Dr. Shin Liu elected as President, Marisa Perez as Vice-President, Zurich Lewis as Board Clerk.
By Tammye McDuff
The Cerritos College Board of Trustees, at their December 9 meeting, elected new officers for the 2016 term.
Dr. Jose Fierro, President of the College, reminded attendees and trustees that new policies and procedure for board elections was in place.
The newly adopted Rules of Order is a ‘roll call’ election. Trustees may nominate a person for an office, nominations no longer require a second, and a motion is required to close nominations for each office. Each trustee may only vote for one candidate.
The winner of the office is based on number of votes.
If there is a tie on nominees, a roll call must be repeated until a decision is reached. Nominees may not be asked to drop out due to a low vote count. A candidate may remove themselves voluntarily, but may not be asked to step out of the running.
John Paul Drayer nominated Dr. Shin Liu as the “first Asian American within the Cerritos College Community to be Board President.” Trustee Bob Arthur quickly closed the nomination and Liu accepted the position saying, “thank you for this honor, I will work hard and try to make sure we are able to go home early from these meetings.”
Dr. Liu was elected to the governing board in 2009 and has served as board secretary and vice president. She represents District Area 5, serving Cerritos, Artesia, Lakewood, Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs.
The office of Vice President was opened with President Avalos nominating Marisa Perez. After a lengthy pause, and one more request from Avalos for a nomination, Trustee Dr. Sandra Salazar nominated John Paul Drayer.
Perez won on a 5-2 vote with Liu, Arthur, Lewis, and Avalos voting for Perez; Drayer and Salazar voting for Drayer.
Perez serves as a board advisor to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, Vice President of the Esther Lindstrom Elementary School PTA and a member of the School Site Committee.
Trustee Zurich Lewis was the lone nominee for the office of Board Clerk.
Former President Carmen Avalos said she was grateful for the opportunity to have been President for two years and looks forward to continuing to serve the College and community.
Certificates of Recognition was awarded to Avalos from Supervisor Don Knabe. College President/Superintendent Dr. Jose Fierro thanked Avalos, Liu, and Perez for their contributions as President, Vice-President and Board Clerk, respectively.
