Meeting Resumes;

General Public Comments:

Good evening, I’m Glenn Hansen, President of the Association and Faculty Senate. My voice tonight is that of the 300. This has to end.

The time for action has come. You have circled your wagons for 6 months and defended yourselves by saying it’s not us it’s them. The Faculty are angry that you have ignored our vote of no confidence for more that 2 months. Your only acknowledgment has been from Chairperson Birt that you received my e-mail and would consider it. Other than that you have dismissed us by saying we are only 10% of the employees. The president has held fireside chats with all constituencies except the fulltime faculty to say faculty have done this before at other schools.

Yes, there have been other votes of no confidence; that is significant and should be alarming to you!

I offered in September to meet with the Board and discuss the list of particulars that faculty have generated during the process of discussing the action we took. You have ignored this offer and have not investigated the basis of our action. Our team and our attorney are still willing to meet with you.

Tonight, we call on you to act as the governing body of this institution and return us to the right path. This 6 months of negative news must end; now, not later. Dr. Breuder should do the honorable thing a leader would do or you should act in the best interest of this institution and begin the search for a new president.

Richard Jarman

Vice President CODFA

Things I read in the papers

The Trib Local last week had a column on Glen Ellyn School District 41 putting comments at the start of the meetings. The school board president stated that. They put it up front because they feel that people shouldn’t have to wait the whole meeting to comment.” Evidently D41 puts a higher value on hearing from the public. Another board member went so far as to have board members consider “monthly engagement sessions.” Food for thought.

November 15^th we received an alert from IEA that SB2887 a bill designed to amend portions of the Biss law that currently penalize any SURS employer who employs a SURS annuitant with earnings that surpass 40% of their annual annuity, was coming up for a vote Tuesday. The alert continued that “SB 2887 offers a chance to push back against a number of schools such as City Colleges of Chicago and College of DuPage, who implemented harsh measures to terminate all annuitants from teaching – regardless of the number of their classes or the size of their annuity.”

It was painful to read this college that prides itself on being the best in so many things, singled out in its treatment of annuitants. However, the good news that I read in the Tribune this morning was that the bill is now before the governor for signature. Assuming that goes ahead, annuitants earning less than $10,000 will be exempt from the double-dipping penalties that the original bill sought to impose. Ironic that the bill, perhaps well-intentioned in its objective of eliminating cushy benefits for high-paid administrators, inflicted appalling damage on the lowest paid end of the spectrum.

Retired fulltime faculty would in all likelihood never exceed the 40 % threshold if teaching as an adjunct. Yet the college took the approach, citing equity and fairness for all, that this constituency was also barred from rehiring. To be honest I am unable to see the fairness in that. Going forward, if indeed the shackles are removed from the $10,000 category, I expect to see all annuitants acceptable for hiring. If the argument goes that there would be no impact on the quality of teaching, by experiencing these experienced teachers back, then I suggest that the wrong people had been hired in the first place.

Haroon Atcha.Student. I am here tonight as an advocate for the students.

Good evening board members thank you for having me. My name is Haroon Atcha and I’m here tonight as an advocate for the students. In April 1953, president Eisenhower gave a speech concerning the country’s priorities. Though his speech in its entirety is memorable, there is a specific passage that sticks to this day in our collective conscious. You may have heard it before, it goes like this: “Every gun that is made, every warship that is launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” He goes on to give some perspective on the cost of a single heavy bomber airplane. “It is two electric power plants […] it is two fine fully equipped hospitals, […] it is some 50 miles of concrete highway, […] it is half a million bushels of wheat[…].” These past many months I’ve come to these meetings and gently urged the trustees and college as a whole to reform those institutions which do not primarily serve the students. I’ve presented pages of data and suggested fully fleshed out and very modest reforms for the Waterleaf, some of which would not cost the college a single dime to implement. I’d be lying if I said the inaction on this front isn’t disappointing. Though perhaps the fault is mine for inadequately providing perspective so let me rectify my mistakes by doing so tonight. 243,000 dollars. This is how much, according to the October 22^nd issue of the courier, the college spends on wine and alcohol. 243,000 dollars is 1700 credit hours at this college. It is 27 associates degrees. It is 5700 tanks of gas. It is over a thousand brand new biology textbooks. It is 3 full time counselors. It is 50 study abroad trips. And It is more than what 13 students put together will earn working at a full time, minimum wage job this year. Every single student that has to rely on financial aid or take out student loans or pay for classes out of pocket knows exactly what 243,000 represents. That money represents opportunity unbounded for countless students. And so I hope you’ll forgive me tonight if I come across as more impassioned than I usually do but now that you know what that money represents, I hope you will act in the best interest of the students and reassess the college’s priorities. Because ultimately every dollar misappropriated is a theft, from those who seek education, and are denied it.

