LAREDO COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT

Laredo, Texas

The special meeting of the Laredo Community College Board of Trustees convened on Tuesday,

May 12, 2009, beginning at 6:07 p.m. in the Samuel A. Meyer Board Room Laird Hall 124 of

the Fort McIntosh Campus.

	MEMBERS PRESENT	OTHERS
ROLL CALL	Cynthia Mares, Vice President Carlos Carranco, Jr. Hilario Cavazos, III Leonides G. Cigarroa, Jr.(Arrived at 7:00 p.m.) Mercurio Martinez, Jr. Edward C. Sherwood	Juan L. Maldonado Dianna Miller Rosario Peña George Meurer, College Attorney
	MEMBERS ABSENT Pete Saenz, Jr., President Belinda Guerra, Secretary Rene De La Viña
CALL TO ORDER	Ms. Mares called the meeting to order. Mr. Carranco called the roll. A quorum of the members was present.
PUBLIC TESTIMONY	No one signed up for public testimony.
EXECUTIVE SESSION	Ms. Mares entertained a motion from the Board to go into executive session pursuant to Texas Government Code sections 551.071, 551.074 and 551.082. At 6:08 p.m. Mr. Cavazos so moved; the motion was seconded by Mr. Martinez. Mr. Meurer, for clarification indicated this wasn’t the commencement of the grievance but to discuss related legal issues. The motion carried. The Board reconvened at 6:43 p.m. Ms. Mares noted no action took place.
LEVEL III GRIEVANCE HEARING FOR MS. ROSARIO PEÑA	Ms. Mares introduced herself and mentioned she would chair the hearing. She inquired from both parties, Ms. Peña and administration, as to preference of holding the hearing in open session to which Ms. Peña replied – open and Dr. Maldonado replied – a preference of a closed session but deferred to the request from Ms. Peña. Ms. Mares commenced the Level 3 grievance hearing of Ms. Rosario Peña at 6:45 p.m. and noted the Board members present, also College President, Dr. Juan L. Maldonado and Mr. Rusty Meurer, Attorney for the Board of Trustees. Ms. Mares asked Dr. Maldonado to identify who would present the administration’s response to the grievance. He identified Ms. Dianna Miller, Dean of Health Sciences. Ms. Mares asked Ms. Peña to identify who would present her grievance. Ms. Peña indicated she would. Ms. Mares stated, “As chair of this Grievance, I will now review the ground rules that apply to the parties during this proceeding. 1. Only one individual will be speaking on behalf of each party. 2. All statements will be made from the podium and will be directed to the Chair. 3. Neither the grievant nor the administration is allowed to make side-bar comments. 4. Only one person at a time will speak from the podium. There will be no interruptions. 5. Each party will be given 10 minutes to present their side of the grievance. This time limit includes the time each side spends presenting evidence. 6. The grievant will go first, followed by administration. The grievant will then have 5 minutes for rebuttal, and the administration will have 5 minutes for rebuttal. 7. Following the presentations, the Board members may ask questions of the parties.” and indicated, “The Board will not consider any documents which were not previously presented to administration in accordance with our local Board Policy. Let the record reflect that all Board members were provided with the record of the hearings at Level 1 and Level 2 in accordance with our local Board Policy.” Ms. Peña approached the podium and began by mentioning her background, educational experience. She expressed concern with the grievance process and asked the Board to stop the hearing so that she could get a lawyer. Mr. Meurer mentioned to the Board that a request had been made by Ms. Peña to postpone the grievance. It was up to the Board to make a decision; or if the Board wanted to discuss any legal issues in connection with the request, he suggested the Board go into executive session. At 6:52 p.m. Mr. Carranco moved to go into executive session under section 551.071. Mr. Sherwood seconded the motion; motion carried. The Board reconvened at 7:01 p.m. Ms. Mares noted for the record the arrival of Dr. Cigarroa and that no action took place. Ms. Mares asked Ms. Peña if her intention was that the Board postpone the hearing until she obtained legal counsel? Ms. Peña asked to be heard, that the Board entertain her information plus the one the Board received, and be given another chance. After a lengthy discussion, question & answer session, and the Board’s consideration of several options, Ms. Peña mentioned this had become more complex and thought she needed to get a lawyer. Mr. Carranco made a motion at 7:35 p.m. to go into executive session under section 551.071. At 7:47 p.m. the Board reconvened and Ms. Mares noted no action took place. Mr. Carranco clarified that it was the Board’s understanding that she would rather have legal counsel represent her in about 30 days. Ms. Peña indicated she hoped to come back in forty-five days. Mr. Carranco noted if that were her wishes the Board would be in accordance to grant that wish between now and forty-five days. Discussion followed. Mr. Carranco made a motion to postpone the Level 3 grievance meeting within the next forty-five days to allow Ms. Peña to seek legal counsel representation. Mr. Martinez seconded the motion. Ms. Peña posed the question, Being that it is a grievance with a lawyer, who will be talking to the lawyer? Is it lawyer to lawyer? Mr. Meurer suggested that if counsel does communicate with anybody from the institution that they be referred to him (Mr. Meurer). The motion carried.
ADJOURNMENT	At 7:55 p.m., Mr. Martinez moved to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Mr. Carranco; motion carried.