SANTA MONICA COLLEGE FACULTY ASSOCIATION

REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING

February 26, 2009  

Members present: Vini Angel, Espy Bolivar-Owen, Sandra Burnett, Fran Chandler, Tom Chen, Steve Contarsy, Rebecca Curtis, Giulio Dellarocca,  Jim Downs, Gail Edinger, Tracey Ellis, Ron Fitzgerald,  Dennis Frisch, Martin Goldstein, Keith Graziedei, Ben Jimenez,  Irina Gromova Daryl Keith Ogata, Ming Lu, Suzanne McDonald, Colleen McGraw, Mitra Moassessi, Nick Pernisco, Jim Pacchioli, Pauli Peter, Tom Peters, Franklyn Phillips, Jenny Resnick, Saul Rubin, Lisa Saperston, Jackie Scott, Lantz Simpson, Howard Stahl, Kathy Sucher, Joy Tucker, Odemaris Valdivia, Alicia Villapando, Carol Womack.

Excused: Lesley Kawaguchi, Kathy Sucher.

Absent: Maria Alvarado, Diana Aghabegian, Rebecca Anderson, Jill Assadi, Garen Baghdasarian, Chuck Brinkman, Ken Buckner, Dianne Berman, Troy Cardenas, Katarina Cerovic, Tom Chen, Anna Collier, Gail Davis Culp, George Davison, Michael Dixon, Donald Gantner, Claudia Garcia, John Kennedy, Deborah Kraut, Matilda Krivan, Richard Lavallee, Ken Mason, Kym McBride, Marilyn McGrath, Fereshteh Mobasheri, Sue Moisin,  Jeffrey O’Connell, Eric Oifer, Paris Poirier,  Juan Quevedo, Elaine Roque, Audrey Sandoval, Michelle Scholefield, Michael Schwartz,  Mario Semere, Elisha Shapiro, Tara Shima, Michael Strathearn, Richard Tahvildaran-Jesswin, Nina Theiss,  Esau Tovar, Frank Turner, Sal Veas, Kayli Weatherford, David Zehr.

I. Approval of Minutes of December 4, 2008, postponed.

II. Appointment of Co-Chairs of Nominations and Elections Committee

Dennis Frisch made a motion to appoint Becky Curtis and Jackie Scott co-chairs of the Nominations and Elections Committee. Motion seconded by Martin Goldstein, passed unanimously.

III.  Appointment of Acting Vice President for Spring 2009
Kathy Sucher is ill and will be absent during much of the spring semester.
Mitra Moassessi made a motion to nominate Sandy Burnett as Acting Vice-President; Martin Goldstein seconded the motion.
Dennis Frisch made a motion to close nominations; Jackie Scott seconded the motion; the vote passed unanimously.

IV.  Approval of Additional Reassigned Time:
Mitra Moassessi made a motion to approve 100% reassigned time for Kathy Sucher for the spring semester; Jackie Scott seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Dennis Frisch made a motion to approve 20% reassigned time for Sandy Burnett who is now acting VP; motion was seconded by Jackie Scott, which passed unanimously.

VI. Presidents Report:
Parking policy:
The Faculty Association has filed for arbitration to settle the dispute over the loss of faculty parking spaces on campus.
Meanwhile, parking is available at 14th Street and Pico Blvd. The FA recommends that faculty who arrive on campus early park in one of the open spaces to leave faculty spaces for late arrivals.

Smoking policy:
At the last DPAC meeting it was agreed that the smoking area just west of the Liberal Arts building would be abolished, and Dr Tsang agreed to this change.  There is an enforcement problem with the non-smoking policy.  DPAC agreed to set up a smoking policy task force with the goal of implementing the non-smoking policy.  The administration is looking for funds to help with solutions.  The Board wants to implement a transitional period policy.

VII. Budget Committee Report: Howard Stahl
The Budget Committee was charged by Dr. Tsang to come up with ideas to increase revenues or decrease expenditures.  The committee’s recommendations were accepted by DPAC.

Some recommendations highlights:

Reduce college advertising.  The college spends almost $1 million per year on advertising.

Airport campus: the district does not own this property, and the college pays a monthly lease. There is a recommendation to break the lease and move those facilities elsewhere. The cost for the facility is $250 thousand a year.

GASB 45 contribution: These funds can be deferred.

Legal fees could be reduced.


Respectfully Submitted,

Becky Curtis
Recording Secretary