The Daily Illini- Natural History Building
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BY DARSHAN PATEL STAFF WRITER CHICAGO — Under scrutiny from state offi- cials, the University has nixed a $4.6 million contract with a local architectural firm over a possible conflict of interest. The board of trustees’ decision, which came during executive session at its meeting Thurs- day, was made two days after the state’s Pro- curement Policy Board advised the Univer- sity, for a second time, to void a contract that called Champaign-based BLDD Architects to manage a plan to restore the Natural His- tory Building. “It was a unanimous decision to pull away from that contract and move forward with another firm,” board of trustees chairman Christopher Kennedy said. Questions were raised around Associate Director of Planning Jill Maxey’s role of pre- paring “programs that are used for facilities and the development of professional service agreements” in the $70 million project. She is married to BLDD employee and partial owner Bruce Maxey. An interview request for Jill Maxey was directed to University spokesman Tom Har- dy, who said she was “temporarily reassigned on Wednesday to a position in (Facilities and Services) with duties that would preclude any conflict or appearance of conflict with BLDD.” Under law, contract considerations that could raise ethical concerns are required to be brought up to Ben Bagby, the state’s pro- curement officer for higher education, who then alerts the procurement board for review — something the University didn’t do until more than a year after the original agree- ment was signed. “While we are saddened by (Thursday’s) decision, we are gratified that all involved agree that BLDD made all required disclo- sures, showing its strong commitment to trans- parency throughout the process,” said Randy West, who manages higher education design projects for BLDD, in a statement. Now the University plans to rebid the con- tract — likely adding to the cost of the over- all project — despite the procurement board’s suggestion to negotiate with another bidder. Meanwhile, state’s executive inspector gen- eral’s office is reviewing the circumstances because of a possible violation of law. The initial contract was awarded in Decem- ber 2010 for almost $370,000 for the “concep- tualization” phase after BLDD was chosen from 34 bids. About a year later, the University awarded the firm $4.3 million more to continue working on the project. But the procurement board was only alerted in the spring, leading a member at the April meeting to say that the University feels like it’s “above the law.” However, Kennedy does not think that is the case. “What we do believe is that we should be held to a higher standard than a private cor- poration, which involves keeping the trust of the public,” he said. According to the minutes of the April meet- ing, senior member Ed Bedore said the Univer- sity seems to have a one-track mind that it only awards the contract to Jill Maxey’s husband’s firm. He added that other firms that originally bid on the project are historically known as top firms working on historical buildings, but that doesn’t matter to the University. During that meeting, board members rec- ommended, in a 4-0 vote, that the Universi- ty pull out of the multi-million dollar deal because it could appear as a conflict. The vote was unanimous even though Bag- by told members that Jill Maxey had been “walled off,” saying there was not much evi- dence that her responsibilities, from her job description, raise conflict-of-interest concerns. But ultimately, he ignored the advisory vote, giving the University the green light to pro- ceed with plans. A public hearing was held in early May because Bagby was required to do so after the board rejected the contract, according to the state’s procurement code. In the hearing, Jill Maxey testified that she and her husband did not talk about the contract. However, at their meeting last Tuesday, board members again called out University officials, unanimously agreeing that the school should strike down the agreement. Aaron Carter, the board’s executive direc- tor, said after the University’s decision that the procurement board was pleased with the “assertiveness without hesitation.” “The difficulty lies with the fact that BLDD contracting with the University of Illinois cre- ates a potential conflict of interest too con- cerning to disregard,” he said in a separate statement. But this is not the first time the Universi- ty has been questioned by the procurement board. Minutes of the July 2011 meeting show that members advised that BLDD’s response to a proposal to renovate the Assembly Hall should be disregarded. This came after Jill Maxey’s role as a top construction planner dominated discussion. At the trustees’ December meeting that year, they chose to move forward with Chica- go-based AECOM as the engineering firm for the Assembly Hall project — the same day they approved an extension for the National Histo- ry Building without notifying state officials. Meanwhile, Kennedy said he does not believe this hurdle will delay the timetable for work on the 120-year-old Natural History Building, which houses geology, zoology and integrated biology classes within LAS. Jordan Hughes contributed to this report from Cham- paign. Pileski officially introduced as student trustee CHICAGO – Former student body president David Pileski was officially in- troduced as the Urbana student repre- sentative at the board of trustees meet- ing Thursday. During his one-year term, Pileski will serve on the Audit, Budget, Finance and Facilities Committee, which is chaired by University alumnus Ed McMillan. Pileski — who took over for Hannah Eh- renberg — said he already felt like a member of the board. “There’s some things that have been discussed previously in sessions that I was not a part of, but I feel that I have been brought up to speed on those is- sues,” he said. “So I don’t feel left out.” He will not be the student represen- tative with the official vote, as Gov. Pat Quinn gave that honor to Springfield student trustee John Tienken. However, all three students traditionally vote in line with each other. “Student perspective is critical as the board weighs decisions that will af- fect their academic future — and the generations of students who will fol- low them,” University President Rob- ert Easter said. “I’m deeply grateful for their insights and their willingness to serve.” Three student representatives — one from each campus — have served on the board since 1973, one having voting power each year since 1998. DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO The Natural History Building, located on Green Street. BOT nixes contract over conflict of interest
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Transcript of The Daily Illini- Natural History Building
The Daily Illini | www.DailyIllini.com July 23-29, 20123
BY DARSHAN PATELSTAFF WRITER
CHICAGO — Under scrutiny from state offi-cials, the University has nixed a $4.6 million contract with a local architectural firm over a possible conflict of interest.
