Posted: Thursday, July 29, 2010 12:00 am | Updated: 7:49 am, Thu Jul 29, 2010.
By Joelle Milholm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer | 1 comment
As the Delta College Board of Trustees sift through another San Joaquin County Grand Jury report, this time accusing three trustees of violating the state's open meetings law, Lodi representative Taj Khan admits no wrongdoing as the board works on a response.
The report, which was released in June, accused trustees of violating the Brown Act on two separate occasions and suggested the trustees should be censured. It also called for the board to hold mandatory training on the Brown Act, which declares that public bodies, like the Delta board, must be open and public, and actions may not be in secret.
While the report didn't name the accused trustees, a motion was made at the board's meeting last week for the accused to step forward and Khan, Mary Ann Cox, a Stockton representative and former Lodi Unified School District administrator, and Ted Simas, who represents Manteca/Escalon, each said they were named in the report. Each denied any Brown Act violations.
"Our response is that we haven't done anything wrong," Khan said. "We don't accept any blame for anything."
The report alleges one of the violations came in the spring of 2009. Trustee Jennet Stebbins has said Cox contacted her, as well as Khan and Simas, in an alleged attempt to remove president Raul Rodriguez from his position.
Khan was then accused again of violating the Brown Act more recently. In a special meeting on June 24, the board decided that candidates applying for the interim president/superintendent position would be allowed to be considered for the permanent job to replace Rodriguez, who is leaving Delta for a chancellor position in Southern California in August. Khan said that shortly after the meeting a campus-wide e-mail was sent out saying the interim president would not be allowed to apply for the permanent position.
Khan disagreed with the e-mail and sent one asking why the policy had been changed. Khan said he hit "reply all," sending the message to all of the trustees.
"Some of board thought that was a violation of Brown Act and I didn't think it was," Khan said. "I don't know why they want to make this a big deal. There is no Brown Act violation that I am aware of. All of us are familiar that we don't discuss, deliberate or act. I think it is very clear to us."
This isn't the first time the Delta board has been confronted with negative Grand Jury findings. In 2008, another report accused the board of mismanaging Measure L Bond funds and wasting millions of dollars. Consequently, the board responded by forming a "bond team" and an oversight committee to oversee all bond projects.
Five of the seven current board members have two years or less experience on the board. Since being elected, they have held Brown Act training courses to get a better grasp on the details and complications of the law.
Despite those sessions, board president Teresa Brown said more training should be done.
"The Brown Act is a very complicated piece of legislation that has been amended many times since it was first written, and has also been interpreted through case law over the years," she said. "Ongoing training is essential for all public bodies that fall under this law — at least annually."
The board is currently working on a response to the latest Grand Jury report, which will be written by Delta attorney Mark Ornellas. Brown said each trustee will make their own comments and recommendations and give them to Ornellas. The board and Ornellas will then go over a preliminary draft at the trustee meeting on Aug. 17.
Brown said the board will include how much training it believes is needed on the Brown Act as well as how to move forward.
Meetings have been heated recently as Delta tries to respond to the Grand Jury report. Khan said Delta's trustees are divided on not only the Brown Act, but other issues facing the college as well.
"We have a divided board, but that's the way it turns out," Khan said. "There are things I see that the other board members don't. We see things differently."
The board will next meet on Tuesday for a regularly scheduled meeting. According to the agenda, the trustees will discuss the interim superintendent/ president issue in a closed session before the pubic meeting starts at 5 p.m.
Delta College interim president search
The Delta Board of Trustees held a closed-session meeting on Monday and decided on an interim president/superintendent to replace outgoing Raul Rodriguez. The announcement will not be made until negotiations on the new president's contract are finalized. Board president Teresa Brown said she hopes a deal can be struck by Aug. 6, which is Rodriguez's last day at Delta.
In June, Delta announced that Sherrill Amador, former president of Palomar Community College District in San Diego County, Susan Cota, former chancellor of Chabot/Las Positas Community College District in Alameda County, and David Mertes, former chancellor of the California Community College system, were the final candidates.
Earlier this month, the board of trustees decided the interim president would be allowed to be a candidate for the position. Delta administrators have said it could take a year to fill the position permanently.
"Now the big process starts to find the permanent president," said trustee Taj Khan, who represents Lodi.
http://www.lodinews.com/news/article_3297bad6-f0c5-5607-92f7-f24fdb6e85fd.html
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