COD Board of Trustees to Add New Face in December

One Familiar Face, One New Face Joining Board of Trustees

PALM DESERT — A new face is joining the College Board of Trustees in December, although he has carried a high profile in the Desert for years.

Stone James, the former economic development director for Cathedral City and former City Manager of Twentynine Palms, was the only person who filed to fill the seat in Trustee Area 4, which Joel L. Kinnamon now holds. He announced his retirement earlier this summer.

The familiar face returning is that of Rubén AríAztlán Pérez, who represents Trustee Area 1.

Perez was unchallenged in his re-election bid for a third term.

Initially, there was some confusion as to whether each of the men would have to go through an appointment process.

Because College of the Desert elects trustees by trustee area, when only one candidate has been nominated for a particular trustee seat by the statutory filing deadline, and no timely petition requesting an election has been filed, the district is not required to conduct an election for that seat, according t o COD’s legal counsel.

That is the situation involving the two COD trustee areas in question. There is one qualified candidate for each seat, and no timely petition was submitted requesting that an election be held.

Importantly, these seats do not require an appointment by the Board of Trustees. Under Education Code section 5328, when a qualified nominee exists for the office and the requirements for dispensing with the election have been satisfied, the nominee is seated at the Board’s organizational meeting as though elected.

Accordingly, there is no additional action required of the College or Board at this time. Following the election and upon receipt of the appropriate official notification from the elections office, the two trustees will be sworn in and seated as part of the Board’s organizational process in December.