Long Beach : 2 Hearings Set on Proposal to Elect Trustees by District

Two public hearings have been scheduled on a proposal by the Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees to alter the present method of electing trustees. The first hearing will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Saga Room of the Liberal Arts Campus, 4901 E. Carson St., Long Beach. Another is set for 5 p.m. Jan. 28 in the Student Center on the Pacific Coast Campus, 1305 Pacific Coast Highway.

At present, the five-member board is elected at large from within the entire district. Members serve rotating four-year terms. At a recent meeting, trustees expressed concern that this citywide method might be a disservice to those seeking to run for election to the board. It is costly to finance a campaign over so wide an area, and trustees were concerned that the current composition of the board does not reflect the community as a whole.

A series of legal steps are required in order to change the election procedure and set up trustee districts, the first of which are the hearings. The board must then recommend the change to the county, which is anticipated by January, 1993, and place it on the ballot in April, 1994. If passed by a majority of voters, redistricting would first affect the trustee election set for April, 1996.

The district serves Long Beach, Signal Hill, Santa Catalina Island and two-thirds of Lakewood. It shares the same boundaries as the Long Beach Unified School District.