CODFA coverage of the special meeting of the COD BoT will begin when the meeting begins — set for 7pm tonight. Stay tuned for our blog report.

Birt announcesPublic Comments:

Kirk Allen — discusses the slow response he got to FOIA requests about Hurricane Graphics.

Hurricane Graphics ahs not complied with prevailing wage.

570,000 bid-free payments have been made to Hurricane Graphics by COD.

Discusses COD Foundation Member Scott Marquardt — Lobbyist hired by COD.

Note that COD has been playing around with his FOIA requests.

John Kraft — Tells Birt to please hang on to the note that she is passing back and forth to Dr. Brueder because he intends to FOIA it.

Why do his FOIA requests keep coming back with the claim that there are no documents.

Maybe the COD attorney doesn’t know how to tell the truth to the Attorney General.

Corrects his statement that he was forcibly removed from his seat — says the police officers were polite about it, but they shouldn’t have done it.

Mentions the problem of the “voluminous requestor” in FOIA request. Media and non-profit groups are exempted.

Roger Kempa: The Board approved the addendum to Brueder’s contract  6-1 so that we the public can find out what is in it.

Regarding Trustee Savage claiming that enrollment has gone up. Kempa challenges that with information from ICCB —    COD is down 1.3 %.  COD claims that enrollment has gone up  +10%

Ed Francoviak — talks about going on the COD website to look for e mail addresses for BoT members — which is a legal requirement. HE has contacted the College to find out when that information will be available.  He was unable to get a direct e-mail to Erin Birt to ask for the document regarding Brueder’s employment. Why should I have to go through so  many hoops to get documents.

Recalls Bot meeting  when a contract was not approved because somebody spoke against the specifications of a piece of medical equipment. But now, two meetings later, the same contractor has a bid approved for more money than the previous one. Your bidding process is really confusing and hard to understand.

Ilhan Husseini — for Student Leadership Council. Talks about the members of SLC who worked at the Northern Illinois Food Bank this past Monday on MLK Day. Working at the Food Bank is just one of the many ways that SLC offers students opportunities to see how non-profits work and to help out in the community and help community residents in need of food assistance. We work to have impactful service projects.

Announcements: ICCTA — Trustee Svoboda talks about her participation there.

Foundation Report. 2.2 million raised in the first half of the fiscal year. 138,000 dollars from over 150 donors.  This is great compared to last year ,55,00 from 187 donors last year.

Event in March planned for Donor Recognition.

Mentions her attendance at the MLK Day event at Benedictine. Also at the MAC New Year’s celebration with the New Philharmonic.

Svoboda — attended the In-Service Day presentations.

Birt announces that Feb 19th is the next BoT meeting.

Adjourned.

Discussion ensues of the agenda items that Trustee Hamilton asked to be removed.

Hamilton notes that the minutes were incomplete and important items were deleted from the minutes including the speaker who came in from NY to address the anti-Semitic nature of Trustee McGuire’s speech in defense of Dr. Brueder.

Heated discussion among the Trustees about whether or not the minutes were accurately reported.

Vote to approve 8B1 — approved.

8B2 — I would like to bring back to the table the imprest accounts — a policy needs to be added about the imprest accounts and transparency.

Motion to approve 8B2 — passes.  Only Hamilton opposes.

Approval of Board policies- 15-1-15-11/20-35 Code of Student Conduct

9B1 has been pulled from this month — non-renewal of faculty appointments./Dismissals

9B4 — Approval of the Fourth Addendum to College President Brueder’s Employment Contract.

Trustee Savage thanks Dr. Brueder for his service. She notes there have been many positive achievements during his tenure.

Trustee MCGuire reads a paragraph written by Dr. Brueder thanking the College employees.

There is a voice from the audience asking for copies of the document. Chair Birt says that copies of the document are available.

Chair Hamilton says the public needs to have access to this document. We cannot vote on this if the public has not seen and read this document.

