Senior board members re-elected

The two longest-serving members of the Citrus Community College District Board of Trustees were both re-elected in the Nov. 3 county special election.

Woods was first elected in 1982 and represents Area 1, which includes parts of Azusa, Glendora, Covina and Irwindale. He defeated his opponent Richard Lugo 683 to 226, receiving 75.14 percent of the votes.

Ortell was first elected in 1969 and represents Area 3, which includes parts of Azusa, Duarte, Monrovia and Arcadia. He defeated his opponent David Hooper 2,071 to 771, receiving 72.87 percent of the votes.

Woods and Ortell placed first and second respectively in Los Angeles County for top vote percentages among those in the public education categories.

“It was nice, Gary and I coming in first and second in the whole county,” Ortell said, “but it really was a vote on how well our students are doing on campus and succeeding when they leave the campus.”

Now, as the two begin another four-year term in office, the question arises as to what their next goals will be for Citrus College.

Woods said that his major focus is to continue handling the effects of the state budget crisis on Citrus.

“The financial crisis in California is not going to go away,” he said. He added that he will work to mitigate the impact on the college.

Woods also wants to follow through with the recommendations made by the accreditation team of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges during their recent campus visit.

These tasks will include continuing to work on the educational master plan, fixing the parking problem, and finishing the construction projects to provide more classroom space.

Woods will also continue to champion cutting spending. Green initiatives such as e-mailing more often and using less paper are some of the ways Citrus is accomplishing that. “We’re going in the right direction,” he said. “We want to cut down as much as we can to try to get through this.”

Woods predicted that 2010 will be worse for Citrus than 2009 as far as budget issues go. He expressed his gratitude that the voters re-elected him because “it’s important to have people that come in and understand the budget.”

Ortell said he was pleased with the results of the election.

“That was gratifying, … to get that kind of vote of confidence, not just in Gary and me, but in Citrus College itself,” Ortell said.

The next step for Citrus is to “build on our past,” Ortell said. The oldest community college in L.A. County, Citrus has a reputation for academic excellence, which Ortell wants to maintain.

“We’re great today, but we will be greater tomorrow,” he said. “And a key in that, I think, is planning. And that’s where the trustees play a role.”

Proper planning is something Ortell feels that Citrus is a winner in. “We see it and say ‘There’s going to need to be a shade tree here,’ and we plant the shade tree knowing full well as a trustee you’ll never see that shade tree, but somebody will benefit from that planning,” he said.

Ortell is a strong advocate for the recently approved Metro Gold Line extension that will pass through Glendora. He hopes that a second Glendora stop will be built next to Citrus, enabling students to get to and from school more conveniently and easing the parking dilemma.

Another future endeavor is establishing alliances with local four-year institutions to provide satellite programs on Citrus’ campus to make achieving a bachelor’s degree a more convenient process rather than having to relocate.

Ortell said that logistics is often a reason for students to avoid going away to a four-year school, but that these potential agreements could resolve that problem.

“You could stay planted where you have your job, and your family, and your friends, and your whole support network, and still achieve just exactly the same goal as having to move off to some dormitory that’s not suited for you or is a long ways away,” he said.

Ortell also plans to fight the recent policy change at a few local CSU campuses to rank Citrus College as a Tier 2 community college and Mt. San Antonio College as the only Tier 1 school in the local area for their new transfer priority.

The next BOT meeting will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 4:15 p.m. in the executive board room of the Administration Building. All board meetings are open to public.