Meeting Summary and Briefs: Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees for September 16, 2026

Joliet Junior College | September 16, 2026

JOLIET — The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees met for nearly three hours on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026, in board room A-3104 at 1215 Houbolt Road, adjourning at 8:35 p.m. The board elected Trustee Alicia Morales as vice chair after an attempt to postpone the election failed for lack of a second, heard that the college’s long-running enterprise resource planning overhaul will go live March 5, and was told that fall headcount reached 14,658 students — a fourth consecutive fall increase. Full coverage of those items appears in separate stories, as does an extended dispute over how the board conducted President Dr. Clyne Namuo’s evaluation, the approval of the August bill list over questions about architect fees and the college’s legal counsel contract, and a 7-0 vote to replace counsel in the LSP-Kendall Energy LLC Taxing Bodies Consortium.

Also covered separately: the JJC Foundation’s report of $1,333,452 in fall scholarships and a $3 million endowment allocation; Trustee Diane Harris’s report on state legislation that would let community colleges award bachelor’s degrees; first readings of seven board policies; a proclamation designating October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month; and the college’s role as top sponsor of the 2026 Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Remaining items from the meeting follow.

Board Workshop to Cover Facilities Plan, Referendum

Namuo told trustees that a board workshop scheduled “in a couple of weeks” will take up master facilities planning and the college’s referendum efforts alongside strategic planning. He offered his enrollment data as context for that discussion, saying the next strategic plan will shift emphasis from the number of students entering the college toward the number who graduate and complete. No date, location or agenda for the workshop was given during the meeting, and no referendum question, dollar figure or timeline was discussed in open session.

Closed Session Held; Second One Dropped

The board entered closed session after the president’s report, with Chair Nancy Garcia Guillen citing exemptions 2(c)(11) and 2(c)(8) of the Open Meetings Act. The motion carried on a roll call in which Morales, Harris, Bottomley, Bradley, Broderick, Garcia Guillen and McCullum all voted yes, and the board returned to open session on a second unanimous roll call. No action was announced on return; the board moved directly to its minutes. A second closed session, listed on the agenda as item 6, was not held. “At this time, we’re not going to have a second closed session,” Garcia Guillen said before adjournment. No formal action can be taken in closed session under the Open Meetings Act.

Minutes Approved 6-1 Twice Over Detail Objection

Trustees approved minutes of the Aug. 12 regular meeting and the Aug. 3 special meeting on separate roll calls, each 6-1, with Trustee Maureen Broderick voting no. Broderick said the minutes lacked detail on trustee discussion and on why items are pulled from the agenda. “When people are looking at these minutes, they don’t tell you anything,” she said, adding that the record of her own remarks “wasn’t what I said.” Garcia Guillen responded that trustee updates are “not supposed to be a verbatim record” and that adding verbatim detail on every pulled item would make meetings unworkable.

Consent Agenda Approved 7-0 After Three Pulls

The board approved its consent agenda unanimously after Broderick pulled the bill list, the treasurer’s report and the financial report for separate votes. Items remaining on consent included the retirement of one full-time professor in education/child development; a change of retirement date for one full-time professor in social and behavioral sciences; settlement of workers’ compensation claim 21WC22551; the classified staff report of new hires, replacements and separations; business services items covering security cameras and access control, a pickup truck purchase, flexible spending, dependent care, commuter benefits and COBRA administration, NCLEX live review and student transportation assistance; and approval of the sale of college personal property. No dollar figures for those items were read into the record.

Student Trustee Reports on Welcome Week, Esports Opening

Student Trustee Byron McCullum recapped a club leadership retreat on Aug. 21, the Joliet state of the city address, Week of Welcome activities and a ribbon cutting for the college’s new esports space, which he described as a product of the president’s design thinking challenge. He said the two-day Main Street club recruitment event drew at least 200 students a day and that he staffed a table for Active Minds, a club he leads. Upcoming events he listed include Constitution Day, an esports tournament, club leadership training, a puzzle contest, a kayaking trip, an American Red Cross blood drive Sept. 28-29 and Wild Encounters programs at the City Center and Romeoville campuses. McCullum said he will attend the Illinois Community College Board Student Advisory Committee at the College of DuPage on Friday.

Union Reports Praise Convocation Support Staff

Faculty union representative Curt Ward told the board the first month of the term was complete and singled out food service and facility services staff for their work during opening week. “Do you realize that chef was here at 1 a.m. cooking that meal?” he said of the convocation lunch, and described facility services transforming the convocation building during the meal itself. He closed with a quotation attributed to John Wesley: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can.” Adjunct faculty union representative Mary Klinger reported a well-attended adjunct dinner and praised two new adjunct professional development coordinators and a session on artificial intelligence.

Fire Academy Featured in Broadcast Segment

Namuo closed his report by playing a television news segment on the college’s first fire academy, a 16-week program leading to basic operations firefighter certification. The instructor shown in the segment, an active firefighter-paramedic, said a shortage of firefighters and paramedics prompted him to start the program. “We have such a shortage out there for firefighters and paramedics that this is something that I felt we needed to do,” he said. The segment noted the college also offers a paramedic program, with one cohort running this semester and another starting in January.

Two Committees Did Not Meet

Neither the Buildings and Grounds Committee nor the Finance Committee met between the August and September board meetings. “Nothing to add at this time,” Trustee Elaine Bottomley said of Buildings and Grounds. Asked about a next meeting date for the Finance Committee, a trustee said, “Yeah, we don’t have one at this point. But I’ll let you know as soon as we do.”

Moment of Silence Observed for Five

Namuo led a moment of silence for five individuals connected to the college community, including the father-in-law of an academic dean, the husband of a tutor in the tutoring and learning center, the grandmother of Trustee Elaine Bottomley, the parents of a licensed therapist on staff and a former JJC student. Names are withheld here pending verification of spellings; the recording renders several of them inconsistently.

No Public Comment; No Secretary Election

Garcia Guillen reported that no one had signed up for public comment under item 1.4. The board also took no action on agenda item 4.3, election of secretary, which was listed as “if needed.” After the vice chair vote, Garcia Guillen said, “At this time, we don’t need to do a nomination for secretary.” Trustee Michelle Lee was not recorded as responding at the opening roll call and did not vote on any item.