Making progress
Archives for March 2019
Tension high ahead of Riza’s evaluation
Clarendon College Regents will meet this Thursday, March 28, for the annual evaluation of President Robert Riza at a time of unprecedented tension between certain members of the board and the administration.
Board members at the February 21 meeting clashed with the president on wide variety of issues, mostly regarding finances, painting a dire picture of the college’s position with Regent Jerry Woodard at one point even declaring that the college has zero reserves.
Vice President of Administrative Services Rit Christian objected to that assertion at the meeting and stated so again for the record this week.
“The college is not insolvent,” Christian said Monday.
CC has approximately $250,000 in cash reserves currently with another $250,000 scheduled to move into reserves this week. Riza and Christian say the college intends to repeat that in September and December as part of a plan to have $1 million in cash reserves by the end of the calendar year.
“The idea is to have $1 million in reserve with a quarter million coming due every 90 days if we needed to get to it,” Riza told the Enterprise this week.
Riza also reported that plan to the board in February as Woodard and board secretary Darlene Spier continued a nearly year-long effort to criticize the president’s handling of college finances and to exert more board influence over the daily operation of the college.
Pointing to an overage in one budget line item, Woodard asserted that the board of regents must approve any expenditure that is not budgeted and said that any overage should first be approved by a budget amendment.
Christian also pushed back against that idea at the meeting.
“A budget is a budget… your best guess at the time you do it,” he said. “If we want to start amending the budget, we can make it become spot on by the end of the year, but that’s not really a comparison of budget to actual.”
The board spent about an hour and a half on financial reports from December and January during February’s meeting and did not approve either one. The regents did approve the college’s quarterly investment report.
Regents also spent more than a third of an hour considering minutes from board meetings in January and October and two meetings in December but only approved the record of the January meeting.
Finances again came up last month under Riza’s president’s report as he attempted to address questions Woodard and Spier have raised about the college’s financial position and the reduction of the college’s cash assets.
Riza told the Enterprise Monday that CC had cash assets of $6.612 million at the end of fiscal year 2013 and that by the end of fiscal year 2018 last August, that figure had dropped to $4.118 million, a difference of $2.493 million.
That cash, the president points out, went to several different expenditures during that five-year time, all of which were approved by the board. Those items included $870,595 for roof repairs; $91,274 for new bleachers in the gym; $283,029 for improvements to the Livestock & Equine Center; $255,425 on new buses; $240,475 to purchase the former Charles Deyhle residence; $68,533 to repay student loan liabilities from the 1970s and 1980s; $93,333 to complete the purchase of the cosmetology center in Amarillo; and $382,228 to fund renovations to that facility.
Those expenses add up to $2.284 million and do not include expenses paid in fiscal year 2018 for past due liabilities to the state retirement systems for full and part time employees and to the IRS, which totaled another $442,018.
In the fiscal year 2018 audit report, the college auditors raised no alarms about the financial position of the institution. Four “findings” in the audit, which was approved by the board in December, suggested additional documentation when pulling down federal financial aid (Title 4) funds and three recommendations to improve documentation regarding Title 3 grant funds. The Title 3 grant has since expired and is no longer an issue, the administration says.
The audit does show a net loss in the college’s overall position of $928,953; but $883,750 of that is in the form of depreciation not cash.
“In fact, this year’s audit took less time than usual because things are in such good order,” Riza told the Enterprise.
As February’s meeting drew to a close, Riza handed regents forms needed to conduct their annual evaluation of him as well as the board’s self-evaluation, and conflict arose again in terms of who would compile the evaluations for the next meeting.
Historically the evaluations are mailed or delivered to the administration and compiled by college staff. Woodard pushed for delivering the evaluations to the board secretary and that the job to compile the evaluations be done by her as well. Regent Lon Adams also brought up having Spier compile the evaluations. Riza stated flatly that he would prefer it not be done that way. The president later said the evaluations should be mailed to his office, and Spier could compile them there (at the college).
