The Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees Oct. 16 appointed seven residents, including representatives from Los Altos and Los Altos Hills, to the Citizens’ Oversight Committee. The group will be responsible for reviewing Measure C bond-related expenditures and reporting to the public. Appointees are Ralph Adams, Phyllis Bismanovsky, Dexter Dawes, Carol Johnson, Jim Sandstrom, Jim Walker and Sarah Wiehe.

The Citizens’ Oversight Committee is required to satisfy the accountability requirements of Proposition 39 bond measures such as Foothill-De Anza’s Measure C, approved by 66 percent of district residents in June. The duties of the Citizens’ Oversight Committee are to inform the public about expenditure of bond proceeds, review expenditure reports and financial audits to ensure that bond proceeds were expended only for the purposes set forth in Measure C and present an annual report to the board of trustees.

The board in September announced that it was seeking applicants to represent each of the five categories and two at-large seats specified under Proposition 39. The opportunity to serve on the Citizens’ Oversight Committee was advertised in local newspapers and on the district Web site.

“Foothill-De Anza will be well served by these experienced community leaders who have volunteered to monitor and report on all Measure C expenditures,” said Board President Betsy Bechtel.

Los Altos resident Ralph Adams will serve as representative of a taxpayers’ association. He is on the board of the Rotary Club of Palo Alto and serves on the board advisory subcommittee for El Camino Hospital’s bond construction projects. He earned a juris doctorate degree from Lincoln Law School.

Palo Alto resident and investor Dexter Dawes will serve as representative of a business organization. He currently serves on the board of Embarcadero Publications, which publishes five community newspapers including the Mountain View Voice and Palo Alto Weekly, and serves on the boards of several companies, including Taraval LLC of Menlo Park. He earned his master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.

Representing a senior citizens’ organization will be Mountain View resident Jim Sandstrom. He serves on the board of Avenidas, a non-profit agency that helps mid-Peninsula seniors maintain their independence. He earned his master’s degree in business administration from Santa Clara University and has more than 35 years of finance and business management experience in high technology and scientific environments.

Cupertino resident Jim Walker, chairman of the De Anza Commission and member of the Foothill-De Anza Colleges Foundation board, will represent a Foothill-De Anza auxiliary organization. He is vice president of the Cortana Corp. and a general contractor for commercial and industrial projects. Walker is also active in the Cupertino Rotary Club.

Foothill College student Sarah Wiehe will serve as student representative. She is also enrolled at Stanford University, where she is a candidate for a master’s degree in liberal arts. She is a member of the California Tax Reform Association and board vice president of the Peninsula Astronomical Society. From 2002 to 2004, Wiehe served as student trustee on the Foothill-De Anza board of trustees. She resides in Palo Alto.

The two at-large positions will be filled by Phyllis Bismanovsky of Mountain View and Carol Johnson of Los Altos Hills. Bismanovsky is president of Friends of the Mountain View Library and has been active in numerous community organizations. She has served on the Santa Clara County Civil Grand Jury and worked for 28 years in nursing management at Kaiser Permanente Hospital. She is a graduate of the De Anza Nursing program. Johnson is a program manager at Adobe Systems Inc. and has worked for a variety of technology companies in Silicon Valley over the past 25 years. She earned her master’s degree in engineering management from Stanford University.

Measure C will enable Foothill-De Anza to upgrade, maintain and replace facilities, including classrooms and electrical, heating and ventilation systems; improve fire and seismic safety and access for people with disabilities; reduce energy costs; and provide and upgrade information and office technology and other equipment.

Members of the Citizens’ Oversight Committee will initially serve for either a one- or two-year term and may serve no more than two consecutive terms.

For more information about Measure C and the Citizens’ Oversight Committee, visit www.fhda.edu.