City College of San Francisco trustees regularly collect their monthly stipend whether they show up to board meetings or not - a practice legal experts say violates state law.

One longtime trustee has missed a third of all board meetings since July 2010, college attendance records show. Another veteran was gone four months in a row. Of the last 24 meetings, there have been only five at which all seven elected trustees were present.

On several occasions, the records show, the elected body has barely made the quorum it needs to hold votes.

"It's gotten to the point where the chancellor has his assistants call us up before every meeting to make sure board members are coming to the one meeting we have per month," said Trustee Steve Ngo, who has missed two meetings in the past year and a half.

Ngo and his colleagues oversee a $400 million budget and set policies that affect tens of thousands of students and employees across nine campuses. They are paid $500 per month - regardless of whether they attend the meetings.

The board regularly meets monthly but occasionally holds additional special sessions.

Meanwhile, the college is reeling from an unexpected last-minute cut of $3 million in state funds, the latest in a series that have hammered the institution.

Dozens of already enrolled classes were slashed from the spring schedule. Employees across the college, from custodians to administrators, will likely take a pay hit. The board's typically quiet meeting was packed Thursday with employees and students upset by the cuts.

Violating state law

Steven Bruckman, executive vice chancellor of legal affairs for the California Community College Chancellor's office, said the college is violating the state's Education Code by paying trustees for meetings they don't attend.

While trustees can vote to excuse a trustee for circumstances like jury duty or illness, Bruckman said, it is illegal for the district to pay trustees for unexcused absences.

"Ed code provides payment for meetings they actually attend," Bruckman said.

Scott Lay, president and CEO of the Community College League of California, said trustees should not be paid for unapproved absences. "From my reading of the ed code, a resolution is required for full compensation to be paid to a member who misses meetings," he wrote in an e-mail.

A review of meeting minutes dating back to 2007 turned up no resolutions to excuse absent trustees. Several trustees said the matter of compensation had never been discussed.

"It's never come up or been brought to our attention," said Board President John Rizzo. "We certainly have some qualms about people missing meetings."

Attendance records dating back to July 2010 show no absences by Rizzo.

City College legal counsel Scott Dickey and Vice Chancellor of Finance Peter Goldstein did not return phone calls.

Given the board's lackluster attendance, payments to absent trustees could add up. Records show that in the past year and a half, the seven elected trustees have been absent a total of 31 times.

At $500 per month, that's $15,500 - money legal experts say never should have left the college. District officials estimate each class section costs about $3,000.

Records show Trustee Lawrence Wong has the most absences over the past year and a half, missing eight of the last 24 meetings.

Like other trustees, Wong said he was unaware it was problematic to accept pay for months in which he skipped sessions. A 17-year veteran of the board, Wong said he believed automatic stipends have always been standard practice.

He said he missed last month's meeting for health reasons and two other recent meetings because of a vacation to Brazil.

Wong described much of the business conducted at board meetings as "pro forma" and said he may have forgone some meetings for activities he deemed more useful to the college.

'Not making excuses'

"We as trustees should not be micromanaging," he said. "If I can be meeting with community groups or prospective donors, then I have to make that decision.

"I'm not making excuses," he said. "I think meetings are important, and we should make every effort to attend."

Trustee Anita Grier, elected in 1998, could not be reached for comment on why her five absences include a four-month stretch between November 2010 and February 2011.

Records show she did not attend the January 2011 session at which her colleagues voted 4-1 to spend up to $3,200 to send her to a conference in Washington, D.C., that February. At the March meeting, Grier mentioned she had been ill, minutes show.

Trustees Natalie Berg and Chris Jackson each have five absences spread out over the past year and a half, records show. Trustee Milton Marks missed six meetings while recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Jackson, who said he missed some meetings to look after his infant daughter while his wife worked, said he had always understood the $500 to be not just for monthly meetings, but also for the 30 to 40 hours per week he said he regularly puts in outside of meetings.