At a special meeting of GCC’s Board of Trustees held Monday to present the status of the campus master plan and of the proposed bond issue to fund portions of the plan, there was good news for GCC. A recent poll suggests that the community would be likely to vote for a bond for the college.
Larry Tramutola of Tramutola Company, a consulting firm, gave an overview of the current progress of the project entitled “Presentation on Facility Needs and Bond Measure Planning Process.”
Tramutola, a 20-year consultant on California bond measures, was pleased at the work GCC has done to prepare the way for his company to conduct a study of the feasibility of placing a bond measure on the municipal ballot sometime next year.
He stressed the need for the GCC board of trustees to look differently at the bond measure process as they proceed, noting their focus at this point must be the voting
population demographics instead of the student body needs. It is now a political issue.
There are three key issues that need to be met before going forward with the measure. They are: What will ultimately be presented in the facility plan that will be presented to the voters? How much money is going to be asked for in the bond? And, finally, what is the tax rate to homeowners?
If the bond measure is placed on the March 2002 ballot, the work to implement this program needs to begin no later than Dec. 7.
Gene Bregman of Gene Bregman and Associates, a research and marketing firm, presented the results of the community polling conducted by telephone and postcards to gauge how Glendale voters would likely vote on this bond measure.
The results were favorable to the college, and passage of a bond measure looks likely, according to the poll.
One of the questions asked in the poll was who would make a favorable spokesperson for the campaign – that is,
who would the community consider trustworthy. Nurses came in No. 1 on the list. This related to a question asking if there was a need for more nurses in the community and if a new nursing facility at GCC could help solve the problem. Faculty members ranked No. 2 as spokespersons. Firefighters were higher on the list than police officers, while the board of trustees were in the bottom third of the list.
Tramutola said it was important to get GCC students registered to vote, and then mobilize them to go to the polls to vote for the bond.
Tramutola also said that the board should be concerned that the needs of GCC are not readily known to the entire Glendale community. “Your needs are not easily identifiable, like the K-12 [schools],” Tramutola said. “There you have cute and cuddly kids who everyone knows what they need. Community colleges needs are very different and not so easily identifiable.”
He said that as soon as possible the board would need to hire legal representation. This representation would help to draft the language that will make the bond comply with State Proposition 39, which controls bond measures.
Tramutola stressed to the board members that the language on the bond must be specific how the money will be used, “or else you can’t use it for anything else.”
The bond would be for about $100 million, and would be used to fund such campus needs as a new aviation and nursing building, the new science center, and a parking structure.
One of the main concerns facing board members and faculty is the question, “Will a bond measure be successful?” A hopeful sign is that several community college districts passed bond measures on Tuesday’s election: Mt. San Antonio by 58.2 percent, San Francisco by 72.6 percent, San Mateo by 65.3 percent and Santa Clarita at 67.7 percent.
Dr. Davitt said, “The results…indicate that if a district can let voters know their needs, a successful election [for passage of a bond measure] can be held.”