MCC President Vicky Smith’s Contract Calls for Salary of $211,000 thru June, Then, CPI + 3%

Vicky Smith

Vicky Smith

$211,013.01 is the salary that is before the McHenry County College Board on Thursday night for President Vicky Smith’s from May 22nd through June 30th of this year.

After that, it’ll “be increased by an amount equal to the percent increase in the CPI-U for the twelve month period ending on the previous December 31, plus an additional 3.0%, but in no event will the
annual percent increase in the President’s salary for the fiscal year be greater than 5.9%, or less than 3.0%.”

Benefits include:

    • privileges, leaves, sick leave, and fringe benefits not specifically enumerated herein which are commonly extended to all other Executive Council administrative personnel
    • all premiums and related costs for Dr. Smith’s participation in the College Group Health Insurance Plan, including any optional or elective costs for Dental and Vision Insurance coverage. In addition, the College will pay for one complete physical checkup per fiscal year for Dr. Smith to the extent not paid by insurance.
    • an automobile allowance of $500 per month for the use of her personally owned or leased automobile
    • a matching contribution to a qualified tax-sheltered annuity…The contribution amount will match dollar-for-dollar, the elective contributions made annually by the President to the tax-sheltered annuity, but such Board contribution shall not exceed $18,000 annually…
    • reimbursement for reasonable cell phone expenses
    • a laptop computer and high-speed internet access from home
    • expenses including travel and entertainment incurred by her in connection with the performance of her College-related responsibilities
    • any such Board approved association and club membership dues
    • dues and other expenses for membership in professional associations and for attending professional meetings at national, regional, state and local level

Comments

MCC President Vicky Smith’s Contract Calls for Salary of $211,000 thru June, Then, CPI + 3% — 43 Comments

  1. This is the result of conservatives staying home during voting season while the indoctrinated sheep run to the polls.

    Only one way to turn this around: Convince conservatives who do not vote to return to the polls – not an easy task when the GOP concentrates on contacting only those people who regularly vote!

  2. Tell me again what Ms Smith has done to deserve all these perks and large salary from the overtaxed residents of McHenry County?

  3. My wife’s company was just awarded by Global Views, the CSR Award for the 9th time in ten years, which assesses a global company’s performance.

    She just got a whopping 2% raise for the first time in those ten years.

    Every other dollar she’s ever earned has been PERFORMACE based.

    Got that Public Sector?

    She actually PRODUCES something!

  4. This contract is just too much!

    How is it that she has really earned this?

  5. You should go to some of the MCC meetings.

    This woman is a piece of work.

    Uses our money like she is in a candy store with unlimited funds.

  6. The woman and her staff have engaged in a pattern of behavior that warrants firing, not a raise.

    She and her staff hired a firm to perform a phony “feasibility study”, a firm with an obvious conflict of interest.

    The study was based on discredited CMAP population numbers, and ignored all material evidence to the contrary, such as the decline in the number of elementary and high school students, the fact that the school classrooms are used, on average, less than half of each school day, that 30% of the classes have fewer than 10 students.

    Heck, the state legislature reformed the “alternate revenue bond” act specifically because of a stunt her administration was trying, and the North Central Association, the college’s accreditation body, wrote up Smith’s administration in scathing terms, saying they only went through the motions and it wasn’t clear they even knew how to use statistics they gathered.

    Yet now Smith’s contract is going to be extended?

    At any private firm, she would be fired for her unethical behavior.

    We have a right to expect a higher standard of behavior from our public employees than from those of private business.

    The standard at MCC seems to be “barely legal is enough”.

    What lesson are we teaching our students?

    What grade would an MCC student get who wrote a paper with filled with material lies on a subject they researched?

    Yet the board is considering giving Smith a raise rather than firing her.

    This is not a vote on a raise, this is a referendum on ethics.

    A vote for Smith is a vote than unethical behavior will be rewarded.

  7. Cindy – make phone calls to the board members that vote.

    GO TO THE MEETINGS AND SIGN UP TO SPEAK.

    BRING FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS..

