District Trustees Criticize Report by Grand Jury

The final grand jury report released last week is “like a hit-and-run attack” on the Ventura County Community College District that is full of omissions and outright errors, a governing board member said.

Trustees of the three-campus district, speaking publicly for the first time about the critical report, complained that jurors were ill-informed about the financial workings of the district and sloppy in their description of the colleges’ activities and missions.

“By and large the grand jury has breached its duty to the public in Ventura County,” Trustee Gregory Cole said at the governing board meeting late Tuesday.

“It’s like a hit-and-run attack,” he said. “They get the big headlines . . . but nobody’s going to hold them accountable.”

Board President Allan Jacobs said the grand jury failed to account for the costs of implementing some of its recommendations. He also complained that jurors treated the district like a company bent on making a profit.

“We’re not in the same business as someone who’s out there making a product to sell,” Jacobs said.

The 1993-94 Ventura County grand jury concluded that the Ventura County Community College District was fiscally mismanaged to the point of jeopardizing its financial health.

It also criticized officials for failing to safeguard the district from budget crises, and recommended a series of sweeping reforms to insulate the district from further mismanagement.

The report recommends the district build up its reserve fund, establish contingency plans for shortfalls in state revenue, and require departmental audits every four years.

At their Tuesday night meeting, trustees cited inaccuracies in the report and complained about the jury’s professionalism.

For example, Cole said, the grand jury wrongly attributed fee increases and the resulting enrollment dip to the college district. The state Legislature, Cole noted, sets the fees for California community colleges.

Cole also complained that he was treated rudely during a meeting with several members of the grand jury.

“Never have I ever seen a witness treated the way I was treated,” Cole said about his interview, which was conducted a month before the final report was due. “A lot of these individuals already had their own agenda.”

But grand jurors contacted Wednesday stood by the report, pointing out that financial information showing that several college enterprises lost tens of thousands of dollars came from the district.

“No one likes to get chewed up,” said grand jury Foreman Lloyd Fellows. “We did find some problems with the bookstores and the cafeterias that some of the grand jurors felt signaled mismanagement.

“Having loose control over those signaled looseness elsewhere,” Fellows said.

According to district records, the cafeterias at Moorpark and Oxnard colleges lost about $55,000 between them in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1993. The Oxnard College bookstore also lost thousands of dollars.

Each of the so-called enterprise funds are supposed to make money.

Several of the grand jurors, who were dismissed from service when their report was submitted last Friday, said the criticism is coming from politicians worried about their elected positions.

“I hate to tell you the soul searching that went into that report and the hours that went into it,” said Jay Flashner, who served on the grand jury committee which investigated the district.

Problems “have to rest with the elected individuals because they’re responsible,” Flashner said. “These trustees are protecting their particular position, and I can understand that. But don’t say we didn’t do our job, because we did an excellent job.”

Grand juror Edy Everett said district officials should quit griping about the report and focus on the tasks at hand.

“It’s expedient for the community college district to go in an offense mode because it directs attention away from the report itself and into these personal side issues,” Everett said.

“I believe the report is accurate,” she said. “There are issues that need to be addressed by the college district. And it would be for everybody’s benefit to look past the rhetoric and set to work fixing these problems.”

Cole was not the only governing board member disappointed with the report.

Trustee Timothy Hirschberg said the jury failed to evaluate the positive programs conducted at the colleges. He also said the jury “glossed over” the progress the district has made in increasing its reserves over the past two years.

“I find it hard to believe there isn’t more to commend on all three campuses,” Hirschberg said. “I had hoped for suggestions rather than wasted criticism.”