MCC Advisory Panel for Robotics Program

The plot is thickening concerning McHenry County College’s robotics program.

One of the concerns expressed during the campaign by newly-elected Board members Tom Wilbeck and Chris Jenner was inadequate consultation with local businesses.

To determined the scope of the contracts I filed a Freedom of Information request asking for who at what firms were contacted.

What I got in reply to that question is the list of the Advisory Committee, which you see below:

Members of the McHenry County College robotics Advisory Committee.

Members of the McHenry County College robotics Advisory Committee.


Comments

MCC Advisory Panel for Robotics Program — 9 Comments

  1. With 21 out of 30 having MCC behind their names and wondering if four others have any business ties to MCC, if anything is decided by a vote, why even have a committee?

    What are the “connections” of the three who are not identified with a Company?

    Where is the input from businesses who might hire graduates of an MCC program?

  2. Gus hit it on the head.

    There has been no true analysis or survey with the local business or Chamber of Commerce of each city in the county.

    Why is it we do not have our government servants back their ideas for serving with citizen and business requests/statistics that back their spending decisions?

    We need to work together with our heart and our head. We all need to be good stewards with our time, talent, and treasure (which includes our taxes)!

  3. Gus, Jim, Larry and Cal – Y’all sound like a bunch of pessimists.

    Just wondering, what local businesses do you think the college should be consulting for a robotics program since the plot is thickening SOOO much due to board members crying foul.

    As well, what would exactly be accomplished by talking to all of the local city government and chambers of commerce?

  4. Once again, Cal Skinner has done the citizens of McHenry County a service by digging into a story that needs to be told.

    Would the County benefit from the RIGHT robotics program at MCC? Absolutely!

    Is what the administration proposed the RIGHT program? We don’t know.

    What we DO know is that, once again, there is the APPEARANCE of a conflict of interest, the APPEARANCE that the advisory board was stacked.

    The current administration’s has previously hired consultants with obvious conflicts of interest (e.g., Power Wellness and Wright Construction).

    The current administration generated blatantly false statistics about population growth in McHenry County.

    The current administration failed to consider contrary data, including declining enrollment in the elementary schools and Census Data showing a drop in McHenry County population since 2010, even when such data was brought to their attention. (Of course, such data SHOULD have been part of the initial study.)

    The current administration failed to include data on the very modest and declining revenues of the existing fitness facility when proposing to build a huge, fancy new health club.

    The current administration gave false responses to FOIA requests for data on average class size and classroom utilization when it was pushing a plan to double classroom space.

    For these reasons, ANY recommendation from the current administration is suspect, especially when it comes from a board, 70% of the members of which were appointed by the President.

    Outcomes are important, but, in government, so is transparency in the process.

    In the future I would urge the board to take time to thoroughly examine the evidence it is given for any new program, and to independently confirm that ALL facts have been considered. It is sad but true that nothing the current administration says can be accepted at face value.

  5. Perhaps the full picture should be painted…robotics is part of the manufacturing curriculum and there is another list and several months of meetings with more than 20 manufactures where MCC met with all those employers to discuss their training needs.

    Perhaps cal should get those attendees because I will guarentee these include large employers which include robotics.

    Please don’t paint a negative impression there are a lot of very worthy programs MCC provides to benefit our county.

    Why are you and Mr. Wilson attacking the best asset we have in the county?

    Please provide both sides of the story not just the attacking mode.

  6. Matthew Albright is probably related to Bev Albright their special needs director. Some reporting is needed to see if the others are related to MCC employees also.

  7. Sandy, Can you provide ways in which the college provides worthy programs that benefit the county?

    I’m gathering information to provide a positive report.

    Do you know any of the 20 manufacturers?

    Did you know Sage was willing to provide MCC with a state of the art robotics program at Sage in Cary and the administration turned them down?

    I wish I knew why?

  8. I would suggest asking Board President Ron Parrish.

    As I remember, the majority of the board wanted to keep it on-campus.

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