CLC won't pay for alcohol

Gone are the days when travel to conferences meant free alcohol and $1,000 dinners without a receipt for College of Lake County elected officials.

The CLC board of trustees established guidelines this week that require documentation for meal expenses and end reimbursement for alcohol.

"It took a long time to get here and I'm very, very pleased about our new travel guidelines," said board Chairman William M. Griffin. "We need to be as transparent as possible. We owe that to the taxpayers."

Bob Kerr, past chairman of CLC's faculty senate, said the staff has requested transparency for years and urged the board to follow standard business procedures.

"The board has made a fine effort, but there is certainly some room for improvement," Kerr said.

The guidelines were unanimously approved by trustees Tuesday and conclude several months of discussion by the board. The issue surfaced, in part, because of a Daily Herald review of travel spending by community colleges across the suburbs.

It found a wide range of travel spending practices as part of an examination of expense records from 59 out-of-town trips by roughly 50 officials of seven community colleges in the North, Northwest and West suburbs between 2003 and most of 2006.

For example, during the Association of Community College Trustees National Legislative Summit in Washington in 2006, six CLC trustees billed the school $3,325 for restaurants and room service.

At the time, trustees at the Grayslake-based school needed only to complete an expense report. Itemized receipts or the name of individuals who attended a dinner hosted by CLC was not required for bills that sometimes topped $1,000. Alcoholic beverage charges also were reimbursed.

Rules established by the Illinois Higher Education Travel Control Board allow a maximum $28 per diem for employees and trustees at four-year schools when they travel. No such rules are in place for community colleges.

Jay Stewart, executive director with the Better Government Association, said he is pleased to hear CLC trustees will rein in their spending habits.

"It would have been nice if this was done before an embarrassing news story, but good for them. They should be commended," Stewart said. "Too often, public bodies get caught and then get stubborn and refuse to change. Glad to see CLC was willing to change their behavior in a way that is responsive to taxpayers."

CLC wasn't alone in its questionable travel spending.

Taxpayers in Sugar Grove covered a $187 flight to Seattle and meals for Waubonsee Community College Chairman Richard "Shorty" Dickson's wife in 2005.

At Harper College, two trustees allowed their three-day per diems to accumulate during a 2004 New Orleans conference so they could have a $230 dinner and a $111 breakfast .

CLC officials continue to defend travel as a way to gain professional development, and state and national support on behalf of the school.

Griffin said he thinks CLC is setting the standard for community college spending with its new guidelines.

"I would encourage all community colleges to take a look at our policy," Griffin said. "I think we need to be as restrictive as possible and all of us need to be transparent."