Woodard then turned his attention to the matter of requesting that the board meet with representative of the Pampa Foundation board, which has not been placed on an agenda. He and Riza clashed over that point with the president asking why this issue has not come to his office directly. Woodard says the board needs to discuss “related information” from Pampa, but Riza pushed back that the Foundation had not raised any issues at its board meetings.
Riza then showed his frustration with the certain board members.
“I’ve not been called but it’s been implied that I’m a felon, I’m an idiot, stupid, and incompetent,” Riza said.
Board Chairman Tommy Waldrop urged officials to keep the meeting professional.
Riza said he’d done that the best he could but continued to say that he knows his job and that his focus should be on the kids, faculty, and staff, and that Clarendon College’s success has been amazing. He mentioned the requests he gets to speak in Austin. He admitted the college has spent money. He also said the college had made some bad hires and tried to fix it, a reference to issues raised in the fiscal 2017 audit.
“I know what my job is,” Riza said. “One of your goals is to hire and fire the president.”
Spier then talked about the strong feelings of the board for the college and the college’s importance to the community. But she said Riza should let the board see what they ask for when they ask for it.
“We are board members, and you report to us,” Spier said.
“I don’t appreciate the ambush jobs,” Riza said, referring to the continuing lists of questions and requests Woodard and Spier have brought over the past several months.
“If we want to work together, then why don’t you come to my office and ask me, ‘Hey, will you look at this and tell me if I’m right or wrong?’ and move forward instead of the ‘gotchas,’” Riza said.
Woodard said there were items that had been asked for repeatedly, and Spier said, “We’re not after you or any employee.”
Regent Jack Moreman defended the president and his record it terms of enrollment and raising the college’s presence in Austin.
Waldrop agreed with Moreman but also said he is unclear as to the college’s financial position.
Regent Edwin Campbell said there is a faction split in the board that needed to be settled and then brought up the Pampa Foundation issue again, with Riza again asserting that nothing had come to him from Pampa.
Waldrop called for leadership from Riza, and Woodard and Spier called for more transparency.
Spier then talked about the strong feelings of the board for the college and the college’s importance to the community. But she said Riza should let the board see what they ask for when they ask for it.
“We are board members, and you report to us,” Spier said.
“I don’t appreciate the ambush jobs,” Riza said, referring to the continuing lists of questions and requests Woodard and Spier have brought over the past several months.
“If we want to work together, then why don’t you come to my office and ask me, ‘Hey, will you look at this and tell me if I’m right or wrong?’ and move forward instead of the ‘gotchas,’” Riza said.
Woodard said there were items that had been asked for repeatedly, and Spier said, “We’re not after you or any employee.”
Regent Jack Moreman defended the president and his record it terms of enrollment and raising the college’s presence in Austin.
Waldrop agreed with Moreman but also said he is unclear as to the college’s financial position.
Regent Edwin Campbell said there is a faction split in the board that needed to be settled and then brought up the Pampa Foundation issue again, with Riza again asserting that nothing had come to him from Pampa.
Waldrop called for leadership from Riza, and Woodard and Spier called for more transparency.
Enterprise editorials, ads win first place at PPA
The Clarendon Enterprise received eleven awards, including first place in Editorials and Advertising Initiative, at the 09th annual Panhandle Press Association Convention in Amarillo last Saturday, March 23.
Competing in Division One for weekly newspapers, the Enterprise was recognized for Editorials on the subjects of the Howardwick City Council, open government, and Open Meetings training at Clarendon College and for Advertisements designed by Ashlee Estlack and Roger Estlack.
The Enterprise won second place honors for Human Interest Photos by Roger Estlack and Kari Lindsey, Front Page Layout, News Writing, Spot News Photos by Ashlee Estlack and Roger Estlack, Society & Lifestyles Page, Feature Writing, Special Section, Best Website, and Serious Columns by Roger Estlack.
General Excellence in Division One this year went to the Canadian Record. The Eastern New Mexico News took home top honors in Division Two.