Mr. Kempa. Talks about the tax levy coming up.

Regarding mission of community colleges. Talks about the establishment of the ICCB in the ’60s. Mission is to prepare students for transfer to other colleges, prepare workforce, ESL, but notes that the mission of COD is to provide affordable, accessible and comprehensive education….

his three minutes are up and he is cut off.

Report on ICCTA/ACCT Conference in Chicago.  Trustee Svoboda reports on the conference. Reports on discussions about the economic divide and what brings students to our colleges.  What can we do as colleges for equity action. involving faculty more prominently in advisory roles.  Having a bigger role in advising.  There is a difference here between advisors and counselors. Advisors help students get the right classes. Counselors do career counseling.

Presented with Brueder, Collins and Dowling on what we are doing at COD.

Savage talks about public policy sessions, discussions of pending legislation that would require students who have taken out loans to have financial counseling every year.

Higher Education Authorization Act

Discussed  the Presidents’ recent proposals on college ratings. Bill that the President signed to reform the Dept of Veterans Affairs. Certain veterans spouses and dependents would be offered in-state tuition.

She attended a panel on placement processes, examining and revising them. Discussions of the issues that remedial students have when they are placed in multiple remedial classes, the likelihood that they will not complete their course of study.

McGuire had to abridge my participation. Bylaws and Governance Committee. Change of title of Diversity Committee of the ACCT. Long discussion.  Picked up information about African-American male student being disproportionately at risk for failure in community colleges. The university of Chicago President offers a free ride for certain City College kids who have been successful at community colleges. It was a great meeting, thousands and thousands of Trustees were there.

Savage: Tom Brady Joe Collins and I participated at a panel on the Homeland Security Education Center program. It was positively received.

Svoboda: The U of C President was so inspirational. He pointed out that the community college movement had its start in Illinois with Joliet College.

Svoboda shows her materials that she brought back from the conference and offers to share them with anybody who is interested.

Savage talks about the keynote speaker who talks about generational differences in our students and workforce. Thee generations at present in our colleges — the millenial generation will continue to change things as they move into the workforce. We will have to adapt the workforce because workforces are changing.

This was a 20 minute conversation.

General Public Comments including those of COD employees will be made after the Closed Session.

Motion for a 5 minute break before Closed Session.

Break before Closed Session.

Blogging will resume after the Closed Session. Stay tuned!

Move to approve the Consent Agenda.

Trustees request that these items be removed from the Consent Agenda:

8B3A Two Corvascular Falcon Quad V7s for the Diagnostic Medical Imaging Sonography and Vascular Sonography Programs

and 8A3C Operating Cash Available to pay Annual Operating Expenses

and also  8B2Financial Reports — Treasurer’s Report and Payroll and Accounts Payable Report

All Trustees approve that motion except Hamilton who abstains

Then Chair Birt makes a motion to approve 8B3

The motion is passed and is open for discussion.

Trustee Savage wants to know why suddenly this item has become an item for discussion if we haven’t operated that way for years.

Trustee Hamilton says “I am respectfully asking this Board to examine the number below 15,000 for the sake of transparency. You may not want that but I think the community members want that.”

Savage says “I have no problem with that but it is actually Adam Andrejewski who wants it done that way. He knew we had been operating that way since 2009 so why is it suddenly a problem?”

Wozniak says “I could probably find out about that by asking Mike McKinnon.”

Hamilton says “it is a simple request that could make this subject so much easier. ”

Savage talks about how much in donations the Foundation Board members have brought to the College so it’s clear that they are not working the system.”

Hamilton “So getting back to the question — could we just approve getting the items under 15,000 ”

COD attorney says it has to be added to the agenda for next month, it cannot be done today. it is unclear what Birt’s response is — something like “it can be entertained.”

Agenda Item 8A3C  Operating Cash available

Hamilton says that there should be transparency in revealing the numbers when operating expenses are made. It is for transparency. Do we need a motion.