This is a large expenditure the amount is very high and the public needs to be involved in this vote. Also the decision has been made for a departure and so waiting one year is too long. it should be no more than 6 months.

How is this figure of 762,000 — is this figured into the pension?

There are too many unanswered questions. Why hasn’t the public seen this document? Seen this number? I am not happy with the way this was derived, and I am not happy with the amount, nor the duration and I will not vote for it.

Lawyer says:  762,000 — lump sum payment. He can decide what he is going to do with it. Where he will invest it. In his pension, or wherever.

Hamilton notes that his pension will go up with this lump sum payment,

The lawyer says that will be between Brueder and SURS, not the College.

How he handles his pension is not the College’s business.

Lawyer says that Brueder will negotiate that with SURS.

McGuire — isn’t there a 6% cap with SURS after this there is no additional increase to the pension.

Lawyer: Correct, but the College does not decide that.

Brueder will retire in March 2016.

Hamilton: Why doesn’t the public have the terms of this contract? Isn’t it the public’s right to know this.

Hamilton: Did we provide it to the public? When was it made available?

Lawyer: it is available now.

Hamilton: When was it made available?

Birt — it was a draft of a confidential document about one of our employees. Confidential draft document that SOMEHOW got tendered to someone outside of the Board.

Hamilton: MY question is: why didn’t we make this available to the public?

Savage: We haven’t voted on it yet.

Birt: You made it available to the public.

Hamilton: Are you accusing me of something?

Birt: We made it available when the Board needed to vote on a draft document.

Hamilton: How much time did the public have to consider this document?

O’Donnel — Calls the question and shuts out the debate.

VOTE proceeds on the addendum: All vote yes except Hamilton.

IT is official — Dr. Brueder will be retiring by March 2016.

Public Comments — Agenda Related

District 502 Citizens

Jan Shaw– asks the audience to stand up and say the Pledge of Allegiance. Asks the BoT to add the Pledge of Allegiance to meetings.

Kathy Hamilton — 9B4 — addendum to President’s Contract.

To award a golden parachute to Dr. Bureder today is nothing other than a wanton betrayal of our constituents and our students. Instead we should show Dr Brueder the door — based on last week’s Tribune story. (COD employed radio engineer despite theft conviction)

This comes after months of stonewalling no-confidence votes and revelations of mismanagement and improprieties.

It comes after a bizarre secret trip to DuPage County Circuit Court — about which I knew nothing –where this community college said Brueder’s embarrassment outranked our taxpayers and the First Amendment, and therefore the court should seal records that would tell taxpayers how their money was spent.

The voyage ended in disaster– and further embarrassment. Thanks to the Tribune, the law prevailed, by a judge who said, in effect, “This is America, own up to your taxpayers.

I was ashamed for our school when I learned that in the Tribune article Dr. Brueder would do us a service were he to resign — and pick up the tab for taking us to court without briefing the Trustees.

John Valenta, the convict who worked here, ignored our policies that Dr. Brueder was paid to implement.

Valenta circumvented procedures we paid Brueder to enforce. Basic management broke down — for years.

A conviction was ignored. Valenta’s salary was bumped up. A departure bonus was awarded meaning not only are our taxpayers out whatever Valenta converted under Dr. Brueder’s nose but Dr. Brueder tagged state taxpayers in perpetuity for Valenta’s enriched pension.  Accountability, is Dr. Brueder answering for this?

But instead, this Board falls over itself to give him a golden handshake. Here tonight, taxpayers do not count. Insiders do. We saw that with Valenta then, and we see it with Brueder now.

My fellow Trustees see this very differently. That is their right. I say no to the golden parachute and yes to getting rid of Dr. Brueder. Let’s leave it to voters to decide what they want on this Board and all of us can go from there.

Adam Andrejewski– Founder of OpentheBooks.com

Tonight I am speaking to Brueder’s contract extension. Today we learned that the Board secretly negotiated a lump sum severance package.

