Central County : Veteran Coast Trustee Won’t Seek Reelection

George Rodda Jr., a 17-year trustee of Coast Community College District, has announced that he will not seek another four-year term in November.

The college district, second largest in California, governs Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, Golden West College in Huntington Beach and Coastline Community College based in Fountain Valley.

Rodda frequently has disagreed with the three members who were elected to the five-member board in 1983 with endorsements from the teachers’ union.

The three new members had campaigned against decisions made by the old board, notably a teacher layoff. In public meetings in early 1984, Rodda, who is a Newport Beach lawyer, often voted against some of the moves made by the new board majority. In the past 12 months, however, Rodda has had fewer public disagreements with the new board members.

Rodda’s last major disagreement came in January, when he cast the only vote against the surprise appointment of Acting Chancellor David Brownell to that job permanently. Rodda, who said he had talked to state Chancellor Gerald Hayward about the matter, warned trustees that they would be violating California’s affirmative action laws if they voted before conducting a formal, full-scale candidate search.

In June, after a five-month investigation, the state chancellor’s office said that Brownell’s appointment had violated state law. The state now has imposed special affirmative action requirements on the district for the next two years because of the alleged violation.

Rodda’s retirement statement mentioned nothing about his past disagreements with the board majority. The statement instead warned about excessive state control of community colleges.

During his years as trustee, Rodda was the initial recipient of the Trustee of the Year award created in 1976 by the statewide organization, California Community Colleges Trustees. He is a former president of that organization, and he served five times as president of the Coast Community College District trustees.