Irma C. Gonzalez and Jose Martinez-Saldana are running for the Gavilan Joint Community College Board of Trustees District 7 seat representing parts of Aromas, San Juan Bautista, Ridgemark, Tres Pinos, and parts of Hollister. Trustees serve a four-year term.
Incumbent Irma Gonzalez is a lifelong resident of San Benito County and a graduate of Gavilan College. She then went on to graduate from CSU-Monterey Bay with a bachelor’s degree and from CSU- Bakersfield with a masters in administration. Gonzalez is a retired website designer and graphic artist and has been a Gavilan trustee for four years. She and her husband, San Benito County Auditor-Recorder-Clerk Joe Paul Gonzalez, have four children and two grandchildren.
BenitoLink: What would be your guiding principles when holding this position?
Gonzalez: As a graduate of Gavilan College, I have a strong appreciation and understanding of the important benefits that this institution of higher learning brings to our community. I am a lifelong champion for public education and have always put students first. Increasing college access has and continues to be my highest priority. As the country works to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, I believe that community colleges are more important now than ever. Over these last four years as your hardworking, dedicated member of the Gavilan College Board of Trustees, I have been a passionate advocate for its mission to “actively engage, empower, and enrich students of all backgrounds and abilities to build their full academic, social, and economic potential.”
I will continue to place our students first while at the same time never forgetting my fiduciary duty for fiscal soundness of the district. In 2019, my voting record attests that I was the first trustee to recognize the dire fiscal situation Gavilan was heading towards, doing my best to convince my colleagues to not make decisions that would worsen the fiscal condition of the college. I am on the record requesting the Fiscal Crisis Management Assessment Team (FCMAT) to step in and assist beginning in May 2020. After the crisis worsened, FCMAT was finally called in to audit and provide a blueprint for financial solvency a year later. My advocacy for fiscal solvency includes my refusal to be known as a “rubber-stamp” trustee. I take pride in the fact that I am known as the trustee that asks the tough questions and demands accurate data in order to make sound and educated decisions. In the fiscal year ending 2020-21, the district board was informed that we were closing the fiscal year with a $1.5 million deficit. I was the lone vote against approving the deficit budget in the next year. My priority is and has been ensuring student success through ensuring fiscal solvency and stability. In my view, adopting any budget with a deficit is not fiscally prudent and a disservice to our students, staff and community.
I will continue to maintain an active social media and web presence to provide open and honest communication, transparency and inform students and our community members of upcoming events, especially as it relates to our new San Benito County campus. I will continue to make positive change, take steps, provide resources and advocate for our students and San Benito County.
Describe your role as a member of local government.
As an elected member of the Gavilan College Board of Trustees, I understand that a community college responds to the educational needs of its community. As your current trustee, one of our major roles is to provide affordable postsecondary education as a pathway to a four-year degree. Community colleges only succeed if they are appropriately responsive to the needs of the communities that they serve. My role is to ensure fiscal solvency while ensuring that Gavilan College continually updates our programs and services to meet evolving educational needs. Under the leadership of Pedro Avila, our new president/superintendent, we have a great team in place to ensure that we are not only fiscally sound but responsive to the needs of our community. I firmly believe that when a community college succeeds, the entire community reaps its just rewards. I will continue to advocate in an ethical manner based on core values and research. With your vote I will continue to advocate on your behalf for greater student success outcomes.
Which challenges to higher education in San Benito County do you consider a priority?
a) The lack of a permanent Community College Education Center in San Benito County: Inadequate community college educational infrastructure to accommodate population growth in San Benito County is an unmet need. With increased growth and traffic congestion, the commute times are getting longer and longer to the main Gilroy campus. As a graduate of Gavilan Community College and a mother of four, I understand the urgency of having a local college with an expanded class offerings that meet the educational needs of a rapidly growing San Benito County population. The passage of Measure X in 2018 has assured that we will have a campus of our own, groundbreaking of the new San Benito County College Campus is scheduled for later this year.
b) Maintaining fiscal health: The new state revenue funding models are more challenging than ever now that this funding source has become a moving target.
c) Low enrollment: The pandemic negatively affected Gavilan College student enrollment. Assuring that our enrollment plans address the funding elements of the Student-Centered Funding Formula focusing on student needs by prioritizing long-term solutions over short-term fixes.
