For Mazzocchi:

I posted things on FB to give illustrative examples of how the COD ledger is not in agreement with the COD checkbook. The check and the description do not match. COD is saying “this is our public check record” and if it doesn’t match, there is a transparency problem.

For Carlin: You were a BOT member when Brueder was hired and when his contract was extended, how can you now be trusted to clean up the current mess we are now in?

Carlin: When I was elected to the COD BoT there were two members suing each other, 2 resignations, somebody at COD trying to open a campus in Costa Rica.  I helped with transparency — we posted salaries on line, other things on line. COD was not in a good place.  Breuder came with 30 years of experience. I talked with Harper faculty, others. All of them said that Breuder is a good candidate, he gets the job done. I would do it again today.

For Svoboda: The college has slashed the number of full-time counselors. Do you support that?

Svoboda: No. We need to support the frontline people who deal with students. Classified, full and part-time faculty. We need to support them. Advising and Counseling — we did a recent survey on their status. I need to look at that. We have to back financially what they need in order to serve our student body.

For Bernstein: AS a Clean Slate candidate, how are you funding your campaign, and if you are elected, would you support Kathy Hamilton elected as chair.

Berstein: Yes, I would support Hamilton be elected as chair. I got involved in politics because I was watching these BoT meetings and I saw one person standing up on her own over and over, it takes guts and integrity. She has them. I am getting donations. Doing coffees. Getting help from people who want to see real change. Who want the BoT to really hold the administration  accountable like they are supposed to.

For Pihos: What can be done to advertise and expand the large number of hands-on trades taught at COD.

Pihos: There has to be great outreach to the community. Manufacturing programs have a hard time getting students to invest in the programs. We have to engage our communities, go into our high school, educate people about the underrepresented employment in our communities that students might really be interested in if they knew what was available in our County.

For Gambs: Are you associated with the EdgarCounty WatchDogs or the  OpentheBooks?

No, I follow them but am not associated with them.

For Savage: What will you do differently in your second term?

Savage: It is important to communicate. One of the things I would like to see iis that we post the answers that Breuder gives the BoT so that everybody — the public — can see what those answers are that Breuder gives us before every meeting so we know what we are voting on. We need to work more with legislators and communities. We need to make it possible for more students to attend COD.

For Bailey: Are you affiliated with the Tea Party or any other political group?

Bailey: I have been connected to the independent voters of Illinois when I lived in Cook County. Now, since 1988 I am affiliated with the Democratic Party. But this is a non-partisan race and we need people who will take care of the needs and interests of students and taxpayers and all the stakeholders of this institution. It shouldn’t be political. It should be about getting things done the right way.

For Ball: What do you know about the student body at COD and how will you relate to them regarding actions involving their concerns?

Ball: I know it’s a diverse group. People want certificates, some just want to take advantage of things like the beer brewing classes. I would reach out, make myself available to people. To talk to people about their issue, their concerns. I would post all my decisions on-line, my reasoning in coming to vote the way I did.

For Napolitano: How will you address the needs of minority students?

Napolitano: We need to take care of all our students’ and groups’ needs, regardless of minority or sex or whatever — they all deserve to have their voice heard. I will be open minded and work to do that.

For Kempa: What is you position on the reemployment of retirees? At present anybody who has an annuity is not allowed to come back and teach at COD?

Kempa: That is the law right now however I am retired and I know the pension laws of teachers SURS and the IMRF — the law should be consistent. Administrators can go back to work on a part-time basis under all three scenarios so why should teachers not be allowed to do the same?

Session 2 is called to order.

Moderator: We’ll being this round with a 30 second response to a specific question:

Question: Can you please provide an example of  an issue on which you publicly agree or disagree with Dr. Breuder?

Gambs: The best way would be to let the hero’s name to be on that building. Symboilcally it would mean a lot.

Pihos: I disagree with: when the referendum was passed a lot of infrastructure came to campus — it has curb appeal but after talking to students and instructors I can see it would have been better

Savage: I agree with Breuder that we need a healthy fund balance but I think it is too high at this moment. We need to figure that out.

Bernstein: The Waterleaf restaurant. Loosing 500  is bad. But not complying with a FOIA request about it is emblematic of problems here.

Bailey: I disagree with Breuder on his focus. The focus should be on educational programs and support for students, not on buildings.

Svoboda: I agree with Breuder on community nights. That is important. A lot of people in the Disctrict are not familiar with programs and inititaitves. Now at least once a semester we invite community residents to come and get to know the college. People come here and are very refreshed.

