Trustees Approve Deputy Chancellor Post

In a major reorganization of its district office, the county’s community college trustees Tuesday approved the position of a top-level budget manager who will act as the chancellor’s deputy.

In addition, Chancellor Philip Westin’s reorganization plan, which was unanimously approved, calls for the replacement of a district head of student services and instruction.

One position is vacant and one is soon to be.

The contract of Vice Chancellor of Administrative Services Jeff Marsee, the district’s top budget official, was not renewed. The position of vice chancellor of instruction and student services has been vacant since John Tallman retired in 1993. He later was elected a trustee.

Westin’s plan elevates the district’s budget official to deputy chancellor.

Westin was charged by the board with not spending money on the reorganization. Trustee Allan Jacobs said that although the plan includes two new hires--added costs could be as much as $88,000-- the costs in the long term will even out as other employees are lost through attrition.

Trustees approved Westin’s plan with little discussion, saying it fulfills a longtime need for oversight of student services and will allow him to hire his own top assistant.

“This is a major building block of his chancellorship that he is putting into place,” trustee Timothy Hirschberg said before the meeting.

Westin’s new budget chief will not only oversee the district finances, but will also assume the district’s helm when Westin is away, acting as its top administrator.

With the new title of “deputy chancellor and chief financial officer,” the new hire will also draw a larger salary, $102,000, than past budget chiefs. As a vice chancellor, Marsee’s salary was $96,000.

Trustees voted in late February not to renew Marsee’s contract. At the time, the 46-year-old vice chancellor accused Westin and the board of conspiring to get rid of him. He has been on paid leave since then.

Westin and trustees denied the allegations, but have declined to discuss the reasons for not renewing the contract.

Trustees said the new deputy chancellor position is crucial to a better-run district office.

“About a year ago I would not have supported additional management,” Jacobs said. “But with the improving financial picture, I totally support the concept of a deputy chancellor. . . . We do need someone who will take over when the chancellor is gone.”

But some faculty members questioned Westin’s choice of the budget officer as his deputy.

“There is a perception that it places finance above instruction,” said Gary Morgan, president of Oxnard College’s faculty association. “I don’t believe he intends it that way, but there is that appearance.”

Others questioned whether the addition of district officials is in sync with Westin’s stated goals of decentralizing district operations.

“The addition is quite inconsistent with the chancellor’s previous statements regarding autonomy,” said one faculty member. “Why do we need an executive director of instruction and student services when the chancellor is leading us toward decentralization?”

But most faculty and trustees agreed that a new head of instruction and student services is vital.

“It’s about time we gave student instruction and programs complete attention,” said trustee Norm Nagel before the meeting. “The students are our customers, and we need to be more attentive to our customers’ needs.”

As a cost-cutting measure, Thomas G. Lakin, the former chancellor who died in 1994 of an infection, left the position open after Tallman resigned.

Since then, student programs--especially financial aid, which has been plagued periodically by huge backlogs in applications--have suffered, Nagel said.

Lakin’s death tipped off the movement to reform district headquarters, leading to the appointment of a task force to study alternatives to the current structure.

Westin incorporated some of the committee’s recommendations, released in December, but is primarily responsible for the new plan.

Following one of the panel’s recommendations, Westin adopted the title “executive director” for the heads of human resources and instructional services. Thus, under the new plan, Jerry Pauley, the associate chancellor of human resources, will retain his duties with a new title.

Trustees praised Westin’s work on the reorganization.

“I think he’s taken a lot of work with this,” Tallman said. “He has taken the recommendations and massaged them and come up with [a plan] that is very compatible with our needs.”