Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m.
Roll Call
Present: Heywood, Holden, Jeffries, Patterson
(present telephonically), Pelleran, Rasmusson
Absent: Canady
Limited Public Comment Regarding Agenda
Items
Norma Mendez (read letter from Ms. Jackie
Clair, Past President, NAPM, Central Michigan) - Dear Board Members and
meeting attendees. I am unable to attend your meeting on December 17,
2002, but would like this letter read on behalf of Rebecca. Although I
have known her for only a relatively short time, four years, I feel I
can vouch for her professionalism and character. I met her through the
Central Michigan affiliate of the National Association of Purchasing
Management. She joined our Board several years ago and whole-heartedly
accepted the responsibilities and duties of each position she held. One
year, she agreed to present a session on Contracts for our annual
Michigan Purchasing Conference, now in it's 26th year. Her presentation
evaluations proved she was well received. While serving a two year term
as 2nd Vice President, Membership Chair, she went out of her way to
recruit new members, both regular and students. She tries to share her
enthusiasm for her profession with all she comes in contact with,
especially young adults. When she became 1st Vice President, in charge
of our monthly dinner meetings, she had site and speaker?s arrangements
made for the complete year by our fall Board meeting. This allowed
attendees to receive points toward their certification, something we had
not had for quite a few years. Professional development is very
important to her, which was evident in her choice of topics, as well as
in her own personal life. Due to her overloaded schedule of juggling
family, work and pursuing her PhD, she felt she could no longer afford
the time to continue serving on our Board. It is so difficult to find
volunteers for these positions, especially one who is so enthusiastic
and dependable. It was definitely a great loss for us. I hope this has
helped in presenting Rebecca as a person of high standards both
personally and professionally. She is a highly motivated and respected
individual who will continue to add great accomplishments to her list of
achievements throughout her career. Thank you for your time. Sincerely,
Jackie Clair, C.P.M, Past President, NAPM - Central Michigan.
Norma Mendez (read letter on behalf of Mr.
James B. Franklin III, Regional Director, Mid-Michigan and Western
Michigan Operations of the Michigan Minority Business Development
Council) - Dear Lansing Community College Board of Trustees. My name is
James B. Franklin III; I am the Mid-Michigan and Western Michigan
Operations Regional Director of the Michigan Minority Business
Development Council (MMBDC). MMBDC is the regional purchasing council of
the National Minority Supplier Development Council. We serve as a
business/corporate service organization, which advocates for corporate
supplier diversity purchasing programs; and Minority Business
Enterprises (MBEs) procurement networking between our corporate members
and certified MBEs. And we are very proud to have Lansing Community
College as one of our non-profit corporate members. On behalf of MMBDC,
this letter is in support and recognition of Rebecca (Beckie) Beard for
outstanding services render to MMBDC, its regional operations and the
MMBDC Lansing/Jackson Executive Roundtable Advisory Committee. For the
past two years Mrs. Beard has been an active part of the MMBDC
Mid-Michigan Operations and purchasing leadership in the Lansing
community. She was very instrumental in the establishment of local
procurement networking opportunities, the MMBDC Lansing/Jackson
Executive Roundtable Advisory Committee, and the MMBDC Christman/Wohert
Project One Business Module in the Lansing area. In addition, through
her efforts LCC Purchasing has been nominated for Corporation of the
Year-Educational Sector, two out of the last four years. Therefore, as
regional director, I issue this letter of support and thanks to Mrs.
Beard for her outstanding service to the Michigan Minority Business
Development Council. In addition, I ask that this letter be entered into
the official records of this LCC Board of Trustees minutes. If you have
any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact me at
810.235.4542. Sincerely, James B. Franklin III.
Linda Birchmeier - For the past six months I
have attended the Board meetings, read the Board minutes and have worked
with the individuals that have been the subjects of the investigation. I
can't begin to describe what this has done to the reputations of those
involved and how it has personally affected me. What actually happened,
how it appears and how it has affected the people at LCC is the issue.
My comments tonight are not to criticize the Board's right to ask
questions or request information. It is the process and the particular
behaviors that concern me. I recognize that all Board members do not
endorse this investigation. As the director of the Organizational
Development Department the environment that we have been operating in
the last few months is totally disheartening. How these individuals Lee,
Glenn, and Beckie, can be attacked and accused of wrong doing without
facts is absolutely unbelievable. Even more troubling is the fact that a
Board member personally threatened one of those under investigation, and
the Board stood by and did not even criticize this behavior. In the
minutes of August 26th LCC Board meeting, I quote: Trustee Patterson
said, he said something to the effect that he would bring him, Glenn
Cerny, in or cut him to bits or something like that. Trustee Haywood
asked if Trustee Patterson said he would tear him apart, Trustee
Patterson said, that he had probably said it. Yes, end of quote. This
threat, in conjunction with hand picked investigators, creates the
appearance of a witch-hunt. I have had to sit back and witness the past
few months, and as you can see emotion has defiantly been a factor for
me. To see what these top notch, first class individuals and their
families have been put through. I do not understand why these
individuals were not given a chance to answer the allegations that were
put before them, before the investigation was launched. In the future
does this mean that every rumor or charge against anyone does it become
investigated? Will tens of thousands of dollars be spent every year that
there is a rumor? Every time that there is a rumor? If not, then why
were these individuals singled out? These individuals are three quality,
well respected, professionals that have gone and do go above and beyond
the call of duty each and every day at Lansing Community College and I
work with all three of these on a regular basis. Why all individuals are
replaceable, these folks are not. Their dedication, their work ethic,
their quality and quantity of work, is first rate. To still be here at
LCC today after what they have been through, personally and
professionally the past few months, should easily tell you the kind of
individuals that they are, and it speaks to their dedication. We are
doing great things at Lansing Community College and the work that Lee,
Glenn, and Beckie have been part of is the future of LCC and its
students. I am excited and honored to be part of them, and even more so
the opportunities that I have to work with these individuals on a daily
basis. You can see here tonight that they have a team behind them. A
team that totally supports them, and believes in their leadership. They
have a true passion for their work, for LCC and for LCC students. I
would like to see the efforts of everyone be put towards the goals and
mission of Lansing Community College, instead into the unsubstantiated
allegations which consume college resources, and unfairly tarnish good
people with headlines that can never really be undone, which is what has
happened the past few months. Thank you.
Lynn Savage - Good afternoon, my name is Lynn
Savage, and I am President of the LCC Administrative Association, which
is local number 4751 of the Michigan Federation and Teachers and School
Related Personnel. I am here today to speak again on behalf of Miss
Beckie Beard, the purchasing director of LCC. It is now December 17,
2002 and Miss Beard has undergone months of interviews with various
investigators. She still has not received any indication of a retraction
from Mr. Rasmusson's original letter, which made public 8 allegations of
possible policy and or procedural problems within the College's
purchasing department. Miss Beard has also endured months of having to
explain to vendors and campus colleagues information regarding numerous
articles which have appeared in the Lansing State Journal since last
summer regarding Hewlett Packard hardware, not software, purchase in
May. Despite letters from Miss Beard?s attorney, Mr. Gregory McClelland
in June, Ms. Liz Duhn, field representative of the MFT and SRP in July,
and my own verbal request to the Board in August for the following to
occur, that is number one: a written apology be issued to Miss Beard
from Trustee Rasmusson. Number two: reimbursement of Miss Beard's
attorney's fees by the Board. And number three, some acknowledgement
that Mr. Rasmusson has been made aware of Board policy 1.7.4 B and C
regarding how communication will take place in such issues. Essentially
nothing has happened to address Miss Beard's complaint. I made it clear
in my remarks in August that LCCAA was in support of the President's
efforts to perform an internal investigation into the eight original
allegations so that this whole matter could be put to rest as soon as
possible and with minimal public harm. However, the events that have
unfolded made way for hiring the additional investigators by the Board
have cost the College many additional hours of investigative time and
money. Still Miss Beard is not yet made whole. We believe the documents
that will be presented tonight will completely exonerate Miss Beard of
any wrong doing, we further believe that the requests for policy or
apology should be issued by Mr. Rasmusson within seven working days of
today's date, that Miss Beard?s attorneys fees be paid by the Board, and
that Mr. Rasmusson acknowledge that he is aware of the Boards own policy
regarding communication. Thank you for your attention.
Ray Wawro - I'm Ray Wawro. I am the director
of technology here at the College, and I was interviewed as part of the
investigation. One of the questions that Mr. McIntyre asked me is what
is your reaction to the allegation that people at LCC received kickbacks
from Oracle. The people he was talking about was Glenn, Lee, or Beckie.
I sat and thought about it for a few minutes, trying to come up with a
word that was printable. I finally came up with ludicrous. And really
that's the one impression that I have of it is that the whole process
has just been ludicrous or that the charges, not really the process, but
that the charges were just totally ludicrous. Thank you.
Nancy Lombardi - I am here to speak not so
much for my individual colleagues, many people here have done a much
better job at that than I could, but I am here to speak as an employee
of Lansing Community College. First, and second, as a citizen and
taxpayer. As an employee of Lansing Community College, I am deeply
concerned by the precedent established by the reviews on the agenda
today. It is disheartening to see formal reviews triggered by
unsubstantiated accusations, hearsay and innuendo. What is the message
this sends to us? The message it sends is that the level of suspicion at
Lansing Community College is so high that an unsubstantiated accusation
can lead to investigation of an employee?s every decision and action.
How can we work toward the future when we have to keep looking over our
shoulders? How can we recruit and retain quality administrators, faculty
and staff under such conditions? As an employee, citizen and taxpayer, I
am deeply disappointed that LCC's financial resources as well as
employee time and energy have been diverted from its stated
goals--quality of education and community impact. It's disheartening to
see time, energy and money spent on investigations and suspicion rather
than on the strategic plan and student success. It's good to know the
Board is concerned. What we need is a Board that helps us focus on the
strategic plan and sends a message to our community that Board inquiries
of Lansing Community College are working together for a better future, I
urge you to accept these reports and end this matter now. Thank you.
Marlon Fairweather, President and owner of
National Career Group - I just want to say that it saddens me first of
all to know that I had to go through some (inaudible) to see what's
going on right now. As a small minority business owner, I've had the
pleasure of working with Beckie for the past year and a half now. It so
happens that we won a contract with LCC and I am very proud of that.