Ball: I disagree with Breuder on his use of no-bid contracts. That is a breeding ground for conflict of interest. It costs more in the end than the full bidding process and is just a bad idea from an accounting standpoint.

Carlin: The question is interesting because the President of any college takes direction from the BoT. If you disagree with a decision, you are disagreeing with the BoT, not the President. I didn’t think the sculpture in front of the Student Service Center should have been funded with tax dollars but Brueder thought it should be.

Napoitano: I disagree with the power that Breuder has. But it has been bestowed upon him by the BoT. The BoT has approved the Waterleaf, the no bid contracts, the 762,000 parachute. The BoT seems to have forgotten it serves the taxpayers.

Mazzocchi: Services added to a contract does not mean that somehow it does not need to be bid out.

Kempa: I disagree with Breuder for misleading the public that his intention was to retire because he was getting older, had family issues, and then suddenly all hell breaks loose. It’s not about retirement is it?

Wozniak: Breuder has made his mark on this campus in many wonderful ways. But I disagree with his 762,000 golden parachute. He can retract that at any point.

Now questions directed at particular candidates:

For Wozniak: Please clarify your relationship to the current BoT and the member of the current BoT with the same last name.

Wozniak: He is my son. He is a COD graduate and has a great respect for this college. He is now in his second term.

For Bernstein  Question: Do you support the College by attending the MAC, athletic events?

Bernstein: I have not seen a show at the MAC for a long time. My understanding is that they have become fairly commercial and they have drifted away from their educational nature. I used to attend the Buffalo Theater when it was here. It is a shame it is no longer here. The BoT needs to do something about that.

For Pihos: Is COD better off with Brueder as president?  Where would COD be if he were not president?

Pihos: That’s a hard question. Certainly things have improved in some ways under Brueder’s tutelage. We do have to give him some credit. Transparency has suffered however. No BoT public discussions, just BoT rubber stamps. The public has not had the information that it needs to hear open discussion. That’s where we need to move.

For Gambs: What are your thoughts about making COD a four year college? (I will be graduating from COD in May and I hate to leave such quality professors from this college)

Gambs:COD is a wonderful place and the teachers are fantastic. But COD is here to develop careers and I do not support COD becoming a 4 year college. Career development is important. Anyone who comes here, and hopefully my sons do, it will be an experience unlike any other in Illinois and that will be enough. I do not support COD becoming a 4 year college.

For Savage: Why do on-line classes cost more or the same as classroom classes? Shouldn’t they cost less? What would you do to reduce the cost of on-line classes?

Savage: They may not have the same facility as a classroom class but the professors are teaching the same material. IT support also is needed to support those classes. We do have areas where classes are more expensive than others. Nursing is more expensive than a math class. That’s part of how classes are here.  I know from experience that both on-line and classroom teachers work hard to deliver their material.

Question: What is a fair and reasonable amount for the buyout for the President?

Bailey: It would be reasonable for him to retire without any other retirement package because he has retired.  We should be more concerned about teachers’ retirement.  He has a inviolable contract? But teachers and support staff are somehow not inviolable?  That is something we can change. I don’t think we have enough money for Brueder’s contract.  We could use that money for much better purposes. To reduce tuition, or to give scholarships, or to invest in programs.

For Ball: What would you do, if elected, during the first two months?

Ball: I’d ask a million questions. I’d dig in, look at the books. I’d talk to faculty, to staff, to inform myself with as much knowledge as possible. To improve transparency. To learn the details of everything that has come out in the papers.  We have to gather as much information as possible before you head in a direction and go, so that is what I would do.

Question for Napolitano: How will signing on to the Joe Walsh pledge affect your work if elected as trustee?

Napolitano: Anybody, whether they sign or not, can take individual responsibility. I believe in individual freedoms and liberty. We do need to be constitutional in everything that we do. We need to understand how we got to this free country and came to be.

For Kempa:  Do you support the concept of fair share for CODAA and CODFA

Kempa: Like everything, it is subject to negotiations. Fair share is not something I oppose or am for. It’s a matter of getting out the facts. Other states are becoming right-to-work states. We’re surrounded by states like that. Illinois will probably be the last state in the country to go that route.  People and businesses are leaving this state. We need to adapt to that.

NOW EVERY CANDIDATE HAS THE CHANCE TO ADDRESS QUESTIONS THAT WERE DIRECTED TO ANY CANDIDATE. ANY ISSUE.