Attorney says — you need a motion to put it on the agenda for next month?

Savage says why don’t we just do that? Do we need a motion?  Isn’t this a good thing.

Unanimously approved.

New Business

Motion for Approval for an Anesthesia Technology Degree Program. Unanimous.

Motion for  approval for a Surgical Assistant Certificate Program. Trustee Svoboda notes that COD is the only college in Illinois to have this.

Motion to approve the Mental Health First Aid Certificate. Trustee McGuire notes it is a good program for students in various fields to have this training when they deal with members of the public who may have mental health issues. Approved unanimously.

Motion to approve the addendum to the Joint Education Agreement between William Rainey Harper College and COD.  Trustee McGuire says it is a marvelous opportunity for those students to save money. They pay the same rate our students do, if we have seats I our classes available and they need those classes, it is a good thing for all. Unanimous.

Motion to approve the Employee Wellness Screenings. Trustee Svoboda says it is good to support the staff here and also save money through our Wellness Incentives. Unanimous.

Motion to approve the Independent Third Party Review of Imprest.

Discussion: Hamilton. The 85,000 for this audit is a waste. This audit does not represent reform but is a review of an audit that was done audit based on false premises.  Discussion ensues between Birt and Hamilton. Hamilton says you do not understand the audit, Erin, and so I can’t explain to you what is wrong with the audit, because you don’t understand it. Birt does not know how to respond.

Trustee Svoboda says she wasn’t sure what to do before this meeting, because it was clear people in the public had questions and concerns, but after the comments tonight she has decided that no matter what we do there will always be criticism.

Savage says no matter how well you have internal controls in any large organization there can be fraud. It is very hard to control and sometimes it is caught and in others it is not.  I have been in other institutions where there have been problems that were not caught by staff. Here when there have been problems the staff have found it.  In the interest of transparency, Trustee Hamilton is getting directions from someone in the audience. I don’t know who it is, but I hear her getting directions from someone in the audience.

McGuire: You might now like how the money is spent — a waterfall, whatever– there is nothing hidden. But the Board has approved it. I personally think the 85,000 is a waste of money. I’d rather spend it one students.  Services do not have to be bid in the State of Illinois. There has been nothing wrong, in my opinion.

Brueder– we all know how this came about. When it first came out, I told Glaser to go get a big firm. And he did get two major firms to get interest. Do I think we will find anything? No.  But I wanted to show those who are criticizing us unnecessarily that we have nothing to hide.  Anybody who wants to can see whatever funds are spent.  The organization that insists we have misspent 95 million for its own purposes, come in an see whatever you want to.

May I remind the Board not that you need to be reminded, but for the critics in the audience. We have so much more money in our fund balance now than we did in 2009. We can renovate buildings and build new buildings and grow enrollment. I don’t know why we are being assaulted for that, but we are.  So you can decide if you want to spend 85,000 or not on that audit.

He discusses how much they spent looking for the firm to conduct this audit. And how much they have spent on FOIAs. This organization has found nothing. This organization is abusing this FOiA process. Go ahead and approve this audit if you want it. It will be clean.  I could go on to midnight. One other thing I want to say to those critics who have said we have spent too much money. Go back and read the questions that were on the ballot that the good citizens of this District.  The people of this District approved the expenses on those referenda.  The people of this District said “this is what we want you to do and we are willing to spend money to do it.”

At some point these organizations will stop short eventually of crossing the line because of legal liability.

unanimous “NO” to the audit.

Presentations.

Intergovernmental Agreement — Tom Brady Associate Dean/Director Homeland Security Education Center introduces this agreement with DuPage County. In case of emergency the County could use our facility.  And likewise we could use the County facilities in case of an emergency that would require that.  He introduces Ed Joseph, Director DuPAge County OHSEM to talk about this agreement.

Joseph: What this intergovernmental agreement allows us to do is if there is an incident that renders any of our facilities unusable, it gives us the chance to tap into COD to use their facilities. And vice versa. It’s a perfect arrangement. Two governmental agencies helping each other out. It’s a perfect model of good government.

He lauds Dean Brady and how much he has learned from him over the years. He mentions he is on the Board of the Homeland Security Education Center. That he comes from private business. Thanks the Trustees and the President for all the partnerships. Notes that even in the private sector they relied on partnerships.

Trustee Svoboda thanks him for building partnerships and working together.