Being new to the area and not really understanding everything, Beckie
took the time out to work with us to make sure that we dotted our I?s
and crossed our T's from an accounting standpoint. That worked out very
well because when you're new to the game, there are a lot of mistakes
that you make and you know how that goes. Once you make a mistake you
won?t get a second chance. For her to be even under investigation really
saddens me because she works so hard to do a very good job. Not only do
I know her from doing business with LCC, but she sits on several Boards
with me to make sure that minorities do get a fair share for events and
things that goes on in the community. I have a lot of respect for her. I
don't know her as well as I?d like to because time has been short, but
what I've seen of her I am very honored to have worked with her and that
I have learned a lot from her. For a community of this size, and depth
and we're growing, there are a lot of issues that come up but the issue
of how much she cares for this community college and her work ethics and
for her to be even put in a situation like this really, really saddens
me. There are a lot of other things going on within the community. Fine,
upstanding citizen that she is, especially one who take her work home
with her. I just don't understand it. I understand we all have to do
certain things to make sure that everything is in order, but not with
Beckie. She loves her job; she shows it by putting in the time, effort
and commitment that is necessary. I don't know if I was reviewing the
same thing, but I do know I am happy to know her, and I think she will
continue to do a good job for the community. Thank you.
Anthony Juliano - I'm Anthony Juliano. I am
the interim executive director of the Business and Community institute
of Lansing Community College. This has been a very interesting process
for me to watch. I have been in the consulting business long before I
was here; I have dealt with a lot of businesses, a lot of purchasing
agents, a lot of people from information services and computer science
departments and other consultants like Mr. Whipple. I think when I look
at this whole thing, and you listen to what quality people tell you, its
like an airplane spin that's gotten out of control, the emotional level
gets higher, substantive level gets lower, it's harder and harder to
sort the facts out with everybody's feelings and it's really necessary
at this point to kind of go back and do that. You really need to look
at?I know when I had consulting engagements and organizations where I
had to deal with issues similar to this one, I always wanted to look at
what was wrong not who was wrong. You look at the systems at what people
manage, are their systems any good? Are they working and producing
results? Do they have ethics building into their code? Are they managing
things effectively? So using that criteria, going and taking a look at
the relationships I've had with Glenn, Lee and Beckie. I got involved in
a professional relationship with Glenn probably first hand when I was
asked to take a look at the BCI and what was going to happen. We were
going to take a 29% budget cut. We were going to take eleven or twelve
people out of that organization. It was Glenn Cerny who sat up at the
table and spoke up to make sure that the rights of every one of those
people and the caring for every one of those people that were going to
be moved out of that BCI were properly taken care of and were fairly
dealt with. And there was no automotive voices at the table at that time
that were asking for that, and Glenn spoke and said wait a minute, what
we have to do here is be fair, has to be right, has to take care of
everyone that is involved. Both the people who stay behind, and the
people that have to go elsewhere. It was Glenn who took the lead and
helped me work with Dave Davidson to find a position for every one of
those people in the organization, and that at least gave them six months
to find another job or find another permanent job at LCC. Another
interesting thing happened at that meeting. I became?Lee and I had gone
with Paula and a number of people down to Saturn Corporation. And we
began to a little talk a little bit about how business operations should
be running at LCC. And it was the strategy that Lee Whipple and I began
to develop at that table, that day, that evolved in many working
relationships within my staff the work that Lee continues to do because
of connection with ISO 9000, and the career project that he is working
on with Glenn, and with us, work that he and Judy Koos do together in
the continuing strategy that BCI was brought to cost recovery. He has
been a strategic partner in my BCI, he worked with my staff and became a
well liked and accepted member of our group, he has spent days when he
was on the first work assignment with us, that Paula gave him, working
on to determine what our metrics are, how we should measure our success,
how we should plan our strategic working with my management rep, Linda
Nichols, working closely with Judy Koos, and has become a member of our
group that has been highly respected inside our division. Again, look at
the people and the functions they run. Then there's Beckie Beard. Beckie
Beard, an interesting person, involved with her on three different
occasions, helping to find appropriate consultation, for both my ISO
9000, involved in a search committee with Glenn?s ISO 9000 project,
which is currently undergoing, and meshing those two together and also
many times involved in trying to get an effective consulting services
program going in the BCI for our employer customer base. On every one of
those occasions, I have been subjected to procedures which I consider to
be both vigorous, professional and highly ethical in terms of making
sure that is very fair and equitable system of selection whose employed
and hired. Never been able to any way suggest to Beckie that something
could be done other than that way. I've put my feet to the fire many
times saying Tony' slow down and do it right, and you're going to get a
better result. Those are the kinds of things that are important to
consider whenever you're looking at whatever you're looking at in terms
of people. What do they do? I've worked with information systems and
services departments like Glenn?s in probably?I've worked with
(inaudible) for seven years in the Executive Office with Bill Milligan.
Our system never approached the availability of our computer science and
system here at LCC. Our computers are down so little that when they go
down, everybody thinks that they're having a huge emotional trauma. That
represents a huge commitment on the part of a great staff, well lead to
be able to do that. We have an exemplary system here nobody knows that
because they got used to it. Try working somewhere else for a while and
you'll see. That some of those places are not very far away from here.
Good people running good systems and they do a good job managing, and
very ethical and I want to speak up for them and say that they deserve
every word of confidence speaking here tonight. Thank you very much.
Suellen Hozman - I'm not going to talk long.
My name is Suellen Hozman. I'm employed in the purchasing department at
the Board of Water and Light. And I'm here tonight for several reasons.
First I'm here to support Beckie. Beckie is a Beacon of professionalism
in our community. Beckie goes over the edge in terms of her performance.
It would be enough to say that Beckie is outstanding at what she does.
But that Beckie does more. Beckie as you heard, has been a champion in
leadership in supplier diversity, not only at Lansing Community College,
but also for the community. Beckie is a part of a local professional
group makes herself available at any time that anybody needs any
counsel, or any advice. Beckie participates on a national level on a
state level and on a local level in professional groups and in personal
training to improve her own skills. I worship Beckie. Did I make that
clear? Beckie is a beacon for us in the community. It needs to be very
clear to you that you have an outstanding person, in my opinion you are
fortunate and need to behave in that way, to have Beckie. Secondly, I am
here because I have been a purchasing professional since 1985. It's been
well said, so far, the excellence of Beckie Beard. Listen, you just set
up a red flag in our professional community. Because if this can happen
to Beckie Beard, we are all at risk. This needs to be made
professionally public. I am here to understand what is the circumstance
that generated this process. What are the details of this process? Who
were the people who were selected to investigate these allegations? What
is the nature of this report and the content of this report? What is in
this report? What is not in this report? What will be the result of this
report? What are the consequences of this report? What are the
consequences to Beckie? What are the consequences to her staff? What are
the consequences to the department? And what are the consequences to
this college and what are the consequences to this community? Lastly, I
am here to bear witness and to say to you, you have a world-class
employee, and I implore you to behave in a world class way.
Janeil K. Valentine - My name is Janeil
Valentine and I am an account specialist for Ingham County. I first met
Beckie Beard when I got involved with Lansing public purchasing group.
And Beckie was one of the founders of that group and she continues to
provide leadership and support and on many bases I can call Beckie or
send her an email her and ask her things, and she will respond and has
responded and helped me greatly. Earlier this year, I was at the
Michigan Public Purchasing Facilitation Officers Association and Beckie
was one of the speakers at one of the workshops I was in. It was
attended very well and everyone found that the information that she gave
was very useful and she was very knowledgeable in that in our
profession. I have worked in the purchasing profession for many years,
and have found Beckie Beard to be one of the outstanding purchasing
professionals and I don't say that lightly, because there are good ones,
and there are outstanding ones, and there are many other words for those
who ones other than good. But Beckie takes all the extra steps, to make
sure that the College has a diverse vendor pool, which is not an easy
job. She continually strives to make things better not only for her
staff but the employees of the department of the College and for the
business community, and for the colleagues of her profession. I would
just like to say to you that she is a very outstanding professional, I
feel very honored to work with her, and I would like to thank you for
your time.
Bruce Caradine - Good evening, I'm Bruce
Caradine. I'm co-director of Lansing Community College's Physical Plant
Department. I'm here to speak on behalf of Beckie Beard and I usually
don't come to Board meetings because the old school you were only
invited to the Board meetings. But I know that this young lady is being
put forth before the public in this fashion, I feel that as a personal
friend and as a professional colleague of hers, I should step up to the
plate. Because Beckie is definitely, as others have stated, she is
impeccable, she stands for her right, and she stands for what is best
for the community college. If this can happen to her, then everybody
else better look out. Because Beckie has definitely torn down some
bridges and walls for our department. Our department has been accused
for many years where we have our favorites and we don't allow anybody to
have the chance to do it. Since she?s been here, there are three major
contracts that have been let to newcomers. She gives them that
opportunity and she does it fairly. For our housekeeping gig, she took
that personally because that was one of the major contracts for this
college, and she wanted to get the best product for our money. Yes, we
spent more money than we had in the past, but I think we got the best
product that we got for our money. I appreciate when she?s taken the
time with the physical plant department, and I appreciate the time that
she's spent with the rest of this campus. She takes each bid that she
handles personally, and she sends that down to her staff. She wants
everyone to be ethical, she wants everyone to be fair, and she wants the
best for this college. I hope that this investigation will show that she
is above Board and she is one of the best employees here at Lansing
Community College. Yes, you may find something wrong in your
investigation, because that's what they were hired to do, to find
something, but I bet it would be so minute that I would be glad to find
something as small as what they're going to find in my lifetime. I've
done worse things (inaudible) So Beckie, good job, and continue to do
the good job that you're doing. Thank you so much.
Barbara Larson - Good evening I'm Barbara
Larson. I've been employed with Lansing Community College since 1996,
and in that time I have had the good fortune to work with many bright
and talented people. I'm proud to say that two of those people are here
because I hired them. Glenn Cerny in 1997, and Beckie Beard in 1998.