Gambs– We have an opportunity today to set an example as a community, for ourselves and those around us. We have a chance with this election to help college of DuPAge to become an example. How we deal with dysfuntion, labor relations, anything…. we have the chance to be an example.

Savage: I have sent suggestions to the legislature for ways we could avoid the situations that have come about here. We need to revise our alcohol policy. We need to be proactive.

Bailey: On transparency: every meeting intelligent people ask questions of the BoT. Those questions need to be answered at the next meeting. Every important decision needs to be made  and discussed in public.

Ball: Transparency as well. Something that would help regular meetings go smoother would be to have meetings more often. Inforamational and discussion based only. The BoT has to comply with the Opens Meeting Act.  We need to have meetings where people can come and discuss their concerns.

Napolitano: Open Meetings Act. It does not specify what has to be discussed in closed session. It just says what CANNOT be said in closed session. We need compliance with the act, but the act says that we need these things to be discussed in public.

Kempa: Disclosure. At BoT meeting, I will answer any question that anybody asks, Student, taxpayer, anybody.  I will get back to them if I have to answer questions.

Pihos: Accessibility. I would be accessible to the public. I would be accessible by email and phone to the public, to students. I have been here, taught here, had seminars here, have hosted your students in Sopringfield to meet legislators.

Bernstein: Conflict of interest. If you don’t think that awarding contracts to the COD Foundation Board is a conflict of interest, how about this one: awarding no-bid contracts to COD Foundation Board members? Let’s get answers to FOIA requests and I will show you some more.

Svoboda: Regarding the 4 year college. There is a white paper that the ICTA is going to be looking at this Friday. Everybody is concerned with mission creep. But if there is a program where a community needs it, we want to make sure it happens.

Carlin: Despite the noise coming from the COD BoT, the college has never been in better shape, has never been in a better place in meeting community needs. Everybody has made that happen, previous negotiations, faculty, everybody has made a contribution. The financial position of COD has never been better.

Mazzocchi: We have already heard comments about openness and trasnaprency. That shows that community members are craving better leadership on this BoT. The public needs to know that people are going to be responsible to the public. Kathy Hamilton has endorsed the candidates she has to help ensure that.

Wozniak: COD is a great place to attend college. I am sorry that the students and graduates have to hear on a daily basis about the things that have been going on here. the BoT has to work to clear the image of COD in the community to be the place we know it is.

Questions:

It appears that the previous board made decisions out of view. What will you do to make decision making public.

Napalitano: At U46 the chair of the board would call him to get consensus privately, and would resist the lack of transparency.

Svoboda, We used to have workshops between board meetings and woudl return to this if re electid

Mazzochi, the current board meets too much in secret.

Do you support the collective bargaining rights of workers at COD?

Pihos, Yes, collective bargaining promotes harmony and peace

Savage: Supports collective bargaining. it would be cumbersome to negotiate with each individual

Bailey, supports collective bargaining as well

Wozniak: supports collective bargaining.

Carlin: supports collective bargaining, liked negotiating with unions at COD

Svoboda:  suportscollective barigining

Will you be supportive of maintinging raises above the rate of inflation

Gambs, we should be fair but we need to keep in mind the situation. We shouldn’t be the highest or the lowest.

Bernstein, we need to pay well to attract the best. We should economize everywhere

Ball: We need to be competitive

Bailey: We should be competitive, and the atmosphere needs to be improved. Funds taken from BIC renovation to build the Culinary Arts

Mazzochi, it’s also important to pay attention  to other details. Adjuncts need longer contracts for instance.

What role should Dr. Breuder play in the role of his successor?

Kempa, He should have no role.

Pihos, several things need to happen bring together the stakeholders, create a committee,  the board can assign him no role, we need a national search. we need public forums.

Savage: the pres is involved only if the board directs it. Supports national search

Carlin finds it disappointing that any one would call out a college employee especially one that is sitting in the room in order score cheap political points. The employees made this college what it is.

How big is the reserve fund?

Kempa: it’s the best in the world. It’s 195 million.  this would be fine if this was a private company but it’s too much for a college.

Bernstein. Its’e easy to think that our financial situation is good. But because of the flawed audits we don’t know.

Mazzocchi comments

Gambs-

Ball

Change of format — we are out of time on this question.

1 and a half minute response per candidate, different question per candidate

Wozniak What steps would you take to increase the transparency of Board and College expenses

Wozniak — we have to look at all expenses of administration

Mazzochi: What is your position on tenure for FT faculty?

