Suggests that Arizona law requires more than holding meetings and receiving documents from president to satisfy legal mandate it examine “management, condition and needs” of college; attorney disagrees but says Board could change the “means” it uses to satisfy the law
Representative Paul Chevalier triggered a discussion at the October 8 District Governing Board meeting on the question of whether the Board was complying with a provision of state law in its oversight of the President’s operation of the college. He suggested that the means being used by the Governing Board over the past several years to evaluate the management, conditions and needs of the College was too limited and possibly contrary to the intent of the legislature.
The current evaluation process relies entirely on Board meetings and documents given to the Board by the Administration to meet the evaluation standard set out by state law. Chevalier contended that the language of AZ 15-444 (4) “orders us to visit each community college under our jurisdiction AND examine carefully INTO management, conditions and needs. If the President is our only link to operations we cannot do this effectively.” (Board members under current process cannot talk with staff.)
The Governing Board attorney disagreed with Chevalier but suggested that the Board could alter the traditional means it has used to examine the management, conditions and needs of the College. There was a suggestion at the end of the discussion that a local legislator ask the Arizona Attorney General for an opinion on the meaning of the statue to determine the nature and extent of the Board’s obligation to examine management, conditions, and needs under exiting law. However, because it was a discussion item, no formal action (no vote) was taken.
You may view an edited version of the nine minute discussion below. You can see the entire argument on video on the Governing Board web site when it is published.