Honor Oregon Local Budget Law — $25M at risk

Posted on December 2, 2025 by LCCEA

Below is the text of a memo sent to LCC Board of Education Members on Dec. 2, 2025, sent by LCCEA President Adrienne Mitchell, expressing grave concerns that the action item the Board has on their agenda for tomorrow (Dec 3), requiring a vote on $16.5M in budget cuts, is not compliant with Oregon Local Budget Law and will put LCC at dire risk of losing the ability to assess property taxes. 

Property taxes comprise one quarter of the general fund annual revenue at $25M. This would cause significant, possibly irrecoverable, damage to Lane Community College.

_____

December 2, 2025

Esteemed Board of Education Members,

I am writing to share grave concerns about the new action item that calls for the Board to approve a three year financial plan at tomorrow’s Board of Education meeting.

Approving such a plan would put the College seriously at risk of non-compliance with Oregon Local Budget Law. Please see attached legal memo from attorneys Luke Kuzava and Evianna Colvin that was provided to you on September 30, 2025 on this very same topic.

As noted on September 30, according to attorneys Kuzava and Colvin, 

“Given the circumstances, I want to be as clear as I can be on this point: the LCC Board of Education plainly has no legal authority to approve any proposed budget cuts before those proposed cuts are (1) written into a budget document by the College’s budget officer; (2) presented to the College’s Budget Committee in accordance with the legal requirements of ORS 294.426 (including all public notice and public participation requirements); (3) approved (potentially with revisions) by the budget committee pursuant to ORS 294.428, and (4) providing advance notice of a public “budget hearing” meeting as required by ORS 294.448, and (5) actually holding that “budget hearing” meeting in a manner that provides for public input as required by ORS 294.453.”

To be clear, subverting Oregon Local Budget Law is serious. 

According to Tedesco Law Group attorneys who have reviewed the new plan posted on BoardDocs for tomorrow, “The consequences of failing to comply with the Oregon Local Budget Law can be dire. ORS 294.338(1) provides that the College “may not expend money or certify to the assessor an ad valorem tax rate or estimated amount of ad valorem taxes to be imposed in any year unless” the College has complied with the Local Budget Law. One of the College’s largest sources of revenues come from property taxes. If the College fails to comply with the Local Budget Law, it may risk that significant source of revenue.”

Property taxes comprise more than $25 Million of LCC’s annual revenue.

Risking the loss of this level of funding would be dangerous for our institution and would likely be irrecoverable for Lane Community College.

There is no precedent for any type of similar plan or Board action outside of the official budget development and approval process with full participation of the Board and Budget Committee with public hearings as required by statute. Board Policy does not require any such action. 

And the premise on which the proposal is based is faulty. For background on the exaggerated projections built into LCC’s budget forecasts, watch this video. The Ending fund balance is already ~8% of the general fund. It is not necessary to cut more than $16.5M as noted in the three-year proposed plan. What is required for board policy is that – through the budget development process in the Winter and in compliance with Oregon Local Budget Law in the Spring – the ending fund balance be restored over three years. This will take only ~$2M over three years, and the “plan” is simply that the budget that is produced and approved through the official, legally compliant process in Winter and Spring, must ultimately result in revenues exceeding expenses by restoring less than $1M (i.e., approximately $800K) per year over three years. 

Furthermore, the “plan” before you is NOT a budget cutting plan. The “plan” adds massive expenses in the amount of more than $10.2 Million in “strategic investments” in order to justify cuts of more than $16.5 Million. 

Regardless, none of this is permitted under Oregon Local Budget Law outside the process that is legally required with the Board and community appointees on the Budget Committee in Spring.

Please honor your duty to the public and follow Oregon Public Budget Law. 

“The consequences of failing to comply with the Oregon Local Budget Law can be dire.”

And the institution will be dangerously at risk of losing one quarter of its annual funding in the amount of $25+ Million in annual property tax revenue if you vote or move forward with any budget decisions outside the legally-required process.

Sincerely,

Adrienne
—

Adrienne Mitchell, M.A., M.Ed.

Faculty Member, Academic Learning Skills Department

President, Lane Community College Education Association

Vice President, Oregon Education Association Community College Council

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Bargaining Update: The ball is in their court.

Posted on December 2, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

Things are heating up! Today, in front of a packed room of union members, we showed we are serious about reaching an agreement. Maintaining a laser focus on faculty top priorities, we presented a full supposal – an entire, non-binding, “what-if” package – covering all core issues as an offer the College could accept as a whole or counter in kind. The supposal contains multiple examples of meaningful movement toward the College on our previous proposals. See all of LCCEA’s supposals here or scroll below for for details. 

In addition, we also presented the Administration with a cost analysis of their proposal, showing it would result in a 10% cut to College investment in part-time and full-time faculty, extracted through workload increases, moving insurance costs to faculty, and the loss of part-time jobs. We estimate 46% of all sections currently available to part-time faculty would be cut. 

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Meanwhile, the Administration took their usual approach with several minor wording changes while rejecting numerous faculty proposals. They did also offer an update to their COLA proposal in Art. 26 moving from 1.3% to 1.8%, still with no retro pay, and restoring the status quo language in Art. 34 regarding inherent rights protecting part-time faculty. (See here and below for Administration’s propsals.)

We agreed to add two bargaining sessions on January 13 and 20. We proposed additional weekly dates, which the Administration declined. We made clear that we reserved the right to proceed to mediation. Mediation involves working with a neutral third party to help move negotiations forward, which appears to be necessary to help push the Administration to actually begin to negotiate in earnest. 