She has no problem with tenure she knows that tenure gave them the power to speak out against breuder.

Carlin: If you had to fill out a conflict of interest form, what would it be on?

I don’t have a conflict of interests One thing to mention this is a volunteer board, when you read about a Christmas party keep it in mind, there are things we can do about booze, but these people volunteer.

Svoboda, what did you bring to the college?

For 32 years I worked as a counselor and helped students. Now, as a board member we have made space for students to speak to at Bot meetings

The Forum is called to order.

CODAA President Cheryl Kaplan:

Thanks the candidates for attending, thanks the college for letting the event take place.

Turns over to the moderator:

Thank you to Cheryl Kaplan,  welcome to the 2015 election forum, we have an almost full house. Thank you to student life for gathering the questions. The questions are printed on cards and delivered to moderator who will read. The forum is divided into two groups,  Each candidate gets a two minute opening statement. 45 minutes for each group and then

Opening Statements:

Opening statements to be posted later as a pdf)

David Carlin arrives late.  talks off the cuff. He related a story about a COD student he met at a addiction summit last night. the student stated that several times in the recent past he spent 7 hrs in the parking lot of COD high on heroin. It made his stomach sick and he wants to make this stop and have news stories that reflect the good that goes on here.

Joe Wozniak. He’s against the breuder buy out. He wants the board to have off campus meetings to bring the board to the community. He is sorry about all the bad stories.  He states he is a man of honor and will do good for the college

Matt Gambs. The college is a center of support for business. He has a non political platform. His agenda is driven by his career in the Marine Corp. He supports a comprehensive audit.  He is not interested in litigating the past. He wants to move COD forward.

Kim Savage: Her passion for college started as an undergrad. Talks about her work at UiC. Her perspective is different than others because she knows that college is what happens in the classrooms.  She wants to talk about numbers and the retirement package. Goes after the state for not suporting the college enough.

Dan Bailey, Thanks CODAA for this forum. He worked on a reform slate in 2009, unfortunately that did not help so he is running for the board now. He talks about labor past. He and his family have attended. Was an activist for government reform in both Cook and DuPage counties.

Clarie Ball: Thanks CODAA. An accountant, homeowner and has two cats. Was home-schooled and here first encounter in public education was a community college. Breuder is arrogant, but the current problems are laid a the feet of the current board. She explains how her work as an accountant will help her be an effective board member.

Frank Napalitano: Thanks everyone. He served on village board of Bartlett, decreased budget and maintained services. Served on the U 46 school board. Held town hall meetings to talk to the public.Thinks the board should be open and available to the public. The College should be more transparent.

Roger Kempa: He is a grad of COD, he’s proud of that, has an MBA from Benedictine. Runs a business. He wants to start an alumni association. He’s had  a lot dealings with boards. He wants control of board meetings. He wants the police out of the board meetings. he wants public seating to all the public. Focus on in-district students and taxpayers. COD tuition is the highest in the state. Do away with the blue lane? tax

The room is about half full at this point with 200 guests.  The full slate of candidates have said they will attend. So far I’ve seen Woziank,Ball, Napolitano, Gambs, Savage, Pihos, Kempa, Svoboda,  Bernstein, Carlin, and Mazzochi.  Carlin hasn’t shown up yet.

Reminder:

The March COD Board of Trustees Meeting will be held Thursday, March 19, at 7 pm, at the following location:

College of DuPage, Main Campus
Student Services Center Living Room (SSC-2206)
425 Fawell Boulevard
Glen Ellyn, Illinois
60137

The Board packet is posted on the COD Board of Trustees website 48 hours prior to the meeting.

Please note that the BOT voted last night to keep tuition flat, not to increase it. The full post has been updated to reflect this. We apologize for the error. Live blogging is very challenging, and our volunteers do the best they can to keep up, write complete sentences, and report accurately on the events of the meeting.

If you are aware of an error, we invite you to email us at codfaboardblog at gmail dot com. This email address is monitored frequently, and we make corrections promptly.

Bear in mind that the full video will be released soon, and anything the bloggers missed will be on the video.

Thanks for reading our blog – and please share the link with anyone else who may be interested!

Reconvenes at 9:52

Hamilton pulls Financial reports 8 B 1 and 8 B2  and 8 A 3, Minutes from Jan 22 Board Meeting

Acting Secretary Svoboda reads consent agenda-

Discussion and crosstalk about what sections have been pulled-Birt states she likes to be clear.