    These people live in a bubble and need pressure put on them.

    They think they are ENTITLED!!

    Wilbeck and Jenner have done a great job for the citizens.

    The others need a push.

    Call ALL of them so that even the good guys can say they are hearing from the citizens and object.

  8. Yes – please educate yourselves about this and speak up!

    Do it especially for the 300+ part-time MCC instructors who each make LESS THAN $25,000 per year with NO HEALTH BENEFITS.

    Don’t believe these stats?

    ASK QUESTIONS of the board and administrators and see what happens!

  9. I’ve written to the board members.

    Nothing happens.

    Nothing changes.

  10. The Board approves her and I think they recently renewed her contract.

    The reason some fiscally conservative Trustees were elected was precisely because of the way the college has been run under the last few years, in my opinion.

    One of the incumbents who got booted actually said she opposed a 40 something million dollar spending project be put on referendum for voters! (Every other candidate favored a referendum.)

    The Trustees are elected in three waves just like the United States Senate.

    There will be an election in 2015 to elect two Trustees.

    The people in those spots currently are Ronald Parrish and Mary Miller.

    On an unrelated note, I’ve always found the whole point of the Student Trustee to be pointless.

    They are elected for a one year term and they don’t even get to vote.

    I think it would make sense if there was some actual student representation going on.

    Students and taxpayers both want affordable education.

    I believe that teachers aren’t trying to break the bank.

    Most of the teaching faculty is comprised of adjunct professors anyway.

    What bugs me are the people like Vicky Smith and administrators who make a lot of money and are constantly asking for more, meanwhile raising tuition and/or asking taxpayers (particularly at the local level) to chip in more, while never explaining what they are willing to cut.

    I’ve pointed that out to the CFO and some of the administrators in an unofficial meeting where they were trying to convince students that it would be in their best interest to pay more for more services.

    They basically told me they can’t do any cutting.

    If you want a say in how this college is run then vote next year.

  11. Savannagal – writing does not work.

    You and others need to go to meetings and speak out.

    Phone call follow up.

    Letters are never dealt with or made public.

    They do not read them at the meeting.

    Probably just tossed in the trash.

    Only your voice will work.

  12. Ms. Smith should not receive a pay hike % above the rank and file.

    All taxing district board meetings should be taped and archived on the taxing district website.

    The biggest compensation perk any Illinois public college or University employee receives is the State University Retirement System (SURS) pension when they retire, and those benefits are determined by the Illinois General Assembly and Governors.

    Not every employee is entitled to an SURS but many are including most administrators and staff.

    Bigger local pay hikes mean a bigger pension.

    The group most likely to care is the local Tea Party so if there is an active local Tea Party that helps.

    While the majority board will do what they want irregardless of public comments at board meetings, public comments do make a difference.

    Sometimes the press picks them up.

    You never know who will show up at a board meeting and learn about your viewpoints.

    The Board does not like it when their Stepford image is tarnished.

    Showing up at Board meetings helps.

    You will become further educated how the process works and be able to network with others,
    especially Chris Jenner.

    Chris was able to change board policy at Cary District 26 over time and if more reformers are elected to the McHenry County Board he will be able to do the same there.

  13. Get rid of her.

    Hire from Illinois and locally if possible so their perks will stay here when they retire.

    This is way too much for a community college president.

    No wonder tuition is so high and kids are left with such debt.

  14. There is a lot of details that go into overall compensation and how you define any particular term such as salary determines what is reported.

    The best place to start would be to FOIA MCC for a copy of all her employment contracts since joining MCC.

    And FOIA SURS for all her pensionable earnings.

    But here are a few different views pulled from different sources that show how different sources can report different figures for various reasons.

    The Illinois Community College Board reported the following figures for Vicky Smith. No figures were reported for 2010.

    Year ************* 2011 ******* 2012 ******* 2013
    Base Pay ********* $195,000 *** $200,850 *** $204,867
    Vacation Days **** 17 ********* 21 ********* 21
    Sick Days ******** 10 ********* 12 ********* 12
    Extra Duty Pay *** $5,000 ***** $0 ********* 0

    OpenTheBooks.com reports slightly different “Annual Wage” figures.

