THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: The DACC Board met with Jim Reed, executive director of the Illinois Community College Trustee Association, who came from Springfield to attend Wednesday night’s special meeting to discuss options in choosing a new DACC president for when Dr. Stephen Nacco retires in December.
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DANVILLE — The Danville Area Community College Board of Trustees on Wednesday night approved Vice Chairman Greg Wolfe becoming the board’s new chairman, taking the place of Dave Harby, who resigned after 25 years due to health reasons, and Terry Hill as vice chairman.
In a little over two-hour special meeting, no action was taken on naming an interim president when Stephen Nacco retires next month nor appointing a trustee to fill the vacant seat on the board.
The board met in closed session for almost the entire meeting.
Wolfe didn’t have any comments on the personnel matters.
“We’re just in the process. We’re having a lot of discussion,” he said.
For part of the meeting, the board met with Jim Reed, executive director of the Illinois Community College Trustees Association of Springfield.
“He did a retreat basically on the options for filing the presidency seat — a full national search, a regional search or an interim,” Wolfe said.
This board hasn’t worked with that process before, Wolfe said, adding that Reed shared plans and best practices.
“No action, no decision; a lot of discussion,” Wolfe said.
Trustees previously voted Oct. 24 to approve a retirement agreement with Nacco and have him return from administrative leave to finish out the semester.
Under the agreement, Nacco is working on campus two days a week and from home three days a week through Dec. 13, which will be his last day as president.
Wolfe said the board likely won’t have a decision on how to proceed by that date.
Nacco previously had been put on leave after Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. complained to the board in August about the president’s alleged “tyrannical behavior” during a disagreement between the two men over a proposed grant application related to services for undocumented immigrants.
Provost and Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs Carl Bridges had been serving as acting president during Nacco’s absence.
According to Nacco’s six-page retirement agreement, obtained by The News-Gazette, the “parties desire to fully address, resolve and settle any and all charges, claims, disputes, demands or other related issues arising from Nacco’s employment and to avoid any and all claims that occurred prior to the execution or signing of his document.”
The parties also are not to place each other in a negative light or refer to each other in a disparaging manner.
“Nacco agrees that the requirements and obligations … serve the mutual interest of himself and the board ensuring an amicable agreement between the parties,” the agreement states.
Nacco is working two days a week in person at the college and three days at home through Dec. 13. He’s to be available during regular business hours for all college-related matters.
Nacco’s focus is to be on special projects, such as grant writing and a review of board policies, and other duties agreed on by Bridges and Nacco. Nacco is to continue to prepare the board report and attend board meetings to present the report. Nacco is to have no direct involvement with college labor-management issues, including those that may arise between the college and classified association and/or faculty association or labor-management committee, and will not issue or recommend discipline of any college employee without the advance, written agreement or direction of Bridges.
Nacco, with Bridges in his place, will not represent the college at community programs, functions or events, such as Vermilion Advantage, Vermilion County Workforce Development Board, DACC Foundation, Danville Symphony Orchestra, Association of Community College Trustees and Regional Office of Education. If Nacco attends any of these programs or functions, it won’t be as a DACC representative unless he secures advance, written agreement or direction from Bridges, according to the agreement.
The board agreed to pay Nacco a $75,089 severance allowance, 20 weeks of pay under his most recent contract. There are no additional benefits.
The board also will provide Nacco a neutral letter indicating July 26, 2016 through Dec. 13, 2024 as his time of employment with DACC and his annual salary of $195,233 as college president.
Nacco is to return district property and won’t have rights to future employment with the board.
“This agreement is not in any way to be construed or used as an admission of any wrongdoing or liability of any kind or nature by the parties, nor is this agreement precedential for any future employment-related agreements involving either of the parties,” the agreement reads.
2025 board election
Next week, those interested in running to become a DACC board member can start filing their petitions. DACC will be electing three trustees during the Apr. 1, 2025 election.
Six-year seats up are for Wolfe and Tracy Cherry. A four-year remaining seat also will be elected next year for Harby. Wolfe says he plans on running again. Cherry also has picked up a petition. Nine people, so far, have picked up petitions, board secretary Kerri Thurman reports.
The trustee election is open to residents within District 507, which consists of Vermilion County and parts of Champaign, Edgar, Ford, and Iroquois counties. To be on the ballot, aspiring candidates need to collect an election packet from Thurman and obtain 50 signatures from eligible voters in District 507.
Thurman said, “On the petition, there is a space for candidates to indicate whether they’re interested in running for the four-year term by placing a number four in the space. Otherwise, it’ll be assumed that they’re running for one of the two six-year terms.”
Thurman’s office is on the second floor of Vermilion Hall on the DACC Campus at 2000 E. Main St. The filing date for the petitions, at the same location, is Nov. 12 to Nov. 18, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day. The candidate’s placing of their name on the ballot will be based on the order of filing, with the first to file being the first on the ballot.
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