Tom Wilbeck Resigns from MCC Board

At the very end of a four-hour series of meetings, McHenry County College Trustee Tom Wilbeck tendered his resignation.

Wilbeck resigining

Tom Wilbeck while announcing his resignation from the McHenry County College Board.

He explained that he and his wife had decided to downsize and had purchased a new home in McHenry County.

“Last Thursday, I discovered it was in [the Harper College District.]

“To my chagrin I must tender my resignation tonight.

“It really hurts, but I must resign.”

Wilbeck, a resident of Lakewood until he and his wife moves to Barrington Hills next month, said he had learned a lot on the Board and wished the college well.

“You said you had learned a lot,” Board President Ron Parrish replied.
“I think we’ve learned a lot from you.

“You will be missed.”

Wilbeck ran in tandem with Cary’s Chris Jenner.  The two ousted two long-term incumbents on the platform of curbing property taxes and killing a health club proposal advanced as a public-private partnership in which the taxpayers would be taking all the risk.

Last year, the three newly-elected board members (Molly Walsh being the third) joined with incumbent Parrish to insist on a budget that did not increase taxes for district residents.

Wilbeck was tenacious in his requests for data on how fully utilized campus classrooms were.  In discussion earlier in the night regarding selection of a consultant utilization was clearly a prime topic.

Because it is more than four months until the April election, when two six-year terms are up, there will be a special election to fill the final four years of his term.

Within sixty days, the remaining Board members will select a temporary replacement to fill out the time between the appointment and the swearing in of whoever wins the four-year term election.


Comments

Tom Wilbeck Resigns from MCC Board — 12 Comments

  1. NO!

    Wilbeck and Jenner brought responsibility to the board!

    I’m a student and I’m sick of the college throwing money away.

    Last I heard they had 80 million dollars in their piggy bank yet wanted to tax property owners more and increase tuition.

    How is that possible?

    We need more fiscal conservatives on the board.

    It’s not that I’m cheap, I just want RESPONSIBLE people on the board.

    Is that so unreasonable?

  2. We DO need responsible, awake citizens to serve.

    Also those brave enough to look into the many ways the college misuses its funds and resources – like paying over half its employees a slave wage and then expecting miracles to happen like increased graduation and retention rates.

    Thanks, Tom, for your service. Many employees will miss you.

  3. I’m also a current student, and am disappointed by this sequence of events.

    Mr. Wilbeck seemed to always have the interests of taxpayers and students at heart.

    Since I am both a taxpayer and a student, this resonated with me, and I want to thank him for his service.

    I could see running for MCC Trustee someday when I have the time to devote to it, however that time is not now.

    Two current trustees are an acquaintance and a former customer.

    Both reasonable people who are genuinely trying to do their best for the community.

  4. Joe, if you are interested in keeping MCC on track by being a trustee, get in touch with me.

    We need people of common sense who remember the college exists to serve the community.

    The time commitment for a trustee is not overwhelming, particularly where the trustees run the government.

    (In many local governments, the trustees are run ragged by staff who give them hours and hours of busy work every week. Two things happen. Either the trustee eventually buys into the idea that spending hours doing busy work is actually his or her job, or the trustee gets frustrated and quits. In local governments run by trustees, the staff do the busy work and provide trustees with the necessary, objective information to make decisions, and the trustees are only putting in five to eight hours a week.)

  5. Tom,
    I was very surprised to see this story and that you are resigning.

    I have often expressed to you that I appreciate the changes that you and the new majority have been able to make to save the taxpayers money and the respectful way that the changes were made.

    Without you there to keep the conservative majority, what will happen?

  6. Tom brought that most uncommon commodity to the MCC board: common sense.

    He thought in terms of what the college should accomplish and demanded proof of efficacy and efficiency.

    In short, he acted as if he were spending other people’s money and therefore had an obligation to see that it was spent wisely.

    No one who knows Tom has ever doubted his integrity or his ability.

  7. Sorry to see him go, but I am glad I get to vote for a new trustee instead of allowing the college to appoint someone…

  8. Rereading this article, do I get to vote for 3 Trustees?

    “two six-year terms are up” and the appointment for Trustee Wilbeck’s replacement.

  9. Brent, the trustees appoint a replacement for Tom, but in April there will be an election for THREE trustees: two for six years terms, and one for the remainder of Tom’s term, or four years.

    At least, that’s my understanding.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *