Six look for election to Joliet Junior College Board

JOLIET – A packed field is competing for a seat on the Joliet Junior College board of trustees, with six candidates vying for two seats in Tuesday’s election.

Maureen Flanagan Broderick, Diane Harris, Sharon Cemeno Hicks, Susan Marie Klen, Michael Venegas and Robert Wunderlich each seek a seat on the community college’s board.

Maureen Flanagan
Broderick

A resident of New Lenox, Broderick decided to run for the JJC Board after her daughter attended classes there.

“I had liked everything I saw,” Broderick said. “I thought, you know what, there is an opening. It’s time for some new blood there.”

With 12 years experience on the New Lenox School District 122 Board, Broderick said she has a great understanding of school finance. She believes this knowledge would make for an easy transition to the community college level.

Broderick believes increasing enrollment at the college is a key issue. Greater communication with taxpayers and searching for grant money to support programs are also important to her.

Diane Harris

As a graduate of JJC, Harris said she believes it’s important that its governing board reflect the diversity of its student population. Harris attempted to run for election to the JJC Board previously, but was unsuccessful.

Harris said she supports the college’s efforts to be fiscally responsible, and if she were elected, she would want to see the college pursue the money it is owed to complete its downtown campus. She would lobby legislators to pursue whatever money is needed.

“Another thing I would want to focus on is increasing the graduation rate,” Harris said. “I noticed that the percentages did drop in terms of graduation.”

Harris said she would encourage the development of a program by which students could visit with professionals in the community, to see what opportunities might be available to them when they finish college, as a way to increase graduation rates.

Sharon Cemeno Hicks

Taxation helped lead Hicks to run for the JJC Board. As a business owner facing high property taxes, Hicks said she has come to realize how important it is to have fiscally conservative people on local government boards.

“I feel I could bring some common sense into the position if I was elected, and also my experience in local government, as far as how it works,” Hicks said. “I really feel like we need some good, solid people watching over our tax money in the local area.”

Several of the college’s projects, including the City Center and the college’s multipurpose building, have concerned Hicks. The multipurpose center is troubling, she said, because among the activities officials have said it will be used for are graduation ceremonies, as well as some sporting events, which she said are not good revenue producers.

Were she a member of the board, Hicks said, she’d want more research done into the need for such projects, especially with decreasing enrollment.

Susan Marie Klen

Klen has earned two associate’s degrees from JJC, one in horticulture, another in floral design. She had intended on taking one class to improve her garden, she said, but liked the class so much that she finished the program.

“My dad raised us on his JJC education,” Klen said. “I was raised to respect the school, and especially during bad economic times, as we’ve had the last seven years, community college is everything.”

Klen is concerned about continued funding from the state of Illinois. The college has cut millions from its budget in recent years to make up the difference, she said, and had to await millions from the state to finish the City Center Campus in downtown Joliet. But she sees improvement on the horizon.

“I’m less worried than other people because Gov. [Bruce] Rauner has said several times that he has no plans to cut community college education, because he understands that, especially in trying economic times when people are unemployed, you’ve got to have a good community college,” Klen said.

Michael Venegas

Venegas knows several people who work at JJC, both faculty and staff, and as they have raised concerns to him about the college’s operations, his interest in its governing body has increased.

“I’d be one person out of seven, and I don’t get to make the final decision,” Venegas said. “All I can do is offer a different perspective.”

Venegas is most particularly concerned about JJC’s business approach to running the college. He’d like to steer the board away from viewing education as a general business.

Venegas said with enrollment projected as stagnant, he’d want to explore having the college better cater to student needs, reaching out to them, offering and expanding programs throughout the district rather than expecting students to come to the main campus for classes.

Robert Wunderlich

A member of the JJC Board for 38 years, Wunderlich wants to remain with the board to see the completion of several of the college’s projects, including the City Center Campus, the college’s multipurpose building and the Romeoville expansion.

“I’ve been the chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee for 20 plus years, and I just am concerned about the bricks and mortar part of the college,” Wunderlich said.

He also is concerned about the money not coming from the state owed to the college. JJC had awaited the $25 million it needed on the City Center Campus before finishing building it out, he said. While it had money to finish the project, he said, JJC wanted to use the state money that it was owed, and waited on completion.

The college has maintained a balanced budget since its inception, Wunderlich said. Though it has had “some modest tuition increases,” he said, students have understood the need. He believes his experience with the JJC Board makes him a candidate of choice come Tuesday’s election.

• Morris Daily Herald Editor Kate Schott contributed to this report.