In what ways are you qualified to assist the Board of Trustees in navigating the school out of its financial problems?
I have the appropriate educational and business background, holding a master’s degree in administration and over 25 years in business. I possess the proven ability to read and understand complex fiscal documents. This type of ability provides some balance on the existing Board of Trustees which is currently made up of educators. In 2019, I was the first trustee to recognize the fiscal crisis that was on our horizon. I started questioning why we were not following Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) standards and asking for the FCMAT team to step in and provide a blueprint for financial solvency in early 2020. After years of meeting resistance from the then-administrative team while having a 2% fund balance, my colleagues agreed and FCMAT was called and arrived in 2021 with its fiscal recommendations.
As Chair of the Budget & Auditing Committee, I advocated and demanded that the college use GFOA best practices which include achieving a structurally balanced budget by adopting rigorous policies for all operating funds aimed at achieving and maintaining a structurally balanced budget. Under my chairmanship, this committee recommended the adoption of formal financial policies that considered 1) scope, 2) development, 3) design, 4) presentation, and 5) review to enhance policy effectiveness. I advocated for budget monitoring by establishing a formal set of processes for comparing budget to actual results. Performance measures are now in place to identify, track and communicate financial and educational performance. During my tenure, more effective budgeting of salary and wages have been developed at the insistence of the committee. Additionally, we now have forecasting procedures that have resulted in more accurate expenditure projections, especially as they relate to personnel.
During my term of office, I also served as chair of the Other-than Pension Benefits (OPEB) Retirement Committee and committed to improving the level of funded status. The District’s OPEB reserves cover 84% of our District OPEB Liability, the highest in the state community college system.
Gavilan College now has a new president/superintendent, Pedro Avila, as well as a new fiscal team, led by our new Chief Budget Officer, Jaime Mata. The new administrative team adheres to the GFOA standards in all fiscal aspects, especially our budgets. Under the leadership of Mr. Avila and Mr. Mata, our severe fiscal issues are behind us. We recently adopted our new budget for fiscal year 2022-23 that included a healthy fund balance which includes an unrestricted general fund reserve of 35% of expenditures.
How would you help to ensure accountability and follow-through on the execution of Measure X in San Benito County?
The passage of the $248,000,000 bond Measure X in 2018 secured funding for sorely needed capital improvements and repairs for the Gavilan College District. Education code requires that specific safeguards be in place to assure funds are only used for facilities and site improvements. The Office of Public-School Construction (OPSC), acting as staff to the State Allocation Board (SAB), ensures In-Progress Bond Accountability for school bond propositions by documenting to the public and the California Department of Finance, both of the following:
- That the projects being bond funded are within scope and cost.
- That the bond funded projects are executed in a timely fashion and achieve their intended purpose.
Currently, I am chair of the Facilities Development and Utilization Committee which oversees and recommends all district facilities development, including our proposed new San Benito County campus. In this capacity, I am vigilant of the capital activities and expenditures to assure the propriety of the capital expenditures. In addition, I am also an active member of the San Benito Campus Ad-Hoc Committee and actively announce all of our upcoming meetings and welcome public input and comment via social media.
I recommended the appointment of several current members from San Benito County to be on the Citizens’ Bond Oversight Committee (CBOC) which is responsible for reviewing Measure X expenditures after they are agreed upon by the Facilities Development and Utilization Committee. Measure X required the establishment of the CBOC. The passage of Measure X requires a clear system of accountability, including a project list detailing exactly how the money will be used, the CBOC, and independent audits to ensure the money is spent properly. The CBOC is responsible for reviewing Measure X expenditures, with quarterly meetings open to the public. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 13 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I urge all community members to attend. Please visit my website www.vote4irma.com for additional information.
Jose Martinez-Saldana has been a resident of San Juan Bautista for two years, living in Aromas for 10 years before that. He attended Santa Clara University and is the deputy director at Youth Alliance in Hollister. Martinez-Saldana has held the position of chair of the board of directors for the Council for Opportunity in Education and was appointed to the Santa Clara County Equal Employment Opportunity Commission representing the region. He and his wife have one son.