This should be tables. A full cost study of this extension should be done.

If this happens, he will make  1.4 million dollars over the next 6 months.  This will increase Brueder’s lifetime pension payment, obligating taxpayers all over the state.

Chair Birt, this is the problem when you hide negotiation s. This is gaming the system. This is corruption unfolding before our very eyes.

The last 7 contract extensions were done in violation of the  Illinois Open Meetings Act. They were not done in public meetings with an agenda.

I urged the Trustees to stop and think.

Stop, look and listen to your stakeholders.

Laura Reigle  8B2 — Financial Statement — Imprest funds.

How many people here would condone waste, fraud on taxes — by COD? Hold up your hands?  I see no one is.

Taxpayers do not find it acceptable to use their taxes wrongly. Which is precisely while critics of this administration have been coming to meeting. They care enough to stay here until midnight to let Trustees know about things that they do not know about.

For example how many Trustees know about P cards?

Last month I let you know about 2 FOiA requests made to the College. One regarding Waterleaf, the other for a complete list of all accounting codes with descriptions used by the College. You BoT are here to make sure waste fraud and corruption are not occurring.

Why hasn’t the BoT followed through? Where are the answers to these FOIA requests? Does the BoT want to spend more money on legal action?

In closing, answer all FOIA requests now so there is no additional cost to the taxpayers.

Paul LeForte — my 5th time coming before the BoT. We really have to stop meeting like this.  It took 4 Bot meetings to get all COD expenditures posted to the website.

35,000 on the imprest account

He mentions that it is very unclear what procedures COD uses for bidding or not bidding. on contracts.

Why was lobbying bid on, but not contracts given to Foundation related companies.

In 2010 Brueder posted the Masters Facilities plan for 414 million dollars.

Was there a cost overrun or change orders?  It seems we spent more on it.

How can a Bot and a chair allow an internal e-mail to censure a trustee.

And with an election coming up the Board should keep Dr. Brueder from intervening in the election process the way he did last time when he allowed a story to circulate about a candidate that ruined his campaign?

Ed Francoviak — I have been here for the last few meetings. The Board has always given awards — I am going to present an award that goes towards the imprest accounts — The Washington Post presented the Golden Hammer Award — COD managed to hide more than 95 million dollars..

He mentions the Vote of No Confidence made by faculty..

The payments made to Brueder for his hunting club and satellite phones.

He pulls out a golden hammer and the award in a frame and says it is for Chair Birt and the BoT.

Roger Kempa — one of COD’s own graduates.

This is the 5th meeting I have attended. The public has made suggestions for how to make the meetings more welcoming to the public, district taxpayers, prospective students, etc.  1)Return of the American flag to the Board room. 2) Pledge of Allegiance

Mark Mechik — Wheaton resident.

Notes Brueder’s words in the student newspaper at the beginning of the term. “I hope Santa was good to you.” Santa has been very good to Dr. Brueder.

He then reviews Dr. Brueder’s contract and perks — and notes he is paid more than the Governor of Illinois.  Notes vacations, housing allowance, vacation days, etc.

292 K base salary

SURS — 24K

469,325 dollars per year

Kirk Allen — An agenda to appoint Brueder was an agenda — his initial contract was illegal since it began in 2009. None of the contract extensions are agenda items.

He notes that non of Brueder’s contract extensions have been done legally. This business has been done in closed session. But no action can be taken in a closed session. Any action taken in a closed session can be turned over in the courts.

There are legal requirements for public contracts to be binding. The item must be on the agenda and voted on.

He Outlines the procedure for contractual approval and notes that this procedure was never followed.

Melissa  McKirty 8B3

From the DMIS program. I thank you for allowing me in the program. And I am up for tenure this evening and would like to thank Dean CAmeron.

John Kraft  9B4

Reads e-mail from the COD attorney. “All seating is available on a first-come first-served basis” But tonight I was asked by the police to get out of a seat I was in that had a reserved sign on it.

