A Santa Barbara County chief deputy district attorney said Wednesday that SBCC trustees did not violate the Brown Act in their dealings with President Andreea Serban.

The Board of Trustees voted last month to put Serban on paid administrative leave after marathon meetings to discuss her evaluation, and allegations began to fly that the board had violated Brown Act rules at its June 8 meeting while discussing the evaluation and her employment.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian addressed concerns about the alleged violations after a letter was sent to him on Aug. 15 from Ray O’Connor of the group Take Back SBCC.

Lulejian said he investigated the matter and talked with the SBCC trustees’ attorney, Craig Price, as well as O’Connor. After a private consultation with Price about what occurred at the trustees’ closed session meeting, Lulejian concluded that the trustees did not have to make a public announcement after the June 8 meeting about Serban’s employment.

“I am confident that no Brown Act violation occurred at the June 8 meeting under the current state of the law,” he said in a statement.

The SBCC Board of Trustees has started the process of searching for a new president to replace Serban, and held a study session earlier this month to discuss how to move forward.

— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.

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