.png)
What lies in the Paterson room almost once every month is a meeting amongst 14 members of the Board of Trustees, where 11 are voting members and 3 are non-voting. This group of people decides the tuition and fees paid by students at large, the policies and procedures of the college, certificates and degrees offered, the educational curriculum, and who will be appointed as President alongside other officers of the college. Thus, their responsibilities ultimately decide which direction the college heads toward.
One example of the level of importance that the Board of Trustees holds, is that just this summer they have raised the cost of tuition for in-county residents, out-of-county residents, out-of-state residents, and veterans. As shown in the chart below, in-county residents and veterans are seeing a 3.54% increase, out-of-county residents are seeing a 5.13% increase, and out-of-state residents are seeing a 4% increase.
Elections
As mentioned prior, there are a total of 14 members. One seat is the Passaic County Executive County Superintendent of Schools. When it comes to the other 8 seats, they are appointed by the Passaic County Board of County Commissioners. First a search committee is formed under the conditions that committee members must be Passaic County residents, cannot be elected officials, and cannot themselves be appointed to the Board within six months of serving on that committee, then they are voted upon by the full Commissioner Board. The last 2 seats are decided upon by the Governor of New Jersey.
Non-voting members include the President of the college, the Legal Counsel of the college, and lastly, the alumni representative.
The President of the college also serves as the Secretary, where their responsibilities range from day-to-day administration, recommending policy and budget items to the Board, hiring/managing staff below the trustee level, and bringing items like consulting contracts and grant approvals to the Board "upon the recommendation of the President”. As Secretary, they are the administrative officer of the Board itself, so they send the required public notice of meetings (to the newspaper of record, the County Clerk's office, and posted publicly, per the Open Public Meetings Act), keep and certify the official minutes/resolutions, and also serves as Secretary of the Board of School Estimate, a separate statutory body (N.J.S.A. 18A:64A-15) that reviews and certifies the College's capital budget requests to the county.
The Legal Counsel serves as the Board's attorney, advising trustees on compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act, contract and procurement law (including the "public bid exceptions"), personnel/legal risk, and general legality of proposed resolutions before a vote.
The Alumni Representative is elected annually by the graduating class, serving a one-year term starting July 1. They represent the student/alumni’s interests and voice on the Board.
Trustee Term Lengths and Conditions
Appointed trustees on PCCC's Board of Trustees serve four-year terms, per state law (N.J.S.A. 18A:64A-9). That applies whether the seat is one of the eight appointed by the Passaic County Board of County Commissioners or one of the two appointed by the Governor of New Jersey. Terms are staggered by design, so the entire board doesn't turn over in the same year. The statute even dictates how the first round of appointees is split into staggered one-, two-, three-, and four-year terms specifically to keep future turnover spread out.
A holdover provision in the same statute complicates the picture, however: a trustee "shall serve until his successor shall have been appointed and qualified." In practice, that means a trustee whose four-year term has technically expired keeps sitting on the board, with full voting power, until the appointing authority names and confirms a replacement.
Not every seat works this way. The Board's one ex officio seat, currently held by Kesha Drakeford, carries no fixed term at all. It belongs, by statute, to whoever holds the position of Executive County Superintendent of Schools for Passaic County, for as long as they hold that job. The student Alumni Representative seat is the opposite case where there is a strict one-year term running from July 1 to June 30, with a newly elected graduate installed every year and no holdover. And the two non-voting staff seats, the College President (serving as Board Secretary) and Legal Counsel, aren't "terms" in this statutory sense at all. The President sits ex officio for as long as they hold the presidency, and counsel serves for as long as the Board retains them.