Fresno-area college board member works for fellow trustee. Is that a conflict of interest?

Nasreen Johnson, a trustee for State Center Community College District, said her new position working for a fellow board member wouldn’t interfere with her duties on the board.

Johnson, who represents District 2, began her new job as Director of Community Relations and External Affairs at Caglia Environmental on June 21. The recycling and landfill management company is owned by Area 7 trustee Richard Caglia, who has served on the board since 2008.

Although it may be an unusual move, the district and both trustees say there’s nothing shady happening.

“The employment arrangement is a personal, private arrangement that is entirely outside the scope of the trustee’s duties,” district spokesperson Lucy Ruiz told The Bee.

Although there are no board policies that prohibit trustees from working for one another, there is a policy that states board members “will resist influencing votes or actions of other Board members or of any employee, through threat, promise of award, deception, exchange of vote, or by any other means than legitimate open discussion.”

Caglia said he wouldn’t use his professional relationship with Johnson to influence her votes.

“I believe she’s a strong, intellectually capable person that has an independent mind,” he said.

Johnson said it’s unreasonable to believe she shouldn’t have taken the job. She said she still needs to earn a paycheck to take care of her family. State Center trustees earn a $750 a month stipend, according to board documents.

“Barring employment opportunities from elected officials would impact who is able to run for office,” Johnson said. “Elected offices shouldn’t be reserved for those who are wealthy, and don’t need to work, or who are retired.”

She said there is no reason to believe that Caglia could influence her in her duties as a trustee.

“It’s just important that we have diversity in our elected positions and on our boards, and in ways that are reflective of our community. And so I would hate to see folks coming after people for their daytime positions.”

Johnson said there’s “not a whole lot of overlap in my current role, whereas in my previous roles, there might have been more.”

When Johnson was voted onto the board in 2020, she was a communications strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California. Before that, she worked as the director of marketing and communications for the Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission.

“One actively collaborates with the district on programs for the community and has a financial interest in doing so, and then the other one has sued one of our colleges,” she said.

Johnson said when there are conflicts of interest, there are ways she can step away from the vote or discussion.

Others, however, aren’t so sure Johnson working for Caglia is a good idea, despite it not being against any policy.

“It’s in the gray (area),” said community activist Kevin Hall, “and it shouldn’t be in the gray. I think there should be bright lines here.”

At the July board meeting, he went so far as to ask for either of their resignations and said he believes Johnson should step down from her new job.

“This doesn’t pass the smell test,” he said.

Part of the reason Hall said he believes there’s a problem is because “none of the progressive groups and individuals who backed Johnson and gave her money and voted for her would have done so had she been heading a job title in strategic communications for Caglia Environmental.”

Hall is an environmental activist who said he believes Caglia could also use Johnson as a tool to further increase Caglia’s company’s footprint in south Fresno, which Hall said he’s is against.

Caglia brushed off Hall’s criticism, saying he believes Hall’s comments are personally motivated. Hall ran against Caglia for the board seat in 2012 and lost.

“Perhaps Kevin still has sour grapes over losing to me in the election,” Caglia said.

Hall said that was “laughable,” and he’s been working on environmental issues since 1999.

“He only sees political angles, never the community exploitation,” Hall said of Calglia. “It’s a problem found throughout Fresno’s political class.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.