Tuesday, April 28, 2015

The appointment of "Bobbie" Jay to the Board

Photo from Lariat
     Re yesterday's board action of appointing Barbara J. Jay to the SOCCCD Board of Trustees:
     I was unable to attend the special meeting (from 2 until 5:30) to interview candidates for Bill Jay’s replacement, but people who did attend have told me the following:

     Only four board members participated in the special meeting: TJ Prendergast (current Prez), Marcia Milchiker, Tim Jemal, and Jim Wright. Dave Lang was compelled to recuse himself because one of the candidates is a client of his accounting firm. Nancy Padberg is still recovering from her injury.
     Barbara “Bobbie” Jay has made it clear that she intends only to complete her husband’s term. She will not run for the office (about a year from now). (She made this point, for instance, during interviews with the FA.)
     Several candidates were interviewed, including a former administrator at OCC and Cal Nelson, a former Saddleback administrator, who, as far as I know, enjoys a good reputation.
     After the interviews, the board seemed somewhat divided about their top pics, but, at one point, TJ motioned to appoint Bobbie Jay.*
     Despite apparent disagreement about the top choice, in the end, the board voted unanimously to appoint Bobbie Jay.
     All deliberations were done in open, which (I’m told) muted some of the discussion and possibly hindered some opining. It was a "strange" meeting, I'm told. Trustees were visibly uncomfortable.
     Jay, I've been assured, is committed to finishing her husband’s job, which she views as including securing a favorable faculty contract.
     By all accounts, Bobbie Jay is a fine and intelligent person and, no doubt, she will make a fine trustee. (She started last night.)

Jim Wright, Bill Jay, Tim Jemal, TJ Prendergast, Nancy Padberg, 
David Lang, Marcia Milchiker
     This morning, the district released the following:
Dr. Barbara J. Jay appointed to SOCCCD Board of Trustees

April 28, 2015 – South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) has selected Dr. Barbara J. Jay to serve as a provisional (interim) trustee for area 3 representing Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Dana Point and parts of Laguna Hills, Newport Beach, San Clemente and unincorporated areas until December 2, 2016. The board made a decision to provisionally appoint a trustee to fill the vacancy due to the passing of Trustee William O. Jay.

Dr. Jay brings a wealth of experience to the board, having owned, operated and managed a local business in south Orange County. She has a D.D.S. from the University of Southern California. Her top priority as a trustee is protect the educational quality at the colleges because she considers that to be the key to a better lives for the South Orange County Community College students.

Dr. Jay is the wife of the late Trustee William O. Jay of the South Orange County Community College District. Trustee William O. Jay was also a former administrator, dean and professor for Saddleback College. Both of their children attended and graduated from Saddleback College.
*The Lariat has a slightly different account: SOCCCD appoints Bobbie Jay provisional Trustee
After ranking their top candidates, SOCCCD Vice President Timothy Jemal made a motion to appoint candidate Bobbie Jay. The motion was seconded by board president T.J. Prendergast and resulted in a unanimous “yes” vote from President Predergast, VP Jemal, Trustee Marcia Milchiker and Trustee James Wright.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm sure she is a nice person, but her qualifications are that she owned a business and has a DDS? Come on. Then again, W was sort of elected as president and I doubt any of us would like him on the board due to his massive incompetence.

Anonymous said...

Bobbie Jay is a bright, articulate woman with a deep attachment to the colleges and a commitment to the people who work in them. She showed up at the Saddleback gala a week after her husband of over 40 years died because she wanted to complete "his legacy." She knows much about the colleges and the people who work in them. I think she'll be a great board member.

Anonymous said...

Bobbie Jay is qualified, well qualified.

Anonymous said...

I am william o jays orphan nephew josh. Our "family" is so rotten that no one even told me about bills death. Not a letter not a word nothing?! i just found out today more than 2 months later that he died. I know no one wants to hear bad things about someone who dies. But he did not care about me even one bit!

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...