Election for Pasadena City College trustees already heating up

The election isn’t until Nov. 5, but the race for a seat on the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees is already shaping up.

Two candidates have announced they will run for a seat representing voters in La Cañada Flintridge, West Pasadena and West Altadena – a seat that’s currently occupied by Geoffrey Baum.

Baum, first elected in 2001 and wrapping up a third four-year term, has not said whether he will seek reelection.

Real estate economist Ross Selvidge, who has served on the Rose Bowl Operating Co. board and multiple city commissions in Pasadena, declared his candidacy Thursday.

Alex Keledjian, a Pasadena City College student who graduated last year from La Cañada High School, declared his candidacy in March.

Keledjian was a student representative on the La Cañada Unified School District board and president of the La Cañada High School Republican Club.

Selvidge, 66, taught at USC, was chair of Pasadena’s Charter Reform Task Force in the late 1990s and chaired the city’s Library Financing Task Force three times.

Baum’s seat on the seven-member Pasadena City College Board of Trustees is one of four up for grabs in November.

The November election will also include a Northwest Pasadena seat held by Berlinda Brown, a seat representing San Marino and South Pasadena that’s held by Linda Wah and Anthony Fellow’s Arcadia-based seat.

Candidates must file nomination papers between July 15 and Aug. 9, according to the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office.

The board of trustees has been under pressure from student and faculty groups who have expressed little to no confidence in college President Mark Rocha after unpopular budget cuts -- an issue that is sure to factor into the upcoming election.

-- Joe Piasecki, joe.piasecki@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @JoePiasecki.