Budget Chief for Colleges May Be Fired

A top administrator at the county’s community college district could be given his “walking papers” at a special meeting tonight--a step that Vice Chancellor Jeff Marsee calls an underhanded attempt to destroy his career.

“This is not an evaluation issue. This is not a performance issue,” Marsee said Friday, hours after learning that a special meeting had been called to discuss his employment.

“Someone has made allegations in closed session, and they don’t have the courage or the guts to let me know in person, but they do have the guts to terminate my career.”

Marsee, the district’s chief budget official, said he has already been told that the Ventura County Community College District board of trustees does not intend to renew his contract, which expires in four months. “These are my walking papers,” he said.

As one of two vice chancellors who report directly to Chancellor Philip Westin, Marsee draws a salary of $96,000.

By state law, employment contracts at Marsee’s level are automatically renewed each year. If the district decides not to renew, it must notify the employee no later than March 15. Earlier this week, Marsee agreed to waive the deadline and asked for a special meeting with the board, but his request was denied.

He said his request for any written material or information regarding the trustees’ consideration of his contract has also been denied.

Westin declined to comment on why the trustees might not extend Marsee’s contract, but he said the board does not have to cite any particular reason or grounds for the decision.

“This is not an issue of grounds,” he said. “If the board makes this decision, it would simply be notification that his contract has not been renewed.”

But Marsee said he has been stonewalled by trustees and the chancellor, none of whom has told him why his employment may be terminated.

“I am very disappointed that after four years of working with the board they cannot at least afford me the courtesy of telling me why they are taking this action.”

Marsee maintains that he has had “fantastic” evaluations since he joined the district in 1992 under former Chancellor Thomas G. Lakin, who died in 1994 of the so-called flesh-eating bacteria. Marsee came to the Ventura County district from a similar post in Houston.

At the time, the district was in its fourth consecutive year on the state’s watch list for colleges on the brink of financial ruin. Reserves were at less than 1%. Now, they are flush at more than 5%.

“The district was next to the worst when I started,” Marsee said. “It is now in the median and we are off the watch list, which means I have accomplished what Thomas [Lakin] brought me here to do and what the board directed me to do.”

But critics say privately that Marsee has maintained a centralized approach to running the district at a time when Westin has moved to decentralize operations by giving more power to the college presidents over their own budgets. They say Marsee has resisted this plan and sometimes not acted in the district’s best interest.

Marsee denies these accusations, saying he has thrown his full support behind the new chancellor.

“My intention when the new chancellor came on board was always to be supportive,” he said.

Chief among Marsee’s concerns now is not being given enough time to look for another job, and what he calls the “unprofessionalism” of the board in handling the matter. If not renewed, his contract expires June 30.

“They are not allowing me time, at least enough time to find a job, another position elsewhere,” he said. “I am very concerned with their willingess to destroy my career. If they want to attract professionals to this organization, they are going to have to treat them better than they are treating me.”

Several trustees reached late Friday declined to comment.

At tonight’s meeting, Marsee said he intends to request an audience with the board members and demand to know why they intend not to renew his contract.