Santa Barbara City College Trustee Gets Unusual Sendoff as Board Welcomes Newly Elected Members
It Initially Appeared That Veronica Gallardo Would Not Receive a Resolution Recognizing Her 12 Years of Service
In terms of unusual goodbyes, Santa Barbara City College Board of Trustees President Jonathon Abboud took the cake during Thursday night’s special board meeting.
During the meeting’s celebration of those stepping down — trustees Anna Everett, Robert K. Miller, and Veronica Gallardo — Abboud complimented not Gallardo’s service on the board, but her taste buds.
“We didn’t agree a lot on policies,” he told her. “But I think I really agree with your food taste. And you had some of the best taste in food in town, of the people I’ve spoken to. So I do always appreciate talking with you about that.”
To grant Abboud some leniency, it was the first time the board ever gave outgoing trustees each their own pat-on-the-back resolution for their time served. And these boardmembers served through a flashpoint for cultural politics.
At City College, these politics manifested in their raw form — including the all-consuming COVID-19 lockdown and Black Lives Matter protests, with the level of distrust and polarization on political and racial lines reaching new heights in our modern era.
Everett, who served four years on the board, was the board vice president for two years during a stressful superintendent/president transition and the development and passage of a bond, and she worked to reaffirm the college’s commitment to Black and African American students, faculty, and staff.
“I’m trying to hold back the tears because this is a bittersweet moment right now,” she said, emphasizing her appreciation to be able to step up and serve, even during a tumultuous time. “I’ve enjoyed the whole process.”
Miller served for seven years, including as board president for two years during 2019 and 2020, the beginning of the pandemic and fully remote meetings for the first time in college history.
“From the moment I got on the board, I was like, ‘Robert, we need to do this, and we need to work on this,’ and you were like, ‘Okay, Charlotte, let’s do this,’” said trustee Dr. Charlotte Gullap-Moore. “It was a pleasure working with you, and I hate to see you go.”
Both trustees were told, in one way or another, that they were appreciated and would be missed.
Gallardo, who served 12 years on the board, had a different kind of goodbye, however. Trustees noted that they did not always see eye to eye, which was exemplified especially in Gallardo’s opposition to the city college’s COVID-19 vaccine and masking mandate and her censure by the board in 2023. However, Trustee Marsha Croninger, who worked with Gallardo the longest, praised her focus and attention on financial issues and educational policies.
At the beginning of the week, it initially appeared that Gallardo would not receive a resolution at all. As the board’s lone conservative voice, this struck a chord with her right-leaning supporters, including Bobbi McGinnis, chair of the Santa Barbara County Republican Party. McGinnis and a drove of other supporters were quick to make her a martyr, attending the meeting on Thursday to sing her praises.
McGinnis shared a press release honoring Gallardo — the only Spanish speaker and Latina on the board — and her actions, such as her effort to include the pledge of allegiance at board meetings. At the meeting, she called Gallardo a voice for “the conservative message.”
In the same release, Dr. Anthony Beebe, former SBCC superintendent/president, said he “worked closely with Gallardo,” adding that, “we didn’t agree on everything, but you never do, nor should you, in those situations. Veronica was articulate, thoughtful, and forceful in her positions and ideas.”
Gallardo did, ultimately, receive a resolution recognizing her service to the board. Board president Jonathon Abboud told the Independent the reason that her resolution was not added to the agenda by Monday night was because it simply was not finished in time.
On Tuesday night, Abboud and Trustee Ellen Stoddard worked to finish Gallardo’s resolution in time. “We worked hard to finish all three resolutions to recognize the outgoing trustees,” he said.
Gallardo herself limited her comments to saying she has a “good life” and counting her blessings.
The Independent reached out to Gallardo to learn why she decided not to run for reelection.
“My husband and I both prayed about me running for a seat on the SBCC Board of Trustees,” she said in an email. “Serving in public office is not a career, a dozen years is a solid amount of time, and we knew that after three terms I would complete my service to SBCC in 2024.”
A New Board
Thursday night also welcomed in the new trustees — Kyle Richards, representing area 2, Jett Black-Maertz, representing area 3, and Dave Morris, representing area 4.
These trustees emphasized congeniality and accountability in their welcome speeches.
“In a sense, we are family,” said Morris. “Families argue and disagree and don’t necessarily get along all the time. But they know family comes first. The health of this institution comes first.”
The new trustees had a long agenda ahead of them that night, including the beginnings of assigning members to the Measure P Oversight Committee. Measure P passed with 66.15 percent of the vote, extending existing bond funding for building construction, facilities upgrades, and infrastructure repairs on campus.
Abboud said he was excited about what the next four years will bring, and happy with the current configuration of the board.
“We’re going to have a lot of hard decisions. It’s not going to be all fun and games,” he said. “We have to spend Measure P responsibly and stick to the will of the voters.… But I think we can do it.”