BenitoLink: What would be your guiding principles when holding this position?
Martinez-Saldana: I hold several principles that I think are important for anyone serving as a trustee of any district: first, seek and advocate for what is right for the community. The position is not for me, but rather a way for the community to have a voice and representation at the decision-making table. Second, work with everyone, even if it is difficult, because if you want to create changes that are sustained beyond your tenure on the board, others have to also buy into and champion the change, so that means that I have to listen to what students, parents, staff, faculty, administrators, fellow trustees and community leaders see as important and make decisions that are informed and for the greater good. Third, I must have courage to speak for those that do not have a voice, especially when it would be easier to simply ignore an unjust position or policy. Fourth, act, speak, vote with integrity.
Describe your role as a member of local government.
As I mentioned, although I have not held elected public office previously, I am very familiar with how government and governing bodies work. Those representatives that I believe have been most successful are those that take the time to meet with, listen to, and hear what the various groups in the community believe is important. A trustee has to be honest with the community and operate with as much transparency as legally allowed, so that the community can have confidence that decisions made are based on the best information and in the best interest of the community. In instances where there have been unjust practices it means having the courage to call those injustices out and remediating the situation. The best way to do this is to make yourself accessible to the community you represent and as mentioned previously, make decisions that are in the community’s best interest.
Which challenges to higher education in San Benito County do you consider a priority?
There are three challenges to higher education in SBC that I have prioritized. First is to do everything possible to expand access to Gavilan College for SBC residents. In the short-term that includes expanding offerings at the existing campus in Hollister, at Hollister HS, San Juan Bautista, and in other locations where there is space and students to fill classes. It also means expanding distributed and hybrid courses for those students that cannot get to an educational center. In the not-too-distant future it means opening and operating a more robust Hollister campus, which I know many SBC residents have prioritized. Second priority is to see Gavilan continue on a path to fiscal health. Fortunately, the budget for 2022-23 is a great step in the right direction, so now we need to see how the district can expand the funding that it leverages from state and federal sources as well as partnerships with industry and with apprenticeship that building trade unions have created to expand access to more SBC residents. Third is to really look at how the Gavilan District can use those two priorities to improve educational programs and support for current students, especially as we emerge from the COVID pandemic and recognize that learning was severely impacted in all schools. At the same time the district must use strategic planning opportunities to examine the demographic changes SBC and the entire district has experienced in the last 10 years and plan for those academic, vocational and career programs that students and residents will need and want in the next 10, 20 and 30 years.
In what ways are you qualified to assist the Board of Trustees in navigating the school out of its financial problems?
In almost 30 years as an educator and administrator at colleges and universities as well as 10 years as an administrator in the nonprofit sector, I’ve had to learn a lot about budgeting and how to search for and secure funding from local, state and federal sources, as well as from foundations and corporations. I have many years of experience in auditing grant-funded programs, which will be helpful in reviewing and scrutinizing spending plans to make sure they are sound. Fortunately, Gavilan has begun to turn the corner and is in a better financial situation than it was just a few years ago. Working with the other trustees and the college leadership, I will work to ensure that fiscal decisions are sound, that the community is informed of those decisions so there is trust and reassurance that the governing board and administration are good stewards of the public funds. As trustee, it would be part of my job to help assure the fiscal health and stability of the district, a district that we know adds to the economic, social and intellectual health of the communities it is composed of.
How would you help to ensure accountability and follow-through on the execution of Measure X in San Benito County?
The best way to ensure that Measure X in SBC is executed according to the bond measure is to keep the community informed of the progress and status of the funds. The use of an oversight committee that includes SBC community members can help with accountability. But ultimately it is through regular communication and engagement with the community that we can ensure Measure X and any other measure is dutifully executed. We are fortunate that the funds from Measure X are restricted by law, so we just need to keep pushing forward and not be afraid to ask questions and as a trustee, not be offended that anyone asks questions about the measure. An informed constituency is the best constituency. The best way to stay informed is to attend public meetings, so I invite community members to attend the next Measure X Oversight Committee Meeting on Oct. 13, at 6 p.m., so we can get an update on what is happening with the measure.
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