Perryton Herald publisher Mary Dudley, and former Muleshoe Journal publisher, the late Larry Thornton, were inducted into the PPA Hall of Fame.
The PPA was led this year by Booker publisher Joni Yara, who will remain on the board as the Immediate Past President. Other board members include President Tara Huff of Fritch, Vice President Jeff Blackmon of Shamrock, and Secretary/Treasurer Roger Estlack of Clarendon along with directors Wes Reeves of Xcel Energy in Amarillo, Mary Dudley of Perryton, Tim Ritter of Canyon, Michael Wright of Dumas, and Cheri Smith of Canadian.
Attending this year’s convention from Clarendon were Roger, Ashlee, Benjamin, and Elaina Estlack and Tara Allred.
Next year’s Panhandle Press Convention will be held March 21-22 in Perryton.
Editorial: Regents should call off ‘witch hunt’
CC board should return focus to needs of students
Clarendon College Regents need to come together to focus on doing what’s best for students and push back against the combative stance a minority of the board is taking against the administration.
The growing rift between Regents Jerry Woodard and Darlene Spier and President Robert Riza was on full display when the college board had its regular meeting last month. The conflict has been growing for more than two years and amplified after the college’s accrediting body a year ago said Woodard had to step down as board chairman due to a conflict of interest as the president of the college’s depository bank.
Following that, Woodard began making a habit of presenting a laundry list of questions for the administration, and Riza last month complained of the “ambush jobs” his administration has been subjected to. In December, Riza told the board that the “witch hunts” had to end and said that he had lost two vice presidents in the last year because of it, referring to the departures of Vice President of Academic Affairs Brian Fuller and Vice President of External Affairs Ashlee Estlack.
“Both were under 40, enrolled in doctoral programs, and wanted to make their careers at Clarendon College,” the president said at that time.
Spier last month objected to Riza’s “ambush job” comment and said, “We’re not after you or any employee.” But her actions, and that of Woodard’s, contradict that statement. In fact, in the last two years, administration members have said privately they felt they should take turns wearing a vest with a target on it when they attend meetings.
Last September, what should have been a short meeting was marked instead by a roasting of the president that lasted more than an hour. Two regents were absent from that meeting, and five others sat mute as Woodard and Spier tag-teamed an assault on Riza’s management of the college, ignoring the administration’s record setting enrollments and top rankings in the state for graduation rates and student success and focusing instead on what Spier called “a pattern” of overspending in the last five years.
That of course begs the question, if the college has really been overspending, then why would it take five years for these two – a banker and a 30-plus-year college secretary – to say something? And if we’re really concerned about spending, why would Woodard, as chairman of the board in 2017, rush to purchase the Deyhle house in an illegal “emergency” meeting and spend almost a quarter of a million dollars? If we’re so worried about spending, why did the board unanimously give Riza permission to buy buses last March without even discussing prices!
To be sure, there are patterns at Clarendon College… a pattern of board members violating or flaunting the Open Meetings Act and college policy and a pattern of hostility that has simmered and occasionally bubbled over between these two regents and the president for over two years. Nothing the president or his administration seems to do can please them.
Woodard and Spier have asked for a number of reports that exemplifies their lack of confidence in the president, and they have developed a pattern of belittling not just the president but members of his team. College board meetings that have historically been a picture of professionalism and decorum have become monthly fishing expeditions as two board members seem to do their best to “catch” the president or members of his team.
Over a year ago, Estlack was asked to compile a report of required postings on the college website, after Woodard blamed her for certain financial reports not being posted online. The report presented last February ended up being 65 pages long and showed more than 70 people contribute content to the website, and that more than 30 reports are required by the state or other agencies. The financial reports in question were not posted on time because they had not been created by the then vice president of administrative services when they were required.
Estlack later was assigned to report on late filings and other issues with the college’s retirement and benefit contributions to the state, even though the administration had months earlier fixed those issues with the state. But when her report found that the college’s past filing problems were not just under the previous vice president of administrative services, whom Riza had hired, but in fact stretched back more than ten years, she was told by Spier at the board meeting last March to “Quit digging, honey.”
