Top COD administrator leaves college for post at City of Palm Desert
College of the Desert Vice President of Administrative Services John Ramont has resigned from his position to become deputy director of finance for the City of Palm Desert.
Ramont is the latest in a growing list of top COD administrators to leave the college in the first year of Superintendent/President Martha Garcia's tenure.
Former vice presidents Mark Zacovic and Annebelle Nery left COD in late 2021 to become presidents of other California community colleges. Zacovic is the interim superintendent/president at Monterey Peninsula College, and Nery is president of Santa Ana College.
Ramont began at COD in 2014 as director of fiscal services and became a vice president in 2018. He was essentially the college's chief financial officer, and oversaw budget development, business functions, operations and controls, fiscal accountability, facilities services and construction and renovation projects — including COD's capital outlay and bond program.
The bond program, which oversees nearly $1 billion for capital construction projects, has been closely scrutinized in the past year as Garcia has reviewed plans made by the administration of her predecessor, Joel Kinnamon.
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Inflation and other factors have led to delays in construction and projected cost overruns for a planned Cathedral City automotive education facility, and plans for a $350 million Palm Springs campus are on hold as Garcia awaits regional employment data before proceeding with programmatic design.
Construction on projects in Indio and renovations of the Palm Desert campus move forward.
COD has not announced an interim vice president to replace Ramont.
Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Top COD administrator leaves college for post at City of Palm Desert