Call to Action

Tomorrow, December 3rd, is the last Board meeting before the end of the 150-day bargaining timeline. We can make a difference if we show up en masse. Stand together with your union colleagues at 5:20 outside the Center building for a candlelight vigil to restore democracy at the Board of Education, which is critical for the future of our community and college. Then, we’ll walk to the Board meeting for public comment at 6. Wear black!

Huge thanks to the many members who contributed to a great showing in the room today. Please join us in building 2, room 214.

  • Tues., Dec 16, 1-4 p.m.
  • Tues., Jan 13, 10am-4pm
  • Tues., Jan 20, 10am-4pm

It’s time for members to raise the pressure. Look for an email from the Action Team to do your part.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Russell Shitabata

LCCEA Dec 2 Proposals and Summary

Administration Dec 2 Proposals

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Additional Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Filed December 1

Posted on December 2, 2025 by LCCEA

Esteemed Board of Education members —

I regret to inform you that LCCEA has had to file yet another unfair labor practice (ULP) complaint. Please see below. This complaint relates to interference, intimidation, and coercion of faculty members in Nursing for their union activity.

We are saddened to see the College continue down this path of unlawful retaliation and union interference. 

After the ULP rulings in July that were issued by a three-judge panel finding that LCC engaged in multiple unfair labor practices, we were hopeful that the Board of Education would take definitive action to address the ongoing unlawful activities of the LCC Administration, and to accept our faculty recommendations that managers and administrators participate in regular training so as to avoid these issues. However, we have now had to file two unfair labor practices in just the last month and remain concerned about retaliatory conditions on campus and non-compliance with state labor law. 

This level of unlawful activity is unprecedented at Lane Community College. Prior to the most recent ULP hearing, there had been none for more than two decades.

We respectfully request that you redouble your efforts to provide direction to stabilize our community’s college and to direct the Administration to abide by state law and to collaborate rather than interfere with and intimidate faculty who engage in protected activity. 

Most sincerely,

Adrienne

Adrienne Mitchell, M.A., M.Ed.

Faculty Member, Academic Learning Skills Department

President, Lane Community College Education Association

Vice President, Oregon Education Association Community College Council

Attachment to ComplaintDownload
ULP Complaint Cover SignedDownload
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Unusual Issue And Solidarity with LCCEF Classified Professionals

Posted on November 20, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

On behalf of LCCEA, I am writing about a highly unusual development affecting our campus community.

We share the deep concerns of the LCCEF Classified union leadership about recent management communications with employees in Student Affairs. These include an email from a manager to employees suggesting they send messages to the Board of Education to express “appreciation and support” for President Bulger. According to reports from employees in Student Affairs, these messages were accompanied by in person distribution of a “fact sheet” which includes numerous fallacies and appears to be, in large part, a disinformation campaign particularly targeting faculty, faculty union advocacy, and faculty negotiations.

It is reported that managers followed up to talk with employees whom they supervise to ask if they had sent a message of praise about President Bulger to the Board of Education. If the employees responded that they had not done so, they were asked by their supervisor or a higher level administrator to explain why they had not. This has been described by employees as “pressuring,” “manipulative,” and “coercive.” In addition to placing employees in a tenuous position with such a request made by a supervisor or higher level administrator, the content of the so-called “fact sheet” also appears to create divisiveness between classified and faculty. If you have received these messages, fact sheets, or had similar contacts by a manager, please contact lccea@lanecc.edu or lccfacultyunion@gmail.com (the most secure option when you use non-LCC email).

LCCEA stands firmly and proudly in solidarity with our classified colleagues of the LCCEF. 

Managerial pressuring of employees is never OK. Doing so in a divisive manner that could harm employee relationships and campus climate as a result of seeking to garner support for the college president with the Board of Education, which directly supervises the president as their sole employee, is unprecedented and inappropriate. This significantly and negatively impacts campus conditions, and raises questions of ethics and integrity, if not legal ones.

We have asked for the Board of Education to investigate this matter. Please note that we do not allege that any one particular manager(s) or administrator(s) is responsible for these actions. 

Please join me in standing together with our classified professional colleagues of the LCCEF in mutual support and solidarity.  Together we are stronger. And Together we will help guide our beloved LCC back to stability, normalcy, and vibrancy. 

Our students and community are depending on us.

Sincerely,

Adrienne

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Bargaining Update: Read now. This is serious.

Posted on November 19, 2025 by LCCEA

LCC Faculty Colleagues –

With only two sessions at the table left …

Still ZERO movement from the Administration on core issues of compensation, benefits, workload, and job security. 

Instead, at today’s bargaining session, the Administration again brought virtually no substantive changes to any proposal. At this point, we have real doubts that the Administration wants to reach an agreement.

What the Administration did was present an erroneous, misleading cost analysis of our proposal. For example, the only cost for our Art. 9 proposal is the addition of 4 hours of inservice pay for part-time faculty, which would cost only $48,650. They claimed it would cost more than $1.3 million! Their other estimates were also grossly inflated.

To demonstrate good faith, we made numerous updated proposals to meet the Administration’s interests and use our limited remaining bargaining time wisely. See below for links to proposals:

LCCEA Proposals Nov. 18 2025

Administration Proposals Nov. 18 20205

They agreed to accept two minor concessions we had already made last week in eliminating three more MOAs and finalizing the Academic Program Review article.

Thank you very much to the many members in the room today. Please join us in building 2, room 214 for the last two sessions before the seemingly inevitable next step of mediation. 

  • Tues., Dec 2, 1-4 p.m.
  • Tues., Dec 16, 1-4 p.m.

Now is the time for members to step up the pressure before it’s too late. Look for an email from the Action Team to do your part.

Your LCCEA Bargaining Team Leads,

Adrienne Mitchell

April Myler

Gerry Meenaghan

Michael Marchman

Peggy Oberstaller

Ryan Olds

Russell Shitabata

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