Both of these individuals came with tremendous expertise in their
fields, they brought valuable perspective gained through experience in
other organizations and have the energy to initiate and accomplish
change. On top of that they are both extremely hard working and give
much more to Lansing Community College that would fairly be expected of
them. The last eight months would test any one?s resolve. Despite public
scrutiny of their personal integrity and professionalism, Ms. Beard and
Mr. Cerny have continued to hold themselves to the highest standard of
professional conduct. At the same time Mr. Cerny has lead staff in
implementing a truly electronic campus, bringing student services and
instruction as well as employee training to easily accessible web-based
delivery modes. Miss Beard has lead her entire staff in achieving ISO
9001 compliance, a worldwide recognized standard of excellence, and a
milestone that we have not been able to find duplicated in another
public purchasing department anywhere. Through this Board and President
Cunningham's leadership, Lansing Community College has made significant
progress in achieving improved access, educational quality and financial
stability. But this forward movement does not occur without the work of
many people aligned towards these same goals. Beckie and Glenn are two
shining examples of what it takes to lead change. I'm concerned that
this type of scrutiny may mean that we will not be able to attract and
retain individuals of their caliber in the future. I am hopeful that the
presentation of these reports today will help the College to re-focus
its attention on the students and clients at LCC and its outstanding
programs. Thank you very much.
Ray Turner - My name is Ray Turner, I'm the
Director of Planning here at Lansing Community College. I'm not going to
address the high levels of integrity of the people who are under
investigation that has been addressed in great detail by many people.
I'm going to say simply in that regard, I've been here for 23 years,
longer than any of you have been on the Board. I have met only a few
people who could rank with these three people in integrity and
dedication to Lansing Community College. I'd like to address the Board.
The Board initiated investigation of college employees is a clear
usurpation of the President's authority at Lansing Community College.
It's reprehensible; it undermines the positive stabilizing influence
that our President and our recent progress have brought to the College.
It's beyond my understanding why you would risk throwing away the
College's recently rescued reputation in this way. If the Board feels
that its role includes launching investigations of college employees,
this creates a climate of fear, as it's already been pointed out, it
genuinely sidetracks the College's progress and our work to help our
students succeed. Finally, some of you may feel that it is your public
duty to launch investigations of this nature. You are wrong, you are
wrong. You've wasted tens of thousands of dollars of public and student
money to bind people of integrity, to undermine our President, and
finally to establish the terrifying precedent that all employees are
fair game for a Board witch-hunt based on sophomoric political ambition,
personally contrived suspicions, and imaginary transgressions. For the
sake of the College, you say you care for, don't ever do this again.
Don?t ever do this again.
Carrier Schafer - I'm Carrie Schafer, and I've
worked for the College for three years. I am the administrative
assistant to the CIO, Glenn Cerny. I personally have had to deal with
this investigation for the last six months on a daily basis. My time has
been consumed by these false accusations. Weekly new information and
documentation was being requested, yet all that was on it was bits and
pieces of information versus facts. The environment for myself and
others has been very stressful. Now every time a new decision is made,
it makes me think, are we going to have to go through another
unwarranted investigation process. I work with all three of these
individuals that have been affected by this investigation. All three of
them have had a solid work ethic, and every decision they make is for
the betterment of the College. I witness Glenn's strong work ethic each
and every day. He is here early and stays late. He gives 100 percent to
his students and employees. Lee and Beckie are no exception to this. I
am looking forward to an end to this investigation that has attacked
these quality employees. I want to get back to doing what we are here to
do; serving the students of Lansing Community College. It makes me mad
that all this time, energy and money were spent on these false
accusations instead of being spent on our students. Thank you.
Martin Pennoni - My name is Martin Pennoni, I
am with the Media Services department. I didn?t prepare any remarks here
today I just thought I'd add my two cents here to the issue. I want to
talk about something from maybe a different standpoint that's customer
service. One thing I learned in the private sector very early is that
there are two kinds of customers, one of them is your external customer
and another is your internal customer. Sometimes we forget that?that
there are places within LCC that my customer or I am their customer.
When I came here three years ago, I struggled with what was then ITR and
a component of it, and with all due respect to all you folks who work
here in ITR, it was very difficult for me to get computers fixed,
monitors fixed, upgrades done. I finally had to compile a list and send
it to my boss that was two pages long of issues that were unresolved
some of them six to eight months long, three and four requests, and it
was kind of frustrating as a customer and I didn?t feel that I or my
department or my employees were being treated very well as a customer.
Within thirty days of when Glenn Cerny took over, what is now ISCD,
every single problem, two pages worth, were resolved. I went back and
looked to see my log last year and I don't have one issue and I haven?t
had one for one year that was unresolved and that's just excellent
customer service. And I've commended Glenn for that on many occasions.
Another issue that I was frustrated with was our internet access. That
impacted my time, my staff?s time, students? time, especially students?
time, when I have to sit for 20 minutes and do a download, when I have
to go home to use my cable modem to do work here on campus. I measured
our site, our various Internet sites that you can go to see how fast you
are accessing the internet. A fifty five K modem can access about fifty
KBPS; we were accessing here on campus about eighty or ninety. Not much
faster than dialup, I mean it was a joke. Within 90 days of when Glenn
got here we were moving at light speed, we're at 3MBPS, that's thirty
times faster than where we were. Stuff that took 20 minutes that I?d
have to go and eat lunch and come back and you know, to look at PDF
file, was done in 15 seconds. We have gone from the dark ages to the
real world right now in terms of access. I just applaud Glenn and the
job he has done there. Now, Beckie Beard. Let?s talk about Beckie.
Beckie and professional I think are similes. I don't think Beckie even
uses contractions when she speaks. When I came here I was used to a
paradigm where I could go buy anything at anytime from any person
anywhere and it didn?t matter. I would come to Beckie and say, ?well,
why can't you just do this?? and she would say, ?because that's
illegal.? Or ?because that's a violation of college policy? or ?because
that's a violation of our internal practices.? And each and every time
Beckie spent up to 15 minutes or half an hour in a meeting explaining to
me what the background and history was. And I've learned so much about
that and I don't think in the last few I've asked her to do anything
illegal or in violation of any policy. And I asked these questions out
of (inaudible). But I cannot imagine any more professional person on
campus or anywhere that I've met in my, gosh what's it been, 30 some
years experience in the business sector, as Beckie Beard. Thank you very
much for your time.
Linda Uhler - I have been an employee here at
LCC since June of 1981 and up until March of this year most of my 21?
years were served in the Counseling Services department providing direct
access to the students. It was in March that I was asked to be on the
OASIS Core Team. This is a team that's made up of technical users,
content users, and high-level users who have been brought together from
across campus to work together for the new software implementation.
During my tenure here I've seen some hurtful things happen on this
campus to people, but I've never seen such attacks like those directed
towards Glenn Cerny, to Lee Whipple or to Beckie Beard. Especially the
personal threat that was made to Glenn by Trustee Patterson during the
August 26, 2002 special meeting of the Board. It concerns me that a
precedence is being set here that if anyone has a gripe all they have to
do is take a rumor to the Board and a full blown investigation will take
place. It concerns me that thousands of dollars that could have been
spent on direct services to students were spent instead on an
investigation based on a rumor. What kind of message does this send to
the community, to our students, and to our employees? I have only worked
in the ISCD division for a short time compared to my other
responsibilities on campus, but this is what I've learned in the last 8
months. As the leader of this division, Glenn provides us with a model
of high standard and excellent work ethics. He continually challenges us
to learn new work habits, to step out into areas that are unfamiliar to
us, to go beyond our current frame of reference and to anticipate
change. This is all done through his passion, focus, dedication, and
drive for the project, for the College, but most of all for the
students. Lee too is a challenging leader and has a great skill for
being able to see the big picture. When I get stuck working on details
and I'm just really focused on those details and I need a broader
picture related to what I'm doing, I go to Lee. And no matter how big or
small the problem, he?s always been supportive. Not only of me, but also
of the division, and to the College. I don't come in contact with Beckie
as much as I do with Glenn and Lee. But when I've had interactions with
her, I've had the sense that she?s very knowledgeable in her job and who
is a person who truly follows the books. I think the ISCD division and
the Organizational Development department has risen to the challenges of
our world of technology that technology demands of us, and they have
accomplished all this in just a little over one year. Instead of
receiving the praise they very well have earned, they are faced with
this kind of a smear campaign. I would ask all of you to take a look at
what has happened here and to take measures that something like this
does not happen in the future. Not only is this extremely hurtful to
those who have been impacted, but it is hurtful to all of us, to our
image within the community, to your image within the community. Thank
you.
Thomas Yider - I am not an employee of LCC and
I am not a vendor selling to LCC. I'm here because I'm concerned that
there are people that think the investigation should not occur. That
elected Boards should not be allowed to conduct their appropriate
legislative oversight over the bureaucracy. I think while some things
may have not been as artfully done as we would like, I think these kinds
of things still need to be done because we still need a legislative
oversight to provide good stewardship for the tax dollars that some of
us have to pay to finance this institution. Having said that I have
another concern related to it. And that is the kind of conduct that
we've heard about on the part of Trustee Patterson. I note Trustee
Patterson is not here today. And I wonder if that is because he?s not
really a resident of this district. This has been brought up in the past
I'm told. Has an investigation been done of Trustee Patterson?s
residency? Does he in fact still live on Tecumseh?(tape ended)
Terence Rust - I'm the Chief Operating Officer
of the USA branch of Chamber of Commerce Assessment Services, a British
based registrar for international standards of the ISO 9000 for quality
management systems and for ISO 14001 for environmental systems. At the
request of Beckie Beard, I carried out a compliance audit to the ISO
9001: 2000 standard on the purchasing and materials management
department on September 19, 2002. ISO 9001: 2000 is based on eight
quality management principles that are considered necessary for an
organization to be managed in a systematic and visible manner. These
are: customer focus, leadership, involvement of people, process
approach, system approach to management, continual improvement, factual
approach to decision making, mutually beneficial supplier relationships.
As the purchasing and material management department is an integral part
of the College's administration, I only audited those activities in the
standard that were implemented directly by the department. Where
activities and controls were the responsibility of other departments, I
only confirmed that those applicable controls and services were adequate
for the purchasing and materials management department to operate
effectively. The purchasing operation is implemented, recorded and
controlled via programs incorporated in the College network system. All
activities were checked and found to be in place. Linda Nichols of BCI
provided certain policy documentation, required to meet the ISO 9000
standard. Minor deficiencies in the documentation were identified and
discussed with Linda for planned amendments. I was impressed with the
high level of management and efficiency within the department and
satisfied that the department is operating in compliance with ISO 9001.
