to the commission that pointed out the college’s needed improvements.

But being bumped from warning status to unaccredited is a huge jump, Rodriguez maintained. And two years is plenty of time to live up to state standards, he added.

The report, issued this week by The Accreditation Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, an agency that holds colleges to task, gave the school until 2010 to reform its paid and elected leadership, among other things.

"They basically told the board: No more micromanaging," Trustee Janet Rivera said. "I agree. It’s right on target."

Monday’s review echoed some points brought up in a San Joaquin Civil Grand Jury report issued last month that lambasted school trustees for violating open-government laws and wasting millions of dollars in taxpayer money.

Delta trustees should adopt a formal code of ethics and quit micromanaging the school’s administration, the review charged.

"We should just let the president do his job," Rivera said of Rodriguez. "We’re the policymakers. I, for one, think we should all step back and let the college do its job."

Aside from the elected board, the college should also develop a more stable paid management team, the review continued, specifically for the position of vice president.

When the review team visited the college earlier this year, four upper management positions were vacant. Since then, the college has hired people to fill three of those four openings, school officials pointed out.

Commissioners also reminded the college of a looming four-month deadline to meet the last set of recommendations given six years ago by the agency to improve students’ academic performance, provide better staff accountability through peer review and address charges by some employees of the school’s bias against its "diverse population."

Trustees generally agreed with the recommendations.

Delta’s dubious status is hardly uncommon, Rodriguez said. The school is one of 20 California community colleges that the agency placed on a "warning" status. The state has 110 such schools in all.

Diablo Valley, Sierra and Ohlone are a few Northern California community colleges given the same ruling.

Delta would have to be placed on probation before it would face the immediate threat of losing accreditation.

"We definitely have our work cut out for us," said Trustee Ted Simas, who has historically been the most critical of his peers.

Fellow trustees Rivera and Anthony Bugarin agreed.

Simas especially criticized the rest of the board for failing to live up to the ethical standards already in place and agreed with the review that standards should be officially codified.

"We can do this; we’ll work as a team," he said. "I hate to be negative, but a person’s ethical or they’re not. (Being ethical) requires a change in attitude."

Leo Burke, Delta’s board president, and trustees Dan Parises, Greg McCreary and Maria Serna did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

The college has until Oct. 15 to respond to the commission.

The official warning is a lot like a fix-it ticket, noted college spokesman Greg Greenwood.

"We can address these problems," he said Tuesday. "There’s virtually no chance Delta will lose its accreditation."
Complete article here...

Delta given a 'warning' by accreditation group

2008-07-13T21:54:00.000-07:00

By Andrew Adams
Lodi News-Sentinel Staff Writer
Updated: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 6:14 AM PDT

San Joaquin Delta College has been issued a warning for several deficiencies outlined in an accreditation review by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

The private organization's recommendations range from trustees adopting a code of ethics, developing a comprehensive strategic plan and stabilizing the management team.

Delta Superintendent and President Raul Rodriguez said Monday it has become difficult for colleges to meet the stringent standards for accreditation.

"The new standards are not easy to meet," he said. "We thought we'd have done better than this."

Delta is required to respond with a report detailing how it will address the recommendations by Oct. 15. Despite the warning, the college will be able to maintain its accredited status. The warning is essentially a fix-it ticket that could turn serious for Delta if it is not rectified.

The college must correct the deficiencies by June 2010 or the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges could terminate Delta's accreditation.

Complete article...

Well past their prime time

2008-07-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Some Delta College trustees have overstayed their usefulness
By The Record
July 11, 2008 6:00 AM

The accreditation of San Joaquin Delta College is in danger. But not in much danger.

Representatives of the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges put the college on notice that it has two years to clean up its act or face possible loss of accreditation.

If accreditation were to be lost, it would be devastating. Degrees earned by Delta's students wouldn't be as valid in the eyes of many, President Raul Rodriguez acknowledges.

No accreditation essentially means no school, at least no school with any value.

The commission's main complaints are that trustees aren't doing their job as an oversight body, that they have no code of ethics and that they interfere with Rodriguez's ability to do his job.

If some of these complaints sound familiar, it's because last month, the San Joaquin County grand jury issued a scathing report saying much the same thing.

Among other things, grand jurors complained that trustees ignored staff and administration recommendations and pushed ahead with plans for a new Mountain House campus rather than placing it in Tracy. That cost taxpayers $50 million, according to the jurors, who said some board members may have relayed confidential information to the Mountain House developer.

If that indeed happened, then plainly some board members violated their fiduciary duty to taxpayers.

What is without doubt is that cost overruns, delays and redos have cost so much of the $250 million in bond funds taxpayers approved four years ago that district officials recently said about $62.5 million in planned projects will have to be scrapped.

Clearly, some trustees - several of whom have served for decades but who are no longer functioning as overseers and policymakers - have stayed well past their time. It is time for some on the Delta College board to leave.

The fact that Delta College last year awarded more associate degrees than almost any other institution in the country is a credit not only to the students but also to the teachers and support staff. Delta ranked fifth out of more than 5,000 colleges, Community College Week reported in June. The college ranked 58th in 2006.

That $62.5 million in bond money has essentially been frittered away is a discredit to those running the district, primarily the trustees.

Losing accreditation would be the absolute last straw. It would further discredit the board. It would undermine the huge financial support taxpayers have showered on the district. But most important, it would jeopardize Delta students and the futures they are trying to make for themselves.
Source...

Delta College in accreditation danger

2008-07-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Delta college placed on 'warning'

2008-07-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

By News-Sentinel staff
Updated: Monday, July 7, 2008 3:07 PM PDT

San Joaquin Delta College has been issued a "warning" for several deficiencies outlined in a report issued by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

The private organization had several recommendations that ranged from the Delta Board of Trustees develop a process to review and revise existing board policies as well as develop a "comprehensive" strategic plan.

Delta is required to respond with a report detailing how it will address the recommendations by Oct. 15. While on warning, the college will be able to maintain its accredited status.