Last February, while regents did okay a raise for Riza, Woodard and Spier purposefully led the board in not extending his contract, only to have the rest of the board – led by Jack Moreman and Ruth Robinson – stand up to them in April and vote to add a year to Riza’s contract. Moreman at the time accused “that end of the table” – referring to Woodard, Spier, and Edwin Campbell – of violating the Open Meetings Act in February by having “a meeting within a meeting”
In June, the college’s attorney gave an excellent training on the Open Meetings Act and the proper role of the board. Woodard was absent, and Spier apparently just didn’t get it.
In July, CC Vice President of Administrative Services Rit Christian recommended that the board accept the depository bid of Happy State Bank and enumerated the reasons why Happy’s bid was the best of the three presented (primarily higher interest rates for CDs and lower fees). Woodard, who is president of the local branch of Herring Bank, persuaded his fellow board members to keep the college’s deposits at Herring and then proceeded to treat the financial officer like dirt beneath his shoe at subsequent meetings. Woodard did abstain from the vote, but two other members with a financial interest in the bank did not.
Just five months prior to that, in resigning as the board chairman under the pressure from the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools, Woodard asserted that he always recuses himself from discussions involving Herring Bank’s contract.
Following an August meeting, Spier stayed around after all other regents had left and spent half an hour lecturing Christian and Estlack on how to prepare financial reports “the way it used to be done.” When Spier finished, Estlack asked her if they (the administration) did it her way, what would be the next thing she and Mr. Woodard would want. Spier acted bewildered and said she didn’t know what Estlack was talking about. Estlack then used the term “witch hunt” and said she was tired of being treated as incompetent or as if the administration had something to hide. Later that month, Spier and Woodard stalled Riza’s recommendation to promote Estlack to a vice president, resulting in the board tabling a president’s personnel recommendation for the first time in the 20+ years the Enterprise has been covering regents’ meetings. The promotion was granted at a subsequent meeting when Woodard was absent.
The atmosphere with the board became so toxic that Riza in August told other administrators they no longer had to attend the regents’ meetings. And why should they attend? It is surely frustrating to work hard at your job day in and day out and build a record of success that is being talked about by other community colleges and in the halls of Austin, only to have two people show up once a month and rain on everything you’re working to accomplish.
Last fall, Woodard started beating a dead horse from a year earlier, called into question the president’s authority to sign any purchase contracts. The issue is a contract for copier/printer services that the college prematurely canceled when the former vice president of administrative services believed it was a month-to-month agreement. The college ended up paying $30,000 in the fall of 2017 to get out of the contract. Riza reported it at the time, it was deemed an honest mistake, and everyone moved on… all while Woodard was chairman. But now it’s a “thing” and it came up again last month.
Woodard also chastised Riza last fall for replacing the washer and dryer at the college president’s house, saying “any change to that house requires board approval.”
So in his view, if the college-owned dryer goes out (which it did), the president can’t replace it without a board meeting so Woodard and Spier can presumably have their input on whether to get a Whirlpool or a Maytag.
In October, Estlack addressed the board in open comments and informed them that she had filed a criminal complaint against the board for Open Meetings violations as well as an employee grievance against the board, a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and a formal complaint against the board with the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools, all related to the board’s treatment of her as an employee and the board members’ repeated violations of state law and college policy. All of the above complaints are still pending. Estlack later resigned in December when conditions did not improve.
Contrary to Spier’s assertion that they aren’t after anybody, time and time again they show an attitude that the president and his staff are incompetent. Just last month, Woodard pushed to have Spier compile the board’s evaluation of the president, dismissing Riza’s plan to have a staff member do that. Historically that’s a staff job, and the Enterprise knows of no instance in which former regent, the late Delbert Robertson, ever complied such evaluations in his decade’s long service as board secretary. It was fine to have the staff compile the evaluations… when Spier was the staff doing it. But then it’s also interesting that there was no consternation about the keeping of the minutes during Robertson’s time as board secretary.
