Hot topics about the General Obligation Bond and where does the future of Cerritos College lie was the main discussion of the Board of Trustees study session for the G.O. Bond last Wednesday night before the regular scheduled meeting.

Topics ranged from how to get applicants for the Citizens Oversight Committee to how long it might take to get the first bond sale to lastly how long will Cerritos College have to wait before projects go into action.

Interim President John Grindel addressed the Board members with a list of next steps for the G.O. Bond now that the voters of the District have passed it.

First on the list was what steps the Board must take in getting an oversight committee to over see the actions and make sure that the bond money is being spent correctly and not going to things that were not specified in the ballot/ Master plan.

The Board will appoint seven members for this committee. There is an application process to become a member. In the bylaws for the school it says that there is certain criteria that these members have to fulfill to be on the committee and belong to an organization is one of the criteria.

One member will be a student that is currently enroll at the college and is active in a student organization such as student government. One member is to be from a Senior Citizens Organization One member is to be from a Taxpayers OrganizationOne member is to be from a Business Organization One member active in a Support Organization for the College, Such as the Foundation.Two members at large

The committee members will have to meet at least once a year will not be compensated for service and will conduct an open meeting according to the Brown Act.

Grindel presented the Board with a rough draft version of the application that could be used if the Board would be happy to use it.

The process may take up to 60 days to complete and form a committee.

Also discussed was the first installment of bond sale and what it entailed. Projects that are a part of the G.O. Bond may not even break ground until a year from now according to Dennis Chuning who laid out the future of the college and how long it will take until the big projects get started.

Chuning (Check name for spelling) said that it will take time to get the first sale of bonds and the amount will be up to $43 million.

“We could see the money as early as July for the first installment of bonds,” Chuning said.

The Board will have to also select an auditing firm to consult for the sale of bonds.

There will be five bond installments every other year for the next 20 years.

Although the first installment will not be for major projects the Board is looking at paying off COPS and looking at small repairs for the college.

Chuning also said that before the college is to start any projects concerning the G.O. Bond that Cerritos College needs to do an Environmental Impact Report to make sure that the college is not affecting any endangered species and trees and so forth.

“It would be more accommodating to do the EIR all at once instead of doing one for each project and we need to now start looking at bids for the EIR,” Chuning said.

President of the Board, Bob Arthur stated to the Board that the EIR could be a very lengthy process.

Cheryl Epple, Board member also asked about how long are we looking at for the EIR.

Chuning responded to Epple’s question that it could take more than a year to assess the college.

The Board joked about maybe running into some problems with environmentalist coming to the college to make sure that the college wouldn’t be hurting any “wild life” such as cuckoo cuckoo birds and owls or special trees such as oak trees.

Lastly the Board discussed about the project implementation process and development design standards.

With this the Board would decide along with assistance of tBP will help the college identify all projects out of the Master Plan and see what order the projects will be done.

Also design standards of the new buildings were talked about and the Board came to a consensus that there is continuity between all the buildings and that the materials that are used are readily available so the school would be able to upkeep them.

With it taking almost a year to get the EIR back and possibly six months to pass designs for the buildings it might take a long time for construction to begin.

Chuning concluded that the Board must spend the first amount of the bonds within three years but they can apply for extensions if the money isn’t spent.

Grindel followed up with “This meeting wasn’t to identify projects, but to show the legal process and the issues we need to go through to move forward.”

At the April 7 meeting there will be a design standards list presented to the Board.