Joliet Junior College board meets again on new trustee

The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees meets again Monday to vote on a replacement trustee and may have a winner this time.

The board meets at 5:30 p.m. to vote on the appointment of Joshua Stamborski as its seventh trustee.

Stamborski was one of five candidates who was not appointed to the open seat when the board deadlocked on 3-3 votes for all five at a special meeting on Sept. 25.

Stamborski if appointed would replace John “Jake” Mahalik, who resigned in August from the board, which has become embroiled in controversy.

Aside from the Sept. 25 gridlock over a new trustee, a recent lawsuit pits two trustees against the rest of the board over a censure vote taken against one of the plaintiff trustees.

The standoff over the next trustee may have been broken, however.

Board President Jim Budzinski said he called the meeting after hearing from a board member willing to change a previous vote against Stamborski’s appointment.

“With all the 3-3 votes, only one trustee has come back to me asking to consider a vote change,” Budzinski said.

Budzinski wouldn’t say who, but indications are that it’s Trustee Diane Harris.

Harris, one of three votes against Stamborski at the last meeting, did not return a call for comment. Trustees Maureen Broderick and Michelle Lee, who also voted against Stamborski, said they remain opposed to his appointment.

“He’s going to vote everything the (college) president and the chair want him to vote,” Lee said.

Stamborski is a former non-voting student trustee on the JJC board.

Lee and Broderick contend he lacks the experience to serve in the position.

“Jim Budzinski will get Josh to do whatever he wants him to do,” Broderick said.

Budzinski said the potential breakthrough on the trustee votes comes after JJC students have come forward with concerns about the board deadlock.

“The students want to have a voice in this,” he said.

Unlike the previous meeting in which the board met in closed session before voting on candidates, there will be no closed session before the vote on Monday.

“The reason I did not want it in executive session is because I want everything discussed in public,” Budzinski said.