The Gavilan College Board of Trustees is considering putting another bond before the voters in 2018. At the Aug. 8 board meeting the trustees approved an agreement with True North Research Inc. to provide a general obligation bond measure pre-election survey.
I have always been a supporter of educational issues at all levels. However, I have also always believed very strongly that all elected officials must abide by the law to earn the trust of the voters who elected them.
With the previous bond (Measure E), the Gavilan Board of Trustees violated Prop 39 by illegally spending bond funds to set up the South Bay Public Safety Consortium (the Academy) at the satellite site in Coyote Valley. Because Administration of Justice was not included in the bond, spending bond funds on Police Training Facilities was a clear violation of Prop 39.
Prop 39 bond measures must list the specific projects to be funded. The South Bay Public Safety Consortium was never on the list of specific projects presented and approved by the voters. The evidence that Prop 39 was violated, I believe, is overwhelming.
Because of the controversy over the misuse of Measure E bond funds, convincing the voters to support another bond will be a very difficult task.
Aurelio Zuniga
Hollister
