SANTA ANA : 2 Trustees Critical of College District

With the Rancho Santiago Community College District preparing to slash $6 million from its budget and reorganize its administration, long-simmering tensions on the board boiled over this week when two trustees harshly criticized the district’s ability to govern itself.

During Monday’s regular board meeting, Trustees Carol Enos and Shirley Ralston said they will file a formal complaint with the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges--a branch of the Western Assn. of Schools and Colleges--over the district’s allegedly confused and haphazard reorganization and budgetary processes.

Reading from a prepared statement, Enos said: “We believe that Rancho Santiago College is no longer meeting the standards for affirmative action, trustee responsibilities, governance and administration, student services and financial resources. . . .”

Later, she criticized the recommendation process for the proposed hiring of three new vice chancellors to head the district’s campuses, saying that only three candidates were proposed for the jobs rather than a lengthier list from which the board could choose. She also condemned the district’s budgetary process as haphazard and inadequate.

“We are spending money without a fiscal plan to erase our deficit,” Enos said.

Enos said she would mail the complaint this weekend and ask for a team of investigators to critique the performance of the board and administration.

At the meeting, Trustee Charles W. (Pete) Maddox immediately blasted the request for an investigation, calling it “absurd and irresponsible.”

“I’m sick of hearing this kind of bickering and fighting and the political nonsense that is hurting this institution,” he said.

Although he said he was unconcerned about an investigation, he added: “The problem is that it shakes the confidence of the community. I’m sick to my stomach. I can’t believe I witnessed this.”

Trustee John Raya blamed the strain of the district’s financial problems for the heightened tensions on the board but emphasized that the district should direct its energy back toward the budget. “We’re dealing with a gun at our head and a knife at our back,” he said.

The board decided to postpone decisions on the new budget proposals until a special meeting scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m.