At its regular meeting Dec. 4, the Austin Community College board of trustees approved Nov. 5, 2013, as the date for a possible bond election for a capital improvement program

Cobby Caputo, ACC's attorney with Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta, said the approval is not a call for an election, but it is a more official way of letting the public and ACC staff know about the timeline for a possible election. Caputo said the board may change the date if it sees fit.

At the Nov. 5 meeting, trustees disagreed over the date for the 2013 bond election.

Trustee Allen Kaplan, who previously had supported a May bond election, said he did not think it was realistic to try to appoint a bond committee before the holidays. Kaplan said that he and trustee Victor Villarreal changed their minds about supporting the May election after considering the potential difficulty in appointing a bond committee before winter break.

"We've come to the conclusion that the likelihood of doing a May election is very tight and that we would prefer to do it in November 2013," Kaplan said. "We need to go on our timeline, and the timeline to me looks like November 2013."

ACC President Richard Rhodes said he also supports the November date.

"I am relieved to have more time to engage communities that need to participate in the direction of this. I know it's doable," Rhodes said.

Mary Hensley, vice president of college operations, said that between April 2009 and November 2012, the board has held 292 meetings to discuss the need for a bond election to fund a capital improvement program.

In addition to setting the bond election date, the board approved a continuing education certificate course for dialysis technicians and elected a new chairman, vice chairman and secretary.

The continuing education course will focus on preparing students for entry-level positions in the hemodialysis field, according to the board's agenda. There are no new costs for the course, as the program will use existing equipment, facilities and faculty. The need for the certification has been expressed through both the local and national labor market data, according to the agenda.

The board of trustees elected Jeffrey Richard as its new chairman, Villarreal as vice chairman and Guadalupe Sosa for secretary. The board held a swearing-in ceremony for new member Betty Hwang, Place 8, and the recently re-elected Barbara Mink and Kaplan.

"I'm ready to get to work," Richard said.