Russ Cromer - I work as a consultant and do
several things within the College. Most recently I worked with the BCI
and with Beckie to help put in the ISO 9000 system. What I found
interesting was that Beckie is probably one of the first within the
United States to be ISO certified. And maybe I should get some credit
for that, right? Wrong. Beckie?s system was already very well developed
and all we had to do was design documentation that accommodated what her
current practices are. What that means is, is that she?s been operating
under this guise for a very, very long time. It's nothing that somebody
came in and did for her. It's nothing that somebody designed for her.
Her systems were there long before the documentation and the third part
of it was just discussed, was completed. So, as far as Beckie?s
accommodations to ISO 9000, she didn?t have to stretch to get there. She
was there before we started. And that means that her activities only
needed to be documented. So, do you have a world-class employee there?
Yes, you do. Think about this way. Take any of you, if you?ve been
through any kind of an audit. Would you like to have your past years
work reviewed? Would you like to have someone review that work and then
report on it? And how well would you do personally? I don't know what
the results of the report are. I have no idea, but I can tell you this.
If Beckie is not exonerated, nobody is going to be. I don't know Glenn
very well. I've met with him just a couple of times, so I can't comment
on his professionalism or anything else. With Lee, I have worked on and
off to help with the ISCD project just in passing, a little bit of
information there, if I can. And there was one other thing I wanted to
mention. If you move forward with your ISO projects here at Lansing
Community College, I would hope that I would get to pass through the
same purchasing process as everybody else. And if there is anybody that
you could have investigated and passed, it is going to be a combination
of Beckie, Lee, and from what I understand, Glenn. That appears as
though that is the capstone comments. Thank you.
Henry Nirenberg - I know nothing about ISO
9000 and I barely know how to turn a computer on. What I'm here for
tonight is that I represent Mr. Glenn Cerny; I'm his legal counsel from
the law firm Sirkahn at 2000 Towne Center, Southfield, Michigan. And I
drove a long way tonight to speak on his behalf. I think what you
probably haven?t heard tonight is a little about the person Glenn Cerny.
You heard a lot about what happened, you heard a lot about what happens
at this college, the technical aspects, nothing really has been said
about the specific individual. I want to let the Board know about that
tonight as well as several other legal issues and items for clarity and
perhaps give a little bit of legal insight. Who is Glenn Cerny? Well,
sitting there in the room here tonight, he?s married with three
beautiful young children and his wife recently had a baby girl. And in
the midst of all of this turmoil and his personal life, that should be
the most joyous occasion having a baby just before Christmas. He had to
go through eight months of a very difficult situation here at LCC. Prior
to working for LCC, Glenn worked for the University of Michigan as the
director of finance on major projects of $300 million in scale and
joined LCC in 1997 and I think it was a real coo for the College of this
size to get a person of Glenn?s experience and knowledge how something
is done at the big 10. It may not be your favorite big 10 school, but
there is a lot to, and for others it may, but it was a lot. He brought a
lot of big time experience, which any small college would be desirous of
having and somebody who is from this part of the state as well and is
not a transplant that really understands and appreciates the community.
When he joined LCC in ?97 as the CIO position, he later became director
of finance in 2001. It's my understanding that this Board adopted a
strategic plan called the OASIS project which most of you know better
than I, but was Mr. Cerny?s job when he received his position in 2001 to
implement this digital platform for the students and the staff. And to
assist in the creation of the virtual college. Something that has never
been done, something that would be a coo for this college and really
shine as a bright star in this state to attract the best students and
the best staff. It was a monumental task. Glenn?s predecessor wasn't
successful in implementing the project for whatever reason and it is a
complicated and highly technical task, but Glenn felt and was compelled
to follow this mandate and carry out the project. And I think what maybe
you lose a little sight of is that project has gone forward and that
project is on track and is where it's supposed to be. And hadn?t not
been for the diligent work and effort and all the fine people that work
for this community college, you would be tied up like the federal
government that can't move off square one. You have this project and
you're underway now, which is you shouldn?t lose sight of that. But
unfortunately for Mr. Cerny this difficult and complicated task of
bringing LCC into the 21st century has been met with politicalization of
the power struggle, the fight, and then crusades against individuals
that are not on the right team. And it think that's where the disconnect
has happened. And is a shame that a Board member, by the name of Mr.
Patterson would have to go so far as to then target the individual
instead of rewarding the individual for bringing the project forward
would have to target the individual in the worst way so that his career,
his family, everything that he?s built up in the community, and the
years at the University of Michigan, could be destroyed on basically
innuendo without facts without support. Mr. Cerny, he?s reported this,
he?s made it very clear during the investigation, he?s been threatened,
he?s been verbally attacked, humiliated, he?s been personally slandered,
and for what? For doing his job, getting the OASIS project under way,
not looking back, moving on, and having one big bulls eye on his back
all this way. I personally would have left, but you have a very valuable
and loyal employee that went through it. As you well know, the Board for
the record, I sent a letter dated August 23 to the LCC Board of
Trustees, which I believe was read into the record on the 26th. In that
letter, I warned the Board that Mr. Patterson, a current LCC's Board
member made a personal crusade against Mr. Cerny, slandering his
reputation, and was going to turn the process into a witch hunt. Now,
not withstanding the leadership of Ms. Beard, who I've heard so many
wonderful things about tonight. The College President, she did the right
thing. Caused a neutral investigation and despite that somehow Mr.
Patterson was able to convince the Board to cause another investigation.
Mr. Patterson who has already threatened Mr. Glenn Cerny to tear him
apart and broke the Board's own bylaws by speaking to LCC vendors in an
effort to manufacture evidence in support against Mr. Cerny?s crusade
should not have ever been given the time of day to persuade any Board
members to cause an independent investigation at least until the initial
investigation caused by Ms. Beckie Beard was completed. I think that was
a mistake perhaps an innocent mistake by Board members not fully
understanding what was going on behind the scenes. Mr. Patterson was
successful enough in authorizing this witch-hunt; however, what he was
unsuccessful at was derailing the good people that work through this
college, which you?ve all heard tonight. The facts that have come out,
I'm sure will come out after the reports are given tonight, I feel very,
very comfortable in stating that the report will have nothing but fine
things to say. Fine things to say about Beckie Beard, Lee Whipple, and
Glenn Cerny these are fine hard working, honest employees that put this
college first and are beyond reproach. I will also say that I don't
think you?ll see one scintilla of evidence to show any wrong doings
whatsoever by any of these individuals. Unfortunately for Mr. Cerny,
which should be the most joyous occasion in his life, the baby,
Christmas coming up, he had to hire a lawyer. He had to hire me. And he
had to pay his own wages and salaries at great sacrifice to his family
for me to walk him through the process of the investigation. That
investigation culminated in four hours of interviews approximately. Mr.
Red McIntyre, Ms. Lazar, who by the way are fine people, I respect them
and I know they had a very difficult job to do. Layers of layers of
innuendos, unsubtantiation that they were forced into this situation.
Without any real tight guidelines either. A scope that was enormously
scope, which they could have spent six months investigating which is
very unusual I would think for a college of this size to undertake that
type of investigation. And it didn?t end there; it culminated back with
again further questions. Perhaps the responses and the documents
prepared by Mr. Cerny and his answers were over a half inch of thick of
documents with every answer, everything done in a process, everything
that matched, everything that corroborated, everything he had to say,
everything that showed compliance with every rule at this college wasn't
sufficient. So, the investigation continued with additional questions.
Probably submitted by some individual that wanted further digging
although there was nothing left to dig. You know when that was over?Mr.
Cerny by the way is under no compulsion whatsoever to answer any
questions, he doesn?t work for the Board, he works for the College, he
reports to the President. But Mr. Cerny, he volunteered. And again he
volunteered and went through hours of questions. What?s this like for
Mr. Cerny? Well, let me ask the Board, when you're at your own personal
job and assuming that you were a computer manager for Oldsmobile here in
Lansing. And that you were part of a large process and team that
implemented a large piece of software a year ago. And somebody on the
Board of Directors at General Motors in Oakland County, decided, you
know what, they didn?t like the software that you bought. And they sit
around the Board and say, you know what, let?s hire an attorney and a
consultant to walk up to your desk and start asking you what you?ve been
doing for the last year and explain every transaction and your thought
process. Now you almost feel like you're being quizzed in an exam by a
professor and going to be graded on your test. that's not real life and
that's not reality and no business could function that way. General
Motors couldn?t build a car. You couldn?t do it, but that's what you put
these people through. That process is wrong. If you had an employee that
you thought that there were serious criminal wrongdoing, you would call
law enforcement. Step one, your President would be involved. You would
get a report maybe then if there is a criminal hearing or civil case of
which you wanted to prosecute the person because they took your funds,
you would hire a lawyer and start a civil complaint to get reimbursement
and you would terminate that person. For god?s sakes you don't hire
lawyers who don't know how to turn a computer on, and I respect Red,
though because I'm in the same position he is to ask these technical
questions. It is bizarre, it doesn?t work like that. And for any
reasonable person if you're sitting there saying, ?you know what, it
doesn?t smell right, it's probably wrong.? And you know what, it's an
expensive lesson to learn. But, Glenn Cerny, he decided you know what,
despite all the hours, all the time he was going to lose - the driving,
answering the questions, the back and forth?that he wanted to tell his
story, he had good intentions, the sacrifices and he really wanted to
tell how much he suffered from the personal attacks. Because he is a
person that is dedicated to public service, community service, not going
in the private sector and this is a part of this life that he enjoys.
And as we all know when you're in a private sector and you're in a high
tech field you can make a lot more money than sitting at this college.