The college must correct the deficiencies by June 2010 or the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges could "take action to terminate accreditation."

Source

Dissecting Delta

2008-07-07T19:52:00.000-07:00

As budgets outpace funds, college officials take a hard look at which projects may have to go

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
July 06, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - It's no mere trim. In the coming weeks, San Joaquin Delta College trustees must cut, hack and chop away at projects that voters believed would be built when they approved $250 million in bonds four years ago.

While construction is under way on the main Stockton campus, some of the college's largest bond projects - including satellite campuses envisioned for Mountain House, Manteca, Lodi and the Mother Lode - may be scaled down or even eliminated.

At a recent public workshop, administrators said they're more than $60 million over budget on the Measure L bond.
To learn more

Of the nearly two dozen projects discussed, 13 will cost more than originally thought. In some cases, the board may consider eliminating or reducing projects on which millions of dollars have already been spent.

In one case, turning back would force the college to forfeit roughly $30 million in state matching funds, possibly jeopardizing Delta's ability to seek such funds in the future.

And then there's the notorious Mountain House campus, which is projected to cost $30 million more than trustees had approved.

Difficult choices await the board.

"It's quite obvious we didn't do a good job from the beginning," said Delta Trustee Ted Simas.

If you're a homeowner who lives in the community college district, which includes portions of five counties, the bond is costing you about $17 a year per $100,000 of your home's assessed value.

Here's where your money has gone, and where it may yet go.

Complete article here...

Our Voice (Tracy Press)

2008-07-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

Written by Press Editorial Board
Friday, 04 July 2008

Keep a wary eye on two Kamilos projects.

At a time when the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury has cried foul on a college project in Mountain House, it’s interesting to take a look at the planning process for a project in Stanislaus County by the very same developer.

The grand jury report blasted San Joaquin Delta College trustees, accusing them of squandering millions of dollars in bond money on a new satellite campus supported by developer Gerry Kamilos in Mountain House.

Kamilos, who also hopes to develop the area in and around the Crows Landing Air Facility (“17 miles from the Tracy triangle,” as it’s advertised) into a 4,800-acre industrial center, has said from the get-go that he wanted to keep an open process on the project.

But regarding Kamilos’ more local project, the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report alleges that the Delta College fiasco entailed a government process that was quite open to the developer but closed to the public.

Specifically, the report says Kamilos received closed-session information that was not available to regular citizens — information that benefited his project without the public’s knowledge. Kamilos denies receiving closed-session information and said the development process in Mountain House has been held up by Delta’s former construction crew.

The accusations in San Joaquin County seem to resemble some aspects of the PCCP West Park project in Crows Landing, on the West Side of Stanislaus County.

In January 2007, a county-appointed selection committee held a supposedly secret vote on which of two development concepts it preferred. Kamilos knew the results of that vote at a public meeting the following day.

And just as Delta trustees went against the advice of their consultants and staff to support the Mountain House project over a proposal to build a campus in Tracy in 2005, Stanislaus County supervisors went against the advice of the county’s airfield steering committee when supporting West Park last year.

Both projects will have a big local impact: We’re paying taxes for the $250 million Delta College bond; we need a south county campus; and trains from the proposed West Park project could have a profound effect on the rail futures of Tracy and the Altamont Pass.

In both cases, it seems there’s been behind-the-scenes talk to which the developer was privy but the public was not. Looking ahead, residents need to be reassured that elected leaders will keep the process open in both of these projects.

Two projects, one developer. At the very least, we need to be on a level playing field with that developer.

Source

Hold trustees accountable

2008-07-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

Written by Jim DeHart / For the Tracy Press
Tuesday, 01 July 2008

Delta College's board must be made responsible for any waste of taxpayer money, a local man says.

EDITOR,

I’m amazed at the nonchalance of the article, “Delta College runs $62.5M over bond budget,” in Saturday’s paper.

The voters of San Joaquin County should be outraged, for it is our taxes that have been squandered. Unless these original trustees of Measure L are held accountable and responsible for their ineptitude, why should voters ever approve another bond measure?

If we want change, a good place to start is holding these bureaucrats accountable, and if they are found guilty of mismanaging taxpayers’ money, they should spend time in prison. I suggest we “follow the money” and look into the finances of each trustee, and if any have profited from the mismanagement of public funds, the trustee should be prosecuted.

Only when our representatives are held accountable will this waste and corruption be brought to an end.

— Jim DeHart, Tracy

Complete letter...

Our Voice (Tracy Press)

2008-07-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

Written by Press editorial board
Tuesday, 01 July 2008
Plotting the next move for Delta College.

Tracy’s top officials made an appearance at last week’s all-day public workshop in Stockton, the one where the San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees found out just how far off target ($62.5 million) they are in their Measure L projects that span San Joaquin County.

Mayor Brent Ives, City Manager Leon Churchill and Ursula Luna-Reynosa, director of economic development, weren’t there to express their condolences over the shortfall — they showed up to deliver the message that Tracy is still an option for a south county campus.

Three years ago, the city offered the Stockton-based community college 108 acres at Chrisman Road and 11th Street, including fees, roads and other costs, in exchange for scrapping the plans for the Mountain House satellite campus.

Delta trustees rejected the offer and have since been criticized for it.
Complete article here...

Delta trustees face public in wake of report

2008-07-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

By Alex Breitler
Record Staff Writer
June 25, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - The public on Thursday will have its first chance to question San Joaquin Delta College trustees about a grand jury report alleging the board may have squandered as much as $50 million on a south county campus that is now overdue and over budget.

The San Joaquin grand jury last week said it has "no confidence" in college trustees and said Delta needs board members "who are able to meet the task of bringing Delta College into the 21st century."

The grand jury said board members may have violated the Brown Act by leaking closed-session information to the developers of Mountain House. This allegedly happened in 2006 while the board considered building its south county campus in Tracy instead of Mountain House.
Complete article here...

