Former Trustee member John Paul Drayer has officially filed complaints, and inquiries, against the Cerritos College Board of Trustee in regard to the board leadership and financial discrepancies.
“I have been blocked for the last eight months,” he said. “So I have filed with the U.S. Department of Education.”
He also filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Regional Security and Exchange Commission office.
According to Drayer, the lack of implementing board policy in regard to his request of a review should lower the credit rating of all Cerritos College construction bonds.
However, Cerritos College President Dr. Jose Fierro said that those two things are completely unrelated.
He described the process in which the school got its credit rating is the same as an individual would check his credit score.
Drayer’s main concern is that if “[The board] blocks a simple request for an ethics review, is it hiding other things?”
He stated, “This is a major red flag for me. There are no checks and balances.”
He also said that he is going to take it to the federal government and the credit rating agencies.
“As investors,” he said, “they think [the credit rating] is much higher when it should be much lower because there is a dysfunctional board majority.”
Drayer also mentioned if board is not following its own policies and would not establish a committee.
It was unclear if he was referencing an ethics committee, or if he was mentioning the bond oversight committee.
However, Cerritos College President Dr. Jose Fierro was unaware of any complaints being filed by Drayer.
“By law the school is required to have a bond oversight committee,” he said, “The school does have one and they have met this semester.”
According to Fierro, the financial audits were presented to the oversight committee and to the board, and were without issue.
“We were given the highest score, [or second highest] that you can give through any agency,” he said.
ASCC Commissioner of Sustainability Phil Herrera is the student member that resides on the Bond Oversight Committee.
He stated that he, too, didn’t find anything abnormal with how things were run on the committee.
However, Herrera did mention that at the last meeting the committee did not meet quorum therefore no decisions could be made.
“The mood didn’t seem to be as if though they were in a rush to get anything done,” he said.
He did say that everything seemed to be on budget and on schedule.
In regard to the complaints filed by Drayer, Fierro said the school will be fully cooperative.
“We will be notified,” he said.
“We will provide any documentation necessary in the event of any investigation.”
The school will do whatever is required, Fierro said, to ensure that people see that the school and the board’s finances are in check.
