MOORPARK : Contract Extension Delayed for Bowers

The Ventura County Community College District board delayed extending the contract of Moorpark College President Stan Bowers, who was reprimanded by the board in December.

Bowers, whose contract runs out in June, 1992, will be evaluated again next January to determine if his contract should be extended until June, 1993, board President Timothy Hirschberg said Thursday.

Tuesday, the board voted to extend the contracts of Ventura College President Robert Long and Oxnard College President Elise Schneider because of satisfactory, or better, evaluations last month.

Bowers “didn’t fall into that category,” Hirschberg said.

All three of the college presidents have contract provisions that automatically extend the contract if evaluations are satisfactory.

Bowers was reprimanded by the board for his involvement in transferring $51,000 in campus bookstore profits to the Moorpark College Foundation and for funneling another $3,152 in bookstore profits to Ingrid Ely, the college’s former alumni association president, to pay for travel.

The money transfers surfaced during an inquiry by prosecutors into community college Trustee James T. (Tom) Ely and his wife, Ingrid. Both await trial. Tom Ely is charged with conspiracy, embezzlement and fraud in connection with the filing of allegedly false travel claims with the district. Ingrid Ely is charged with conspiracy.

The financial transactions involving Bowers are the focus of an inquiry by the Ventura County district attorney’s office.

Bowers has denied any wrongdoing and stated after the reprimand that the transfers were legal, proper and for appropriate activities. He said Thursday that negative inferences should not be drawn from the board’s lack of action on his contract.

“As long as the college is well-run in the next year, I will continue to be president and beyond that,” he said.