Going on his 39th year on the Board of Trustees, current President Joe Dobbs is still feeling energized by his task and looks forward to helping students develop the way they want.

For Dobbs, the Board of Trustees is the last line in decision making, with suggestions and ideas to come from the bottom up, since it’s the students and staff who make up City College.

Dobbs thinks the students should be more visible in this election. It’s their opportunity and ability to go through college as fast as possible that should be the main focus for all candidates, Dobbs said.

In order for more students to go through college smoothly, he hopes that as many programs as possible will be reinstated.

“We’re here for student success,” Dobbs said. “We want to make sure the students can get those core classes that allow them to advance.”

As a former self-employed optometrist, Dobbs has experience in business, which he thinks has been useful. He’s also been on the City College Board of Trustees since December 1971.

He’s also been president of the California Community College Trustees state wide elected board. He sees all of this as very important for a board member, in contrast to the inexperience some challengers have.

“Our goal is to maintain what we have. We are four strong candidates, all doing good jobs. We bring experience. One can always use those buzz words like ‘dedication’, but anyone can say that,” Dobbs said. “You don’t just jump into this job, you don’t learn it right away, it takes a long time.”

Being in many elections in the past, Dobbs still feels he has the energy to continue and make a difference.

“I always ask myself when time came up to run again: do I still have the enthusiasm and the energy to do this job? Do I really like doing it and am I making a difference? If I couldn’t answer those questions affirmably ‘yes, I’m making a difference’ and ‘yes, I like what I’m doing’, then I would just say ‘hey, I’ll step down’.”

Dobbs thinks that the board’s work is already open for the public and that the members are easy to get a hold of via phone, email or to meet in person. But election challengers accuse the board of not being open enough. This irritates Dobbs.

“I think that is totally false. We’ve been an open board and we have not ever tried to hide back anything. We have been as transparent as possible. I think they are trying to make an issue out of nothing.”

Dobbs isn’t against term limits but said if they were to be enacted, then they should be long.

” You probably should be allowed to go 16 years or something like that, because that way you really know what you are doing, you can make a difference.”

Dr. Virgil Elings, president emeritus Dr. Peter MacDougall, Gerd and Peter Jordano, Bob and Patti Bryant and Ruth and Bob Kallman endorse Dobbs.