    2012: $202,601.75
    2011: $206,849.50
    2010: $176,343.36

    Yes, 2012 was higher than 2011.

    And not sure if 2010 was for a full year.

    Another article on the subject.

    McHenry County Blog

    MCC Smith’s Salary Rises to $211,000

    Posted on 10/27/2013 by Cal Skinner
    http://mchenrycountyblog.com/2013/10/27/mcc-smiths-salary-rises-to-211000/

    So looking at the difference between OpenTheBooks and the Illinois Community College Board.

    2012: $202,601.75 – $200,850 = $01,751.75.
    2011: $206,849.50 – $195,000 – $11,849.50

    So what else goes into overall compensation.
    Looking at a previous McHenry County Blog post.

    McHenry County Blog
    MCC President Vicky Smith’s Compensation
    Posted on 11/04/2013 by Cal Skinner

    Medical Insurance (Employer Cost): $9,549.72.
    Life Insurance (Employer Cost): $108.
    SURS Pension Contribution (Employer Cost): $1,055.07.
    Benefit Total Value (of the above 3 items): $10,712.79.
    Medicare Tax Benefit: $3,059.69.
    Auto Allowance: $6,000.02.
    Salary: $211,013.01.
    Total Compensation: $230,785.51.

    It would take more more investigation to determine the discrepancies between the various sources.

    But this sheds some light into overall compensation.

    Prior to joining MCC in 2010 Vicki Smith was President at Neosho County Community College in Chanute, Kansas.

  15. I meant to say OpenTheBooks reported higher “Annual Wages” for Ms. Smith in 2011 than 2012.

  16. What “annuity” is referred to in the article?

    SURS?

    Is that why Ms. Smith’s contribution to SURS is so low?

    Is the board doing a “pension pickup” for her employee SURS pension contribution?

    Or is this an annuity separate from SURS?

    For clarification a defined benefit pension is in essence an annuity.

    From the article above:

    “a matching contribution to a qualified tax-sheltered annuity…The contribution amount will match dollar-for-dollar, the elective contributions made annually by the President to the tax-sheltered annuity, but such Board contribution shall not exceed $18,000 annually…”

  17. Here is the 2010 contract for Vicki Smith that contains the annuity contribution on her behalf by the board.
    http://www.mchenry.edu/foia/president042513.pdf

    So what annuity has the board been contributing to?

    SURS?

    Another annuity?

    Here are the board annuity contributions agreed to in the 2010 contract:

    FY 2011: $14,000.
    FY 2012: $16,000.
    FY 2013: $18,000.
    FY = Fiscal Year.

    Specifically the contract states the board will match the employee annuity contributions up to the above maximum amounts.

  18. All of you who read the comments on this blog — remember this board’s action tonight.

    We have a chance to replace one of the Old Board Three who still blindly and slavishly support Smith and her regime next year, and I mean Mary Miller in the April 2015 election.

    Then, in April 2017, we will completely clean out this foul nest be replacing the last of the die-hard Smith supporters, Kisser and Liddell.

  19. Check this out.

    Now there is livestreaming of McHenry County College Board meetings.

    Don’t see any archives of those live streams though.

    What is so hard about archiving livestream meetings.

    The meetings should be archived on the College website for the public to view and review at the
    public’s leisure.
    http://www.mchenry.edu/board

    The next Board meeting is tonight Thursday May 22, 2014 at 6:30PM in the Board Room (A217).

    You can read the 2 page “board agenda” prior to the meeting.
    http://www.mchenry.edu/board/14_15/agendas/052214.pdf

    You can read or skim through the 132 page “board packet” prior to the meeting.
    http://www.mchenry.edu/board/14_15/packets/052214.pdf

    There we find the following item.