Approves  8 B 3 Bid Items

Approves 8 B 4 Requests for Proposals

Approves  8 B 6 Personnel actions

Roll Call Unanimous Consent:

Birt calls 8 B 1 a, b, c, Minutes from January meetings open and closed.

Savage moves, McGuire seconds

Hamilton want clarification on the listing of speakers who discussed Breuder’s severance package. She wants someone to watch the tape and correct the record.

Svoboda asks for clarification on what has been pulled-

Wozniak asks Hamilton what exactly she would like fixed. Hamilton wants the order of the speakers fixed in the minutes. Crosstalk between Birt and Hamilton.

Savage asks Hamilton if she wants to pay staff to review the tape and revise accordingly, Crosstalk ensues. Mcguire states that she had the minutes amended prior to the meeting,

Hamilton states that during a break constituents requested that the minutes be amended.

Crosstalk

Birt calls the vote to approve the minutes as written.

Motion passes 6-1 Hamilton votes no.

Birt brings up 8 B 2 Financial Reports

Hamilton states that the audits are skewed and the handling of controls and insufficient.

Savage defends Sypata- cross crosstalk ensues between Savage and Hamilton.

Birt calls for vote

Motion passes 6-1 Hamilton votes no

Birt opens dicusion on Operating Funds 8 A 3

Hamilton has no confidence in financial operations

Savage defends Sypata, challenges Hamilton to explain the difference between a registered CPA and licences CPA?

Hamilton accuses Savage of baiting her.

Svoboda, supports Sypata

-Audience applause-

Birt calls for vote- passes 6-1 Hamilton votes no

Revisons to board policies 9B

No discussion-Calls for vote motion passes unanimously

Birt calls for reappointment of administrators-passes unanimously

Calls for discussion-no discussion-calls for vote-Passes 6-1 Hamilton abstains

approval of review  and destruction of closed session minutes-Passes unanimously

Discussion FY 2016 tuition increase

Hamilton states that if we reduced  tuition we would see a “real increase” in enrollment. Savage states that “this is a ratification of what was discussed in August.” Hamilton argues with Savage and McGuire about the effects of rising tuition on student enrollments. Savage discusses fiscal responsibility, expresses worries about state budget. Svoboda want to reach out to all students and the concern for cost.  Omar Escamilla thanks the Foundation for the scholarships they give out. Savage quotes Bente on completion rates.

Vote: 6-1 to keep tuition flat. Hamilton votes no because she wants tuition lowered.

Open comments:

Laura Reigal: Comments that a company that is dissolved received a contract tonight in the consent agenda. She calls for the firing of the responsible employees.

Dan Bailey: Asks if COD doesn’t have the highest tuition rates and if so we should find a way to reduce the tuition rates

Jan Shaw: Returns to the incorrect minutes from Jan 22. She volunteers to review the minutes and send them the corrections

John Kraft; Thanks for board for printing incorrect minutes, thanks the student for his comments, but reminds him that in a community there is no segregation among different groups.

Kirk Allen: Nobody asked him why no one asked him what in the minutes were incorrect. References Section 3.8 of the community college act. Chastises the board for not answering questions. he understands that responding at the same meeting is not often possible, but they should be responded to in a timely manner.

Roger Kempa: Questions Savage about her question to Hamilton about the difference between certified and registered CPA. He asks who is qualified to be on the Audit committee and who is on said committee. He states that several months ago the Board had the opportunity to have a forensic audit and declined. He states they can either ask for a forensic audit or have one imposed by the state.

Sam Dooley: discusses the last referendum to build new instructional space, comments that current spate of bad news stories  gets in the way of development. “No Tea For COD”.

Andrew Adrejedzski, Savage sat on the ICCTA (?) audit committee when 60 state employees had to go to a rally for Jessie Jackson and Nancy Pelosi. turns to the radio station scandal. Claims that they should have know about Valente because his dismissal from Elmhurst was in the paper Urges the board to follow the Tribune editorial board’s request that they all resign.

Board members discuss ACCTA conference in Washington DC

Svoboda discusses  audit committee meeting.  McGuire discusses by-laws committee meeting. The meeting was interesting and short. Savage discusses legislative committee, Pell Grant funding was front and center.

Wosniak discusses diversity committee.

Crosstalk about ACCTA meetings and issues

Foundation Report: McGuire states the first annual report due this month. Announces a Donor Wall for donors.

Meeting Wrap Up,

McGuire moves to adjourn  Savage seconds-Board Votes- Meeting adjourns 10:56 (several minutes after lights go out.