Jan. 29--The College of DuPage board of trustees was poised Wednesday night to reaffirm a lucrative but controversial buyout package for its president, as dozens of protesters planned to voice concerns about the deal.
The unusual do-over vote, required because of an unspecified "procedural" error, comes six days after the board approved a $763,000 severance deal for president Robert Breuder, which sparked widespread criticism over the amount of the agreement and a lack of transparency at the publicly funded community college in Glen Ellyn.
That outrage continued Wednesday night as a standing-room-only crowd filled the 300-seat meeting space. More than 60 people had registered to speak, and at least eight armed police officers were on hand for crowd control. Several college employees, including Breuder, wore green pins saying "Proud to be COD."
College attorney Kenneth Florey began the meeting by saying the board was not there to revote on the agreement, per se. Instead, he said, a possible error occurred last week when a trustee called to end debate over the buyout. Though there should have been a vote on stopping the discussion, the board instead immediately voted on the severance package. Florey said he believed the misstep could have been successfully defended in court, but the board was "taking the high road and voting again."
But the crowd was there to talk about the buyout.
"It is ridiculous to give away taxpayer money for this retirement benefit," Dianne Batzkall of Glen Ellyn told the board.
Just hours before the hearing, a DuPage County judge ordered the school to move the meeting to a larger venue in anticipation of a crowd. The college aggressively resisted that request from two local watchdog groups, accusing the local activists of trying to prevent the board from doing its business.
Judge Bonnie Wheaton, however, said the 30 seats typically provided by the board room were not adequate enough for an issue that has "financial repercussions to all Illinois taxpayers." The college subsequently moved the meeting to larger space near the board room.
The board vote, however, is unlikely to silence detractors, which now includes a growing number of state legislators who allocate funds to the school each year. Just a few hours before the second vote, Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, threatened to cut the college's funding next year by $1.25 million -- twice Breuder's buyout -- if the board reaffirmed the decision.
"If they want to play fast and loose with our tax dollars, I'm going to make sure there is a price to pay," Franks said.
"Mr. Breuder being awarded retirement compensation whose value is nearly five percent of the state's contribution to the education of College of DuPage students is outrageous," Franks said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner's spokesman also told the Tribune Wednesday that the administration has been monitoring the situation and has been in contact with the Illinois Community College Board, which oversees the state's public two-year colleges. A spokesman for the board said the group has been in contact with college trustees to ensure they follow open meetings laws.
The college board is publicly elected and has control over all hiring decisions.
The College of DuPage board hired Breuder in November 2008, giving him a three-year deal that paid an initial base salary of $249,000. Since that time, there have been at least five contract changes that awarded him extensions, more money and additional time off. All the changes were signed by a board chair, but records show that in three instances they were not placed on the agenda ahead of time and were approved without public discussion.
Breuder's estimated compensation this year is $484,812, including his $304,887 base salary, a $22,000 housing allowance and a $10,200 car allowance. The school also will pay an estimated $2,100 for his cellphone bill and $10,200 for professional development, according to his contract.
The board attempted to modify Breuder's contract for the fifth -- and perhaps final -- time last week, when it approved a buyout package that will give a severance payment more than twice his base salary and bring his tenure to a premature close. The agreement also disclosed publicly for the first time that his contract would run until 2019.
The deal was listed on the agenda prior to the meeting, but the college did not disclose the terms of it until after the vote. Under the state's open meeting laws, any vote must be preceded by "a public recital of the nature of the matter being considered and any other information that will inform the public of the business being conducted," according to the state attorney general's office.
Former state Rep. Sandra Pihos, who sponsored the law's passage when she was in the legislature and is currently running for the college board, said last week's vote did not comply with the act. "I think they violated it and that is clearly why we are here again tonight," she said. "There is a fiduciary responsibility of tax dollars that they haven't been taking seriously."
The Tribune had obtained a draft of the severance package before last week's meeting and published the details, including that Breuder will get a lump sum payout when he retires March 31, 2016, and that the school's Homeland Security Education Center will be named for him.
The college has an enrollment of more than 28,000 students and receives $108 million a year in county property taxes and $57 million in state money.
sstclair@tribpub.comjscohen@tribpub.com
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