No question about it. And if you have a star that's here, you don't let
them go and there is no reason whatsoever to have a crusade against an
individual like this and punish them in the worst way. Because don't
forget they cannot answer. The individual being targeted has no
audience. Doesn?t have the press, doesn?t have the Board, doesn?t have
these letters, doesn?t have the power, there just an employee of LCC and
they really can't defend themselves and it is up to me to speak on
Glenn?s behalf. It saddens me that Mr. Patterson had this personal
vendetta and he?s really left a lot of human harm and a lot of human
carnage on the way. And I think the only thing to go forward and let the
process heal is that Mr. Patterson has to, has to under the law, is to
give an apology and a retraction to Mr. Cerny and he should do so in
seven days. that's his obligation that is what I think a moral and
ethical person would do anyways, and that is what the law requires. I
think that the Board should note that the actions and for those of you
that have seen the facts and read other transcripts or letters or
whatever and have heard the statements made by Mr. Patterson, those are
outside the scope of his authority. They are outside the scope of
admitting and there's no protection under the law for those. And that's
why he should come up to the plate, admit when he?s wrong, and apologize
for those people that sacrificed themselves for this college. One last
thing in conclusion, I?d like to say that Ms. Beckie Beard?s counsel,
Mr. Lee Whipple?s counsel, and co-counsel, Greg McClelland was ill today
he couldn?t come here, be here to speak on behalf of his clients. He
concurs with everything I've said tonight as it applies to Beckie and
Lee Whipple. Thank you very much for your attention.
Purchasing
President's Review
President Cunningham stated today is a day of
very mixed emotions. In some ways it is an embarrassment over the
history of Lansing Community College. She said that she is proud of the
LCC employees who endured months of innuendos and scrutiny. These
employees have continued to maintain a professionalism and dignity
through a very difficult and challenging time. Everyone that spoke
tonight was a result of their commitment and their confidence in their
colleagues. President Cunningham stated that in her 20-year tenure at
the College she has witnessed all sorts of rumors, accusations,
allegations, and other damaging information. It is part of a
multi-faceted organization. However, she?s never seen so many dedicated
and loyal individuals who work here be the subject of such countless
hours of scrutiny and review absent of any evidence to warrant that type
of scrutiny. Over the last six months many have asked her how did the
College get to this point? We are all professionals and we welcome the
feedback. Our strategic planning process was founded on solid review and
evaluation. This review, however, is different. Even thought this was an
operational review, however, a combination of behaviors and threats has
a negative and devastating impact on the daily lives of many of the
top-level administrators and others. She said that we welcome the
conclusion of these reviews and we welcome suggestions for positive
change, and we welcome continuous improvement. However, we do not
welcome the path that got us here. In May 2002, according to college
policy, she recommended to Chairperson Jeffries approval of a $1.25
million hardware purchase due to the fact that the Board was unable to
schedule a Board meeting that month. Mr. Cerny provided her a written
documentation as to the consequences of not moving forward with the
hardware purchase. Those consequences included and are documented, which
are increased cost to the College due to complex implementation schedule
and delaying it would cause a domino effect to the entire project and
jeopardize its completion, and a negative impact on student learning and
access to instructional support technology. President Cunningham, then
forwarded the request to Chairperson Jeffries, according to the College
policy and bylaws, that due to the fact the Board was unable to meet in
the month of May, if he would approve the purchase, which the Board had
previously approved the budget for, in order to allow students to
navigate LCC technology and save the College more than $150,000 to
$500,000. How did we get here? On May 31st many Board members started to
question if this purchase was an emergency. There was never any doubt in
her mind that the information she received was credible, that the
recommendations made to Chairperson Jeffries were also credible. On
behalf of LCC students, staff she publicly thanked Chairperson Brian
Jeffries for trusting our recommendations and allowing us to do our work
and for acting on that recommendation. Due to the fact that there was
some members of the Board who, understandably, had questions and didn?t
understand the purchase, I asked our legal counsel, Miller Canfield, to
please review this purchase decision and to make a determination as to
whether or not our policies were followed. Mr. Cliff Flood, from Miller
Canfield, reviewed the purchase and bylaws. Although, what she is
sharing with the audience now was not supposed to be part of the
purchasing review because a determination had already been made
concerning this, it still seems to surface as recently this morning in
the Lansing State Journal. She asked Mr. Cliff Flood to share what he
learned regarding the purchasing review.
Mr. Flood stated that the question was whether
the documentation provided to the President and her recommendation to
the Board Chairperson was consistent with the policies. The purchasing
policy allows the Chairperson of the Board to act without the full Board
in an emergency or in the months of July and August. If the
Chairperson?s conduct had occurred in July or August we wouldn?t be here
right now. Their conclusion was that the information provided was
credible information and that the Board chair acted reasonably.
President Cunningham continued with her
report. While we believe this issue was finally put to rest some months
ago based on comments from some Board members who also agreed that the
bylaws were followed, it seemed that the media continues to inaccurately
report that the purchase as the catalyst for this purchasing review.
That is not correct. It also appears that there are others who want to
continue to find fault or inappropriate conduct where none exists.
Therefore, she asked Mr. Fred Todd, from 21st Century Public
Consultants, to contact the world renowned information technology
specialist, e-business software technology initiative learning company,
Gardner Company, to asked them to review the purchase, which will be
discussed further in Mr. Todd?s report. Prior to any review taking
place, the College continues to operate under a continuous improvement
model. More than a year ago, Ms. Beckie Beard approached the
administration requesting an ISO 9000 compliance audit. She wanted the
purchasing department to become ISO 9001 compliant. Many do not know
what that means, so she asked Mr. Rust to again explain what ISO 9001
compliance means and how often he sees that in an educational
environment.
Mr. Rust stated that ISO 9000 is an
international standard for management systems. It was devised after the
war when many countries traded with each other and they wanted common
standards. Britain started it off and set up a British standard, which
was British Standard 5750. In 1987 the international standards
organization accepted it as being appropriate for the rest of the world
and it became the international standard, ISO 9000. Through experience
and changes in the world it has been amended in 1987, 1990, 1994, and
2000. It is now a full a fully pledged quality management system. For a
good management system, for a good organization to run effectively there
needs to be a customer focus. The College's customer focus is the
students and the services. Leadership from the President down, to the
Boards, to the department heads. Involvement of people, giving people
the responsibility, the job, and the authority to complete the job. A
process approach. All the departments working together for one common
goal to provide services to students. A systems approach to management.
No empire building with everyone doing what they should be doing for the
common good of the College. Continual improvement. If you don't improve,
you don't stand still, you're actually going backwards. You have to
continually strive to improve. A factual approach to decision making.
Not rumors, not hearsay, have the facts, do the data, and then make a
decision. A mutually beneficial supply relationship and that is for
internal and external. Departments provide services to each other and
you have an internal supplier relationship. It's a team-based approach.
There is supplier selection process. There are approved suppliers
because these are the people we like working with. These are the people
that provide us with what we want. New people coming in they go through
a supplier selection process. They have to meet those specifications and
if they can't, then the College cannot buy it. It goes down to doing
things right the first time. A good quality management system has
everybody working towards the same goal.
President Cunningham thanked Mr. Rust and
continued with her report. She stated that an outside auditor annually
audits Lansing Community College. The College hires Maner, Costerisan
and Ellis. As a point of comparison and a point of learning, she asked
Mr. Bruce Dunn to share his observations of the College's purchasing and
information systems.
Mr. Dunn stated that he was fortunate to meet
with the Board in November and their report stands. He said that he did
not read the purchasing review reports, but Maner, Costerisan, and Ellis
have tested the purchasing system for a number of years. Under their
professional standards, they are required to report what they consider
are material reportable conditions. When they performed the most recent
audit, there were no such items. They reviewed the information
technology area and their technology partners reviewed those issues.
Again, Mr. Dunn reiterated to the Board what he said in November, Mr.
Cerny has a lot of processes and implementations to get through, the
College needs to get back on track and everybody needs to pull together.
It is not Mr. Cerny?s project, it is not the President's, the Board's,
and it's not anyone else?s. The project belongs to everyone in the room
and all the other thousands that work at LCC. He said that their report
stands.
President Cunningham thanked Mr. Dunn and
continued with her report. She stated that Trustee Rasmusson had a
conversation with the auditor general back in August and he wrote a memo
to her. She quoted from the memo ?very much to Barbara Larson?s credit
the auditory general says good things about her. I asked Joe Harrison if
there was any model on such policies so we would not reinvent the wheel.
He said there really wasn't, but when the auditor general wants to look
at the correct way to do things for a community college, we look at LCC.?
She said that she appreciated the positive feedback and communication
from Trustee Rasmusson.
President Cunningham stated that several other
Trustees raised questions regarding the College needing to review its
intellectual property policies and its policies on copyrights. However,
in that process, she asked the leading expert in this field to review
the language in the College's existing policies and make any suggested
changes. The Policy Committee of the Board will be reviewing those
suggested changes shortly. However, during the course of Ms. Margory
Basile?s work, partner and a leader of the intellectual property
practice group at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone. She is an
accomplished speaker and author of the subject of intellectual property
rights. President Cunningham said that Ms. Basile could not be here
tonight due to another commitment. Ms. Basile reviewed the College's
third party contract language. President Cunningham quoted from a letter
from Ms. Basile, ?Beckie Beard did a great job at protecting the
College's interest.? Ms. Basile has suggested no major changes to the
way the College handled vendor contracts regarding intellectual
property. So, how did we get to this place? President Cunningham said
that in spite of what she has shared unsubstantiated rumors and
allegations continue to surface toward the purchasing department and
information services division. An employee of the College contacted the
FBI with more unsubstantiated rumors and allegations. The FBI was
obligated to follow up on the complaint. She asked Mr. Bill Danhof to
share the latest communication received from the FBI and former U.S.
attorney, Saul Green who also works at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and
Stone.
Mr. Danhof stated that Mr. Green has been
involved with dealing with the Federal Bureau of Investigation with
respect to these allegations. There is a letter from the FBI, received
December 4 addressed to the President related to these allegations. Mr.
Danhof read the letter (it is on file with the official Board
materials.) In addition, Mr. Green wrote a letter to President regarding
this issue. Mr. Danhof read the letter (it is on file with the official
Board materials.)
