Operating Principles

• Develop long and short-range plans that assess needs, support goals, and make resource provisions for successfully completing those plans.
• Develop and recommend an equitable and accountable system for the allocation of District resources that is linked to the District’s mission, goals, and priorities.
• Ensure that budget recommendations do not jeopardize the overall fiscal stability of the District.
• Research, consider, and make recommendations on various budgetary matters. In some instances, this will be accomplished through the use of temporary special purpose subcommittees.
• Consider compensation issues within the framework of the overall budget, not within the collective bargaining process.
• Develop an annual budgetary planning calendar so that the process and timelines for making key decisions are clearly understood by the larger college community.
• Assist in identifying ways to augment state funding on a district-wide level by securing federal, state, and local grants, and other revenue sources.
• Promote communication on planning and budget district-wide.
• Assist in District-wide efforts to communicate funding needs to state, local, and federal legislators.
• Review emerging needs that have District-wide budgetary impact.
• Send forward a recommended Tentative and Final Budget.

Members of the District Council are expected to effectively and efficiently represent their constituency. Therefore, it is expected that:

1. Emphasis will be placed on what is best for the student and is responsive to the needs of the community;
2. The opinions of all staff and students are treated with respect and given reasonable consideration;
3. The interests of each constituency are accepted as having equal legitimacy as part of discussions;
4. Constituency representation takes place within the context of a collegial and consensus-based process; and
5. Each participant is committed to ensuring the consensus-based process is constructive, collaborative, and non-adversarial; and
6. The District Council’s recommendations will lead to district-wide understanding and acceptance of District decisions, as well as commitment to their implementation.

1. Meetings will be open.
2. The role of representatives:
   1. Formulate recommendations based on the District’s mission, goals, and priorities.
   2. Offer advice to the Chancellor.
   3. Delegate issues to the appropriate (lowest level) venues.
   4. Recognize that the ultimate responsibility for taking recommendations from the District Council to the Board resides with the Chancellor and rely on the Chancellor to inform the Board of Trustees of areas/items in which the Council’s recommendation differs from his/her own opinion.
   5. Represent their constituencies and are empowered by them to make decisions at DC on their behalves.
   6. Table an item for consultation with their constituencies on matters of significant importance, and as necessary and appropriate.
   7. Assign proxy votes and substitutes; substitutes must be well informed and prepared to represent their constituency, aware of the importance of the work at hand, and sensitive to their colleagues.
3. For regularly scheduled meetings, a quorum will consist of the following:
   1. One-third of voting Council members; this one-third must include:
      1. one representative from each College
      2. one representative from the District
      3. one faculty member representing the Academic Senate
      4. one classified representative, and
      5. one administrator.
4. In determining if an item would be appropriate to be brought to District Council, the following questions should be addressed:
   1. Does it impact existing District policy, planning or the budget?
   2. Would it create a new District policy, alter a District plan, or alter funding?
   3. Would it create a new District procedure?
   4. Could it potentially impact other units of the District or require coordination with another part of the District to implement?
5. If yes to any of the above, the item could be placed on a future District Council agenda by one of three methods:
   1. Any member of District Council can place on the agenda an item that has District-wide implications (it is assumed that this has already been discussed at the appropriate college or District Services constituency level).
   2. At each District Council meeting, there is an opportunity for oral communication from the public, allowing any person the opportunity to address any matter not on the regular agenda. District Council may agendize said item for future discussion or action.
   3. If a constituent group identifies a concern/idea that has implications beyond the group, it normally first brings the concern to the next level of participatory governance (College Council, for example).
6. District Council decides how best to proceed when concerns/ideas are agendized. Possible courses of action include:
   1. Immediate action
   2. Committee assignment back to District Council for action
   3. Committee assignment to constituent groups for recommendationback to District Council for action
7. Agenda item discussions that last for three meetings should prompt one or more of the following actions:
   1. Allow for more discussion time
   2. Remove from the agenda
   3. Consensus pulse /possible vote
8. When necessary or requested, District Council will record how members vote on final recommendations after discussion, debate, and consensus building
9. In special cases where time is critical and limited, a special meeting of District Council will be called or members will be contacted, informed of the issue, and asked for feedback via email. In any case, the issue will be agendized for discussion at the next regularly scheduled District Council meeting.
10. There are three ways in which an item can be removed from a Pre-Board agenda:
    1. The initiator of the item may remove the item
    2. The District Council may recommend to the Chancellor that the item be removed
    3. The Chancellor may remove the item
11. The first meetings of October and February are designated for team building and reviewing DC’s mission, goals, and the way business is conducted.
12. The membership will evaluate the functioning of the District Council each year according to criteria developed by the Council. The evaluation will be completed by the end of May each year.
13. All Human Resources items (those that are exempted from Board approval) will be available on a regular basis for representative review.
14. All new administrative positions at the Colleges and the District or any major reclassifications of such positions are discussed at two Council readings. A discussion of such items is the first reading and the second reading occurs when the item appears on the pre-Board agenda, unless the particular new or changed position does not require Board approval, in which case it will be reviewed at the meeting after the first reading.