El Camino’s College Council approved its new governance structure in an almost unanimous decision with one member abstaining from voting.

The new Governance structure is said to begin next fall with multiple new processes involved in its voting and non-voting membership. One of the biggest changes to come from this reconstruction is the subtraction of El Camino’s Classified Employee voter representation.

The El Camino College Classified Employees (ECCE) has a representative on the current council, Brian Hayden, who was unavailable to attend the council’s most recent meeting on Monday, April 18. In Hayden’s place as an alternate was ECCE President Roy Dietz.

Dietz told The Union student-run publication that he decided to abstain from voting on the new structure due to being hesitant considering the bad experiences that El Camino College Classified Employees have reported having with the previous administrators, and once ECCE becomes non-voting members, their voices may not be heard as much.

While Dietz told The Union that he likes the new administration and that they are adding more classified people to become voters coming next fall, he is not sure why the El Camino Classified Employees have been moved from voting to now a non-voting membership.

Dietz said he understands El Camino’s new President, Dr. Brenda Thames, has a new vision for the council and is satisfied that his voice has been heard.

Dr. Thames said during the meeting that she understands that while not everybody always walks away happy in certain meetings, everyone still has their voice heard.

“Change is inevitable, and every day there’s change. The things we don’t like are the things we constantly have to deal with,” Dietz said.