Naperville Center Update:

Jean Kartje introduces Emanuel Awuah to give the update on the regional centers.

He gives an update – first the history of the regional centers- 4 regional centers, 2 to the north of Main Campus and 2 to the south. The establishment of the centers is to ensure that e deliver our mission — accessible affordable and comprehensive education to the members of this community.  Addison Center was the first Center. Then Westmont and Naperville in 1991. Then Carol Stream. He discusses that the regional centers provide access to education and convenient and accesibility.

What is the impact of the regional centers? At the moment the regional centers provide 7% of our enrollment.  Now he introduces Andrea Liedtke — Manager of the Regional Centers and Adult Fast Track. Introduces the Center directors. She notes the centers all have things in common — classes, ESL, all centers have unique aspects as well.

Carol Stream Center now has a new Learning Commons, opened this past Monday.

Addison — Home of the Cosmetology Program. Students offer their services to the community on a walk-in basis for very reasonable prices. There is also a Truck Driving School.

Westmont Center — offers sequenced health profession courses.

Naperville Center. Closed in May for renovation. It is not yet completed. Will have a new student lounge. The Center will open on January 5th for student services. Classes will start on January 12th.

Trustee McGuire talks about how she and Kim Savage were surprised by the beautiful colorful renovations in progress.

Trustee Savage also notes how surprised she was when driving by it.

Ms. Liedtke notes that the footprint of the building was not changed even though they opened up two new classroom spaces.

Chair Birt calls for a short break before moving on to the Consent Agenda.

Chair Birt calls the meeting to order. Roll call. Student Trustee Escamilla will not attend this month.

All other trustees present.

Move to approve the agenda. Passes.

Public comment for agenda related items.

Jack Moore. Agenda item #7.

Laura Reigle. Agenda items   8b.2 8c 1 and 2,  9b6

Construction change orders.  The BoT needs to be aware of the financials. Don’t trust them. Hidden imprest accounts in payments to vendors.  Why should the public have to file a FOIA to see vendor payments? We’ve asked 3 times and the College still hasn’t turned over the codes and numbers and so we can’t track the payments. This violates the law. Breuder and Glaser spent over 2 million dollars on waterfalls and sculpture…..with state money. 325,000 cost of one sculpture- the funds were paid from 4 different accounts, including one from a fund for parking.  It took  $727,000, a 67% cost overrun. South Plaza water feature after change order cost 473,000. 100,000 more than had been budgeted originally due to change orders.  A million dollar waterfall…. Speaker cut off because her three minutes have run out.

Geoff Arata — works in vascular sonography. award to 2 vascular imaging equipment.  wants to talk about a contract awarded for Volume calibrated — pressure volume recording device. Explains why this equipment is important — a dual calibrated system. Discusses the way the equipment works. He discusses why a particular feature is important for a student who is learning to be a vascular sonography technician  A low bid product and it should be rejected. His three minutes are up, not cut off?

Jerry Vachaparambil. [full text provided by speaker] Good evening, my name is Jerry Vachaparambil. I’m glad to have another opportunity to address the board of trustees. Thank you for the generosity the college has shown when awarding my brother a presidential scholarship earlier this year.  In order to award more of these scholarships, you are going to have to stop the waste and abusive payments flowing through your Imprest funds.

In July, I had the pleasure of reviewing Dr. Breuder’s compensation package with this board. It turns out that Thousands of dollars of Breuder’s “off-the-books” compensation flowed through these Imprest funds.

It’s still surprising to me how the College of Dupage president makes over $19k more than Dr. Easter, the president of the University of Illinois, so let me remind everyone here today about how he has managed to make this happen. Much of Breuder’s “off-the-books” compensation flows through the Imprest funds.

Along with his base salary of $292,000 he gets $72,000 in deferred comp; $24,900 into a retirement annuity; $8,400 as a car allowance; $8,400 of “personal development” allowance, over $27,000 at the Max McGraw private shooting club, paid satellite phones around the globe, a generous insurance package, and lucrative extra perks.

You would think, with how generous we have been to him, Breuder would be a bit more cautious with the purse strings. But instead, Breader has used the opacity of the Imprest funds to “game the system” for himself, the Senior Management Team and the Board of Trustees.

Dr. Breuder gave a Christmas gift of steaks to the Senior Management Team that costs more than my car:  $2300.  The payment flowed through Imprest accounting and was hidden from the public. It also violated gift ban law and board policy.

