Trustee Urges Ethics Code for College Board

A Ventura County Community College District trustee has called for drafting a code of ethics to govern the board, citing the controversy surrounding fellow Trustee Tom Ely’s travel expenses.

Trustee Timothy Hirschberg said Thursday that he will push for the formation of a committee, composed of community residents and possibly two trustees, to develop a code of ethics and procedures for handling complaints about board members.

“I think it’s time for the board to put its foot down . . . and draft a tough, self-policing trustee code of ethics,” Hirschberg said.

He said the ethics committee would set guidelines for submitting expense claims and re-evaluate the need for trustee perquisites such as district-issued fax machines, telephones and credit cards. In addition, the committee would set forth policies that would allow the board to discipline a trustee.

Hirschberg said he will make his recommendation to the board at its next meeting in August.

He said his concern for establishing an ethics code was prompted by the controversy surrounding Ely, who is the subject of an investigation by the district attorney’s office involving the possible misappropriation of funds.

Ely’s troubles began in March when the Board of Trustees commissioned an audit of his district travel expenses after learning that he had run up large gambling debts and that he had used his district office telephone to call casinos in Nevada.

The audit found that Ely had spent several thousand dollars in questionable expenses during business trips he took during the past three years.

Ely has maintained that the audit is flawed and that he did not violate district travel policy. Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Nelson said Thursday that her investigation of Ely’s finances is nearly complete, but would not speculate on when the findings would be released.

Meanwhile, Ely’s troubles continue to mount. Last week, the board voted to sue the 54-year-old Simi Valley resident if he does not submit expense reports for business trips he took this year or repay the district $1,575 in travel advances.

But the trustee has said that he has no intention of submitting the receipts until the district reimburses him for $1,500 in business expenses he has incurred over the past three years.