President Cunningham thanked Mr. Danhof. She
continued with her report. President Cunningham stated that the original
charges were surfaced by a letter from Trustee Rasmusson after a
conversation with Trustee Patterson and other vendors. Trustee Rasmusson
has publicly stated that he had learned that five of the allegations
were not true. She thanked Trustee Rasmusson for his willingness early
on this process to try to find other ways to resolve these issues rather
than having to go through this particular process. President Cunningham
presented the original charges (they are on file with the official Board
materials). We could not seem to put a lid on these rumors; therefore,
what Liz Duhn, Lynn Savage, Ms. Beard?s legal counsel, and others,
requested to please do a review. There continues to be comments,
concerns by Trustees and others, so we continue to do our due diligence
with a review of Purchasing, of the Information Services College
Development division, and the allegations and charges that have
surfaced. President Cunningham stated that it is not one issue that got
us here, but it is a cumulative effect that has warranted the
President's Office moving forward to present to the Board a report of
the findings. She introduced Mr. Fred Todd, from 21st Century Public
Consultants and Ms. Patricia Duperron, from BDO Seidman who were
commissioned to complete a thorough review of the unsubstantiated
charges and allegations that continue to surface.
Mr. Todd presented his report, findings and
recommended changes to the Board (the report is on file with the
official Board materials.)
There was discussion regarding naming the
Trustees that violated Board bylaws and whether to keep there names out
of the discussion. It was resolved to name the Trustees that violated
the bylaws due to the personal effect the review has made on staff at
the College.
Mr. Todd stated that Trustees Rasmusson,
Canady, and Patterson violated the bylaws by their involvement in
attempting to clarify this issue with vendors. He continued with his
report.
Trustee Pelleran stated that this review was
never meant to be personal. She reiterated that this was not an
investigation it was a review.
Trustee Patterson stated that he reported his
involvement with Mr. Paul Covert within 10 minutes of his meeting with
him to the President's Office. He said that he also reported any
additional rumors to the President's Office and to Chairperson Jeffries.
Trustee Patterson stated that he has tried to live within the bylaws,
but it has been difficult.
Mr. Todd continued with his presentation. In
summary, there were no findings of wrongdoing or violation of college
policies by the Purchasing Department or by the Information Services and
College Development staff. Mr. Todd made several recommendations to the
Board regarding changing their bylaws, purchasing policy, communication
with administration and each other, and other issues (those
recommendations are included in his report and is on file with the
official Board materials.)
Trustee Pelleran thanked Mr. Todd?s efforts.
She said that this review would help to clear things up and put us on
the right track to a positive pathway for solutions. Trustee Pelleran
thanked Mr. Todd for his recommendations.
Ms. Patricia Duperron, from BDO Seidman,
presented her report to the Board (it is on file with the official Board
materials.) Her report indicated that no evidence was found that the
Purchasing Department violated any laws or College policies. She
recommended that the College clarify the purchasing policy regarding
change orders, and that the current practice for purchasing furniture be
included in the purchasing policy.
Chairperson Jeffries stated that according to
their bylaws, typically the Board turns these matters over to President.
The President completes a report and comes back to the Board with
recommendations. He asked Mr. Todd and Ms. Duperron if they have any
recommendations, other than what was already stated, for further
investigation into any of these allegations.
Ms. Duperron responded that she would not make
any recommendations for further investigation.
Mr. Todd concurred with Ms. Duperron.
President Cunningham stated that Mr. Todd
spent 91.5 hours and BDO Seidman spent 43 hours for a total of
approximately $23,000. She said that this report was due in October or
November, but since an employee at the College contacted the FBI and
asked that an investigation be initiated, the FBI asked to delay the
review to verify if there would be an investigation by them. There was a
two to three week delay. This report was completed on November 22,
however, out of a professional courtesy to Mr. McIntyre, it was decided
to distribute the reports simultaneously.
President Cunningham responded to the comments
made that this review was not personal. She shared some of the public
statements that were made in the last few months to emphasize what this
review has affected some individuals. June 7 ?Mr. Glenn Cerny created
the emergency to circumvent the LCC Board of Trustees.? June 14 ?LCC
does a poor job of encouraging local business participants.? July 19
?information has been manipulated regarding Smart Office Systems.? July
19 ?I'm alleging impropriety on behalf of individuals at LCC.? ?The way
LCC administration has handled this complaint has been bad business.?
Other allegations made were NuCo, sexual harassment charges, kickbacks,
and manufacturing an emergency. Those were all allegations directly
attributed to people here at Lansing Community College and for anyone to
say that this has not been personal, has missed the mark. It may not
have been intended to be personal, but comments made by Trustees at
public meetings have made it very personal. President Cunningham stated
that Ms. Beard, Mr. Cerny, Mr. Whipple, and Mr. Cromer have gone through
more than anyone will realize. They have gone through a tremendous
amount of review and scrutiny and some of it is warranted when working
at these high levels. However, it is not warranted when it is
unsubstantiated. She said that she applauds them; she is proud and
supports them. Much of her success from the past year is directly
attached to the work those individuals have done. She has seen them
working on Saturdays even with the review occurring. They continue to do
their work into the wee hours of the morning because this has taken so
much time from their daily productivity. She thanked Mr. Todd for the
distinguished, professional way he handled this report. President
Cunningham also thanked Ms. Duperron. She said that is a mixed emotion
day for her and she was glad that this portion was complete. President
Cunningham submitted to the Board her purchasing report for further
review or action.
The Board took a short recess at 7:55 p.m.
The Board returned at 8:05 p.m.
Mr. Kenneth McIntyre presented his report to
the Board (the report is on file with the official Board materials.) His
findings included no credible evidence that anyone in the purchasing
dept, in Mr. Cerny?s dept, or Mr. Whipple did anything illegal. Nor no
evidence was found that they acted unethically or unfairly influenced
the selection of the Oracle, HP. There wasn't a shred of evidence to
suggest any conflict of interest. Mr. McIntyre recommended the
following: change purchasing practice regarding replacement furniture
that is 14 years old or it should be codified into the purchasing
policy; bid out for replacement furniture; set a specific policy in
which a timeframe is established to review practices and/or policies to
ensure they are reviewed on a regular basis. Mr. McIntyre reiterated
that he found no support for any of the nine allegations. He suggested
that the Board handle any accusations or allegations in regards to the
administration privately and on a level playing field pursuant to the
established policies. Mr. McIntyre recommended that the administration
remember that the Board does not get paid and they are trying to make
the College a better place. When the Trustees ask for information, give
it to them openly.
Trustee Heywood asked Mr. McIntyre if he
concurred with Mr. Todd that the ethics policy was violated in terms of
advocacy.
Mr. McIntyre stated that he did not. As he
read that policy there had to be advocacy for a specific vendor and he
did not read anything in any of the documents that suggested that Mr.
Patterson had advocated anything with respect to Mr. Covert other than
the College should look into his complaints. With respect to contact
between Board members and vendors, in his opinion returning a phone call
or responding to a letter with direction to forward a complaint is not
advocacy that was intended by the policy.
President Cunningham asked for clarification
on several items. She said that part of the charge to also identify
positive things that were learned. She asked if he was prepared to share
that.
It was clarified that Ms. Lazar?s report would
address that.
President Cunningham stated that there were
charges made that IBM was cut out of the bidding process.
Mr. McIntyre responded that he did not recall
a charge to that effect; however, if there was, the contact at IBM, who
dealt with the College, did not return his calls. He does not have any
specific data that shows they were unfairly treated and doesn?t recall
any specific allegation.
President Cunningham asked Mr. McIntyre to
clarify what he meant about rumors. She said that this administration
and everyone here understands that the Board of Trustees have
constituencies and those constituencies will often ask questions and may
bring charges forward. However, there are bylaws, practices, and
policies, which state to direct complaints or charges to the President's
Office for further follow through. She said the reason for this is
because no one Trustee could be required to understand all of the
processes and procedures of this complex organization. President
Cunningham asked him to clarify the statement made about following up
with unsubstantiated rumors and allegations.
Mr. McIntyre responded that there was no
mystery that Mr. Patterson contacted Mr. Jeffries about the rumor and he
thinks the Board is entitled or obligated to do something about it. If
there is a specific policy that states that Mr. Patterson should have
gone to the President versus Mr. Jeffries, then he violated that.
However, he said that he was not charged to review the policies.
President Cunningham stated that was not what
she was referring to, but thanked him for his response.
Ms. Jan Lazar gave her report to the Board
(her report is on file with the official Board materials.) She said that
her charge was to review policies, practices, and procedures. The review
was to identify areas both of excellence and for improvement of
smoothness for which things flow or if they had been in place would have
avoided some of these problems. Her findings included the following:
Board bylaws relative to interactions, from both McIntyre?s
investigation and her review of policies and practices, had not been
followed in all cases; and she found miscommunication throughout the
process. Some of Ms. Lazar?s recommendations were the following: a work
session between executive staff and the Board to discuss processes,
definitions, and expectations; when new Board members are elected, the
entire Board should be reoriented to assure mutual understanding and
communication; create a definition section to the policies; create a
maximum dollar cap on emergency purchases; delegate emergency purchase
authority, up to the established dollar limit, to the President;
establish periodic policy compliance reviews that are randomly selected
by the Board; and the Board should state in their policies how often
they require things bid out. She said that they found everyone to be
very cooperative, very willing to work with them, and very
knowledgeable.
Trustee Rasmusson stated that this is a
vindication for Ms. Beckie Beard. He apologized for being the source in
starting this situation and going in the wrong direction. Trustee
Rasmusson said that it truly was a miscommunication. He said that Ms.
Beard has a good reputation and always had one. Trustee Rasmusson
apologized and said that this was a massive communication error and
there was no merit to the allegations.
Chairperson Jeffries stated there was
absolutely no merit to the allegations and he said that he has been very
clear about that since the beginning
Trustee Pelleran thanked Mr. McIntyre and Ms.
Lazar for their effort especially since they were given such a tight
timeline. She said that the important thing is to look at the reviews
and what the intention was of the Board and that was to make sure there
was clear understanding of these issues, that there was nothing there,
but there were problems with some policies and recommendations would be
provided. Trustee Pelleran thinks that we have some solid
recommendations from both the Board review and the President's review.
She said that one of the most important things is communication. She
felt that we have not had enough communication, which usually is the
issue where you get into some trouble. Trustee Pelleran said that one of
the things that troubled her initially with the dialogue earlier,
everybody has a right to free speech, but there was a lot of pre-judging
regarding the Board's reviewers. She said that the Board did not launch
an investigation of employees. That was never the intention. There?s
never been any intention to spend money on attacking employees, that's
not what this Board is about. She said that they never hired anyone to
find something wrong. They wanted to find something right. Trustee
Pelleran stated that they wanted to make sure, especially with Ms.