By covering up the Imprest payments, did you know that Dr. Breuder threw a Christmas party for the Senior Management Team and they blew through $3500 including $1600 in alcoholic beverages? That’s shameful.

Your students are sacrificing to be at this school. Shame on you for showering the president with filet and crème brulee and throwing liquor parties on our dime.

Please read an article I wrote during an Economics class here, now freely available online, about how you could have saved about a thousand dollars in related party expenses. My alma mater just ushered in it’s fifth college president in the past decade, so I am familiar with the leadership of university presidents whose tenures have been rife with scandal. It’s OK to recognize that mistakes have been made, now it’s time to move on to a new school of leadership.

Mark Kamichek / Will speak on Treasurers Report and Imprest Funds.  How much longer do we have to keep asking for transparency about these funds. For example this week we learned that Bruder gave out steaks etc as Xmas gifts to the Senior Management TEam. This violates the Board’s gift policy.  Because you allow Tom Glaser to use the imprest “slush” fund.    They also have a house account at the Waterleaf.  House Account #30 — did the Board not know about this account?  This is not a Country Club! How much did they rack up on this House Account –beef brisket, salmon, toffee pudding, etc. — The SMT is stealing from our students.  Wake up! Look at his Treasurers report! Shame on you.

Adam Andrzejewski [full text provided by speaker] My name is Adam Andrzejewski founder of OpenTheBooks.com and For the Good of Illinois.

I’m speaking to the Treasurer’s Report and Agenda item 9.b.6 the Imprest Audit. $100 million in Imprest payments have flowed to vendors since 2009. These payments have been hidden from all of us—the board and public. Now you’re considering a forensic audit of these payments. I’ve been a big advocate of the forensic audit- it’s an audit that is evidentiary, follows the money, and holds up in court. But, I don’t think that’s what you had in mind…

Here are suggestions on where to start the audit: Tens of millions of dollars were paid through Imprest funds to vendors who were not subject to a competitive bidding process—they include professional services contracts, subcontractors, construction change orders, and many other circumstances. Start the audit there.

Start the audit with the change orders on the over $2 million dollars in waterfalls and statues.

Start with the board members of the College of DuPage Foundation; I ran the foundation board

members and their businesses through the college checkbook and it shows over $190 million dollars was paid out to these companies over the past four years—plus an exclusive bank on campus. How do you even value an exclusive bank? Many of these companies weren’t subject to competitive bidding.

It’s Mortenson Company, Wight Construction, Power Construction, Bison Gear, Herricane Graphics, Robbins Schwartz, Scott Marquardt, Fuchs and Roselli, and Cadene Health. Start the audit with their payments.

Why was hundreds of thousands of dollars paid out to Broadcast Technologies when the contact name in your vendor management system is… Ed. Ed? No last name. A hundred thousand in Imprest payments and hundreds of thousands of dollars in total.

Question why your Senior Management team can get a Christmas gift of steaks from President Breuder that violates board policy and state gift limits- it flowed with Imprest hidden payments. Question yourselves—you, the board how can you throw a Christmas bash for yourself and blow nearly $1000 on alcohol right on this campus at the Waterleaf.

Question why your Senior Management Team blew through $3500 and $1600 of booze at their Christmas Party.

No, You don’t have a good track record to manage an audit. For the last two months at this meeting, your auditor and entire accounting department told all of us that “you’re clean,” “you win accounting awards,” that you are experts with” five MBA’s on staff in the ccounting department.”

Last month- you- This board told us that it’s too much work to open the books. Only Kathy Hamilton has pushed for reform.

Here’s why reform is so important: COD has $23 million of student loans outstanding and $9 million of it is past due. Your spending and high tuition costs are creating real pain for working class students.

So, hear me on this: We have no trust in you to oversee another audit.

Paul LaForte — resident and taxpayer. 3rd time appearing before this Board asking for information. Suggests reserving 50% of seats in the room for the public. And 10 minutes at the beginning of each meeting to address questions the public wants to know about.

550 million in capital spent in several years while a small increase in enrollment. This money may have satisfied Brueder’s taste but has it been a really good use of money? Should COd just spend the money it has in reserve? Suggests: A basic capital project effectiveness review. Also document enrollment. Update Facilities Master Plan.  A restaurant/hotel effectiveness project that is public.  Document any students employed by these operations. I would like some other questions added. How does the public get an item on your agenda for discussion? Why did you remove Trustee Hamilton from the audit committee is she is the only CPA?