Delta College Board Blasted for Bond Work

2008-07-04T16:48:00.000-07:00

Watch complete video here...

STOCKTON, CA - A San Joaquin County Grand Jury Report released Wednesday blasts the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees for how the board has handled the creation of a satellite campus near Tracy.

The report accuses the Board of wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Voters in 2004 approved a bond of $250 million for college improvements. Though much of that money will be spent on the school's Stockton facility, more than $50 million was designated for that new facility in Mountain House.

"We are way, way over budget from what was planned by the board," said trustee Ted Simas. "I believe the best term is wasted." Simas was on the losing end of the votes about Mountain House.
...
"Look at our board. It's made up of school teachers, a farmer, an insurance guy, and so on. This is not their area of expertise. They're learning as we move along," said Rodriguez.

More bad news for Delta College, and more might be on the way

2008-06-27T22:29:00.000-07:00

By Mike Martinez
Tri-Valley Herald
Article Created: 06/27/2008 06:03:50 PM PDT

STOCKTON — San Joaquin Delta College needs to make more than $60 million in cuts to projects that were expected to be built through a bond measure approved in 2004.

A bond team, made up of administrators and faculty at the college's Stockton campus, is expected to provide the Board of Trustees with a series of scenarios where the savings could be made up, including scaling back new campus sites planned for Mountain House and Lodi.

"We'll get it done,'' Trustee Dan Parises said after the meeting. "I'd like to see the more in-depth study that's going to come out of all this. The housing market going down and the price of construction going up — those are things we had no control over.''

It's the latest bad news for the college district, with the possibility of more on the way.

Last week, the San Joaquin County Grand Jury slammed the college's governing body, saying the trustees wasted millions in bond money.

Their investigation also found at least one board member provided closed-session information to the developer and his consultant.

In another potential blow to the college, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which oversees the accrediting commission for community colleges and junior colleges in California, is expected to release a less than stellar accreditation review in the next few days.

Complete story

San Joaquin trustees refuse to discuss Grand Jury report, Andal situation

2008-06-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

Photo: Dean Andal, Lincoln Unified School Board member, Alleged Consultant to Gerry Kamilos, and Former Calif. Franchise Tax Board member.

By Jeff Mitchell

Although they were believed by many observers to be ready to finally answer questions about a scathing Civil Grand Jury report alleging, among other things, that they violated the state's Brown Act by passing closed session information onto the agent of a developer, trustees with the San Joaquin Delta College District remained silent on the controversy during a meeting late this week.

The agent or consultant who allegedly received the closed session data on behalf of his employer is believed to be Dean Andal, the Republican challenger opposing incumbent freshman U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, (D-Stockton) this November for control of the 11th Congressional District seat.

Complete story here...

Delta's $62M hole

2008-06-27T17:27:00.000-07:00

Written by Press staff / San Joaquin News Service
Friday, 27 June 2008

Delta College will have to slash $62 million from its list of promised construction from a $250 million bond voters passed in 2004.

STOCKTON — San Joaquin Delta College’s new bond team admonished the board Thursday that it had passed the point of no return on building a Mountain House campus — despite the fact that Measure L bond projects are $62.5 million over budget.

“There was a decision that was made that says you guys are at Mountain House,” bond program manager Kathy Roach said, adding that switching gears by moving the planned Mountain House center to Tracy could cost an extra $30 million “and a lot of time and energy.”

The college's new bond team, made up of consultants and college administrators, updated the board Thursday on the cost, scope and completion date of all of its purposed projects. They delivered the grim news in an all-day meeting, where they barred any discussion of past mistakes or public questions about last week’s release of a scathing grand jury report.

After crunching numbers, the team estimated that the Measure L bond projects planned for the Stockton campus and for satellite campuses in Mountain House, Lodi and Manteca are over budget and need to be cut by $62.5 million.

Measure L is a $250 million bond passed by San Joaquin County voters in 2004. The grand jury harshly criticized Delta trustees for mismanagement of the Mountain House project, leaking closed-session information to developers and squandering millions of dollars.

The trustees will meet again July 15 to discuss the grand jury report — and also decide what bond projects will have to be cut. Another public workshop may be planned before that meeting.

Many of Delta’s future plans are marred by previous mistakes, said Lee Belarmino, who heads the bond team.

“We didn’t do things the best way at times up to this point.”
Complete story here...

Delta projects need a $62.5M trim

2008-06-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

By Alex Breitler

Record Staff Writer

June 27, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - San Joaquin Delta College must ax $62.5 million in improvements that had been planned for the Stockton campus and for satellite centers in Lodi, Manteca and Mountain House, officials said Thursday.

A $250 million bond passed by voters in 2004 will not pay for everything college officials had envisioned, administrators said at a public workshop Thursday.

Not all of the shortfall can be blamed on a Mountain House campus that some trustees now say was a mistake. Many other facilities are over budget as well, meaning some must be scaled back or cut completely.

"I know we're going to have to make some hard decisions," Trustee Maria Elena Serna said.

The smattering of citizens at Thursday's workshop had little chance to comment on a scathing grand jury report that said the board squandered as much as $50 million by planning its campus in Mountain House rather than Tracy.

College officials made it clear such comments were not welcome Thursday. The workshop was "not a forensic review of the past, so don't 'act as if' it is," said guidelines posted on the wall of the room.

Questioning board members about the grand jury report was not the purpose of the meeting, Delta College President Raul Rodriguez said.

"There will be other days," he said. "Today is not the day."

Complete article...

Delta College $62.5 million over bond budget

2008-06-27T17:09:00.000-07:00

Future of Lodi campus remains uncertain; 2 trustees optimistic

By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Updated: Friday, June 27, 2008 6:02 AM PDT

San Joaquin Delta College's Measure L bond projects are $62.5 million over budget, but at least two trustees say they're still committed to a Lodi campus.

"I want to see one (in Lodi)," said Trustee Dan Parises.

"So do I," said Maria Elena Serna, also a board member.

