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| David Adams / Photo: Furr |
In 2008, voters of the Southwestern Community College District overwhelmingly approved a $389 million construction and modernization bond meant to improve the college, including the “corner lot” project, a parcel of empty former farmland located at the corner of H Street and Otay Lakes Road in Chula Vista.
Following California law, the Prop R Citizens Oversight Committee was formed to monitor expenditures and provide representation, not to the college or construction companies, but to the voters of the district.
Three new members joined the committee this summer. Nicholas Segura, Thomas Davis and Matt Kriz filled one vacant seat and replaced members David Krogh and Rebecca Kelley. The board’s refusal to reappoint Kelley to her seat proved to be a controversial decision.
“Rebecca had been serving as the San Diego County Taxpayers’ Association representative since the passage of the bond,” said Chris Cate, vice president of the association. “Her term was up and she indicated that she would be interested in reappointment to the board. We sent a letter to the district, expressing our support. This was prior to the release of their [reformatted] application. Once the suggested appointments were brought to the governing board, Rebecca’s name did not appear.”
Oversight Committee President David Adams has sat on the committee since its inception.
“Basically, the purpose is just to see if they’re spending that money right, that they’re not misspending the money and that there is transparency there,” he said.
Earlier this year the terms of three members of the oversight committee came up for reappointment. Adams said Kelley’s failure to reapply for her position led to the end of her term, but he also said there might be something sinister behind it.
“The Taxpayers’ Association has made a big stink about getting their person back in, but then a union person got it,” he said. “My attitude is that there’s a hidden agenda that might be coming around the corner. Let’s face it, all the teachers and everyone up there, they’re all union people. So they’re all going to cover their union sides. I think the board is behind it. I know Tim Nader’s behind it. He’s behind the union, big time. Why? I don’t know.”
Cate said the Taxpayers’ Association had sent their letter before the new application was available and they never thought it was necessary.
“Typically, they never ask you to reapply because they already know who you are,” he said. “You already filled out an application once. But they changed the application and added a couple of different questions, so they felt she did not apply and was not considered.”
Governing Board President Tim Nader said that Kelley failed to submit an application on time and that was a factor.
“Under the procedures that we have for filling vacancies on the oversight committee, Denise Whittaker, the superintendent/president, recommends a slate of candidates to the board, and we adopted that recommendation. She made her recommendations only considering those who applied.”
Nader also said the loss of Kelley and Krogh from the oversight committee was one of the reasons that he suggested increasing the size of the committee from seven to nine.
“Former Trustee Nick Aguilar and I wanted to expand it, but that was the minority view,” he said. “The upside is you can get more diverse participation. In terms of this latest round of appointments, we might have been able to get the benefit of experience and get some fresh blood at the same time. The downside, to be fair, is that a larger committee can be a little more unwieldy.”
Without that increase in positions, the Taxpayers’ Association was cut out of the proceedings altogether. Kriz is a member of the San Diego Middle Class Taxpayers Association, a group which maintains an unaffiliated web presence, but whose Facebook page links it to several pro-union and progressive political groups. Kriz himself is political director of International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 36 and Local 831.
The oversight committee’s makeup was determined prior to opening for applications in 2009 and one of the slots was set aside for a member of a taxpayers’ association. Kelley’s politically-conservative group was the only one in existence at that time. Kriz’s organization was launched on April 18, 2011, around the time that SWC was seeking applications for committee members intending to re-up.
Cate said he does not believe that the lack of application was the real reason why Kelley was not reappointed.
“She has experience,” he said. “She was heavily involved in the committee, asked great questions, expressed concerns about where the program was going. She’s been working closely with us. We are heavily involved in oversight committees across the county. This is what we do. We have a set of best practices that all the districts with bond measures have adopted. We know what we’re doing.”
Adams, himself a builder, proudly declares himself as anti-union and is concerned about a possible Project Labor Agreement that the governing board would enter into with local unions. That would mean increased wages for the construction workers.
“They’re going to get less bang for their buck,” he said. “The bottom line is that it’s going to cost money. They only have x amount of dollars to spend, period. How much are they going to get done with that x amount? They’re going to get less done with the PLA than they are just going they way they’re going. They’ve got health benefits, they’ve got retirement funds, they’ve got training programs, and they make damn good hourly wages. What do you need a union for?”
Adams acknowledged that the board has not signed any agreements yet and has not even begun seeking outside opinions on the matter. That is a crucial detail, he said.
“They’re talking about it,” he said. “We should be in on those meetings. I asked them once in writing and then the Taxpayers’ Association urged that I be put in, and that got ignored. The problem I have with it is that they’re making decisions and we’re not even getting filled in on it. We’re the oversight committee. We should know what’s going on.”
Nader said that the governing board has appointed a subcommittee to consider the pros and cons of the PLA, but it’s only in the earliest formative stage.
“The subcommittee consists of Trustee Terri Valladolid and me right now,” he said.
“Prop R issues are a priority for the board. The board has had its hands full with a whole lot of issues,” said Nader, “and obviously this year the top concerns have been accreditation, the superintendent search and the budget. But Prop R is certainly up there among our concerns.”
Nader said the oversight committee is doing its best to serve the community, but wishes it were a little more accessible.
“Frankly, I hope the committee will consider scheduling its meetings to be not at the same time as our meetings so we can interact a little more readily.”
Stability can only improve the relationship between the board and the oversight committee, Nader said.
“I think that the entire Prop R project is in a state of flux,” he said, “or at least the corner lot project is, because staff has uncovered concerns. I think there may be a sense that not all the information that should have been provided to both the committee and the board was provided. Some of those were procedural issues, like bringing contracts to the board before they were approved. Some of them are substantive issues, like the specific programmatic uses of the buildings. But those all have something to do with the planning process, and the oversight committee is supposed to be part of making sure we’re getting out of this bond what the community should be getting – well-spent money on uses that will benefit the college and community.”
Cate said that his group, as part of the committee or not, would continue to keep an eye on just that.
“We’re going to monitor the fulfillment of the bond program to make sure it’s done on time, on budget, and that the projects are being completed at the price that was promised to voters,” he said.
Adams said there is nothing the oversight committee or anyone outside of the college can do regarding the project’s financial standing until the end of the year.
“We’re waiting on the [project’s] second financial statement, which we should be getting the end of December or first of January,” he said. “We’ll compare it to the old one and be able to see if there any discrepancies there. Last year, there were a couple of things that were questioned. They said they were going to correct them. If they do, there’s no problem. If they don’t, that’ll be an issue. That’s going to make it or break it. And then there’s the union deal. I’m going to insist we at least get representation in that group that’s going to decide whether they go with the PLA or not. As far as I’m concerned, those are the only issues.”
Story at the Sun.
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