Rich Panico — from the Center for Business Ethics (?)  at DePaul. He came because of what he has been reading about COD.  Someday what’s going on at COD is going to be a case study in mismanagement. For starters, the smirks on the face of the Senior Management Team when the public is making comments is appalling. Do you want to preserve you reputation as leaders you would change your practices immediately. I implore you for your own reputation, do what is right, don’t wait for a court order to do so.

Edward Francoviak — my 4th time here to talk. Like the previous speakers I want to talk about Board Policy 1065 — audit.  Why do we have to FOIA the imprest payments and then come back and tell the public what we find. Discusses the policy of approving items only over 15,000. You could look at items under that if you wanted.  Why wouldn’t Trustees want to have the opportunity to look at about 1/3 of the budget being spent monthly? What kind of report can we expect from you? Who will oversee it? Will it be released conveniently after the Trustee elections in April.

John Kraft — Speaking about Consent Agenda.  You guys don’t look at the payments because you are scared of what you are going to find. First, I understand that BoT members have been compensated with meals and drinks in the past.  Reads from the policy that says that BoT members will serve without compensation. — you can’t go to the Waterleaf and get a fricking meal, get drinks, get gifts at Xmas parties that are paid for by the public! It’s not allowed. Reads Illinois policy –public  funds will be used only for public purposes. You can’t do it! It’s not legal. I urge you to look at all receipts you get.  He reports that on August 21st he ate at the Waterleaf but didn’t drink wine like Brueder did — Brueder had wine that the public paid for while the Board was in Executive Session.

Kirk Allen –6 President’s Report. Is the Board going to ask the President why COD is paying for his hotel stays and meals at the restaurant? And what about the violation of the gift policy which he clearly has violated?  Did receipts from hotel stays count as public purpose.  Your own policies show his actions are wrongdoing. Agenda 9A — New Business.  In light of the recent national coverage of COd  don’t you think there should be some explanation?  Do expenditures have a public purpose? Dixon IL had “clean audits” for 20 years but the woman turned out to be a thief.   forensic audit.   Policy:  Closed Session — I suggest you use Closed session to discuss the president’s termination for violation of your own policies. You serve the public not Dr. Robert Brueder.  And what good does it do to have a policy where we the public can ask questions but you people never answer them?

Roger Kempa — in the Treasurers Report there is no rate of return for a large amount of money for the investments for that month.  Why don’t you have the rate of return for over a quarter billion dollars of investments?  Operating Cash to pay annual operating expenses. — That lists over 220 million dollars, without restrictions, but there is another amount that is restricted and there    over 91 million dollars is restricted — but how?  37.8 million is on reserve — but even not considering 90 million dollars you do not even need.  There is no way in hell that next tax levee you are considering in December — there is no reason to increase it, but rather decrease it. You have over 90 million that you don’t need. It needs to go back to the public eventually.

Public comments section for agenda-related items is now closed.

Trustee McGuire instead of the President’s Report.   She is very upset. She talks about German philosopher Martin Niemuller and his famous quote….today they came for the socialists…then they came for the Jews….etc.

I have spent all day preparing these comments.  Begins by talking about  My statement is directed at the extremist right-wing ideologues who are assaulting this stellar organization.  The attack on Chair Birt was the tipping point for me. Then the comment Trustee Hamilton made about Chair Birt — then the For the Good of Illinois.  Look at those imprest funds — there is nothing that says legally they have to be looked at. If the Board had wanted to see those receipts we could have at any point.

She goes on to defend the Waterleaf and the Hotel. They just need time to get going financially. It’s picking up. They offer the students a world class facility to train in.  We only meet once a month and it helps us to have a meal together.

She continues to express her anger at the right-wing people who are bringing up the same topic over and over.  The imprest fund, the Waterleaf and the hotel. She describes the meal she had for members of the Chinese community

Let’s talk about the President. He has gotten a lot of criticism.  He has made mistakes, But he has made many good changes here. It is a much more welcoming place than it used to be.

She says there is no shame here. She continues to defend the actions made at the college and says Bruder is the ambassador of the College to the community and he has done great things.

