July 2015 Board Report

The leader of Illinois Valley Community College’s board Thursday defended the college’s actions in a tax lawsuit with Putnam County and Marquis Energy’s ethanol plant in Hennepin. 

At the trustee’s monthly meeting, chair Melissa Olivero read a prepared statement to a boardroom packed with over 70 guests, college employees and trustees.

“First, I would be remiss if I didn’t question the impetus for and timing of the recent attacks on the college, the board, our administration and our attorney. The cases involving Marquis Energy and Putnam County are over. The litigation was pending from 2011 to 2015, a period of four years.

“During that time period, the board held 48 public meetings. No one came to any of these meetings to address concerns with the litigation. No one,” Olivero said.

“We are also somewhat stunned by the vitriol in the letters and ads we have seen. Where I come from, anyway, neighbors do not attack neighbors in anonymous letters and ads, instead people work together to resolve their disputes, more importantly, people work together in the best interest of the community as a whole. How we arrived here, I certainly do not know.”

After addressing specific issues raised by several speakers including Bill Mennie of Mark, Olivero defended the work of board attorney Walt Zukowski.

“The board has been more than satisfied with the service of Mr. Zukowski and his law firm. He has competently, zealously represented the college. The actions he took were at the express direction of the board of trustees,” she said.

“He provided frequent and thorough updates to the board throughout the litigation. In every motion and on every appeal during the litigation, the college prevailed. We are not sure how Mr. Zukowski could have been better.”

Regarding Zukowski’s legal fees widely reported in the press, Olivero said, “Initially, we should remember that these bills were spread over a five year period (2010-2015). Secondly we have estimated that the litigation strategies of Marquis Energy drove up our legal bill by $260,000 – or one-third. In short, we didn’t give up our lawsuit because it was unjust or wrong, we simply could not afford it.”

In June 2006, IVCC signed onto a Bureau/Putnam Area Enterprise Zone agreement that stated taxes would only be abated for construction beginning after July 1, 2007. The college contends construction of the ethanol plant was underway before July 1, 2007 and thus was ineligible for abatement.

After trying for more than six months to resolve the dispute, IVCC filed suit against Putnam County and Marquis’s Hennepin plant in 2011 to recover years of lost tax revenue. After four years of court delays and significant legal expenses, the college dropped the suit in April.

After listing a number of pro-business and economic development achievements by the college, including construction of the Peter Miller Community Technology Center, Olivero said, “IVCC has a great deal to be proud of. Each of us on the board is an unpaid community volunteer. We must act in the best interest of the college, our students and the 154,000 residents of our district spread over eight counties.

“Although the lawsuit was not ultimately resolved in the college’s favor – in fact none of the substantive issues were resolved – there is no evidence that the board, the college’s administration, or our attorneys did anything wrong by attempting to protect the college’s tax base in the face of declining revenues.”

In other business, the board approved a tentative 2016 budget with expenditures of $36.3 million, a 5.7 percent decrease, and revenues of $33.5 million, a 7.2 percent decrease. Over $1.47 million will be spent to complete a student center and cyber café, final pieces of the building project.

Operating revenues are projected to be over $21.5 million, up $43,112 or .2 percent.

The budget will be balanced by transferring $536,750 from auxiliary enterprises (bookstore) for IT infrastructure and $70,000 from working cash interest.

The board will vote on final approval of the budget following a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13.

In other business, the board approved:

  • The expenditure of $84,612 for annual radio, billboard and television contracts for fiscal 2016 from NRG Media, La Salle County Broadcasting, Studstill Media, WZOE and Comcast.
  • Consortia purchases from two firms: $54,000 in janitorial supplies from Interline Brands and $22,921 in elevator maintenance from ThyssenKrupp.
  • $55,000 for fuel through WEX cards for the truck driver training program and $46,321 for annual maintenance on five chillers from Daikin Applied Americas (formerly McQuay).
  • The appointment of Quentin Overrocker as the director of admissions, records and transfer services. Overrocker was an associate registrar at Illinois Wesleyan and an advisor and admissions counselor at Wisconsin-Stout.
  • The appointment of Dan Serafini as a full-time mathematics instructor. Serafini won IVCC’s outstanding part-time faculty award this spring. The board also terminated the employment of part-time financial aid administrative assistant Janice Studer. Two part-time positions in financial aid will become one full-time position.
  • The hiring of Northwest Comprehensive for $8,000 to assist in analyzing health insurance options and the bidding process.
  • The $40,640 bid of Utelogy of Santa Ana, Cal., for initial implementation of a classroom control and management system in 12 rooms.
  • A proposal from Guarantee Trust Life for student athletic insurance for $39,400.
  • Authorizing a letter of support for the 12-year extension of La Salle TIF District I.
  • Transfer of $663,052 from auxiliary enterprises to the education fund for information technology infrastructure improvements made in fiscal 2015.
  • The release of closed session minutes from Nov. 19, 2013 and June 9, June 12 and Sept. 11, 2014.

Board members learned:

  • The college received $113,198 through a public sector energy efficiency rebate from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) for efficiencies within the Peter Miller Community Technology Center. Trustee David Mallery was credited for alerting the college to the opportunity and Kurt Rimmele of Basalay, Cary and Alstadt for preparing the application free of charge.
  • IVCC’s truck driver training program, established in 2000, started class number 300 on June 22. “Truck driver training is a perfect example of what we think of when somebody says the role of the community college is to respond to the needs of the community it serves,” said IVCC President Jerry Corcoran.
  • A total of 17 graduates are expected to participate in the 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 21 LPN pinning ceremony in the Cultural Centre.
  • The 19th annual IVCC Foundation golf outing June 17 netted over $6,000 and attracted approximately 40 golfers.
  • Corcoran credited Vice President for Business Services and Finance Cheryl Roelfsema for keeping the final phase of the construction project on track by working out an intergovernmental agreement with the Capital Development Board despite the state budget standoff.