SANTA ANA : 2 Trustees Ask D.A. to Probe Swap Meet

Two members of the Rancho Santiago College Board of Trustees on Wednesday asked the district attorney’s office to investigate a business agreement with El Mercado, the popular but controversial swap meet held at the college each week.

Board members Charles W. (Pete) Maddox and Brian Conley said the college may not be getting the full amount of money it is owed for allowing the privately run swap meet to be held in its parking lot.

According to the terms of an agreement with the Santiago Club, a nonprofit business organization that operates the swap meet, the college is to receive 24% of the gross revenues generated from admission fees and space sales.

Since 1987, the Santiago Club has contracted with Norton Western Ltd., a company owned by City Councilman Richards L. Norton, to manage the swap meet.

Maddox said he believes that the college may not be receiving its fair share and that the prices charged to vendors by Norton Western Ltd. are considerably higher than what is being reported to the college.

Officials at Norton Western Ltd. were not available for comment. Norton also could not be reached.

Maddox said he and Conley went to the district attorney because the board refused to take action.

“I’m especially upset because the board chooses not to deal with this,” Maddox said. “I’m upset that we can’t get the four votes we need to call for an investigation.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Wallace J. Wade said his office had received the complaint and would review it.

Board President Shirley Ralston said the action by Maddox and Conley came as “a complete and total surprise” and said neither had formally asked the board to call for an investigation.

“It bothers me that two board members would do this without bringing it up to the board or bringing it up to our chancellor,” Ralston said. “We are dealing with innuendo, and we haven’t been given any firm facts on paper.”

The request from Maddox and Conley comes less than a week after an appeals court ruled that the city of Santa Ana has the power to remove El Mercado from the college parking lot because it violates a city zoning law.

College officials contend that they are exempt from the zoning law, which does not allow open markets in that portion of the city, because part of the profits made at the swap meet go toward educational services. Chancellor Robert D. Jensen said on Wednesday that the college has yet to decide whether to appeal the decision.

The seven-member board is scheduled to discuss the future of El Mercado at a retreat scheduled for Jan. 25 and 26.