College of the Desert likely to appoint new trustee Friday

Jonathan Horwitz, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·3 min read
College of the Desert is a public community college in Palm Desert, Calif.

This Friday, the College of the Desert Board of Trustees is likely to appoint a new member to their ranks, filling the Area 3 seat resigned by Fred Jandt in March due to health concerns.

Area 3 represents Palm Springs and a sliver of Cathedral City. It’s an area where COD has two long-awaited bond projects underway: the roughly $350 million Palm Springs campus and a $30-plus million Cathedral City automotive campus.

On Friday, the board can appoint Jandt’s replacement from a field of four finalists:

  • Allison “Al” G. Jones

  • Ron Oden

  • David B. Powell

  • Donald R. Vickers

The board selected these four finalists from a field of six qualified applicants (a seventh applicant was ineligible due to not living in Trustee Area 3), according to college spokesperson Nicholas Robles.

Jones worked in higher education for his 45-year career before retiring several years ago. From 1988 until 2010, he worked in the Office of the Chancellor for the California State University system, leaving as an assistant vice chancellor.

Oden is a former mayor of Palm Springs, having served from 2003 to 2007 and overseen significant growth of the city’s budget. He was the city’s first Black, openly gay mayor. Prior, Oden taught sociology at COD. In the aughts, Oden unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Congress and the California State Assembly. In 2015, he ran again for mayor of Palm Springs, losing to Robert Moon.

Powell is the executive director of the Desert Business Association, an LGBT business networking organization in the Coachella Valley. He spent nearly three decades working for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. He has teaching experience at UMass Global (formerly Brandman University), an accredited university with online programs and campuses throughout California and Washington.

The Desert Sun was unable to verify information about Vickers, and COD said it would not release information about candidates at this stage in the appointment process.

More: COD Trustee Fred Jandt to resign at the end of March. How will the college choose a replacement?

More: COD Board will appoint new trustee rather than hold special election

More: College of the Desert's Martha Garcia to take pay cut at new job

What's the appointment process like from here?

COD will hold a special meeting at 2:30 p.m. on Friday after the conclusion of its regular board meeting.

During the afternoon session, the board will interview the four finalists.

Each candidate will make an opening statement and then respond to an array of questions in a "round-robin" style.

After every round of questions, the trustees will each nominate two candidates. Any candidate with less than two nominations will be eliminated. This process will continue until only two candidates remain.

An appointee is chosen from the two finalists when one of them receives a majority of votes. Once a candidate is selected, they will be sworn in.

In the event the board is unable to reach a decision "after numerous votes" Friday, the board has a deadline of May 29 to make a provisional appointment. Otherwise, the college will default to ordering a special election in Trustee Area 3.

An election might not occur until November or possibly as late as California’s presidential primary next March. It is estimated to cost the college about $180,000, or roughly $3.50 per voter.

Friday's regular and special board meetings can be streamed online at: youtube.com/c/CollegeoftheDesertOfficial.

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: COD likely to appoint new trustee Friday