Beard?s request from her attorney, that there was a proper review done.
She felt that is the Board's job as Board members. Trustee Pelleran
stated that she hopes that they can forgive the Board for doing their
job. The effort to be hurtful or to have a smear campaign against
someone was never an intention of the Board. She wanted to respond to a
comment made earlier by a gentleman that one of her colleagues persuaded
the Board to have an independent investigation or a witch-hunt. She said
that was incorrect. One of her colleagues did not persuade this Board to
have an independent review or a witch-hunt. The Board decided to have a
review. She said that the worst day she had as a Trustee at the College
was August 26. Trustee Pelleran said that she looks at the two reviews
in continuing the improvement that has gone on at the College for the
last two years under the leadership of Paula Cunningham, this Board and
with the fine service and help of the great staff. She responded to a
comment made earlier that referred to this effort was done for
sophomoric, political ambitions. Trustee Pelleran stated that she was a
candidate for office for the Lansing City Council and she announced her
intentions to several of her colleagues and to the Board Chairperson.
She said that she had their support including the support of the
Chairperson in that effort for three weeks until he decided to run
himself. Trustee Pelleran stated that she never used this issue at
Lansing Community College for personal, political gain. The reason why
she wanted the review is because she had asked that the emergency
procedure in the purchasing policy be reviewed. For six months the Board
had not had a proper review of that. When she, as a Trustee who is
elected to fulfill an obligation to represent the people of this tax
district, is stone walled within her own effort, than she has no choice
but to pursue. Trustee Pelleran stated that this was not personal on her
part, but she believes that the review and the review teams were
required to get to the bottom of this, to have closure, to vindicate
anyone who was misaligned, to also set the tone to say that rumors will
not be allowed to perpetuate on this campus. She advised everyone to
stop the rumor mill on this campus because it doesn?t help anyone, it
doesn?t help the mission we are here to pursue, and that is to help with
the workforce development and the education of the students who come
here.
Trustee Holden stated that clarification is
needed regarding the responsibility for the Board to have an
investigation. There wasn't one member on this Board that didn?t fully
support that a review be conducted, and everyone supported the President
in that. The majority did vote to have the independent review. The
evidence is clear and we can be joyful of the exoneration of any of
those involved. Trustee Holden does not agree that the process didn?t
hurt people. She said that it has been asked by two different people to
make apologies and she felt that the Board should apologize to the
people that have been singled out. Trustee Holden apologized to those
people. She said that there are other things that should be considered.
There have been costs that these people have incurred on legal expenses.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Holden and supported
by Trustee Rasmusson to cover all legal expenses by the three people
involved.
Chairperson Jeffries asked if any invoices had
been received.
President Cunningham responded, no, there
would be no reason to.
Trustee Pelleran moved that that the Board
postpones this motion for another meeting because no dollar figure has
been received on any of the legal fees and she felt it would be
irresponsible for the Board to consider it.
Trustee Heywood stated that Trustee Pelleran
voted yes to approve the investigation that the Board did without having
any idea what the costs were going to be on that as well and in fact you
didn't even have an hourly rate.
Trustee Pelleran responded that the Board did
receive an hourly rate.
Trustee Heywood stated the hourly rate was not
included in the resolution. He said that he never received an hourly
rate until he sat down and figured it out based on what on the figures
he received earlier.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Heywood, Holden,
Jeffries, Patterson, Rasmusson
Nays: Pelleran
Absent: Canady
Motion carried.
Trustee Patterson thanked Mr. McIntyre, Ms.
Lazar, Mr. Todd, and BDO Seidman for preparing a review of policies and
procedures that the College has been operating under. The bottom line
for Trustee Patterson, based on Ms. Beard?s request that this Board took
upon themselves to do their duty, which is to look into allegations and
complaints that are brought forth. Trustee Patterson stated that it is
his responsibility to listen and to bring those things back to the
College. He said he tried to communicate with the President, the Board
liaison, and to the Chairperson. This Board leadership team has been in
place for almost three years and in that period of time he has had great
deal of difficulty getting information in time. He said that was no
excuse, for what some people say, he has violated a Board policy.
Trustee Patterson stated that taking Mr. Covert?s side or advocating for
him is absolutely incorrect. He never advocated that Mr. Covert get
anything other than an audience to listen to him. He reported that
allegation to Mr. Howard within 10 minutes of the occurrence. After
numerous reports about the Oracle problems, he reported that to the
Chairperson. Trustee Patterson stated that he tried his best, and he
admitted he could improve if everyone can work together on communicating
better. He felt that everyone has to commit to improve the lines of
communication and tear down some of the barriers that have been created.
He said that he had created some barriers too. Trustee Patterson joined
Trustee Holden in an apology to the people that have been hurt by the
process. He believed that the Board did what they had to do. He stated
that he never had an ax to grind with Mr. Cerny and it was never a
personal thing. Trustee Patterson said that he does not know how to deal
with the rumors that are brought forth to Board members other than
bringing them forth to the administration and asking what is the truth.
Trustee Patterson addressed Mr. Cerny. Trustee Patterson said he
sincerely apologizes to him and he never wanted to cause his family a
problem nor did he want to cause him a problem at this wonderful time of
the year. He said that is the Board's job, in his opinion, is to somehow
get to the bottom of these rumors.
President Cunningham appreciated the Board's
apology. She asked on behalf of staff to get a written apology to these
individuals in terms of their career paths. She said that you never know
what they may encounter, and to have that apology as part of the
permanent record would be very helpful. She also asked the Board to
please clarify, in the near future, exactly what our standard operating
procedures are. She and others abide by the bylaws and by the policies,
we check those policies regularly, we look at those policies, we follow
them, and if that is not the standard operating procedure, then please
clarify for what is the standard operating procedure. President
Cunningham stated that the Board does have constituencies, rights and
obligations to bring issues forward, but it is her understanding that
those are brought forward to the Executive Office and for follow up. If
every time we follow up, the Board does not like the response and then
it continues to persist, that creates a problem. It creates a problem
anytime you have three staff people who are getting attorneys to
challenge Board inquisition or Board inquiries that creates a problem.
She said that she does not know what the future holds for the staff and
for others the next time a Board member gets an unsubstantiated rumor or
allegation. President Cunningham stated that for her to run the office
and this institution the way it needs to be run she would like
clarification on that at some future point in time.
Trustee Heywood stated that he is really
pleased that both reports have shown exactly what he thought all along
in terms of all the situations that are going on here. He said that in
order to address the President's concern and question, he would like to
offer a motion. Trustee Heywood stated that the motion would include
that this Board restate for the record, on a vote that the Board is
going to continue to use and abide by the bylaws that have been drafted
and adopted.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Heywood and supported
by Trustee Holden to reaffirm the Board's commitment to the bylaws.
Trustee Pelleran moved to table Trustee
Heywood?s motion.
There was no support for Trustee Pelleran?s
motion to table Trustee Heywood?s motion.
Trustee Pelleran stated that she thinks the
Board has problems with the bylaws and the policies. The bylaws were
passed in December of last year and the Board has had nothing but
problems with bylaws and policies since then. The Board went from one
governance model to another and it was brought with problems. If the
Board votes tonight to reaffirm those instead of setting it aside and
doing some due diligence on the bylaws, then we're just creating another
area of conflict down the road. She said that there are many bylaws that
some Trustees are not happy with. Trustee Pelleran stated that it is a
little ill conceived at this time after what they?ve gone through with
the two reviews and both reports indicated that there are problems with
Board members following bylaws and there is an inconsistency with
communication.
Chairperson Jeffries stated that he looks at
this vote in reaffirming of our bylaws as a commitment by this Board to
follow them. He thinks the reports are very clear and it's not that the
Board bylaws are defective, it's that the Board has been defective in
following the bylaws. He felt that the failure has been, and it was
clear in the reports, that the Board has not followed the bylaws, not
that the bylaws are defective.
Trustee Pelleran stated that she feels the
Board bylaws are defective.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Heywood, Holden,
Jeffries, and Rasmusson
Nays: Pelleran, Patterson
Motion carried.
Trustee Heywood stated that he had another
motion he wanted to put forth for consideration. He said that the Board
received two reports that clearly indicate that the bylaws have been
seriously violated on a regular basis and it was stated that Trustee
Patterson violated the bylaws. Trustee Heywood offered a motion under
bylaw 1.7.1 that provides in part that the Board will enforce upon
itself whatever discipline is needed to govern and discharge its duties
effectively and efficiently.
IT WAS MOVED by Trustee Heywood and supported
by Trustee Holden to publicly censure Trustee Patterson for violating
Board bylaws 1.7.4B and 1.7.7B with the following consequences: removal
of C. David Patterson from the position of Vice Chair, removal of C.
David Patterson of all committee appointments, removal of C. David
Patterson?s privilege of phone meetings and expense reimbursements.
Trustee Pelleran indicated that she was
stunned. She could not believe that we would move to vote to censure at
this point when Trustee Canady is absent, and the Board bylaws are
defective. She is concerned that the Board is going out on another limb
in attacking someone.
Trustee Heywood stated that it is not an
attack. Finally this Board is standing up and policing itself and saying
enough is enough. He said that Trustee Pelleran has in her possession a
copy of the Lansing State Journal FOIA, which shows a consistent pattern
of abusive behavior by Trustee Patterson. He said that she has a copy of
a grievance from the Triangle Foundation against Trustee Patterson. He
also stated that she has a copy of a police report against Mr.
Patterson. Trustee Heywood said that this Board is taking action.
Trustee Pelleran said that she found it
interesting that the police report is dated August 26 and it would take
until December 17 for the Board to receive a copy.
Trustee Heywood responded that he chose not to
release it and the only reason that he did release it was because the
State News requested it.
Trustee Patterson stated that he is not the
only Trustee that hasn?t adhered to the policies of the Board. The
censure is not going to create any kind of come together atmosphere. He
said that if that is his intent tonight and he has the votes lined up,
there's very little he can say that is going stop this. Trustee
Patterson stated that Trustee Heywood tried to do it in August and it
didn?t work. The spirit of coming together and communication is
compromise, which is going to take for this Board to come together. He
said that the Board would take a real hit if they let something like
this stand. Trustee Patterson stated that Trustee Heywood?s actions in
this respect are out of line. He said that this is not going to help and
he thinks it is a big mistake.
