This full-page ad appears opposite the editorial page in Wednesday’s Northwest Herald. “I am just like you,” MCC President Vicky Smith is quoted saying.
Full-page, full-color.
One has to hand it to McHenry County College.
Vicky Smith begins her open letter telling how she has been MCC President for three years. She says she has a responsibility “to see our community continue to thrive.”
The Board is sparing no expense to provide “cover” for the extension of MCC President Vicky Smith’s contract by the old Board members on Thursday night at 6:30.
MCC President Vicky Smith talks about her passion about the college.
And cover those Board members need because three of them won’t be on the Board about ten minutes after they vote to hike her salary through June 30, 2015.
Vicky Smith talks about the need for “trust,” which requires input from the public. After she gets her raise she will meet monthly at “a community forum,” where questions can be asked. At Board meetings many questions are asked; virtually none are answered.
That’s seven months after the next gubernatorial election.
This is the bottom of the Vicky Smith self-promotion ad.
It’s over two months after two of the remaining Board members will have been up for re-election. They are Board President Mary Miller and Ron Parrish.
Miller is for the contract extension by the old Board; Parrish is not.
This ad is over the top.
The Northwest Herald has not answered my question about how much an ad like this costs.
Look at the facts published by MCC in its 2012 audit: county population declined from 320,961 in 2009 to 308,944 in 2011; county school enrollment declined from54,080 in 2009 to 52,875 in 2011.
MCC is the 5th largest employer in the county with 963 employees.
Federal grant monies to train in robotics, a program that would take away the Black Box theatre, have not been applied for yet.
Look at the packet for the sitting board’s agenda, and see if it looks like a last minute spending spree?
Something is terribly wrong at MCC.
At the last board meeting, a highly respected faculty member spoke out against what he described as a “toxic environment.”
The ad is a blatant case of self promotion courtesy of taxpayers.
No Vicky, you are not just like us.
99.9% of taxpayers don’t get an ad promoting themselves, courtesy of taxpayers.
Blago had his name on tollway signs.
The name of the Cook County Forest Preserve Commissioner is included on County Forest Preserve signs.
There are a few other examples.
And now we have Vicky Smith ads.
And another way Vicky is not like the majority of taxpayers is the large taxpayer funded pension she will receive.
There should be a law against lame duck Community College and public school boards extending Employment contracts prior to the new board being seated.
The board is obviously not representing the citizens in this Vicky Smith contract extension.
The citizens voted in new board members who cannot yet vote.
What was the cost to create and place the ad?
Maybe someone will FOIA.
The main message of the ad is obviously to promote Vicky Smith.
Secondary message is promoting MCC.
The third message is the upcoming forums.
How do we know that?
The ad contains a picture of Vicky, a note from Vicky, but not the actual forum dates and locations.
If MCC really wanted to advertise the forums, there would be a BIG eye catching message on the MCC home page about the forums.
There is not, at least as of right this second.
If MCC really wanted to advertise the forums, they would have sent a press release to all the local papers including this blog advertising the forum dates and locations, not just the URL.
Rather than creating an ad which doesn’t even list the forums, the ad just lists the URL to the forums.
So here the scheduled forms.
Heineman Middle School Auditorium, 725 Academic Drive, Algonquin (Square Barn Road Campus), Tuesday, April 30, 6:30 to 8 pm.
C.O.R.E. Center (District 47) Conference Rooms A and B, 300 Commerce Drive, Crystal Lake, Wednesday, May 22, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Woodstock North High School Performing Arts Center Auditorium, 300 Raffel Road, Woodstock, Wednesday, July 24, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Marengo Community High School Auditorium, 110 Franks Road, Marengo, Wednesday, September 25, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Alden-Hebron High School Auditorium, 9604 Illinois Street, Hebron Wednesday, December 11, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
There are three other forums whose location has yet to be determined.
1. McHenry, Johnsburg: Date to be determined, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
2. Harvard, Chemung: Tuesday, August 27, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
3. Richmond, Spring Grove, Ringwood: Wednesday, October 16, 6:30 to 8 p.m.
http://www.mchenry.edu/forum
The forums are not designed to obtain public input, they are designed to promote what Vicky Smith and the lame duck board have already decided should be done and to provide cover that they spoke to “the public”, which I find amusing in light of Trustee Cynthia Kisser’s comment that the election, in which 75% of the voters voted AGAINST the incumbents, was “not about Vicky Smith” and Kisser patently specious assertion that a good job review for 2012 means Vicky Smith should get a contract running through 6/30/15.
Really?
How many readers of this column have gotten a good job review and received a guaranteed pay contract for the next 26 months?
None!
It’s nothing but a golden parachute at taxpayer expense.
It should be added that among all the spending items on tomorrow’s agenda, the sitting board will be reimbursing the Illinois Retirement pension fund for overpaying three employees — that is paying them more than a 6% rise in their final salaries.
How much? Over $42,000.
That’s more than many county residents are paid in one year. In a county with over 9% unemployment.
Just show up and be heard.
Remind the trustees that there is another election in two years and that we have VERY long memories.
Respectfully,
Andrew Gasser
Smart move, MCC should have done a PR offensive on this a long time ago. They have a great story to tell and if you don’t tell your own story someone else will. Perfectly appropriate. I am tired of hearing all these naysayers who talk about the space utilization study at MCC showing that the current space is only used 47% of the time or some such nonsense. The fact of the matter is that studies like that are of very limited value. You can’t teach health sciences in an auto repair bay, you can’t teach hospitality classes in a gym. All space isn’t created equal and so of course there will be space that cannot be used all the time. Certainly the goal is to have as much multi-purpose space as possible but that is not possible in many instances. To suggest otherwise is silly.
Smart move, MCC should have done a PR offensive on this a long time ago.
They have a great story to tell and if you don’t tell your own story someone else will.
Perfectly appropriate.
I am tired of hearing all these naysayers who talk about the space utilization study at MCC showing that the current space is only used 47% of the time or some such nonsense.
The fact of the matter is that studies like that are of very limited value.
You can’t teach health sciences in an auto repair bay, you can’t teach hospitality classes in a gym.
All space isn’t created equal and so of course there will be space that cannot be used all the time.
Certainly the goal is to have as much multi-purpose space as possible but that is not possible in many instances.
To suggest otherwise is silly.
Tim Stratton, former MCC Trustee
Tim, your sarcasm is hilarious!
I wish I could write like you, especially your plays on words, like “PR offensive” because what they’ve done certainly is offensive.
My writing is so dull and straightforward.
As stated before, DO NOT EXTEND HER CONTRACT!!!
This ad is just more proof of how she spends, spends ,spends, but what should she care she is always spending the taxpayers money.
I have also heard that MCC is a “toxic environment”.
However, regardless of what employees might feel is a “toxic environment”, good accounting principles must be followed in any organization.
A forensic audit might be the start of reorganization at MCC and a fresh new start in the right direction for the college and the community.
OMG!
They extended her!!!!!
The Vicky Smith ad was not only in the Northwest Herald.
It’s also on the McHenry County College website.
http://www.mchenry.edu/knowmcc/vsmith042413.pdf