Both Parises and Serna represent the Lodi area.

However, how the board is going to build a satellite campus at the Victor Road site east of Lodi and juggle its other planned projects, most of which are over budget, remains undecided.

And Trustee Ted Simas said the idea of building the Lodi site in partnership with private developers could lead to more trouble.

The college's new bond team, a mixture of consultants and Delta College employees updated the board on the cost, scope and completion date of all of its purposed projects Thursday afternoon.

College officials called the meeting a new effort at transparency.

The team delivered the grim news to the board in an all-day, on-campus meeting, where they barred any discussion of past mistakes and looked to the future.
Complete article here...

San Joaquin Delta College President Dr. Raul Rodriguez looks on as Delta's financial situation is reviewed during a meeting Thursday. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Andal denies involvement in Brown Act violations

2008-06-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

By Lisa Vorderbrueggen

Tri-Valley Herald

Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 6:36 pm

Congressional GOP candidate Dean Andal emphatically denied that he was the unnamed consultant listed in a San Joaquin County civil grand jury report who received confidential closed-session information in a case involving allegations of a Brown Act violation by several members of the Delta College Board of Trustees.

The report, released earlier this week and detailed in a Tri-Valley Herald story yesterday, said the “San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and violated open government laws by discussing closed-session matters outside its meetings.”

The story said that day after a Feb. 9, 2006, “closed-session meeting (with Delta College board members), phone calls and a faxed letter indicated that one or more board members had relayed confidential information about the ‘breach of contract’ discussion to the developer and his consultant, Dean Andal.”

The grand jury report does not identify Andal by name although a college trustee who made the initial allegations had previously named Andal in Stockton Record story as the recipient of closed-session information.

Andal is, of course, a well-known consultant to PCCP Mountain House, LLC, a group led by Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos, although he is far from the only consultant on the large project.

According to federal financial disclosure statements, Andal earned $217,589 in 2007 in consultant fees and salary from Kamilos, PCCP Mountain House and another PCCP development called Mariposa Lakes.

With respect to the grand jury investigation, the company was in discussions at the time with San Joaquin Delta College to provide the college with $14 million for infrastructure as the landowner and the college developed their respective properties in Mountain House, a master-planned community near Tracy. Mountain House and Tracy had been engaged in a well-publicized competition for the new college, which Delta College eventually agreed to build in Mountain House.

Andal said he lobbied at least one Delta College board member but said he never received any confidential, closed-session information from any elected official.

“If someone had tried to give me closed-session information, I would have stopped it,” Andal said. “I am very experienced with the requirements of the Brown Act.”

Andal called himself a staunch advocate of the Brown Act, a state law which spells out how publicly elected boards must conduct themselves in both public and closed sessions. Elected officials cannot disclose what was said in closed session and the law limits the topics under which they are permitted to hold discussions outside of the public eye.

Delta College Trustee Ted Simas, however, was quoted in a Stockton Record story of Aug. 21, 2006, saying that Andal had called him on the telephone several hours after the board concluded its Feb. 9 meeting and “had information that could have been obtained only by board members in closed session.” Simas said Andal told him that two college trustees had provided details of the closed-session negotiations to Kamilos. Andal was quoted in the same story saying that he did not remember the conversation.

Despite the conflicting accounts of this incident, watch for this issue to make its way into what will be a fierce general election campaign between Andal and incumbent Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton. Andal is known as a veritable “Boy Scout” and these allegations could call that image into question if the Democrats are able to gain sufficient traction on the issue.

Grand Jury releases scathing report on San Joaquin Delta College board

2008-06-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

Scathing report says Delta trustees wasted funds

By Mike Martinez
Tri-Valley Herald

Article Created: 06/18/2008 01:01:28 PM PDT

STOCKTON — The San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars and violated open government laws by discussing closed-session matters outside its meetings, charges a San Joaquin County civil grand jury report released Wednesday morning.

The seven-page report found the board made decisions that have "caused serious problems'' and that trustees were "ill-prepared'' to handle the Measure L funds, a $250 million school bond approved by San Joaquin County voters in 2004.

"The Delta College Board of Trustees made decisions which have caused serious problems and wasted millions of Measure L funds,'' the report reads. "The District needs capable trustees who are able to meet the task of bringing Delta College into the 21st Century.''

In 2003, Delta College and PCCP Mountain House, LLC — a group led by Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos — began working on a plan to develop their respective properties in Mountain House. Kamilos, who has planned to build hundreds of homes adjacent to the college in the master-planned community, promised to provide $14 million to cover Delta's fees and infrastructure costs.

At a closed-session meeting held by the board on Feb. 9, 2006, the college's attorney and administrative team said a developer would be missing the deadline for delivery of letters of credit, resulting in a breach of contract. The board then discussed the possibility of returning to a deal offered by the city of Tracy to put the campus on the corner of 11th Street and Chrisman Road, according to the report.

The city offered the college a 108-acre site, including all fees and infrastructure, which was estimated to cost upward of $10 million. The city also offered to limit Delta's costs and pay another $2 million for joint-use facilities. College staff estimated they could save as much as $50 million by selling the Mountain House property and accepting the Tracy offer, which was eventually rejected by the board.

The day after the closed-session meeting, the report says, phone calls and a faxed letter indicated that one or more board members had relayed confidential information about the "breach of contract'' discussion to the developer and his consultant, Dean Andal, the Republican nominee for the 11th Congressional District seat in November.

"If true, this is a violation of the Brown Act,'' the report reads. "The Grand Jury has no confidence in the Delta College Board of Trustees as they are currently constituted.''

Andal was out of the area Wednesday and unavailable for comment, a campaign spokeswoman said. Kamilos did not return calls seeking comment.

Original college estimates pegged the cost of building the first phase of a campus in Mountain House at $55 million. But as recently as this past January, the cost has soared to about $94 million, and is expected to rise further, with taxpayers bearing the burden. The current plan calls for portable buildings to house the students.

