Monday, December 17, 2012

SOCCCD BOT meeting: the return of Don "Boom Boom" Wagner

Don "Cannon-mouth" Wagner was on hand to swear in recently-elected trustees
     [Be sure to check out Tere's Board Meeting Highlights. Oddly, her notes make no mention of Don Wagner's appearance.]
     It's a cold but clear night here in delightful Mission Viejo, CA—at Saddleback College, home of the Gaucho, that seriously misplaced South American cowboy.
     It's 6:32 and, shiver me timbers, I do believe I see DON "MAFIA MOUTH" WAGNER about ten feet to port, yuckin' it up with the usual pre-meeting crowd.
     Aha! The trustees have commenced entering the Bonzo Room, so the meeting will likely start within the next five minutes or so. I see Poertner, Prendergast, --nobody else yet. Poertner peels off to go talk to the Wag Man. Maybe Don's here tonight to see the installment of Tim Jemal as trustee. As I recall, Don, plus quite a few moderate and liberal sorts, supported Jemal's candidacy. Go figure. I'll have more in a minute.
     6:38 - OK, I've spotted Dave Lang, Marcia Milchiker, and Jim Wright. Bill Jay is among the living, it seems. There's Jemal, with a snazzy yellow tie. And Nancy Padberg, who spotted an old friend in the audience. Let's get this show on the road!

Oddly, there is no mention of Don Wagner's swearing in recently-elected trustees in the official Board Meeting Highlights.

     *&%$#!!! My laptop crashed—and so I’ve got to do some fast catch-up.
     The resolution was for Rob Merritt, a TV newscaster with channel 6 (since 1969!). Evidently, this fella has long interviewed trustees after board meetings—for Seizure World TV—and so he’s a familiar face, at least among trustees. Blah, blah, blah.
     Next: the swearing in of recently-elected trustees: Wright, Lang, Jay, and Jemal. Tim Jemal asked Assemblyman Don "Low Blow" Wagner to come down to swear in this crew, and so here he is. Don does a fine job, and he doesn't even piss off any Italians. Supervisor Todd Spitzer is also on hand, waves hello. Jemal introduces his whole family, who soon head for warmer climes.
     At this point, the board is in the midst of its yearly “organizational meeting.” They’ve rolled over the top three offices: President, VP, and Clerk. The board approves this new regime unanimously, so it’s Nancy Padberg as Prez, TJ Prendergast as VP, and Marcia Milchiker as Clerk—for another year.
     Etc.
     Now they’re opening the “facilities corporation meeting.” Nobody cares.


     Public comments: none, of course.

Board reports:
Bill Jay: it's a joy to work with all of you who show up to board meetings. (I felt proud, or foolish.) Special thanks to Rob Merritt, the Laguna Hills TV guy
Tim Jemal: proud to be a member of this body.  Etc.
Marcia Milchiker: as usual, Marcia has too much to say and not enough time to say it, so she chirps rapidly. She’s taking accounting at Saddleback! “As you know," she said, "I have a degree in biology.” Expresses appreciation of the nursing students. Chatters. Staccato noise.
TJ Prendergast: Congrats to Tim Jemal, others. Attended the Feast of Light. IVC Holiday party. “If the Mayans turn out to be wrong, Merry Christmas,” he quipped.
Nancy Padberg: Congrats to newly elected trustees. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas.
Jim Wright: Honored to be able to serve on the board. Attended holiday parties. Very well done. Nursing pinning ceremony. Basketball tourney.
Dave Lang: Blah, blah, blah

Chancellor’s report (Poertner): recognized the “outgoing president of the board,” Nancy Padberg. (Har har.) He hands her a smallish brown plaque. She’s kept us organized, etc., says Gary. Nancy says thanks, it’s nice to get these plaques. Got so many of 'em. "Well, you’ll get another one in a year,” P deadpanned.

I should say that the trustees were in a pretty good mood tonight. Lots of good cheer, lots of silly jokes and comments. Nancy occasionally laughed so heartily she managed a near-cackle. (On the other hand, there were several references to the recent tragedy in Connecticut.)

Board requests for reports: zilch

Discussion items: none

Consent calendar: anything to pull? Nothing much.

Our Don, brawling on the Assembly floor
General action items:

6.1: Foundation audit report. Deb F. She says, had presentations last month, auditor.

Etc.

Once again, I'm playing catch-up 'cause  my computer crashed. I seem to recall that Dave Lang raised questions about the large proportion of Foundation assets coming from the district. In the case of Saddleback, it was something like 54%. In the case of IVC, it was actually more than 93%! What's that all about? Lang wanted more information about those factoids. (We've raised such concerns recently.)

They approve all the Board Policy revisions and such. Same for Academic and Classified Personnel Actions. Nothing much of interest happens. The board is pretty agreeable tonight. Everything passes unanimously.

Reports:

7.1 - college speakers.  Yeah, sure.
7.2 - Basic aid report. Yep, whatever.
7.3 - Facilities plan... Please....

Reports of groups:

Saddleback College Ac. Senate (Cosgrove): makes another pitch for part-timers, who lack offices, are inconvenienced in many ways, etc. Refers to work on Accreditation: going well.
Faculty Association: Congrats to trustee election winners. Echoes Cosgrove's concerns about part-timers.
Etc.
Meeting ends about 7:50.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they feed you.

Anonymous said...

Updates?!?!

Anonymous said...

Why is Saddlebackbalways whining about part timers?

Anonymous said...

This is interesting and a little heartening. http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/18/news/cerberus-bushmaster/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...