Fresh start for Peralta Chancellor search

After eight months of searching, the Peralta Board of Trustees unanimously rejected all three candidates—Ed Gould, Lawrence Cox and Edna Chun—for the position of Peralta Community College District Chancellor at their meeting on Dec. 7.

Their decision means that a permanent replacement for interim chancellor Wise Allen, who took over for embattled Chancellor Elihu Harris, may not be in place until the 2011-2012 academic year. The board had hoped to find a replacement by the end of the spring semester.

Those in attendance lauded the board’s decision, as faculty has complained about a lack of inclusion on the Chancellor Hiring Committee.
Members of the committee were nominated at a meeting during finals week of the spring 2010 semester, a busy week for faculty, and approved at a meeting two weeks after the end of the semester, when most teachers were unavailable for input.

Due to the timing of these meetings, faculty representatives felt as if they had little say in how the committee was formed and who was represented, according to Peralta Federation of Teachers President Debra Weintraub.

“I am concerned that some of the colleges are not represented on the committee, that student services doesn’t have a seat at the table and that some of the unions may be underrepresented,” Weintraub said at a Sep. 16 board meeting.

The 11-member committee originally included faculty, students, administrators and members of the community, but was expanded to 13 members after complaints from the PFT.
Despite the political wrangling, none of the three finalists—chosen from a pool of 10 applicants by the expanded committee—were seen as fit to lead the district, which is facing numerous problems including budget deficits and a probationary accreditation status.

In other business, trustees William Riley, Abel Guillen and Linda Handy were sworn in following their successful re-election bids. In its annual organizational meeting, the board appointed Dr. Riley as the new board president, replacing Guillen whose one-year term ended on Dec. 6.

Complete Peralta Colleges Trustee Election Coverage

In an effort to give voters an in-depth look at the candidates and issues in the 2010 Peralta Colleges Trustees election, The Peralta Report has created a Special Website.

The Peralta Colleges Trustee Elections 2010 website has stories you will find no where else. What are the candidates’ platforms? Who is funding the candidates? Who are endorsing them?

Learn more about Area 3 candidates Linda Handy and Monica Tell, as well as Dr. Bill Riley and William J. Mattox.

Visit http://peraltaelections.blogspot.com for more information.

Voters still concerned about residence of Peralta challenger

Within days of the November 2 election, many closely watching the election of the Peralta Colleges Board of Trustees still wonder if Area 3 challenger Monica Tell is eligible for office.

Earlier this month, a story published by The Peralta Report noted that public records suggested that Tell lived outside the Oakland Area she was campaigning to represent, a fact that would make her ineligible for office.

Tell declared her candidacy in August using an Oakland address, according to reports filed with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters office. Her parents have owned the Fruitvale home since she was a child, according to the County Auditor-Recorder records. Tell has voted there regularly since 1999, records show.

In 2007, Tell purchased a Castro Valley condominium in 2007, according to Alameda County Assessor records. Tell began receiving a homeowner’s exemption in 2008 that reduces the amount her condo is assessed for property taxes.

Homeowners are only eligible for the exemption at their principal place of residence, according to Russ Hall, the county’s deputy assessor.

At the same time that Tell claimed the homeowner’s exemption in Castro Valley, voting records indicate that Tell voted in all three 2008 elections using the Fruitvale address. If a person has multiple residencies and claims a homeowner’s exemption, it is presumed that the residence is the person’s domicile, according to election law.

Tell initially said that she owned the Castro Valley property but lived in Oakland. When asked about the homeowner’s exemption, Tell said she did not recall claiming it. “I’m not aware of that exemption,” Tell said. She has received the exemption annually since she first became eligible in 2008, according to the Assessor’s Office.

However, Tell later posted a message on her Facebook page, stating that she had claimed the exemption when she lived in the condo, but rents out the property now.

“I previously claimed the homeowner property tax exemption on that property, but not for this year, as I no longer live in it.” Tell wrote, “The condo is rented and occupied by a tenant.”

Homeowners receiving the exemption are not allowed to rent out their homes to others, according to Hall, and are required to cancel their exemption if they do not own and occupy their home as their principal place of residency. Tell has not canceled the exemption, which is automatically renewed annually, according to the Assessor’s Office.

‘Residence’ for voting purposes means a person’s domicile,” according to election law. “The domicile of a person is that place in which his or her habitation is fixed,” and whenever gone, “the person has the intention of returning.” A person can only have one domicile at any given time.

Candidates are not required to prove their residence when filing, according to Alameda County Registrar Dave MacDonald. He added that candidates must sign under penalty of perjury, however.

For nearly a month, members of the union representing Peralta’s classified staff have been fighting over whether or not to rescind their endorsement of Tell, and how to do so legally.

“Based on The Peralta Report article, we have to evaluate and reconfirm our endorsement,” Mike Donaldson, interim political coordinator of the Peralta Chapter of SEIU Local 1021 said in an interview. “We have to see what our legal obligation is, but we tentatively have a dual endorsement.”

To be eligible for office, Peralta board candidates must reside and be registered to vote in a specific trustee area, according to the district’s Board Policy. Linda Handy, the two-term incumbent Tell is facing on November 2, said that living in the area is “very relevant to the job she’s running for.”

“If you think its okay to use an address in one area when you live in another says a lot about honesty and your integrity,” Handy said.

A Castro Valley neighbor, who spoke highly of Tell, said his children used to play with Tell’s younger relatives when they visited her.

“It hasn’t been that long since she moved,” said Kevin Prettyman, a neighbor who has lived in the property next door to Tell’s Castro Valley condo since 1984. It is unclear when Tell actually moved back into her parent’s home from her Castro Valley condo. Prettyman estimates Tell moved out sometime in August or September.

One person banking on Tell’s campaign is her Castro Valley tenant, Claudia Quezada, a board member of the Contra Costa Hispanic Chamber of Commernce. Quezada contributed $100 to Tell’s election campaign, according to an October campaign finance report. Although Tell suggested that her tenant had moved in recently, voting records indicate that Quezada has lived in the condo since at least June 2008.

To date, SEIU has not rescinded it’s endorsement of Tell, who has since been endorsed by the Bay Area News Group.