The campus was anticipated to open within 24 months after a groundbreaking ceremony in Oct. 2006. Last August, college President Raul Rodriguez said the project was on track. As of Wednesday afternoon, there has been little work done at the Mountain House site, with no roads or lights installed and the latest opening date pushed back to spring 2009.

The estimated costs do not include funding for the final two phases of construction.

"Private agendas and public bickering have delayed the progress of the use of bond funds,'' the report reads. "This has resulted in a reduction of projects that will be completed and has caused the complete cancellation of other projects. Therefore, costs have risen by tens of millions of dollars due to inflation.''

Trustee Ted Simas, who is in his fourth term on the board, said the report was "100 percent on.''

He called the findings the result of "micromanaging from the board members.''

"Hopefully, out of all this, the outcome will be for the betterment of the college,'' Simas said. "Unfortunately, in all this, people forget that the students come first. Much of what I blew the whistle on, I tried to get the board to rectify among ourselves first. But I am a member of that board. I give my apologies to the public. I am not singling myself away from the Board of Trustees.''

Reach Mike Martinez at 209-832-3947. or mike.martinez@bayareanewsgroup.c

Link to Source

Is Delta in too deep?

2008-06-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

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

Source...

Uncertainty reigns

2008-06-20T16:05:00.001-07:00

Is Delta's Victor Road satellite campus still on track?

By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Updated: Friday, June 20, 2008 6:24 AM PDT

Are plans still moving forward for a San Joaquin Delta College satellite campus on Victor Road?

The short answer: No one seems to know for sure.

A campus official acknowledged Thursday that the proposal is now in an "analysis phase."

College trustees from the area are not talking about the site.

And Lodi Councilman Larry Hansen, who served on a committee that pinpointed the Victor Road site, said his confidence is starting to wane.

"I'm trying to be optimistic that they still plan to build a campus in Lodi," Hansen said. "But my optimism is fading."

A San Joaquin County grand jury report issued this week was less than reassuring.

Complete article here

Can we trust the trustees?

2008-06-20T08:46:00.000-07:00

Grand jury latest group to question Delta College board's competence

By The Record

June 20, 2008 6:00 AM

Just one day after news reports that trustees of San Joaquin Delta College may need sensitivity training, the board was lambasted by the San Joaquin County grand jury.

The grand jurors said the board:

» "Made decisions which have caused serious problems and wasted millions of dollars of Measure L funds." ( Measure L was the $250 million school bond measure approved by voters four years ago.)

» "Did not heed nor follow their staff recommendations or the recommendations of consultants hired by this board."

» "Although the original estimate for the building of a center/campus at Mountain House was $55 million, as of January 2008, the estimate has climbed to approximately $94 million and could go much higher costing district taxpayers tens of millions of dollars."

» "Brown Act (the state's open meetings law) violations have occurred at meetings of the Citizen's Bond Oversight Committee."

"The grand jury has no confidence in the Delta College board of trustees as they are currently constituted."

And, in the greatest understatement in the report, jurors say the district needs "capable trustees."

In summary: The board is wasting millions of dollars, is not following advice, is letting construction costs balloon, is doing things in secret and is incompetent.

Other than that, the trustees are having a pretty good run.

Delta President Raul Rodriguez was dismissive: "I think it's more of an opinion."

Of course, there is that little matter of a college accreditation team also suggesting Delta trustees are dysfunctional and need to adopt a code of ethics.

So, on top of all the complaints of the grand jury, the trustees - charged with managing hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayers' money - don't get along and don't even have an ethics code.

The college is waiting for the final report from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which visited the campus in the spring, and refuses to release the preliminary report even though it has been discussed in public.

"It's been a problem," Trustee Janet Rivera said of the lack of a code of ethics.

You might say that.

All this would be laughable if it weren't so incredibly costly and were the district's product - competent, ready to contribute students - not so important to the future of this region.

But the shenanigans of the district aren't funny. They are deadly serious.

Too many on the board, including members who've obviously served well past their time, view board services as social club duty, a private organization paid for by others to run as they please and for their own pleasure.

That must end. They must stop bickering and start working together.

That doesn't mean a retreat at a swanky resort - paid for by taxpayers - where they circle up and sing "Kumbaya."

It means that they must start providing policies and oversight to an administration today headed by a man, Rodriguez, who seems more interested in job hunting than doing the job he's paid to do.

Nobody expects trustees to always agree. It would be just as dangerous - perhaps more so - if they did.

But it is not too much to ask that they be competent, do their homework and hold the administration accountable.

And that they do all of this in public view as demanded by state law.

The trustees were not elected to be best buddy to the college president, but to supervise him.

They were elected - hired really, because they enjoy certain and considerable remuneration - to protect the taxpayers.

It's time they did that, or it's time for them to resign.

Given what we've seen in recent months and years, the latter seems the better choice for some.

Complete article here

Grand jury slams Delta trustees

2008-06-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

Written by Jennifer Wadsworth

Wednesday, 18 June 2008

The San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury released a condemning report today on the Delta College Board of Trustees.

The San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees squandered millions of dollars in taxpayer money and breached open government laws by sharing closed-session information to developers outside regular meetings, according to a San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury report issued today.

Auditors deemed the board “ill-prepared” to manage the $250 million in voter-approved debt from the Measure L school bond, which voters passed in 2004 to pay for new and remodeled buildings for the local community college.

Trustees and the citizen bond oversight committee were particularly criticized for the money and time wasted on the public-private partnership to build a Delta College campus in Mountain House.

“Private agendas and public bickering have delayed progress,” the report reads. “Therefore, costs have risen by tens of millions of dollars due to inflation.”

Original plans estimated that a satellite campus near Tracy would cost $50 million. This year, that number has jumped to $94 million and will probably increase, noted county investigators.

Auditors recommended against entering into a public-private partnership to build a satellite campus in Lodi, based on what it found to be a dismal outcome of the school’s contract with Mountain House developer Gerry Kamilos.

