MCC needs to open up on Packard deal
Government entities may try and spin it otherwise, but they are every bit a business as the corner grocer or local manufacturing facility. The big difference is they operate on the public’s dime ... er, dimes.
The latest taxing body to attempt blurring the line, like a baseball player scuffing up the back of the batter’s box, is the McHenry County College board. Sure, the nearly $200,000 a year former college president Walt Packard will continue to earn through next June of next year represents a fraction of the college’s $37.4 million budget. But that carries little weight with taxpayers, fed up with corporate perks, rejiggered balance sheets and shrinking returns on their investments.
It is quite simple, really. We expect to get something for our money.
With Packard, we’re not sure what that something is.
Attempts by the Northwest Herald to secure the contracts detailing what Packard is required to do – for the same amount of money he was earning when he was a full-time college president, incidentally – have been stymied by the board. It is citing what boards in similar circumstances always cite: Employee confidentiality.
That simply is not going to fly.
The Illinois Freedom of Information Act explicitly requires taxing bodies “to disclose all information in any account, voucher, or contract dealing with the receipt or expenditure of public or other funds of public bodies,” as well as the “names, salaries, titles, and dates of employment of all employees and officers of public bodies.”
The public has a right to know why it is continuing to pay a man who allegedly resigned in February and what he is doing to earn his money. Pretty cut and dried, don’t you think?
Instead, we’re told Packard will work as a consultant, working the aisles for the scholarship money and attending various functions. What he will not be is a policymaker. Nor is he required to work regular office hours.
Packard’s resignation initially was attributed to his need to care for his ailing wife. That makes perfect sense. Any of us, who could afford to do so, would no doubt act similarly. Only later did we learn that Packard, in fact, never really left. He retains the title of president emeritus. Brian Sager, vice president of academic and student affairs, has taken over as acting president while the board of trustees works to tweak the requirements for its presidential post and begins the process of finding a new leader.
Put all of this together and it tells me the board wanted Packard out. There may have been missteps regarding the ongoing 1,500-foot broadcast tower, the baseball stadium that moved to Woodstock or the faculty contract that provides a total increases of 5.76 percent a year during the next five years.
We may never learn why. Crystal Lake attorney Rich Flood, who recently co-authored a practical guide for newly elected officials – “Congratulations! You’ve Been Elected Now What Do You Do?” – suspects a non-disclosure provision was negotiated into the Packard agreement.
But a bill pending before the Illinois Legislature could change that. House 1345, co-sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, redefines a “public record” under the Freedom of Information Act to include the portion of a settlement agreement entered into by or on behalf of a public body – including its financial terms. The bill, which passed the House, is before the State Government Administration Committee in the Senate.
By the way, the Illinois Municipal League opposes the measure.
“When I started in this business 30 years ago, I think it was a much simpler job,” Flood said of elected officials. “Now is more complex. Unlike the President of the United States, you don’t have a transition team. You usually take office within a month of being elected and you have to hit the ground running.”
Flood said the 1899 version of the Illinois Open Meetings Act stated simply: “It shall sit with open doors.”
“Some back in 1902 didn’t get it, and then they closed the doors – perhaps for not very good reasons,” he said. “People ask me why can’t we operate just as business? I point out six or seven reasons. First, government is supposed to be transparent. Businesses are not run that way.”
OK. So maybe MCC is not a business. But one thing is certain. The board has no qualms about “giving the business” to those vocal enough to question the Packard deal. That has to change.
– Kurt Begalka
