The Lane Community College Board of Education met over Zoom Dec. 16 to approve the vacancy appointment process to replace board member Lisa Fragala, who stepped down from position 7 on Nov. 6 after serving since October 2018.
Fragala won election to replace longtime state Rep. Paul Holvey in the Eugene-area District 8 in the Oregon Legislature. The LCC board has a history of being a launching pad for many political careers.
The process for candidates includes a list of seven questions with 20-minute interviews in front of the board on Dec. 18. Each board member will ask one of the questions to the four applicants.
The applicants are Bob Brew, former deputy director of the State of Oregon Higher Education Coordinator Commission and city of Springfield budget officer; Dan Isaacson, Eugene planning commissioner, founding member of the Trauma Intervention Project and president of National Alliance on Mental Illness, Lane County; Jesse Maldonado, University of Oregon adjunct professor in Planning Public Policy & Management and City of Eugene Budget Committee member, and Jim Arnold, retired community college academic dean and former LCCEA vice president for part-time faculty. Read their full resumes at the links.
The board members will then select the best candidate based on a type of ranked choice voting with first, second and third choices. After voting it will be a vote to one candidate that will then be voted on again and need the majority approval of at least four members of the board to select the member referred to as a consensus candidate.
Documents outlined in the public agenda outline show in more detail the ranked choice voting process to be utilized by the board.
Later in the meeting, board member Steve Mital noted that he is uncomfortable using the term “ranked choice voting” as he pointed out it is not necessarily a voting process in that sense.
After a motion was made and seconded to approve the appointing process as is, Mital raised again that he would like to see the term “rank choice voting” changed before moving forward to approve the motion changing it to “a ranked choice statement of preferences.”
The process of appointing method document was then changed to reflect language showing “preference” rather than “voting.”
Board Chair Zack Mulholland outlined the goals of what they look for while reviewing candidates of board members. “The goal is to find the candidate with the broadest and deepest level of support at the front end before the motion gets made to select a finalist,” he said.
Board member Julie Weismann questioned the timeline of the board, saying, “I’m just wondering why we are even appointing someone when there’s only four months left in the seat?”
Weismann continued, “I’m just concerned we aren’t going to get a majority because we aren’t going to all agree on a particular candidate, I am worried we aren’t going to reach consensus with this process.” Alongside this Weismann expressed that it felt like to her that they were rushing to fill the vacancy without a need with such a short time left in the three-year term.
President Stephanie Bulger said after checking in with the LCC attorney, “There is no obligation to fill out this appointment.”
Austin Folnagy clarified that “the term ends on June 30 which is greater than four months left in the term.” He added, “That being said, I don’t think we can serve our constituents well by leaving the seat empty. I have never actually heard of a board doing that before.”
Mulholland added, “I think it is our role and responsibility as the board to fill vacancies as they arise and that it would be better for us to have a full board as we tackle decisions over the next six months.”
The motion passed, with four in favor and Weismann against, to approve the process to appoint the vacant position on the board.
There will be an in-person Board of Education meeting Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the LCC main campus Building 3 Boardroom 216.