Let’s talk about the 20 million dollars (the money that Gov. Quinn took back). We lobbied for that money for years.  The hope for that money was communicated to us last spring. The President’s e-mail about how to move that project forward was “conveniently” FOIA’ed.

She defends the College’s attempts to get those funds. The Teaching and Learning CEnter idea had been on the books for years as part of our wish list. We had worthy uses for that money.

She calls the recent charges a “vendetta.”  She recalls listening to the attacks on the College when she was out in South Dakota at a family event.  She says the legal and staff expenses to process over 50 FOIA requests — over 100,000 dollars. She counts the 20 million dollars lost and the legal fees to provide FOIA information.  IT is costing the College too much money.

She begins to read stats that praise COD –25% of the high school districts select COD for post-secondary ed/ Talks about reasonable a degree here. The new center in Naperville that is coming up. Or attendance is going up. We have reduced energy cots, increased spaces, LEED certified everywhere.  COD has enjoyed a 10.3 increase in headcount. Unlike the overall average decree everywhere else at CC’s across Illinois of 11%. She talks about Presidential Scholars.

She goes on to name the awards that COD has garnered. Talks about how wonderful the Foundation Board is.

Then lauds the faculty. 30% have PhDs . Hands-on teaching.

Notes that we serve students of all ages.

We are an awful lot of things to an awful lot of people.

This wonderful place is under attack from within and without the community. Stop it. COD is a true treasure. This college takes a small portion of your tax dollars and gives back so much.

We create the middle class. All countries need a middle class or else there is no stability and countless revolutions.  I have never heard a criticsm of this college from a student who has been here.

We need to push back from these unwarranted attacks on the College and the personal attack on our Chair, Erin Birt.

She mentions the upcoming elections in April

Stay tuned! Live blogging will begin when the meeting begins at 7pm….stay tuned!

Adam Andrzejewski. Top 10 oddities sheet was crafted from a locked PDF that was provided in response to a FOIA request. Took programmers five hours to unlock it; the 1’s and spaces were introduced in the process. Realized error and pulled the next day from website, which they knew when they made tonight’s presentation.

Glenn Hansen, president of the Faculty Association. Timing is everything, since I didn’t know what would happen tonight when I wrote these remarks. In 2007, I asked the Board to begin streaming and broadcasting their meetings. David Carlin later championed the issue, the College bought the equipment, and the Board began to stream and broadcast the meetings on local cable access stations.  The time has come to do this again. Your business is the people’s business. We should not rely on the news being reported in the paper. Give the district residents the opportunity to view the proceedings live and to form their opinion unfiltered. Thank you.

Richard Jarman, Vice President of the Faculty Association. Perhaps I should be grateful that I did not hear the chimes at midnight before getting to make my comments tonight; but I am not particularly. This new policy, hastily adopted at the last meeting, perhaps at odds with the board’s own rules in the process, whereby comments not directly related to agenda items have been shunted to the very end, even after closed sessions of indeterminant length, reflects poorly on how this board appears to value the input from community members from all constituencies. We know why it was done; but I suspect it will not have the desired effect but instead exacerbate an already charged arena; and not for the first time this past few months.

I sometimes have the sense that, upon entering this room of a Thursday, I enter an alternative universe where what I thought was up is down; and what I thought was down is up. Important issues continue to be neglected. Instead of dealing with the May 9^th email, a trustee is censured. To what end exactly? Two highly critical editorials in the Tribune resulted from all that, unwelcome publicity. And the Tribune is not exactly the Daily Worker, with its staunch conservative position, even having endorsed a former COD chairman in his political campaign for higher office. All that along with amplified and sustained criticism at ensuing board meetings. Might I suggest, with a different approach, all this could have been avoided?

When I took hold the reins of office, short as they are, it was on my mind to work towards changing the current policy towards retirees. We are told it is too difficult to keep track of hours and for fear of anyone exceeding the allowance, then no one will be hired. The twin principles of equity and fairness – or perhaps equity and unfairness – are invoked. We have heard no discussion around this table about this. I would encourage it to happen. With all the wonderful achievements that this college is capable of, witness the manifest mastery of internal controls, I cannot believe it to be an insurmountable obstacle to track hours if there is the collective will to do it.

Stephen Tuscher, president of the college’s environmental club, read the text of a petition relating to the Community Farm with well over 500 signatures asking that land on campus be dedicated to environmental practices. The club appreciates that land has been found for the farm but asks that a plot of land on campus be set aside as an urban garden to better facilitate students’ involvement and demonstrate the college’s commitment.