Broadcast Technology Equipment — 3 people have FOIA ed this information, including the Tribune. Somebody had sealed that information.

Provide documents to the public or you are going to have to answer to the press again.

Speaks to the restrictions on voluminous and repeating requestors FOIA reports and notes that there are exemptions and the BoT needs to know what the laws regarding FOIA requests are because they don’t seem to know them.

Student Trustee Report — Talks about the “Be a Hero” CAmpaign, SLC will register students to organ tissue donors. April 29 will be student advocacy day in Springfield. They are working on getting items on to the agenda.

President’s Report — none.

Consent Agenda–

Hamilton requests items to be removed and discussed separately:

8B1 minutes of 12/18 BoT meeting minutes

and 8B2, Financial Reports  b — Payroll and Accounts Payable Report

Chair Birt asks for motion of approval of all items on the Consent Agenda that have not been removed. Trustee Savage moves. Seconded.

Minutes of BoT meetings including closed sessions.

Bid items –Diagnostic Imaging equipment.Vascular Systems for the sonography program.

Purchase ORders

Personnel Actions (resignations, appointments, terminations)

Construction-Related Items

Construction Change Orders

McGuire asked a question about what an instructional Designer is, as she had no idea what this type of position is.

The meeting reconvenes. Chair Birt talks to an audience member about swearing, noting that if he swears again, she will ask him to leave.

Then Chair Birt announces that the meeting is now in recess.

The meeting is now in recess.

Chair Birt asks for a motion to approve the agenda.

Trustee Hamilton makes a motion to amend the agenda. Withdraw item 9B4. “Approval of the Fourth Addendum to COD President Robert L. Brueder’s employment contract.

Birt calls for a second. There is no second so the motion fails.

These items are withdrawn: 9B3 and 9B1

Hamilton makes a motion to table item 9B4.

No second. Motion fails.

Birt calls for a closed session to talk about personnel matters. COD lawyer explains reason for moving to closed session.

Unanimous vote to move to closed session.

The BoT is now in closed session.

In the past, the boardroom has had reserved seating for constituent leaders and the press at tables across the front, with the senior administrators at a separate row of tables down the side. Tonight, the front tables have been removed, and there are quite a few more open seats than usual. The administrators still have their seats – but not the Student Leadership Council or the faculty associations. There is a tape barrier separating the public seating from the BOT seating, in addition to a fairly wide gap.

Live blogging will begin shortly.

Trustee Hamilton stands behind the barrier

McGuire: what an honor it is to be part of this.

Collins: Thanks the League for the opportunity to answer questions. Hopes they were answered to some level of satisfaction. This is a fantastic institution, we are the envy of others, this is a jewel to be appreciated.

Hansen: Thanks and enjoyed this opportunity. Since 2007 I have asked for the Board to open it’s meetings to the public by televising and streaming. For a short while they did. They should do it again, citizens must be informed and cannot rely of media reports for a complete story. We have been blogging from the meetings in an attempt of provided an unedited timeline of events. With 14 candidates running for 3 seats, we the citizens must be engaged and ask tough questions. We must demand specific answers of the people who want to sit at the table for 6 years. They must demonstrate they deserve our trust and our vote.

Torres: important to understand different perspectives. When you choose sides, you divide the college, very sad thing to see. Put yourself in the shoes of the person you disagree with. This really is a jewel – COD is a college of opportunities. Acknowledges the special opportunity of being here to speak.

Judar comments that televising meetings and putting them online would be a great idea.

Alvarez: thanks everyone for the questions. It’s clear that COD could do more to create a better relationship with the public. Having an informed public that participates is essential to the public’s business. The current situation is a change to engage citizens.

In her closing remarks, Judar stated, Dr. Breuder did not attend because he was out of town, the BoT chair and Vice Chair did not reply and one was not available (unclear), 2 trustees were running for office, so therefore McGuire represented the trustees.