Spier has a bit of a problem living in the present. She doesn’t like the way the college invests money now, even stating that it would cause former CC president Kenneth Vaughan – who retired in 1989 and died in 2011 – to roll over in his grave. Clarendon College, like most businesses, has changed considerably in the last 30 years, and even the last ten or five years have seen quite an evolution.
Almost all of the financial information presented in the president’s report at February’s meeting regarding what depleted the college’s cash reserves was previously presented by Riza at the October meeting, but he correctly stated at the time that what he told them didn’t matter “because you aren’t going to believe me anyway.” Apparently he’s right, since the same questions keep coming up.
CC is a huge enterprise requiring specialized knowledge to operate. It can’t be totally controlled by a board meeting once a month. The board can and should govern, but it needs to understand its limits.
From the discussion at last month’s meeting, it’s clear that the arguments of Woodard and Spier have gotten traction with at least two other board members as they work to kill this administration by a thousand pin pricks.
Whatever is eating these two – bruised egos, feelings of inadequacy or irrelevancy, or a desire for control – it needs to be put aside. Clarendon College is this community’s most valuable asset, and it is too important to let two people yank the reins and put the cart in the ditch by running off qualified employees, violating the law and college policy, and risking the college’s accreditation. Above all they need to stop accusing the administration of violating policies when they themselves can’t seem to follow policy or state law.
If they can’t swallow their pride and let the administration do its job, then the other board members need to rise to the occasion, stop sitting silently, and get the focus back on what is best for the college. And if they can’t get that done, then it’s time to start looking for new board members who can.
City will seek pool bids again
Last Wednesday brought a second round of disappointment for Clarendon officials when new bids for the city’s proposed water recreation facility again came in more than $1 million above the project estimate.
The low – and only – bid at the first bid opening in January came in at $3.162 million. A second round of bidding drew the interest of three companies, but the low bid at the March 20 opening was $3.255 million.
Higher than expected costs for concrete and steel are still being fingered for the cause of the price overrun.
City Administrator David Dockery says city officials are going back to the drawing board with engineering firm WatersEdge to try to scale the plan to the for the funds available.
Lions 5K registration deadline coming up
Registration is now open for the seventh annual Chance Mark Jones Roar & Run 5K, which will be held Saturday, April 13 at Clarendon College.
The Clarendon Lions Club is hosting the event to coincide with Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Those interested in running or walking the 5K (about 3.1 miles) are encouraged to sign up before April 1 to take advantage of the early bird discount. Registration costs $25, but those who sign up early save $5. Signing up by April 1 also guarantees participants the official 5K t-shirt.
The year’s race will start and end on the Clarendon College campus and will run through the city, around Prospect Park, which is the home of the Lions’ Chance Mark Jones Memorial Playground, and past several historic structures, including the Donley County Courthouse, the First United Methodist Church, and the S.W. Lowe House.
The race will begin at 9 a.m. Race registrations are available at the Clarendon Visitor Center at the Mulkey Theatre, at the Enterprise, or online at https://bit.ly/2IxyzNy.
Sponsorships are also available, and potential sponsors are also asked to sign up by April 1 to ensure their names are on this year’s T-shirt.
Proceeds will go towards the many charitable activities of the Clarendon Lions Club, which includes eyeglasses for local school kids, Christmas baskets for local families, hosting the local office of The Bridge – Children’s Advocacy Center, local scholarships, continued park improvements, and monetary support for other local charities.
For information, contact Lion Ashlee Estlack at ashlee.estlack@gmail.com or 806-662-4687 or Lion Roger Estlack at publisher@clarendonlive.com or 806-874-2259.
CC expects huge crowd for contest
The Clarendon College Invitational Judging Contest may have its biggest attendance ever this Saturday if registration numbers stay true and everyone shows up.
As of Monday, more than 2,400 contestants were registered for the event compared to 2,100 registered last year at this point.
The biggest single event doubles Clarendon’s population for a day each year. The contest attracts around 2,000 high school FFA students and 4-H students from around Texas and nearby states.
