Joliet Junior College gets new trustee on board in divided vote

Joliet Junior College on Monday filled an opening on its board of trustees but not before another dispute arose among the board.

Josh Stamborski, a former student trustee on the board, was brought back on with a 3-2-1 vote.

Stamborski was among five candidates for the opening that failed to win approval for the seat when the board split 3-3 on all five at a Sept. 25 meeting. But Trustee Diane Harris changed her previous no vote to an abstention on Monday, making it possible for Stamborski to get in.

Stamborski took his seat on the board Monday, calling it a “high honor” and referring to his past experience as a student trustee when he was a JJC student.

“I have an ocean of knowledge that I am ready and willing to employ for the benefit of the taxpayers and the students,” he said.

Harris after the meeting on Monday said she changed her vote because she did not want a decision on the trustee to go to the Illinois Community College Board, which could have happened if the board did not name a trustee by Oct. 19.

“We couldn’t come to a concensus,” Harris said. “Because we could not come to a concensus, we had to work with what we had.”

Stamborski joins the board at a time that it is considering a new contract for JJC President Clyne Namuo, a process that has already been accompanied with controversy including a censure against Trustee Maureen Broderick and a lawsuit brought by Broderick against the board and Namuo.

Before the vote for Stamborski, former Trustee Robert Wunderlich, who served on the board for 44 years before leaving in 2021, laid claim to the seat.

Wunderlich, also among the five candidates considered by the board last month, pointed to the 3-2-1 vote that he received from the board.

The board did vote 3-2-1 for Wunderlich, but Trustee Alicia Morales later changed her vote, which was then counted as a 3-3 vote.

“I should be seated, and I would like to be seated,” Wunderlich told the board before its vote for Stamborski.

Broderick, who opposed Stamborski, made a motion to have Wunderlich seated on the board.

Broderick said the vote on Wunderlich at the last meeting “was done and we were moving on” before Morales changed her vote.

But board attorney Bryan Kopman advised that Morales had a right to change her vote.

Board Chairman Jim Budzinski ruled Broderick’s motion out of order because a vote for Wunderlich was not on the board’s agenda. The board did not vote on the motion on Wunderlich.

Broderick and Trustee Michelle Lee voted against Stamborski.

Budzinski, Morales and Trustee Nancy Garcia Guillen voted for him.

Stamborski fills a seat vacated when Trustee John “Jake” Mahalik resigned in August.