Complete Article here...

Report may revive Delta campus in Tracy

2008-06-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

By Mike Martinez / Tri-Valley Herald.
STAFF WRITER

Article Created: 06/19/2008 06:26:57 PM PDT

TRACY — A grand jury report critical of the San Joaquin Delta College board of trustees may open the door for the college to build its south county campus, albeit a scaled-down version, in Tracy.

The seven-page report charges the board wasted millions of taxpayers' dollars and violated open-government laws by discussing closed-session matters outside its meetings, specifically regarding the college site in Mountain House.

Ted Simas, the only college trustee to return a phone call from the Herald, said the college continues to meet its contractual deadlines and has paid $1.1 million to the developer for infrastructure costs, yet there is "nothing'' at the proposed campus site currently.

"As of this day, we're being burned at Mountain House,'' Simas said. "If it was up to me, I would get out of there right now. If the Tracy deal was still on the table, I would be out of (Mountain House) in a heartbeat. I think any reasonable person would.''

Complete article here...

Grand Jury: Delta College trustees have wasted millions of your money

2008-06-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

By The (Stockton) Record

June 18, 2008 2:08 PM

San Joaquin Delta College trustees have wasted millions of dollars of voter-approved bond money by ignoring staff recommendations and pursuing a campus at Mountain House, the cost of which has soared from $55 million to $94 million, the San Joaquin County Civil Grand Jury charged in a report released this morning.

The Grand Jury said it has “no confidence” in the Board of Trustees, which declined an invitation to build in Tracy and stuck with a public-private partnership in Mountain House. Nothing has been built there; the college plans to bring in portables to house students in the interim, but infrastructure needed to do so has not been installed by the developer.

Complete article here

Grand jury says Delta College mishandled bond funds

2008-06-18T19:13:00.000-07:00

By Lodi News-Sentinel Staff

Updated: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 3:23 PM PDT

A San Joaquin County grand jury has found that San Joaquin Delta College trustees misused Measure L funds.

Delta College passed its $250 million bond in 2004 to make a number of improvements to the college including adding satellite campuses in Mountain House, Lodi and possibly Galt.

Board members "made decisions which have caused serious problems and wasted millions of dollars of Measure 'L' funds," the jury's decision said.

The jury, which released its report today, also found that trustees ignored recommendations of college-hired consultants.

Complete article here...

Grand Jury Releases its Report

2008-06-18T19:09:00.000-07:00

Complete Report Here

Delta awaits code of ethics

2008-06-18T07:31:00.000-07:00

Board members hang on findings from accreditation report, vow change

By Alex Breitler

Record Staff Writer

June 18, 2008 6:00 AM

An accreditation team might recommend a code of ethics to guide the often-divisive San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees in the future, according to board members and discussions held in recent meetings.

The college is awaiting a final report from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which visited campus earlier this spring.

Delta officials declined Tuesday to release the association's preliminary findings, although recommendations in that draft report have been discussed publicly.

According to Trustee Janet Rivera, the accreditation team said board members need put a stop to divisions and work together. Part of this, she said, means avoiding future violations of the state's open-meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act.

"My big concern is people making deals behind closed doors," Rivera said Tuesday. "I won't stand for that." ...

Complete article

Is it time to change how Delta board is elected?

2008-06-14T09:35:00.000-07:00

By Andrew Adams
(Lodi) News-Sentinel City Editor

Updated: Saturday, June 14, 2008 6:02 AM PDT

The last time Ted Simas won an election for his seat on the San Joaquin Delta College Board of Trustees many people who voted for him probably wouldn't have been able to recognize him on the street.

"There are more people who vote for me who don't know me than people who do know me," the trustee admitted during a recent interview.

Of the approximately 75,000 people who voted for him in the last election, Simas estimated that only about 40 percent really knew who they were voting for. The rest probably just assumed the incumbent listed on the ballot was a safe bet.

Simas said that's just bound to happen when one takes a look at the Delta College district that stretches from Rio Vista out to San Andreas and from Galt down to Tracy.
Complete article

Digging up dirt on Delta's delays.

2008-06-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Our Voice

Written by Press Editorial Board

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

BEHIND THE TIMES: A sign put up in Mountain House in 2004 proclaiming the 2007 opening of a San Joaquin Delta College satellite campus is now a testament to a stalled process, which has pushed the projected opening of the long-awaited school site to as late as spring 2009. Press file photo.

Posts on an online forum crack jokes about how San Joaquin Delta College should offer hands-on courses in public works, construction and landscaping — if, that is, its long-awaited satellite campus ever opens in Mountain House.

Digging Up Dirt 101 is another option. We’re just not sure what kind of dirt would be dug up in that class.

You might remember the 2004 election, in which voters passed Measure L, a $250 million bond that would pay for the $55 million Mountain House digs, plus a $13 million Manteca campus, with whatever’s left to build something in Lodi-Galt and improve the main Stockton campus.

Four years later, the south county site remains a dirt field on the edge of Mountain House, with a price tag that’s ballooned to $95 million, or even as high as $200 million, depending on who’s talking.

Construction was supposed to start last spring, with portable buildings that would hold 3,000 students by this fall. But delays have been as abundant as the skyrocketing costs — with everything from disputes over contracts and annexation to time-consuming proposals to scrap the Mountain House location for one in Tracy (an idea we supported).

Complete Article

Criticism of Delta campus buried

2008-06-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

Written by Ben Marrone Friday, 04 April 2008

M.J. Gravina/Sun Post

A BAD IDEA?: A planned Delta College Mountain House campus, just off Interstate 205, has met with a series of delays and skyrocketing costs since its kick-off in 2005. Newly uncovered documents show a consultant that same year told the college to scrap the site for one in Tracy, but a trustee said the report was hidden from the board.

As costs and delays continue to mount for San Joaquin Delta College’s planned campus in Mountain

House, newly uncovered documents show that a consultant told college administrators years ago to drop the project and build a campus in Tracy instead.

