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Accusations fly at West Valley board meeting
By Rebecca Ray
Friction continues to dominate the agenda at the West Valley-Mission Community College District board meetings.
At the April 19 meeting, the board's attorney, Laurie Juengert, addressed Trustee Jeffrey Schwartz's accusations that trustees and administrators violated the state Brown Act at a previous board meeting. The act governs open meetings for local government bodies.
At the March 1 meeting, which was held at Mission College in Santa Clara, district administrators distributed and presented a report to the board. The topics included the new Valley Transit Authority bus stop on the corner of Allendale and Fruitvale Avenue, Vasona Creek erosion prevention project and tree-cutting on the West Valley College campus.
The information was presented during the "Chancellor's Update" portion of the meeting, according to Schwartz. Schwartz said that the administrators' presentation of the report violated the Brown Act because the report hadn't been put on the agenda and the district hadn't notified the Saratoga residents who were concerned about the issues presented.
Chancellor Linda Salter countered that the items were not discussed at the March 1 meeting and described the information presented as a memo rather than a report. Juengert said that Schwartz had done the proper thing by agendizing the items for the April 19 board meeting. Schwartz asked the board to adopt a resolution that stated that the district had violated the Brown Act, which none of the board members did.
West Valley Vice Chancellor Steve Kinsella and President Marchelle Fox also presented a report prepared by the district's director of facilities, planning and operations, Ian Abell. The report addressed residents' concerns about the Vasona Creek and VTA bus stop projects and that the college allegedly violated city tree ordinances and hosted large-scale events, without consulting residents--topics that have surfaced during previous meetings.
Residents have complained that concrete has been dumped into Vasona Creek and has damaged the environment. Kinsella said he had no evidence to show that concrete, or any other material, had been dumped into Vasona Creek since 1983. That is when the district maintains that pieces of cement were placed as riprap in the creek bed and along the turns of the creek as emergency repairs to prevent continued erosion.
But Schwartz said that three to five years ago, concrete that had nothing to do with emergency repairs was also dumped in the creek, and that this concrete could ruin habitat if dislodged. Resident Victor Monia, a frequent critic of the college, added that another resident had told him he'd seen several thousand cubic feet of scrap concrete from campus walkways dumped in the creek five years ago and that it was still visible.
Although Kinsella addressed the college's felling of Monterey pine trees and two oak trees, Schwartz said the report didn't mention fir and eucalyptus trees that had been cut down.
Monia and resident Herb Radding also accused board members and administrators of being rude and unresponsive. Similar accusations have been lodged by other residents and Schwartz recently joined the chorus, criticizing fellow board members.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