Trustee Holden stated the reasons she is
supporting the motion. She said that certainly bylaws were violated, but
she is much more concerned about the behavior of Trustee Patterson. She
stated that she was aware of the police report earlier where Trustee
Patterson threatened Trustee Heywood after a Board meeting. It is on
record that Trustee Patterson had said to a staff member if
ramifications were brought, and she quoted, ?I will tear you to shreds.?
Trustee Holden read other allegations that were made by Trustee
Patterson (they are on file with the official Board materials.) She
agreed with a comment made earlier during public comment that the Board
has undermined the authority of the presidency. Trustee Holden said that
she supports the motion based on the personal attacks on staff and
fellow Board members.
Trustee Patterson stated that the context of
the comments he made to Trustee Heywood were made directly after the
August 26 meeting. That morning?s paper quoted that they were looking in
the blinds of his apartment to see if he was home. The reporter informed
him that Trustee Heywood had initiated the whole thing that afternoon.
He was not happy and he communicated to Trustee Heywood with two or
three people around him that he didn?t care about that, he quoted what
he had said, ?Todd, if I catch you snooping around in my bushes, I'll
kick you're a-s-s.? He said that he didn?t say he was going to hurt him.
For Trustee Heywood having sent a reporter to snoop around in his bushes
and talk to his neighbor, that's uncalled for and out of line.
Trustee Pelleran said that the Board received
the review and received some recommendations. She hopes that the Board
will take those recommendations positively and move forward. Adding the
vote to censure one of her colleagues at the final hour, smacks in the
face of unfairness and it's unfairness that we've been sitting here
talking about all night. She said that this is another sad day for her.
The unfortunate thing is that the police report indicates that the
disposition was closed. Trustee Pelleran asked for the Board to not deal
with this issue tonight and be civil with one another. The lack of
civility and folks wanting to cover their tails and posture and position
and make someone else look bad whether it's a Board colleague or a staff
member. She said let?s stop the rumors and stop the innuendos. Trustee
Pelleran stated that from a leadership standpoint, she would hope that
Chairperson Jeffries could talk with Trustee Patterson and clear the
air. There are times when folks don't return phone calls on this Board.
If we have communication problems between staff, administration, and the
Board, there are communication problems within the Board. She doesn?t
think this helps solve them, and it doesn?t help set a tone for the next
step. Trustee Pelleran advised to reject the motion.
Trustee Heywood stated that are a great many
people at this institution who are hurt, who are angry, who have been
violated, who have been misused, who have been abused, and have been
violated in many ways other than what would be criminal at this point.
The fact is that many have been abused by Trustee Patterson. He said
that this action is vindication for those people and it is a message to
this community that this Board will police itself and this Board will
take action.
Trustee Pelleran stated that these are
allegations and the Board spent the evening trying to put allegations to
rest.
Trustee Heywood stated that the Board spent
$80,000 to prove the allegations and that the bylaws were violated.
Chairperson Jeffries addressed Trustee
Patterson. He said that Trustee Patterson is aware that they have talked
about these very issues that are being discussed particularly as they
relate to Chairperson Jeffries? perceived concerns with Trustee
Patterson?s behavior. Chairperson Jeffries said that he spoke with
Trustee Patterson personally last January. He said that they had
numerous telephone conversations and he sent a memo to Trustee Patterson
in May expressing concerns about his conduct as they relate to the
bylaws that are in the motion. Chairperson Jeffries stated that he asked
Trustee Patterson every single time to please conform his behavior that
would be appropriate and reflect the bylaws. That has not happened and
it continues. He said that he has done everything on a personal basis,
he?s talked to Trustee Patterson privately, and he?s sent him written
correspondence.
Roll call vote:
Ayes: Heywood, Holden,
Jeffries, and Rasmusson
Nays: Patterson, Pelleran
Absent: Canady
Motion carried.
Trustee Patterson repeated that this creates a
very bad atmosphere. He said that it is not an atmosphere we can come
together on and it was his hope that would have come out of this
meeting. He said that he didn?t know exactly what the motivation is, but
believes it was the same motivation that appeared on August 26. It
certainly is not a bright spot in his thought pattern about this evening
that we end a meeting where we came together on, we listened to the
reports, and his colleagues have chosen to deal with in this manner.
Trustee Patterson repeated that he brought the information he learned in
the community to the channels he thought were appropriate. He took it to
his chairman, the President, Mr. Howard and when he did not receive a
response, he took it to one of the executive members of the team,
Trustee Canady. He said that he has been singled out and doesn?t feel
real good about it at all. Trustee Patterson said that if people feel
that his contribution in the process is not worth anything, then that is
a shame. He worked real hard to stay up on issues, to bring forth things
from the community to the people that listened. Trustee Patterson
highlighted the fact that the communication with this Board has not been
very good. He said that Chairperson Jeffries indicated that he called
him, but he can say that on many occasions he never received a returned
phone call from the Chairperson. He received a memo documenting certain
things. Trustee Patterson said that he received something from Mr.
Howard saying that he?s calling him on the Chairperson?s behalf. He said
that himself and Chairperson Jeffries caused a lot of the problems that
were dealt with this evening. He has spoken with the President on
numerous occasions regarding his desire to try to somehow meet the
Chairperson halfway and work with him. It has not been easy and in most
cases it has been nearly impossible. Trustee Patterson said that in that
light he doesn?t see much future in continuing to serve the College and
that is probably what most of the Trustees would like to happen. He
hoped that they could have ended the evening with wishing each other a
merry Christmas and a happy new year and not with this type of
situation.
Chairperson Jeffries thanked Mr. McIntyre, Ms.
lazar, Mr. Todd and Ms. Duperron for all the work they did. He said that
he was certainly supportive of the review completed by the President
because that's what has always been done at the college and that is what
the Board bylaws require. He stated that he was looking forward to a
recommendation and from that recommendation the Board could have done
whatever it was going to do. Chairperson Jeffries did not support the
Board investigation for that reason. If there had been a finding that
required further review, he would have supported further investigation.
He said that he wanted all of the employees to know, particularly the
three that went through this, that he always supported their activities.
He feels that they do a great job and is very much impressed with the
effort, energy and commitment they?ve all made to the College.
Chairperson Jeffries stated that he has been involved with a number of
public entities and the College has really impressed him the most with
the type of commitment everyone gives. He apologized for whatever he did
and that they had to go through and experience this process. This should
have been handled a lot differently and if it had abided by the bylaws,
it would have been.
Trustee Pelleran stated that she was sorry
this happened to any employee here. This is something that no one as a
professional should have to go through, especially the caliber of those
people that are here at Lansing Community College. She hoped that they
have a better Christmas and a better next six months and a better year
and a better year after that. Trustee Pelleran hoped that we get to a
point where people don't feel like they can't say something because
they're going to be censured and retaliated against. She believes that
we need to keep the lines of communication open and that's been the
biggest problem here.
Chairperson Jeffries also thanked Mr. Cliff
Flood and Mr. Bill Danhof for all of their work.
Public Comment
Thomas Yider - I'm not here to praise the
Board's actions tonight, but to reprove. I think it's reprehensible that
you take actions that would say that there should be no circumstances
for any Board member to bypass the President's Office to obtain
information. that's the kind of attitude that the board of Enron took
and look at the mess that created. I do not look forward to what will
happen on Lansing City Council if that is the new at large city
councilman?s attitude there. Let me say though with regards to Mr.
Patterson the reason he should be removed from the Board, I suspect has
nothing to do with the issues raised here tonight, but the issue of
residency. The same issue was raised earlier. We've had a problem with
that in this county. We've had people that have moved to run in a
different state rep district. We've had other people (inaudible)
allegations of residency. We've had county commissioners actually
removed because they weren?t filed in their district in a timely
fashion. We have a school Board member in the city of Lansing that lives
somewhere else other than Lansing. So, this is an issue that we're not
dealing with and confronting in this city and in this county. And I
think it's sad that it isn?t.
Lynn Savage - I do have a couple of comments.
First, I?d like to thank the Board and President for beginning to take
steps to heal the wounds that have been caused. I do think that there
were unfortunately unattended consequences in the actions of the Board
for these three people. My position really is this. Any time allegations
of wrongdoing or misconduct on part of employees are made, I urge you to
consider that the Board through its administration has an obligation to
follow due process and that we should investigate allegations and rumors
privately just as they would at any level of the organization. I would
ask your consideration of that in the future.
Linda Uhler - I told you earlier that my time
spent here on campus at LCC as an employee has been (inaudible). And as
I sat here this evening and watched the interaction of the Board members
it brings to light to me that it's an uncomfortable situation to sit
back and see our Board members be in front of the public and have the
bickering that's going on. The snide remarks that are going back and
forth when there's a lot of business that needs to be taken care of. And
I think about when children are bad and they're not getting along, they
get into counseling. And I think there's a lot of healing that needs to
be done here and I think that this Board needs to come together. You
talk about better communication, how are you going to do better
communication? What is the plan? I think you need to bring somebody in
to sit down with that person, whether it is a counselor, which is what I
would recommend. I am not a counselor, but I would recommend it or some
meeting to help you resolve the issues that you have between yourselves
so you can come to this college and serve the College and serve the
students and get the job done. So people will come to these meetings and
not sit here and have this uncomfortable feeling of the bickering that's
going on. Please consider this for the health of the school.
Antonia Cross - I'm the business services
manager for the city of Lansing and I have the responsibility for
purchasing amongst my other responsibilities. President Cunningham and
members of the Board of Trustees, I appreciate the opportunity to speak.
I am so thankful tonight that a valuable asset from Lansing Community
College has been vindicated this evening. Beckie?s leadership has been
outstanding as part of the Lansing Art and Public Purchasing group
bringing forward supplier diversity, local vendors, ISO certification.
Her leadership is beyond her time. Her forward thinking is beyond her
time. You have, like I said, a valuable asset in Ms. Beard. She?s an
educator. Michigan Public Purchasing Officers asked her to present on
the basic skills of purchasing, how to write an RFQP, how to write a bid
in the spring of 2002. We went within our own peer group to lead and to
educate our members in public procurement. She has on her o