The consultant’s report never made it to the college’s board of trustees, leading some to accuse administrators of burying information that made the Mountain House project look bad.

The college in 2005 asked real estate consultants Public Private Ventures to compare Delta’s plan for a Mountain House campus with a competing offer from the City of Tracy to build on donated land at the east end of the city.

The series of reports, for which the college paid more than $30,000, clearly stated that Tracy’s offer was superior to the Mountain House plan, which involved a partnership with real estate developer Gerry Kamilos.

PPV claimed the Mountain House project would get bogged down in contract disputes and litigation. It advised the board to look into “exit strategies” to get out of their agreement with Kamilos, and accept the offer to build in Tracy instead.

But none of these reports were passed on to trustees, who were then in a heated dispute about whether to give up on the project in Mountain House over problems with Kamilos.

Trustee Ted Simas, who represents Manteca and Escalon, said he first saw the payment to PPV in a budget report last June and asked President Raul Rodriguez what it was for.

Complete article

The Record Has the Facts Right.

2008-06-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Dear Editor:
The accuracy of one your editorials has recently been challenged. In "Design for Waste"(5/26), you chide the leadership of Delta College for wasting money and delaying the Mountain House project. I believe your editorial had the facts straight. Delta has paid twice to have the new campus designed.

Alex Breitling's article in The Record, "Design will set Delta back $4 million" (5/21), cites public documents indicating that $4.2 million had already been spent for designs for the projected Mountain House campus. $2.5 million of that money was paid to Darden Architects for its work on the designs. In the article, President Rodriguez is quoted as saying the Darden designs "were a mess." Trustee Ted Simas is also quoted about the new designs: "To me, this is strictly redoing what we've already done. What we're doing is paying double."

If there was no previous design work for Mountain House, was President Rodriguez misquoted about the Darden plans he called “a mess”? Was Trustee Simas misquoted, or is he as misinformed as the editors of The Record?

If you plan on attending the daylong workshop on Measure L and want to separate facts from talking points, I would suggest you do some homework. You might try looking at the posts on SJDC Watch (sjdcwatch.blogspot.com) or searching the archives of local newspapers for articles on the Delta bond. Both The Record and the Lodi News-Sentinel have done some thoughtful coverage.

Sincerely,
Sam Hatch
Instructor
Delta College

Pres. Rodriguez Claims that Record "Misunderstands"

2008-06-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

June 01, 2008 6:00 AM

I was surprised to read the editorial concerning Delta College's Mountain House project in The Record on Monday ("Delta's design for waste"). The surprise stems from an apparent misunderstanding contained in that editorial.

The editorial states that Delta College trustees voted to spend $4 million on design work that had already been done for the Mountain House campus. That is not true. The approval given May 20 was for the final construction drawings, the blueprints necessary to undertake construction. Those drawings could not be prepared until the other planning and design work was completed.

Complete letter here

Delta's design for waste

2008-05-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

Latest move makes us wonder whether Mountain House campus will happen

By The Record

May 26, 2008 6:00 AM

There are redos. And then there is nonsense.

What happened at last week's meeting of San Joaquin Delta College trustees seems to be the latter.

Trustees voted to spend nearly $4 million for an architect to design Delta's Mountain House campus even though nearly $4.2million already has been spent to do the same design work.

When does this end? We're now four years downstream from voter approval of a $250 million bond measure, and we don't even have plans for the Mountain House campus.

Oh, and in that time, the estimated cost of that campus project has ballooned from $50 million to $95 million.

Complete article...

Design will set Delta back $4 Million

2008-05-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

By Alex Breitler /Record Staff Writer

May 21, 2008 6:00 AM

STOCKTON - San Joaquin Delta College trustees on Tuesday approved spending nearly $4 million for an architect to design its Mountain House campus, despite one trustee's objections that millions in voter-approved money has already gone to other architects.

The college has paid a half-dozen firms nearly $4.2 million for the design of the long-awaited campus, according to figures current through mid-March.

Meanwhile, nothing has been built, Trustee Ted Simas said.

"To me, this is strictly redoing what we've already done," he said. "What we're doing is paying double."

A report requested by Simas shows that the college has paid six different firms various sums to design the Mountain House campus. The largest chunk of money, $2.5 million, went to Fresno-based Darden Architects, which completed artist renderings and even won an award for its work from the American Institute of Architects, San Joaquin chapter, in 2005.

College officials, however, weren't happy. The firm used a "cookie-cutter" approach to create a campus that resembled a junior high school, they said.

"It was a mess," Delta President Raul Rodriguez said.

So the board on Tuesday approved by a 6-1 vote a $3.9 million contract with tBP/Architecture, which has offices in Concord. Simas was the lone vote of dissent.

Complete article here...

Record to Raul: Fish or Cut Bait

2008-05-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

He's got to let us know

Is he staying or is he going?

That's a question a lot of people are asking about Raul Rodriguez, president of San Joaquin Delta College.

Last week, he pulled out of the running to be chancellor of the Riverside Community College District. That board apparently was divided between Rodriguez and one other candidate. Rodriguez cited the desire to stay near his family for dropping his candidacy, but then, being hired by a divided board is not a situation that ensures job security.

Last fall, Rodriguez was a candidate for chancellor of the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, a job he did not get. In March, Delta trustees extended his contract by three years, to 2012.

All of this is going on as district residents wait to see how $250 million in bonds they approved four years ago will be spent. Or if.

It's time for Rodriguez to decide: Is he staying or going? If he is staying, let's get these bond projects going. If he is going, best to him, and it's time for trustees to start taking charge.

Originally published by the Record, on 5/20/08

Board Makes a $14 Million Error

2008-05-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

College, developer dispute Mountain House campus deal

Written by Ben Marrone/Sun Post Friday, 02 March 2007

A disputed deal between the San Joaquin Community College District and a Mountain House developer may force the district to pay an extra $14 million to build a satellite campus in Mountain House — putting the squeeze on other college projects in Manteca and Lodi.

