Lane Community College is facing annual shortfalls and needs to reduce its deficit. At its Wednesday meeting, the college’s board of education voted to postpone a vote on a 3-year financial plan meant to mitigate the shortfall.
In advance of Wednesday’s board meeting, Lane Community College’s faculty union president Adrienne Mitchell sent a news release expressing concern that the agenda action on the financial plan would violate Oregon’s budget laws.
LCC Vice President Kara Flath addressed this at the meeting. She said they were talking about a 3-year mitigation plan, not the budget, which is a different document.
“Just to clarify, Oregon budget law applies to an adopted budget. It doesn’t apply to financial planning, strategies and policy,” she said. She offered to meet with the Oregon Department of Revenue and the faculty union.
Board approval of the plan would allow staff to look for ways to reduce costs, for consideration by the board in March.
The majority of the board voted to postpone action until January, citing the late hour and brief time they’d had to look over the information.
“Right now we’ve got to come up with this plan and it’s going to be what’s brought forward to us in March and we’re going to have to vote yes on this or else, we’re, expletive,” said board member Jesse Maldonado. “We got this on Monday, it’s Wednesday night, 10:30 p.m. It’s not that I don’t trust you all, I think there’s more clarification, before I feel comfortable.”
Board member Julie Weismann voted against postponement. She expressed frustration, reminding her colleagues they had been told about this situation last spring.
“I’m just extremely concerned about the future of this institution if the majority will continue to keep kicking things down the road because it serves a particular narrative,” she said.
The vote to postpone consideration of the financial planning proposal comes amid tense contract negotiations between LCC faculty and administration. Much of the meeting’s 2-hour public comment period was taken up with statements from union members.
The faculty has been working without a contract since June. The parties appear nowhere near agreement on a new contract. They are meeting again next month.
The next step could be to bring in a mediator. If that doesn’t bring a resolution, there could be a strike.
Later, as the meeting continued into the night, Nancy Hungerford, an attorney who works with colleges and school districts, advised the board to find ways to limit the duration of public comment so it has time to do its work. Hungerford was invited to speak to the board by LCC President Stephanie Bulger.
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