College District Must Rejoin Team
* In a Jan. 4 letter, Tom Harris, chancellor of the North Orange County Community College District, pleaded for mediation to resolve the controversy surrounding the proposed settlement with the law firm of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae.
As chair of the school and college districts subcommittee in the Orange County bankruptcy, I would like to provide additional information about the pending settlement with the LeBoeuf firm.
The North Orange County Community College District is the only agency that has not agreed to the settlement. At the time the county declared bankruptcy, there was criticism from many regarding the investment practices of the college district. Even so, the schools subcommittee, with the concurrence of the non-school pool participants, insisted that the college district be treated equally with other school districts. This has been the case to date. The college district has recovered the same percentage of moneys as all other school districts in Orange County.
Harris indicates the county of Orange has negotiated this settlement. The county of Orange has not negotiated this settlement and will not receive any moneys from this settlement.
The agencies that will benefit are, first the school districts (including the college district) and then, equally important, the cities and other public agencies.
It was Tom Hayes, appointed by the Bankruptcy Court to represent the interests of all the public agencies, who negotiated this settlement through formal mediation.
The college district, because of its separate lawsuit, participated through its representatives in the mediation. The college district was the only agency to have separate representation. All parties, including the college district representatives, presented their case to the mediator. Unfortunately, the college district rejected the mediator’s recommended settlement.
It is time for the college district to rejoin the team. It is time for the citizens of the county to insist that the district accept this settlement.
J. KENNETH JONES
Chair, Official School and
College Districts Subcommittee
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