News Release

CONTACT: Della Elliott, Public Information, (619) 644-7690, della.elliott@gcccd.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                              April 24, 2006

Citizens Bond Oversight Committee chair reaches end of term

East County Prop. R group to select new leader

EL CAJON – – A student of Grossmont College in the late ‘60s and president of its student body during his last year, former banker and La Mesa Councilman Ernie Ewin has always held a special affinity for the campus. And at Cuyamaca College, his wife, Nancy, is an adjunct instructor in the paralegal program.

The Ewins’ ties to the colleges became even closer after the passage in 2002 of Prop. R, the district’s $207 million facilities bond measure that is a primary funding source for new buildings that will dramatically change the look of the aging campuses and help ease chronic overcrowding. Ernie was sought out to lead the citizens bond oversight committee, a role the community-minded Grossmont alum embraced as a learning and public-service opportunity. This past week, he chaired his final CBOC meeting, having reached the two-term limit established by committee bylaws.

“It was my pleasure to appoint Ernie Ewin as the first chair of the citizens bond oversight committee,” said Chancellor Omero Suarez. “He always kept the focus of the committee on the oversight role, even as members were asked to digest a considerable amount of information and could have been distracted. I’ve appreciated his service, as well as that of Glen Wilhite and David Waitley, who are also concluding their committee service at this time.”

As Ewin sees it, having a part in the largest facilities overhaul in the district’s history is a legacy he’ll be able to point to with pride as his 10 grandchildren get older and, perhaps, someday themselves attend the colleges.

“You take pride knowing you had the opportunity to serve the community and the results of that are going to outlive you – that’s what it’s all about,” he said.
Prop. R was approved by 60 percent of the East County electorate in response to the overcrowding and widespread repair needs of Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges in the midst of a state budget crisis. The monies have been used to help fund now-completed projects such as the technology mall and library, and new entrance at Grossmont, and the expanded automotive technology complex at Cuyamaca. Each campus also has three major buildings currently under construction, funded at least partially by Prop. R.

One of the provisions of Prop. R was the appointment of an independent CBOC whose primary tasks are to review and report on the expenditure of bond proceeds and to ensure the monies are spent in accordance to the ballot measure. As specified by the governing board, the 11-member committee includes community volunteers with expertise in construction, procurement and finance, as well as representatives of business and taxpayer organizations. CBOC members are appointed to two-year terms.

The group is expected to select its new chair at its next quarterly meeting in July.

Deanna Weeks, president of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board, presented a commemorative plaque to Ewin at his final meeting, praising him for his leadership of a well-respected, hardworking oversight group that in 2004 and 2005 was lauded by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association as a finalist in the annual Golden Watchdog Award competition.

“As this group’s first chairman, you – and your fellow members – have set a very high standard,” Weeks said. “Some oversight committees may do a perfunctory job – that will never, ever be said of this group...From conscientious tours of the projects to the innovation of paperless meetings, you are all to be commended.”

From the outset, Ewin said, the CBOC was very deliberate about ensuring transparency in its work, setting up a Web site and posting all agendas, reports and letters so they would be accessible to the public.

“One of the things I can look back and say with certainty is that everything the CBOC does is very, very transparent,” he said. “Look at the Web site – the public has full access to information, data and meeting agendas – that’s why we’re paperless. No one can say we’re meeting behind closed doors – everything we do is transparent and fully accessible to the public.”

As a longtime professional in banking and finance, Ewin took the reins of the CBOC with a peripheral knowledge of the construction industry, but he concedes the extent to which construction costs have skyrocketed in recent months surprised him and others on the committee.

“I’ve been in banking for 30 years and I thought I knew a lot about construction, but my experience on the CBOC has been a real learning experience,” he said, jokingly adding that his first lesson was to “wear a hard hat when you’re told to wear a hard hat.”

On a more serious note, Ewin said the volatility of the building industry was a real eye-opener.

“The rise in construction costs came as a big surprise and it opened our eyes to the global impact that the demand on construction materials can have. That a country 9,000 miles away can impact projects we have locally made us realize that things aren’t the way they used to be.”

It was due to the rapidly climbing construction costs and the realization that the Prop. R monies would not go as far as first thought that the CBOC took the unusual step of producing a mid-year report in 2005, Ewin said. That report provided a public accounting of how much costs had climbed for some of the Prop. R projects and explained how the district is reviewing priorities and approving project changes.

While it is by its very function an oversight committee in a position to delve critically into specific Prop. R issues, Ewin said the CBOC has always been met with openness and cooperation in their dealings with college and district staff, as well as with Gafcon, the construction management firm under contract with the district.

“The project has worked and it has worked well, only because the willingness of everyone to work cooperatively toward a common goal,” Ewin said. “Prop. R would not be the success it is if there was ever any resistance on the part of staff to share information and answer questions in an honest and open way.

“Prop. R has functioned as well as it has because of the common understanding that citizens have put their trust in the process by voting in support of the district and its efforts to meet the educational needs of the community. And this diverse group of people that makes up the CBOC understands that as members, we are the proxies for the citizens and that our role overseeing the expenditure of public dollars from Prop. R is one to be taken very seriously.”

Ewin praised fellow committee members for their dedication and lauded the district and governing board for encouraging open dialogue and maintaining an environment that welcomed questions and input. As for his take on how the district is managing the Prop. R program, Ewin labeled as “remarkable” the extent to which it has gone to ensure the public is getting the most for its dollars.
“From the colleges’ processes for allocating the funds, to timing the selling of the bonds for maximum benefit, there’s no question the district is making sure that taxpayers are getting the best bang for their bucks.”

For more information about Prop. R and the CBOC, go to www.gcccd.edu and click on “construction news” or “Prop. R news.”

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Intergovernmental Relations, Economic Development, and Public Information
8800 Grossmont College Drive  El Cajon, CA 92020-1799
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