    15. APPROVAL OF PRESIDENT’S CONTRACT AND GOALS AND OBJECTIVES, Board Report #14-111.

    Board Report 14-111 begins on Page 94 of the Board packet.
    It states basically what Cal reported above.
    The remainder of FY 2014 (May 22, 2014 – June 30, 2014 Vicky Smith will receive a pro-rated salary of $211,013.01.
    FY 2015 (July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015) Salary will be somewhere in the range of 3 – 5.9%, depending on CPI.

    Her goals follow the contract in the board packet.

    It seems anyone who does the work can meet the goals.

    Didn’t see any performance goals.

    The goals consist of desired tasks to be initiated, worked upon, or completed.

  20. Mark,they do archive the videos of the meetings.

    I don’t know where it is exactly.

    I think you have to click on the “live stream” link and then sign in to look at archived videos, but I’m not entirely sure.

    But I KNOW they have archives of the meetings, so if you can’t find them, call the college and someone there will tell you how to find them.

  21. Go here: http://www.mchenry.edu/board/index.asp and look for the column called Meeting Video (second from the right).

    Links to any archived videos are in that column.

    Also at the link above, click on Board Archive (upper left), then click on 2013-2014 to see videos of last year’s meetings.

    It doesn’t go any further back, they only started streaming them around June, 2013.

  22. Here is the URL in which the renewal of the President’s contract and goals is discussed.
    http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/47903830

    Voting Yes to renew: Mr. Peters (student trustee), Ms. Liddell, Ms. Kisser, & Ms. Walsh

    Voting No to not renew: Mr. Jenner, Mr. Wilbeck, Mr. Parrish

    Not Present: Ms. Miller

    Ms. Walsh had a comment to her vote that she shares some concerns with those voting no but she believes they can be resolved.

    Since Mr. Peters is the Student Trustee, apparently his vote does not count.

    So it’s a 3 – 3 tie.

    The measure does not pass.

    A long conversation ensued.

    The attorney said previously the contract offer was made by the board and accepted by Ms. Smith, so now it’s an awkward situation.

  23. Listening to http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/47903830 now.

    Am at the part where discussion is held how to keep future meetings private (make sure less than three trustees present? and does the student trustee count toward that total?), and able to avoid obligation to post agenda, as relates to discussing spending $45,000 for either an architects firm or a consultation firm to advise MCC on expansion and building plans.

    Apparently the $45,000 spent on a consultant’s report or study last year that the chairman described as ‘not done well’ is not usable?

    So, is MCC now planning expansion and building (involving higher property taxes for us all)?

  24. Have the MCC board check out how that worked for the County Board a couple of years back… secret meetings.

    What do they mean $45K spent on consultant’s report was not done well?

    Does that mean that they didn’t report what MCC board wanted?

    The people have spoken — no need for expansion, NO MORE TAXES!

    They aren’t using their current space completely, so why an expansion?

    They need a vote to fire Ms. Vicki.

    She’s been nothing but trouble since she arrived.

  25. I wanted to compare MCC President salary package to other Community Colleges in Illinois.

    http://iccbdbsrv.iccb.org/salarysearch/home.cfm is one way to get there, but the function is not functioning, since yesterday when I accessed that list.

    From this URL:
    http://www.ibhe.state.il.us/PA96266/default.aspx

    4th paragraph:

    “Public Act 96-0266 also requires the board of trustees of each public community college to report salary and benefits information to the IBHE. Through agreement with the IBHE, that information is collected and reported by the Illinois Community College Board. Salary and benefits information for administrative and instructional employees in Illinois’ 48 public community colleges is available through a searchable database accessible by clicking the following link:

    http://iccbdbsrv.iccb.org/salarysearch/home.cfm

    The link worked yesterday and I was able to view a list of names and salary for 2011 or 2012 (?).

    Now the search page does not function when trying to access search term: ‘president’ salary info for all Illinois Community Colleges.

    Also, the list didn’t make clear which college was attached to which college name, or what was the enrolment size of the college, the square footage of the campus, the annual budget, or other figures which would support relative salary amount differences.

  26. It’s not over…

    a Special Board Meeting (open to the public) will be held next Wednesday, May 28 at 6 p.m.