According to the college’s business services director, Andy Dunn, developer Gerry Kamilos — the builder responsible for creating Mountain House — agreed to cover all the fees the college would have to pay to join the not-yet-incorporated city.

But for months, the district has tried to get Kamilos to sign a contract promising to cover $14 million in “traffic impact fees” that the district didn’t learn about until after it signed its first contract with Kamilos in 2005.

In February, college trustees voted to donate several acres of land to Mountain House for roads and a water-storage tank — which Dunn says everyone building in Mountain House is required to do — but the vote was not unanimous, and some trustees think the college is moving too fast.

Trustee Ted Simas, who represents Manteca and Escalon on the college board, said giving up land for the roads and the water-storage tank now — before Kamilos signs the new contract — leaves the college vulnerable to a bad deal.

“He’s been stalling,” Simas said. “My theory is without that water site, he’s not going to be able to do anything. To me, we just gave up our last bargaining chip.” ...

Complete article here.

Labor conflict is really about a crisis of leadership at Delta College

2008-05-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

Lodi News-Sentinel, May 17, 2008.

We know the public is mostly interested in the quality of education available to Delta College students. The public also wants to see that the bond money they voted for in 2004 is spent wisely and that a fair number of the promises from district leadership are kept. These are the things the public should be interested in. Delta teachers care deeply about these issues, too.

In fact, we regret the energy we've had to spend over the last year in trying to get the district leadership to bargain in good faith. District negotiators have offered us 1 percent over three years — even though other employee groups have received 2.5 percent raise. Other districts in the state have shared this year's 4.53 percent cost of living adjustment (COLA) with their faculty and staff.

The Delta trustees refusal to share even a significant portion of the COLA with faculty is puzzling since Delta College teachers have been one of the most productive faculties in the entire California College system. We have consistently maintained student/teacher ratios in the high thirties, 20 percent or more above statewide averages. High class sizes generate more income for the college. The result for the college over this period has been record or near record income and record reserves.

Why would a college in excellent financial shape-with admittedly a couple of lean budget years ahead — deliberately snub a highly productive faculty? It is a puzzlement. With rising food, gasoline, and medical costs eroding teacher-buying power, the Board of Trustees has offered us a small fraction of the salary increase offered to other employee groups. We can't see how fomenting conflict with a productive faculty could be in the best interests of the college.

However, faculty conflicts with the board and administration are not simply over salary and benefits. We urge you to review carefully the performance of the Delta Trustee on a number of issues:

• Management of the Bond. Some trustees have tried to be good stewards of public funds — Ted Simas, for example. We also know that some outside consultants are necessary in a large and far-flung building program like the one the board promised voters. But tens of millions of dollars have been wasted on bond project consultants who were poorly supervised and whose productivity-beyond racking up bill-able hours-was painfully meager. After four years, the board has done more scaling back of promises than building to meet them.

• Neglect of the Colleges Building and Grounds. Both the board and top administrators have ignored issues of campus maintenance and widespread vandalism. For years, the grounds of the college were an oasis in an urban setting. Unfortunately, years of neglect have diminished the beauty of the grounds. Graffiti is common on campus and so is vandalism, especially in bathrooms and stairwells. Recently, one of our campus police officers, with $500 in seed money from the teachers' union, convinced President Rodriguez to support a secret witness reward program as part of an anti-vandalism program. We applaud the officer for going the extra mile to protect the college physical plant and President Rodriguez for supporting him. But we wonder about the drift that allowed tens of thousands of dollars to be wasted over the last four years.

• Lack of Professionalism. This spring, the chairman of the accreditation team visiting our campus admonished the Trustees to develop an ethics policy for themselves and then follow it. The trustees have violated the Brown Act on three or four occasions and recently took Brown Act training to help them comply with the law. The Brown Act essentially requires the trustees to make decisions during regularly scheduled and recorded meetings, so the press and the public can monitor their activities. One of our trustees explained that his failure to include a $2.5 million land deal in a required financial disclosure was an honest memory lapse because he was filling out the form in his pick-up outside the county registrar's office. We don't question this trustee's honesty. But we hope voters will question his casualness about his financial disclosure obligations.

Of course, we would appreciate public support for our struggle to get a fair contract from the college district. But people have told us that might be a hard sell. We have more confidence that the public cares about the welfare of Delta College and the performance of the board of trustees charged with its care.

--SJDCTA

Delta pays $533,000 to consultant

2008-05-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

College's expenditures toward acquiring land getting mixed reactions

May 23, 2007. Lodi News-Sentinel

San Joaquin Delta College has paid nearly $533,000 to a Pasadena-based consultant to help the college acquire land for future satellite campuses in Lodi, Galt and the foothills.

More than $423,000 alone has been paid to David Rodriguez and his firm, Public Private Ventures, Inc., for work securing the Victor Road site just east of Lodi, according to documents obtained by the News-Sentinel.

Complete story

San Joaquin Delta trustees benefit from rule change

2008-05-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

April 20, 2007. Lodi News-Sentinel

Every penny of San Joaquin Delta College trustees' medical expenses will be paid for by the college — in some cases for the rest of their lives — while college workers' health care costs will remain capped, following the reinterpretation of a vote cast 18 months ago.

President Raul Rodriguez's recent decision that the college would reimburse all health care "deductibles, co-payments or non-covered reasonable health care expenses" for trustees was based on an October 2005 board vote that gave trustees better health care benefits than those enjoyed by college managers, according to a memo handed to trustees Tuesday.

Complete story

Lodi native Goehring cites a conflict of interest

2008-05-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

Delta leader — and critic — quits foundation board
(Aug 21, 2007) Lodi News-Sentinel

Victor Goehring — one of San Joaquin Delta College's original trustees, and a vocal critic of its current leaders — resigned this week from his post on the college's foundation board.

Goehring, 81, cited continued frustration with the college's Board of Trustees and a conflict of interest for the resignation.

Complete story