Lone Dissent on Four Records Votes as JJC Trustees Spar Over Minutes

Joliet Junior College | August 12, 2026

Article Summary: Joliet Junior College trustees approved four sets of meeting records on Aug. 12, each by a 5-1 margin with Trustee Maureen Broderick opposed, after she argued that an account of the former chair’s resignation should be stripped from the June 24 minutes and questioned the use of “notes” for two meetings that could not convene.

Meeting Records Key Points:

Broderick cast the only no vote on all four items under agenda section 1.10.

She asked that details in the June 24 chair’s report be replaced with a line stating only that the chair resigned; Trustees Harris, Morales and Bottomley said the material should stay.

The board’s attorney said the July 29 retreat and special meeting records exist because the meetings could not convene for lack of a quorum and were not cancelled.

Trustees approved the release of nine sets of closed session minutes and the destruction of verbatim recordings from 14 dates.

JOLIET — The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2026, approved its backlog of meeting records in four consecutive 5-1 votes, with Broderick dissenting each time.

The first item, approval of the minutes of the June 24, 2026, regular meeting, drew the sharpest exchange. Broderick objected to the content of section 5.3, the chair’s report.

“Under 5.3, the chair’s report — I think all of that’s been posted in there needs to be removed and just put the chair resigned,” she said. “We’ve had enough of the negativity. Let’s scrap getting all detailed and putting all the details in.”

Garcia Guillen responded that “if it’s in there, it should probably stay.” Broderick replied that “we carry on this dirty laundry. It’s terrible. We’ve got to stop it.”

Harris said she agreed that disruptive behavior has to stop but that the former chair’s statement should remain in the record. “In all respect to Chair Budzinski, he has a statement to make, and I think that it’s fair that his statement be heard,” she said.

Morales was more pointed. “It’s ironic that someone calls to not air this but is the cause of it,” she said. “If the chairman left and resigned, a great chairman left and resigned because of the dysfunction, and he had a statement to make.” She said that “if you believe in transparency, why would we remove them?” Garcia Guillen said she also supported leaving the text in place. The minutes were approved with Broderick voting no.

The board then approved notes of a July 29, 2026, board retreat and, separately, minutes of a July 29, 2026, special meeting. Broderick questioned why records were being approved at all for meetings she described as cancelled, and said she had never seen “notes” rather than minutes presented for approval.

The board’s attorney explained the distinction. “We’re just making a record of the fact meeting was not held due to lack of a quorum,” he said. “There was an attempt to convene it. It could not go forward because there was a lack of a quorum. We need to make a record of that, because the meeting was not cancelled.”

Broderick also objected to the records distinguishing between trustees “absent” and trustees “not present,” saying neither term is defined in board policy. In response to a question from Garcia Guillen, a staff member explained that a trustee who calls to say they will not attend is recorded as not present, while “if they’re no call, no show, then they’re an absent.” Broderick said no policy identifies that distinction. Both items passed 5-1.

The fourth item released the minutes of nine closed session meetings, authorized destruction of the verbatim recordings of closed sessions from 14 dates, and found that the need for confidentiality continues for all remaining closed session minutes. Broderick said she supported parts of it but not all. “I have some yes and I have some nos, so I’m going to have to say no, since you didn’t pull them out,” she said. The item passed 5-1.

The board’s minutes record that Student Trustee Byron McCullum favored all four motions.