The MPC board finally elects officers on split votes, reflecting deep divisions.

After several months of infighting, the Monterey Peninsula College Governing Board of Trustees finally has a new chair and vice chair for 2024, but the tumult is far from over. Former vice chair Libby Downey won the position as the new chair on Wednesday, May 22, and Trustee Loren Steck was elected as vice chair on Tuesday, May 28. Both won the positions on split votes.

What remains in the wake of those votes is a bitter split between Downey and Steck and trustees Roslyn Green—the board’s former chair—and Yuri Anderson.

Trustee Debbie Anthony has found herself at odds with board members and some college staff since being elected in 2020, which has added to the conflictive nature of the board.

After a particularly contentious meeting on March 14, when a mediator brought in by Green to improve relationships between board members revealed even more interpersonal conflicts, three complaints were lodged by some trustees against others.

The content of those complaints and which trustees are involved have not been made public, although Anthony stated in the April board meeting that she was informed that one of the complaints was about her.

Attempts to follow board policy by forming subcommittees to investigate the complaints failed on April 24, when they first appeared on an agenda, and again on May 22. Both times they were blocked by Downey and Steck, who argued in favor of waiting until a later date to discuss them due to ongoing tensions. The complaints remain outstanding.

The saga of electing new officers for 2024 began in December, with Downey and Steck on one side and Green and Anderson on the other; Anthony abstained. Tie votes meant Green remained as chair and Downey as vice chair.

After more tie votes in January and February, they agreed to put off votes until May, in hopes of improving relationships and communication, which, as evidenced by the March meeting, wasn’t happening. Nevertheless, it was on the agenda on May 22 to elect a new chair and vice chair.

That day, Anderson nominated Green, noting the board’s issues. Steck nominated Downey. This time Anthony voted with Steck and Downey, and Downey won 3-2.

Downey then nominated Steck as vice chair and Green nominated Anderson. Anthony abstained from voting, which meant a 2-2 tie and no vice chair. They agreed to try again at the next meeting and the board moved onto other matters, but it didn’t take long for matters to get more contentious.

When it came time to discuss the three trustee complaints, Steck objected, as he had in April.

“I think we’ve seen in this meeting that there are still divisions on this board,” Steck said. He moved to table the discussion, saying he wanted to “truncate the discussion because I think [it] will create more damage and I want to avoid the damage. I want to get past the damage.”

Then came a procedural sticking point. Steck tried tabling the motion, although no motion had yet been made. After a lengthy break where MPC counsel Sarah Kaatz of Lozano Smith explained to Steck and Downey why Steck couldn’t table a motion that didn’t exist, the meeting was resumed; Downey made a motion to end the discussion.

Green then questioned whether they even had a governing body with no vice chair. She said she wanted legal counsel to weigh in.

“I think we’re moving recklessly at this point,” Green said. Referencing the outstanding complaints, she said: “I feel like I’m shrinking and my voice is being stifled, so I’m going to ask for legal counsel in this whole process.”

Green argued that with no agreed-upon vice chair, Downey should fall back into that role, with Green returning to the chair role. “So we really need to look into this legally before we make a mess of this,” Green said.

Kaatz agreed the board was now on shaky ground. She said she would need to research the point and come back to the next meeting with an answer. She recommended the trustees finish the last item regarding planning future agenda items and adjourn.

MPC President and Superintendent Marshall T. Fulbright III, who had been silent through the meeting, spoke up.

“I’m very concerned that we have no idea what the ethics code and complaint is about,” he said, referring to the complaints filed in April. “And when this keeps getting pushed further and further down, we have…an obligation to investigate. We have an obligation to address issues and concerns that are being raised.”

More arguing ensued over planning future agenda items and Downey adjourned the meeting “so we can control ourselves.”

Six days later, the board was back again at 2:30pm, in a special meeting to decide who would be the vice chair, starting the process over, as advised by the attorney, Downey said. Green, who works for Building Healthy Communities Monterey County, was absent.

Anderson nominated herself, Anthony nominated Steck. It was 3-1, and Steck was elected as vice chair.

Green says she and her colleagues at BHCMC were up against a deadline to complete an economic development report for the state that could bring grants to benefit the entire county, including MPC. That had to take precedence, she says, “especially since my vote wasn’t going to matter one way or another.”

Before the meeting ended, Downey issued a warning.

“I feel strongly that if anyone makes a disparaging comment on this board I will use my gavel to cut them off. So please be careful how you talk, and how you address each other, and what you have to say to each other. I think we have to work on decorum and I think the way to start is that we don’t in public degrade other trustees,” Downey said.

The focus, she said, should be on the students and making MPC “the best college we possibly can.”

She proposed a meeting in the near future to work on communications. She made no mention of March's mediated meeting that failed to bring any resolution to the board's issues.

There was also no mention of the three outstanding complaints.

Green says she hopes Downey will “respect our board policies” and the complaints will be on the June agenda.

“It’s unfortunate that we are not adhering to our own board policies and it's just not a good look,” Green says.