Joliet Junior College board deadlocked over filling open seat

The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees this week could not agree on five candidates for a vacant trustee position and may have to turn to a state board to make the decision.

The split vote reflects an ongoing division on a board in which two trustees have filed a lawsuit against fellow board members and the college.

The board met Wednesday to consider a replacement for former Trustee John “Jake” Mahalik, who resigned in August.

Mahalik’s resignation left the board with six members and made possible the 3-3 deadlock votes on five finalists considered for the open trustee position Wednesday.

Those candidates included Robert Wunderlich, who had served on the board for 44 years and at times as chairman before leaving in 2021 to seek a Joliet City Council seat.

The other finalists were Darrell Boisdorf, an attorney who lives in Joliet, Josh Stamborski, a former student trustee on the JJC board, Darryl Link, a Joliet resident involved in youth organizations and other activities, and Elaine Bottomley, a member of the board that oversees the Joliet Public Library.

Fourteen people applied for the opening before the board narrowed the list to five candidates.

The decision on the next trustee will go to the chairman of the Illinois Community College Board, unless the JJC board is able to make a decision by Oct. 18.

The governor and state board “would have someone they could insert in the position, and it doesn’t necessarily have to come from the five that we had,” JJC Board Chairman James Budzinski said.

The deadlock on the vote for a trustee was one more sign of turmoil on the JJC board.

Trustees Maureen Broderick and Michelle Lee earlier this month filed a lawsuit alleging that the the JJC board violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act when it voted in February to censure Broderick without giving public notice of the vote on its agenda.

“We have a division right now,” Budzinski said.

Broderick and Lee were joined by Trustee Diane Harris in their votes for Wunderlich, Boisdorf and Link and against Stamborski and Bottomley.

Budzinski along with trustees Alicia Morales and Nancy Garcia Guillen voted for Stamborski and Bottomley, while voting against Wunderlich, Boisdorf and Link.

“I’m disappointed in the lack of leadership we showed in voting to bring a trustee candidate to fill the vacant trustee position,” Broderick said.

Broderick and Budzinski said they did not like the prospect of state officials deciding who fills the vacant position on the JJC board.

The board could call another special meeting for another vote. The meeting Wednesday was a special meeting called solely for the purpose of filling the vacant trustee position.

The board’s next regular meeting is Oct. 16.