District Areas One, Three, and Seven prepare for trustee elections
The general, state, and local elections will make an appearance in just a little over a week on Nov. 6, and besides choosing who will become the next ruler of the free world, local community college students will have the opportunity to elect the newest members of South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) Board of Trustees for areas one (Irvine), three (Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Newport Beach, and San Clemente), and seven (Mission Viejo).
The Board of Trustees holds seven positions, eight including a student representative who is elected separately. Members are elected to staggered four-year terms, where voting takes place every two years for certain positions. Board members duties include ensuring the benefit of all academic and educational programs and approving or disapproving district legislature. Maintaining financial stability within the district is also a main focus of the trustees’ jobs.
The area one election is comprised of candidates David B. Lang who is the current incumbent and has been elected to four consecutive trustee terms dating back to 1996 and Irvine business attorney David L. Martin.
Up for election in area three are incumbent William O. Jay, who has served two consecutive terms after filling in a trustee vacancy in 2004, businesswoman and arts commissioner Arlene C. Greer, and Jennifer L. Long, a graduate student researcher.
Finally, area seven, by far the most controversial board election this season, includes business owner and former Executive Director of the American Electronics Association Tim Jemal, instructor, Rancho Santa Margarita Catholic High School board member, and self-proclaimed “anti-corruption candidate” Mike Moodian, Jan Serrantino Cox, who is the UCI University Administrator, and former Orange County Public Administrator and district board member John S. Williams, whose past of alleged misuse of his district position and funds make this the most heated trustee race.