The number of registrations doesn’t include the hundreds of parents and coaches who accompany the students to the contest. According to the 2010 US Census, Clarendon has a population of 2,026.
Past contests have had huge impacts on the local economy. Restaurants are typically packed for the event, and this year will hopefully be equally successful. Best Western Red River Inn reported they are booked solid for Friday night.
In addition to helping local merchants, the event also presents a great opportunity for CC to showcase its campus, faculty, and programs for prospective students. Johnny Treichel, Clarendon College livestock and meats judging coach, said the event is a big recruiting tool for the college.
“This is the only time each year the college has this many potential students on campus,” he said. “And we are pleased to have such positive support from the community year after year.”
Martin Ray Mills
Martin Ray Mills, 80, of Farmers Branch, Texas, died Friday, October 19, 2018, in Dallas.
Family Directed Memorial service were held on Thursday, October 25, 2018, in the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Farmers Branch with Rev. Elzie Odom, officiating.
Memorial Graveside Services with military honors will be held at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, 2019, in Citizens Cemetery in Clarendon.
Cremation and Arrangements are under the direction of Robertson Funeral Directors of Clarendon.
Ray was born September 11, 1938, in Wichita Falls to Melville and Ruth Geneva Wallace Mills. He was a US Army veteran. Ray had been a resident of Farmers Branch since 1969 and worked for MBNA as a data processor until his retirement in 2002. He married Lyndia Kay Janssen on December 29, 2010, in Clarendon. He volunteered for C.O.P, Citizens on Patrol, for the Farmers Branch Police Department since he graduated from the 2010 class. He loved doing yardwork and getting on computers. He was a member of the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Farmers Branch.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
He is survived by his wife, Lyndia Mills of Farmers Branch; a sister, Sharon Thomas of Memphis; step son, Rick Meaker of Peoria, Illinois; step daughters, Krystal Christopher of Melrose, New Mexico, Denise Trevino of Farmers Branch, and Shirlene Mills; 9 grandchildren; and 5 great grandchildren.
Sign the online guestbook at www.robertsonfuneral.com
Accident claims life of CC student
A Clarendon College rodeo team member died following a skid loader accident on campus Monday night, March 18.
Twenty-year-old sophomore Dalton O’Gorman of Shamrock was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Pam Mason, and an autopsy on Tuesday morning confirmed the young man died from crushing injuries he sustained.
“We are deeply saddened to share news of the loss of a member of our Bulldog Nation,” CC President Robert Riza said. “Please keep Dalton’s family, rodeo team members, Coach Bret Franks, and everyone at the college in your thoughts and prayers.”
Emergency personnel were called to the grounds of the Livestock & Equine Center at 7:54 p.m.
Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said two students were using a skid loader and had put a fork attachment on the loader but had not engaged the latches to secure the fork to the loader.
Blackburn said while they were moving the loader, O’Gorman was hanging from the forks raised in the air. The forks bounced loose of the loader and apparently fell to the ground on top of the student. Students and first responders then attempted to resuscitate O’Gorman.
“No charges are pending in this case,” Blackburn said. “It was just a terrible accident.”
Services for O’Gorman are set for this Thursday, March 21. Details are available here.
One fatality in single-car accident
A Lubbock man lost his life last Monday, March 11, in a single car accident south of Clarendon on Hwy. 70.
Department of Public Safety Trooper Lynn Mays said 27-year-old Gabriel Garcia was southbound when his 2004 Lincoln Navigator went onto the right shoulder. He jerked left, spinning his vehicle so that it faced north, and the vehicle then rolled off the east side of the road before coming to rest on its wheels.
The time of the wreck is estimated to be about 9 p.m. in very foggy conditions. Rain fell at the accident scene later, and the wreckage was not discovered until about 7 a.m. the next morning by a passing motorist.
Garcia was not wearing a seatbelt and was dead on the scene, and Mays says alcohol is suspected as being involved in the accident.
Reader Comments