Santa Clarita Valley residents got their first look Wednesday at the new governing board overseeing College of the Canyons — and the apparent division within it.  Sharlene Johnson, sworn in on Wednesday, was voted as the president of the of the Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees, which oversees COC, after incumbent Edel Alonso failed in her bid to be president for a fifth straight term.  Alonso was nominated by Carlos Guerrero, recently appointed to the board, before she seconded her own nomination. Johnson was nominated by fellow new board member Darlene Trevino and also seconded her own nomination.  In the first vote, Trevino abstained from the vote for Alonso, with Johnson and Fred Arnold voting against her, making the vote 2-2 with one abstention. In the second vote, Guerrero was the lone vote against Johnson, who was elected president on a 4-1 vote.  Arnold, Johnson and Trevino, all of whom were elected in the Nov. 5 election, were sworn in as board members in the afternoon before the newly composed board chose its officers.  COC interim president David Andrus (right) swears in governing board member Sharlene Johnson, who was eventually selected as board president, during Wednesday’s meeting at the COC University Center on Dec. 18, 2024. Tyler Wainfeld/The Signal. “I was honored to have the votes and support of the board,” Johnson said in a phone interview on Thursday. “Right now, the focal point is to bring everybody to the same page and put together a collaborative effort to organize a vision for the college as a collective group. That’s something that’s going to be developed over time with all of us.”  Arnold nominated himself to be president, but nobody seconded it.  It’s the first time the board is full after roughly six months of it being short at least one member. Chuck Lyon resigned in June, followed by Joan MacGregor retiring in August after 31 years on the board.  Guerrero was appointed in September to fill MacGregor’s seat. MacGregor said at one of her last meetings that she intentionally did not resign until after the deadline to consolidate a special election with the Nov. 5 general election — Lyon had done so, allowing his seat to be on the ballot — due to her feeling that, from her experience, more people are inclined to apply for a seat rather than campaign for one.  Only three candidates stepped forward, and Guerrero earned the seat with the approval of the three board members sitting at the dais at the time.  COC interim president David Andrus (right) swears in governing board member Edel Alonso, previously the board president, during Wednesday’s meeting at the COC University Center on Dec. 18, 2024. Tyler Wainfeld/The Signal. Johnson beat incumbent Jerry Danielsen in the election. Danielsen, who had run on the same slate backed by the college unions as Alonso, was honored Wednesday for his service to the college after being appointed to the board in March 2023.  “I’d like to say thank you to the Santa Clarita community and the COC community, all the ones who trusted in me and confided in me,” Danielsen said. “You were seen, you were heard. I’d like to acknowledge the full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, the classified staff, the union members and administrators, all the employees at the college — you’re tireless, highly intelligent and talented people with amazing hearts. It’s been an honor and a privilege to get to know you and to work with you. You are the backbone of this college.”  Representatives from the offices of Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, state Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Santa Clarita, and Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, were on hand to thank Danielsen for his service to the community. He also received recognition from L.A. County 5th District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the SCV, though neither she nor a representative were present on Wednesday.  Also leaving the board after one term was Sebastian Cazares, a former COC student who was elected in 2020. He was not present on Wednesday but was honored for his service at a recent meeting.  COC interim president David Andrus (right) swears in governing board member Fred Arnold during Wednesday’s meeting at the COC University Center on Dec. 18, 2024. Tyler Wainfeld/The Signal. Arnold, who had been chair of the COC Foundation, a nonprofit auxiliary organization formed to generate philanthropic support for the college, will serve as vice president for the next year while Trevino will serve as clerk of the board and as the trustee representative on the foundation board.  Interim COC President David Andrus will serve as secretary/parliamentarian of the board of trustees.  “We’re super excited to work as the new board, to move forward with the search of a new CEO,” Arnold said in a phone interview Thursday. “We definitely appreciate everything David has done. I’m excited to find out more about infrastructure projects on campus so that we can continue to provide first-class facilities for the future of the college. We want to provide input on the vision for the college for the next 20 years.”  At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Arnold requested a special meeting to be held prior to the board’s next regularly scheduled meeting on Jan. 22 to discuss facilities projects, including the future of the student housing project that the previous board declined to move forward on as well as the Advanced Technology Center that was canceled despite being essentially ready for construction.  COC interim president David Andrus (right) swears in governing board member Darlene Trevino during Wednesday’s meeting at the COC University Center on Dec. 18, 2024. Tyler Wainfeld/The Signal. The 30,000-square-foot ATC project was canceled in September after college officials found that the $22 million that was originally approved for it would be $16 million short of what would actually be needed, bringing the true cost to $38 million.  COC eventually paid $10 million to Intertex, the developer, for the plans and land that the ATC was scheduled to be built on. The previous board recently approved design services for an on-campus ATC that would be closer to the 111,000 square feet that the National Coalition of Advanced Technology Centers recommends.  An update on the status of a search for a permanent head of the college was also requested by Arnold.  “The community deserves a full-time president, whether it’s David or somebody else,” he said on Thursday, adding that Andrus would be a candidate if he wants it.  Outgoing COC governing board member Jerry Danielsen (center) is celebrated by board member Edel Alonso (left) and college president David Andrus during Wednesday’s meeting at the COC University Center on Dec. 18, 2024. Tyler Wainfeld/The Signal. The board also heard about some of the basics of the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, from the district’s legal counsel, Eileen O’Hare-Anderson, a partner at the Liebert, Cassidy & Whitmore law firm.  Before relinquishing her role as president of the board, Alonso congratulated her new fellow trustees.  “My congratulations to all the newly sworn in candidates who are now our trustees,” Alonso said before the board retired to a two-hour closed session and returned later to finish its annual organizational meeting.  The post New COC board members take their places  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.