    The college has stated two reasons for this special meeting:

    1) to “Rescind the action that was taken on Dr. Smith’s contract at the 5/22/14 meeting”

    and

    2) to “Approve Dr. Smith’s new contract”

  27. Robert’s Rules of Order is clear on this point.

    The measure failed.

    It can ONLY be brought up again by a party on the winning side, in this case Jenner, Wilbeck or Parrish.

    None of the other members has a right to bring the motion up for reconsideration, and when Miller bothers to make an appearance, and I hope that Board President Ron Parrish strictly enforces that rule.

    The rule exists for a reason: fairness.

    If the losers on every motion were permitted to bring it up over and over, eventually they would use that tactic to simply wear out the opposition.

    That is the reason for the rule.

    So they can have all the special meetings they want, but Robert’s Rules of Order forbids Walsh, Liddell, Kisser AND Miller from asking for reconsideration.

    If they do, they are out of order.

    Only Parrish, Wilbeck or Jenner can ask for the motion to be reconsidered.

    As for Molly — Molly, I have a lot of respect for you, but sometimes you have to stand up and be counted.

    This, “Yes, but” attitude doesn’t work in situations like this.

    Yours was NOT a “Yes, but” vote.

    The vote was binary: yes or no, and you voted Yes.

    You can have all the “concerns” you want, but you still voted to give Smith a big raise and keep her around until June 2016.

    You voted for a double standard.

    You voted to accept a pattern a pattern of behavior in the administration — the “it’s okay because, technically, it’s legal” standard.

    This is a standard you would NEVER accept for your own actions, for the actions of any child of yours, for any student at MCC, or for an employee of a private company.

    Our public employees should be held to a HIGHER standard, not the lowest possible standard.

    And last night you sent a lesson to the students of MCC, a lesson about the way the world REALLY works, a lesson in hypocrisy and double standards.

    Molly, there is no “Yes, but” vote.

    You voted “Yes”.

    And as much as I respect you, on this issue I must disagree with you at a most fundamental and moral level.

  28. So the President of a small community college is a 1%’er, getting a higher salary than lawmakers in Congress, most executives or entrepreneurs?

    Interesting. . . McHenry County rates 25th highest Real Estate Taxes in the NATION because elected officials are not accountable to those taxpayers!

    How is this salary and the extended contract justified?

  29. MEETING TONIGHT AT COLLEGE regarding the regurgitation of this by those who want to extend Smith’s contract with all the perks.

    IF YOU DON”T LIKE WHAT’S GOING ON, take a drive out to the college tonight. 6pm.

  30. It has to be the public whom shows up, speaks up, and demands that MCC and its employees serve their community!!!!

    The non-tenure and adjunct faculty and staff (at least the ones whose children insist on eating everyday) are understandably reluctant to speak up; many of them are very devoted to the community and students and know they cannot serve the community in equally meaningful ways should they not be asked back.

    The college is not required to have a reason to not ask them back; their hold is tenuous at best.

    If you do not know why it must be the community and the students rather than an adjunct, look at the video from March’s regular board meeting where adjunct faculty union president Mr. Peter Ponzio throws himself on their sword (it starts at around 12 minutes).

    Now look for the adjunct faculty report in the May meeting and you will hear/see a woman begin delivering it by announcing that Mr. Ponzio has resigned his role as adjunct faculty president.

    Do we hear the message?!

    What do we want for our money at MCC?

    We need to choose and we need to act.

  31. I just watched Wednesday’s meeting (May 28)and all I can say is Wow.

    I didn’t know I could feel shock without surprise, but apparently I can. This is bad for most of us, even if we don’t realize it yet. Full time faculty silence was deafening on the issue.

    Mr. Jenner, Wilbeck, and Parrish – thank you for trying.

    I am disappointed in the other board members.

    The lawyer’s answers and delivery of relevant information seems routinely poorly executed, incomplete, and/or offered after the fact and creates the appearance of impropriety.

    The entire debacle leaves me needing a shower.

    Perhaps it is time to send our family members to college elsewhere.

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