Board Takes Action to"Postpones All Employment Hiring" at June 12, 2019 Board Meeting

"A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity." -Dalai Lama

(Caveat: Sausage making is not for the faint at heart)

Regardless of board politics, we have a fiduciary responsibility prescribed by state statute to be transparent in our process which should be taken with gravity.

On June 12, 2019 at the Regular Board Meeting of the Rio Hondo College, in closed session, the board took action to "postpone all employment hiring till the August 14th Regular Board Meeting". You may not know this because the motion and the vote was not adequately reported out and recorded in the minutes. The minutes did say that each of the four hiring was "tabled" which was not accurate. There is a difference between table and postponement (Robert's Rules). Since then, I have "noticed reconsideration" to bring back the minutes for clerical correction to remedy the violation. The hires postponed are:

 Full-Time, Tenure-Track, Sociology Instructor
 Full-Time, Tenure-Track, Chicana/o Studies Instructor
 Dean, Behavioral and Social Sciences
 Interim Grant Manager, Outreach and Concurrent/Dual Enrollment

Nevertheless, the motion and vote is as follows (which is public information and the Board has a statutory responsibility to report out)

It was moved by Trustee Valladares and seconded by Trustee Lomeli to "postpone all employment hiring till the August `4th, 2019 Regular Board meeting".
Votes:
Valladares: Yes
Lomeli: Yes
Santana: Yes
Garcia: Yes
Mendez: No

My reasoning for my "no" vote is that any delay in the hiring of faculty for the Fall semester would have a negative impact on students as the respective faculty member needs time to prepare for Fall classes. In addition, the postponed Dean position should not be delayed since the District is experiencing an issue with the failed new centralized method of scheduling and must revert back to the old method led by each department. This large error will cost the college millions in lost, miscalculated, FTES. Each department is scrambling to correct the error to prevent any further hemorrhaging in FTES/funds. Delaying the hiring of a Dean is detrimental to the respective department, faculty, staff and students. We can not afford any delay in the appointment of a dean which the superintendent was ready to recommend in June. A postponement is shortsighted.

Squirrelly Process
Nonetheless, the positions were officially "postponed til August. However, an odd thing occurred at the July 10, 2019 regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, two of the four positions postponed appeared on the closed session agenda for hiring. Ok, so the board postponed and then unpostponed? Not really, after the board took action to postpone only the board (as a whole) can undue that action (reconsideration) not any single board member. So it occurred despite any basic (legislative-Rules) process.

The peculiar thing is why only the two were unpostponed and hired? Why leave out the Dean position and the grant manager? I don't know. I could speculate but i'd rather not get into any board members mens-rae.

There it is in full transparency.


Agenda for June 12, 2019

Former Rio Hondo student, Board of Trustee member forms task force to steer re-development of America’s largest landfill

Armand Santos, Senior Staff Writer

ElPaisano Online: https://shar.es/1G7Orb

October 31, 2015

“At the workshops held by the county about the master-plan for the new regional park they discussed who their partners and their neighbors were, and how the park would affect them. They talked about Rose Hills and the Hacienda Heights community, but they left out Rio Hondo College,” said Mendez.

When Mendez identified himself to planners at the meeting and declared that Rio Hondo College should be considered a significant partner, he was told they acknowledge Rio Hondo College a “good” partner. Rose Hills and Hacienda Heights were being addressed because they had requests and concerns that they had voiced about the development. Rio Hondo College wasn’t being discussed because they weren’t a squeaky wheel.

“I knew we had to hurry, this needs to happen quick,” recalled Mendez. “Rio Hondo College needs to organize, put our thoughts together and communicate a demonstrated vision of how we would like this partnership between the landfill, the Regional Park, and Rio Hondo College to be.”

Mendez quickly generated a 9-point agenda of concerns and ideas regarding cross developmental opportunities for the Regional Park and Rio Hondo College. He then lobbied for a meeting with the county. The county agreed to a meeting, but only gave Mendez a three day notice.

“They told me Oct. 12 that we needed to get the facilities prepared to host them. I went Tuesday and Wednesday to every club I could and gave a speech at each one to try and get students to that meeting. I was recruiting right up until the meeting itself. If I saw three students standing together, I was approaching them,” said Mendez.

Mendez’ grass roots approach paid off. Mendez says there were about 20 students and five each from faculty, staff, and administration. The meeting, which took place in a room at the lower level of the Rio Hondo College Learning Resource Center, had a total attendance of around 40 people, a great many of them arriving with Mendez’ proposals sheet in hand.

The nine points on Mendez’ proposal are:

1. SEA Extension: Rio Hondo SEA (Significant Ecological Area).   Link/connect/expand wildlife corridor. Close the gap between the Chino Hills Wild Life corridor and Rio Hondo’s SEA.  It would be desirable to Create/designate an official extension of the wild life corridor which would allow animals to travel safely.

2. New Community Courses Opportunity: Rio Hondo Community courses (credit and noncredit).  Rio Hondo may provide community courses like health, fitness and environmental courses.  Health and fitness courses like walking, hiking and tai chi Environmental courses may be considered like bird watching, flora and fauna, and other courses.

3. Enhance Current Courses: Rio Hondo Environmental Studies.  Enhance current program to include new regional park’s gardens, fauna, and trees.  Link Rio’s SEA with Regional Park trails to increase educational opportunities for Rio Hondo College students and members of the public.

Physical Education Courses: Walking, hiking, running, yoga in the park, Tai Chi in the park.

4. Link Park trails and walkways to Rio Hondo College: Provide access to Regional Park from Rio Hondo College.  Link/create hiking/walking trails.

5. Observatory Access for community courses: Rio Hondo and the Regional Park may create a partnership to provide community access and educational programs related to the observatory.  Rio Hondo’s Observatory classes may be offered on a regular basis to the public and educational groups like K-12.  Create a small amphitheater for classes with parking.

6. Improve Schabarum Trailhead and Parking: Schabarum Sky trail and trail head improvement.  The trail heads current condition warrants improvement and should serve as a hiking/horse access trail to the Regional Park in connection with the Rio Plaza.

7. Rio Plaza Transit Center as an Access Point: Rio Plaza- regional public transportation center may serve as an additional gateway to the Regional Park. As a regional transportation center, Rio Plaza may serve as a regional means to access the park.

9. Rio Hondo Conference Center: Mini Conference Center at very top of West side plateau hill with a near 360 degree view that would be ideal for a conference center to host P.O.S.T Executive programs, Fire programs, and other college related events.  Rio Hondo may use this as a laboratory for its new “Hospitality program” transferable to the Cal Poly Pomona program.  Rio Hondo may profit from such a venture and add a steady stream of income from a mini conference center.

Mendez’ proposals and concerns regarding the Regional Park are created to benefit RHC and its students, as are all of his projects as a Trustee. Two previous projects Mendez spearheaded are Go Rio, which provides free public transportation to full-time RHC students, and Rio Plaza, which is an intermodal regional public transportation center slated to begin construction in 2016. Both projects are aimed at making RHC more accessible and have their roots in Mendez’ own experience getting to and from RHC during his student years.

“I rode the bus, bicycled, walked to school, and bummed a ride when I could,” said Mendez. “”I did everything but ride a horse. I had to walk the hill almost every day. Look at these calves, I can barely pull my jeans up over them. These are Rio Hondo calves.”