The Southwestern Community College District Board of Trustees in April unanimously approved an agreement with Gafcon Inc. to provide bond management services over the next five years to the District. Gafcon will manage implementation of Propositions R and Z.
This includes all aspects of planning and executing the capital improvements, including development of a program plan and both preconstruction and construction phases. Gafcon was selected from five responsive firms after a review process involving proposals, interviews and committee discussions. The bond program provides for construction and repairs at Southwestern Community College District’s four campuses in Chula Vista, National City, San Ysidro and Otay Mesa.
With offices in San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange County, Gafcon has 34 years of experience supporting K-12 and community college construction bond programs with program management or staff augmentation for clients including the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District, San Diego Community College District, Los Angeles Community College District, Carlsbad Unified School District, San Diego Unified School District, and the Grossmont Unified High School District. Gafcon offers the benefit of nearly 150 in-house resources in program, project and construction management, architecture, sustainability, controls, technology and more.
Gafcon CEO Yehudi “Gaf” Gaffen said its role is to help others, especially public education facilities, along with building communities, transparency and accountability as it moves forward in its role at SWC.
“Our first steps are gaining an understanding of everything, what is in place, what are the budgets and schedules so we can help them manage the successful completion of those projects as well as execute projects that have not started,” said Gaffen. “We set up the process so that the district can make the final selections. We would help guide them with the process that meets all government criteria and regulations.”
Gaffen said he is most proud of the company’s work in public education with K-12 and community colleges.
“We have done more than 15 community college campuses to date. We are most proud that external groups have recognized us for creating transparency and accountability in the use of public dollars,” he said. “It is what we pride ourselves on, what we have received awards from the Taxpayers Association for, and it is what we do well for districts. To treat their dollars like our dollars, because they really are taxpayer dollars that are precious, and they should be deployed in a stewarding way. That is what we are recognized for.”
Southwestern Community College District Assistant Superintendents and Business and Financial Affairs Vice President Dr. Kelly Hall said that at the Jan. 12 Governing Board meeting there was an information agenda item that explained that sound fiscal stewardship practices suggest that Request for Proposals should be issued at least every seven years. In her research, this had not been done in the past seven years, so the District issued an RFP for bond management services. With $389 million authorized with Proposition R, and $400 million with Proposition Z, much of the money has already been spent for projects within the master plan. She said she estimated the remaining amount on both authorizations is around $400 million. Hall said some amazing things have been done to support the campuses and the students that attend them.
“Something that is extremely visible right now is the gorgeous arts center scheduled to open this summer that is on the corner of what had been an open lot for decades,” said Hall. “It really is a showplace and I believe it is going to be one of the best performing arts facilities at a community college in the state. We are very proud of that. We are finishing up a science/technology facility at the Otay Mesa campus, which will have a simulation fire tower that will be the only one in South County and we will be making that tower available for firefighters from departments throughout South County because this time they might have to travel to Imperial County or the Coachella Valley to access a training facility like that. So, we will be training students going through our fire science program, but in addition, other first responders in the field will continue to keep their training up to date. The new library on the main campus was completed and that was a Proposition R project.”
