Trustees Approve Bills After Questions on Architect Fees, Law Firm Contract

Joliet Junior College | September 16, 2026

Article Summary: The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees approved the bill list for the period ending Aug. 31, 2026, on a unanimous roll call Wednesday, Sept. 16, after Trustee Maureen Broderick pulled the item from the consent agenda to question two architectural payments and the term of the college’s legal counsel contract.

Bill List Key Points:

Broderick questioned payments of $231,210 to JP Architects and $99,750 to a second firm.

Administrators said JP Architects was approved in March 2026 for architectural and engineering services for the Grundy expansion, and the second firm in February 2026 (item 3.2.14) for the manufacturing training academy.

Broderick challenged whether the board ever approved extending the college’s legal counsel contract with the firm referred to as KG beyond three years.

Staff said the board’s Sept. 13, 2023 action (item 3.2.3) awarded an initial three-year term with options for two additional one-year terms.

JOLIET — The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees approved the listing of bills for the period ending Aug. 31, 2026, on a 7-0 roll call Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, after an extended exchange over architectural fees on two construction projects and over how long the college’s law firm is under contract.

Trustee Maureen Broderick pulled agenda item 3.1 from the consent agenda, along with the treasurer’s report and financial report, before the consent agenda was approved.

Broderick said she was questioning two payments. “Number one is JP Arch for 231,210 and Clover for 99,750,” she said, adding that she believed both related to the college’s Grundy County property. “I’m trying to get a scope of how much we’re so far invested in the Morris property. That’s my concern. So that’s why I asked why we have two architectural firms doing it, because I’m trying to understand what the mechanisms for each of them are.”

Dr. Yolanda Farmer responded that the college had answered Broderick’s written questions by email the previous day.

“For JP Architect, the board approval was in March of 2026. That was for the architectural and engineering service for the Grundy expansion,” Farmer said. The second firm’s board approval came in February 2026, she said, as item 3.2.14, covering architectural and engineering services for the manufacturing training academy.

President Dr. Clyne Namuo confirmed the split. “JP Architects is, as Dr. Farmer mentioned, our architect that the board approved in March of 2026. That’s for Grundy,” he said, with the second firm’s work tied to the manufacturing training academy.

Broderick asked whether the academy was the project involving police. “No, no, that’s the PSI,” Namuo said. “Let me throw more acronyms at you.”

The Legal Counsel Contract

Broderick then turned to the firm she referred to as KG, saying its contract had expired Aug. 31, 2026.

“I don’t see any board action that we did to allow any extension on it, and I don’t see any policy that allows other than the board approving it,” she said.

Namuo said there is no college policy setting a dollar threshold for board approval. “In fact, I believe that’s under the Illinois Community College Act that defines the $25,000 threshold,” he said. “There’s no policy. Every purchase complies with the purchasing guidelines that’s in the back of the board book.”

A staff member then gave the contract history: “On September 13th, 2023, the board of trustees approved agenda item 3.2.3 awarding the legal counsel contract to KG for an initial three-year term with the option for two additional one-year terms. So a total of five years.”

Broderick disputed that the board had approved the extensions. “The board got a green sheet on how much the price was, but we never approved anything more than to do it for 200,000. So where did the two extra years come in? Because the board never voted on that,” she said. She added that when she read the contract returned to the college, “it did not address anything other than the three-year contract.”

Garcia Guillen said the college could provide the contract again for reference, and summarized the staff account: a three-year contract with written provision for two additional one-year terms, “so technically that covers a five-year period.”

Broderick’s time expired mid-sentence. “As long as I didn’t say ‘may not,'” she said.

Administrators also told Broderick there were no current bills on the list for the firm.

The board then voted. Harris, McCullum, Bottomley, Bradley, Broderick, Morales and Garcia Guillen all voted yes.