Haroon Atcha, advocate for students, told a story about not changing the oil in his car while keeping it perfectly clean and detailed. He compared this to COD which has beautiful grounds and facilities and asks how we can best invest in the students to make COD more than a pretty face.

Rachel Musselwhite, president of Pride Alliance, partnered with numerous student groups to put on Project You to promote students’ self-acceptance. A faculty panel on identity inspired many students.

Stephanie Torres. Thanked Dowling and Breuder for their time in sharing Pizza with the President event. She also spoke about Project You which was a major effort developed entirely by COD students. She also mentioned more SLC leadership activities.

Ed Franckowiak. Had to hold himself back listening to the staff talking about cost controls when then hearing about a case of fraud that should have been discovered two years ago. He used Google to check for a vendor company that doesn’t exist. How can you have a clean audit if there was theft? The public should know that a theft occurred.

Laura Reigle. Has exchange with Birt about her speaking time (which she had given to Adam Andrzejewski). Birt says she doesn’t want to pay more legal fees so Reigle should speak. Reigle then raises issues about ROI and quotes from Breuder’s own words about how everything has been built new since 2009, not justified by the small increments of enrollments. She also referenced the large surplus. It is disrespectful that the trustees do not have email addresses and the only way to communicate is through three-minute comments.

The meeting ended with announcements. Next regular board meeting November 20, 2014, at 7pm. Adjourned at 11:15pm.

The board took a break and then went into closed session. There will be no business discussed after the closed session, but there will be an additional session of public comments.

New Business for Approval.

Health Insurance renewal. Several comments were made about the low increases in health insurance costs and that we had made the right decision to join the consortium.

Elections stuff. A funny moment in which Trustee Svoboda declared her intent to run and was advised by the college attorney to abstain from voting on the election details. Thus there were several abstentions: Svoboda, O’Donnell, and Savage. Discussion of the dates especially regarding holidays and college closing days.

Approval of the Naperville Center renovation. Trustee McGuire spoke very enthusiastically of the transformation of this center. Trustee Hamilton uncomfortable with demographic projections used for expansion and construction and declared she would not vote for the motion. She was the only no vote.

Trustee Discussion of Vendor Payments.

Trustee Hamilton spoke about her proposed change to policy removing the $15,000 restriction on what payments are reported to the BOT.

She stated that a change of leadership at the college is definitively needed.

She began to refer to a press release that had been made about a case of fraud. A very confusing argument ensued between Hamilton, Birt, and the college attorney about what could be revealed in public. Hamilton read a short press release about fraud under investigation. She argued that internal controls have to be reviewed. Said that she declined to approve financial statements because of knowledge of fraud.

O’Donnell asked when was the last time Hamilton worked as a CPA.

Someone was convicted of fraud and sentenced to nine years.

See article

Birt scolded Hamilton for leaving the meeting for 20 minutes (corrected to 16) during the financial presentation. Hamilton said she had heard it before.

The attorney cautioned her that they have been asked by the state’s attorney’s office not to discuss the matter under investigation. He said that she could address the board policy.

Hamilton stated that she strongly opposes taxpayer dollars going to Breuder’s hunt club. There is no transparency. Savage argued that the reports of every payment would be overwhelming and would be micromanaging. Hamilton said, reports can be sorted by dollar amounts so that the largest ones are on top; what are we are afraid of? Svoboda asked how many more pages of accounts would have to be reviewed. Lynn Sapyta answered that it would take 12-18 extra pages and that it’s no problem to provide it.

Trustee Savage mentioned the new ethics hotline in her comments.

Trustee McGuire said that the hunt club is the most egregious expense and said that it was part of Breuder’s contract. She was surprised by it, but it’s not so alarming, and she has asked many questions about our finances. Declared that she would not vote for any changes.

Trustee Hamilton argued that it is her duty to review those expenses.

O’Donnell said that Hamilton never came to other board members about this concern. Hamilton responded, “You weren’t speaking to me, remember?”

Wozniak said that he had not heard from Hamilton about this issue. Hamilton said that she believed it should be discussed in public in a meeting.

Hamilton tried to argue that the IRS had disallowed things like the hunt club dues as deductions, but Birt cut her off saying that it’s not a free-for-all.