College trustees haven’t seen contract with Merced police, president says

Merced College trustees were introduced to the new campus police chief Wednesday, though none of the board members have voted on or even seen the temporary contract with the city police department, according to the board president.

Retired Merced police Capt. Tom Trindad spoke to the board briefly during a special meeting filled with arguments and bickering among board members. Board President Dennis Jordan confirmed the contract has never been presented to the trustees.

Trindad took over as police chief July 1, according to the contract obtained by the Merced Sun-Star, after a falling out between the college and the Merced County Sheriff’s Office, which had overseen the campus officers for 16 years.

The new contract gives the Merced Police Department “sole discretion to reassign, discharge, discipline and evaluate” the officer who serves as campus chief. But, the contract says, the selection shall be made with the “consultation and consent of the president of the college or her designee(s).”

Interim college President Susan Walsh declined to comment on the contract after the meeting Wednesday. Robin Shepard, the college spokesman, said the new contract gives the college input on the chief, which was the sticking point in the previous deal with the sheriff’s office.

“What the sheriff provided for us in his contract was just something we couldn’t live with,” Shepard said.

Sheriff Vern Warnke has said publicly that Walsh tried to misuse campus officers for political purposes more than once since she was tapped to fill in as college president in February.

The college’s temporary contract with the police department is for almost $14,000 a month, which is about the same as the arrangement with the Sheriff’s Office.

Patrick Mitchell, president of the Merced College Faculty Association, said he didn’t understand why the board did not take a vote on the contract during the Wednesday meeting. He was surprised the trustees have not seen the temporary contract.

“To me, that suggests that they’ve given Susan (Walsh) just free rein to run things on her own,” he said.

Jordan and trustee Jean Upton said they had not seen the contract and would not expect to see it until after it is approved by the Merced City Council.

During the open meeting, the trustees argued over whether to take public comments on closed-session items. And a 5-2 vote supported the board’s June decision to limit constituent reports to five minutes, a change critics say will hurt speakers’ ability to offer input. Those reports, from union representatives and others, were moved to the end of meeting agendas as well.

Trustees Joe Gutierrez and Cindy Lashbrook cast the dissenting votes.

The change in policy has drawn opposition from students and faculty who say the board is not interested in hearing public opinions.

English professor Meg Withers, who was at the meeting, called it a “sleight of hand” move by the board. “It’s an obfuscation of reality,” she said.

Jordan said the meetings exist to conduct school business and the board decides who gets to speak and for how long. He said the board does not look to “squelch” public comment.

“I think we always need to keep in mind board meetings are the board’s meeting,” he said. “It is not a public meeting. It is a board meeting held in public.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "College trustees haven’t seen contract with Merced police, president says."