Dec. 16, 2008 — Two newly elected members of the Lassen Community College Board of Trustees, Jeff Hemphill and Scott Blackwood, were sworn in during a small ceremony performed by Lassen County Superior Court Judge Donald Sokol at the board’s organizational board meeting Tuesday, Dec. 9. Also sworn in were re-elected members Tom Hammond and Chris Click, incumbents who both won their campaigns for re-election in November.

Current board trustees and LCC President Doug Houston welcomed Hemphill and Blackwood, who will both attend an informational orientation on the campus in the coming month.

Also discussed in the meeting was the positive outlook for the school’s accreditation status, and an upcoming meeting with the state accreditation commission that Houston and Special Trustee Thomas Henry will attend in January.

“It is probably the most important meeting to the viability of the institution in recent history,” said Henry.

Houston and Henry will be in charge of reporting to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges on the progress that has been made since the ACCJC performed a comprehensive evaluation of LCC with recommendations during a site visit in March 2008, after which the school was put on a probationary period until Jan. 09.

Since receiving the recommendations, Houston said administrators, faculty, staff and students should all be commended for collective efforts to make changes in accordance with the ACCJC proposals.

Houston said a report from the ACCJC’s October follow up visit reflected the progress the school had made, and he is optimistic about the January meeting.

Henry said the board will be notified of the outcome of the meeting in February.

The board also discussed the status of the school’s annual audit process.

Director of Audit Services for the Redding CPA firm Nystrom Company, Steve Pittman, reported a summary of his findings to the board.

Pittman, who has been on campus for the last three weeks researching the school’s compliance with state requirements, said a complete report will be submitted to the state audit commission by the Dec. 31 deadline, and the overall outlook for the school is good.

“The majority of any previous issues have been resolved, and the district has made good progress,” said Pittman.

Pittman mentioned a few recommendations that will be outlined in his final report, including closing a loophole in the school’s census procedures to allow for more accurate numbers, and a recommendation on improving internal controls and payrolls.

The complete findings in Pittman’s final report will be discussed in a future board meeting.

“We believe your district takes our audit procedures seriously, and we see improvement every time we visit,” said Pittman.

The next regular meeting of the LCC board of trustees will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Jan 13, in the “N” board room located on the Lassen College campus.