By Alex Breitler

Record Staff Writer

May 21, 2014

The same consultant who guided San Joaquin Delta College through a stormy spending controversy six years ago will return to help Delta make the most of the remainder of its $250 million voter-approved bond.

Trustees agreed Tuesday night to negotiate with Kathy Roach, a consultant with Sacramento-based MurphyTate, for a contract not to exceed $280,000.

Roach will manage the Measure L bond, reporting directly to Delta President Kathy Hart.

“We have come to the conclusion we really need to have someone who handles the total coordination of the bond program to make sure we get as much for our money as we possibly can, and that we complete the maximum number of projects,” Hart said Tuesday.

Roach first came to Delta in 2008, at a time when the college’s use of the bond funds was under intense scrutiny. She was the lone outsider on a mostly internal team tasked with regaining control of the bond.

It was Roach who delivered the bad news that Delta was $62.5 million short of paying for all of the bond projects it had promised to the community, and it was Roach who helped trustees scale back their plans – decisions that were not always popular.

Roach was praised by trustees at the time for her no-nonsense approach

.

Today the bond picture is considerably more clear than it was in 2008. The college’s controversial Mountain House campus has been built, albeit on a smaller scale than once envisioned. And the doors opened last fall to Delta’s new math and science building.

But with about $60 million to $70 million left to spend, Roach’s guidance will be useful as Delta pursues two more major projects: a new campus in north San Joaquin County and a renovation to the Holt building on the Stockton campus, Hart said Tuesday night.

A staff report in advance of Tuesday’s meeting cites “considerable” turnover among Delta administrators as another justification for the outside help. Delta needs to “re-establish, bolster and then maintain the momentum and consistency once developed by the bond team,” the staff report says.

Board President Taj Khan, who has publicly criticized the college’s ongoing management of the bond, was among the six trustees approving the negotiations with Roach. Trustee Jennet Stebbins abstained.

“I think we need a single point of accountability in this bond program,” Khan said. “I think we need a full-time person who can bird-dog these projects not only through design phases but also construction.”

Roach’s earnings will come from the bond, not from the college’s general fund for instruction.

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com. Follow him at www.recordnet.com/breitlerblog and on Twitter @alexbreitler