The board of trustees’ decision, which came during executive session at its meeting Thurs-day, was made two days after the state’s Pro-curement Policy Board advised the Univer-sity, for a second time, to void a contract that called Champaign-based BLDD Architects to manage a plan to restore the Natural His-tory Building.
“It was a unanimous decision to pull away from that contract and move forward with another firm,” board of trustees chairman Christopher Kennedy said.
Questions were raised around Associate Director of Planning Jill Maxey’s role of pre-paring “programs that are used for facilities and the development of professional service agreements” in the $70 million project. She is married to BLDD employee and partial owner Bruce Maxey.
An interview request for Jill Maxey was directed to University spokesman Tom Har-dy, who said she was “temporarily reassigned on Wednesday to a position in (Facilities and Services) with duties that would preclude any conflict or appearance of conflict with BLDD.”
Under law, contract considerations that could raise ethical concerns are required to be brought up to Ben Bagby, the state’s pro-curement officer for higher education, who then alerts the procurement board for review — something the University didn’t do until more than a year after the original agree-ment was signed.
“While we are saddened by (Thursday’s) decision, we are gratified that all involved agree that BLDD made all required disclo-sures, showing its strong commitment to trans-parency throughout the process,” said Randy West, who manages higher education design projects for BLDD, in a statement.
Now the University plans to rebid the con-tract — likely adding to the cost of the over-all project — despite the procurement board’s suggestion to negotiate with another bidder. Meanwhile, state’s executive inspector gen-eral’s office is reviewing the circumstances because of a possible violation of law.
The initial contract was awarded in Decem-ber 2010 for almost $370,000 for the “concep-tualization” phase after BLDD was chosen from 34 bids. About a year later, the University
awarded the firm $4.3 million more to continue working on the project.
But the procurement board was only alerted in the spring, leading a member at the April meeting to say that the University feels like it’s “above the law.” However, Kennedy does not think that is the case.
“What we do believe is that we should be held to a higher standard than a private cor-poration, which involves keeping the trust of the public,” he said.
According to the minutes of the April meet-ing, senior member Ed Bedore said the Univer-sity seems to have a one-track mind that it only awards the contract to Jill Maxey’s husband’s firm. He added that other firms that originally bid on the project are historically known as top firms working on historical buildings, but that doesn’t matter to the University.
During that meeting, board members rec-ommended, in a 4-0 vote, that the Universi-ty pull out of the multi-million dollar deal because it could appear as a conflict.
The vote was unanimous even though Bag-by told members that Jill Maxey had been “walled off,” saying there was not much evi-dence that her responsibilities, from her job description, raise conflict-of-interest concerns.
But ultimately, he ignored the advisory vote, giving the University the green light to pro-ceed with plans.
A public hearing was held in early May because Bagby was required to do so after the board rejected the contract, according to the state’s procurement code. In the hearing, Jill Maxey testified that she and her husband did not talk about the contract.
However, at their meeting last Tuesday, board members again called out University officials, unanimously agreeing that the school should strike down the agreement.
Aaron Carter, the board’s executive direc-tor, said after the University’s decision that the procurement board was pleased with the “assertiveness without hesitation.”
“The difficulty lies with the fact that BLDD contracting with the University of Illinois cre-ates a potential conflict of interest too con-cerning to disregard,” he said in a separate statement.
But this is not the first time the Universi-ty has been questioned by the procurement board. Minutes of the July 2011 meeting show that members advised that BLDD’s response to a proposal to renovate the Assembly Hall should be disregarded. This came after Jill
Maxey’s role as a top construction planner dominated discussion.
At the trustees’ December meeting that year, they chose to move forward with Chica-go-based AECOM as the engineering firm for the Assembly Hall project — the same day they approved an extension for the National Histo-ry Building without notifying state officials.
Meanwhile, Kennedy said he does not believe this hurdle will delay the timetable for work on the 120-year-old Natural History Building, which houses geology, zoology and integrated biology classes within LAS.
Jordan Hughes contributed to this report from Cham-paign.
Pileski officially introduced as student trustee
CHICAGO – Former student body president David Pileski was officially in-troduced as the Urbana student repre-sentative at the board of trustees meet-ing Thursday.
During his one-year term, Pileski will serve on the Audit, Budget, Finance and Facilities Committee, which is chaired by University alumnus Ed McMillan. Pileski — who took over for Hannah Eh-renberg — said he already felt like a member of the board.
“There’s some things that have been discussed previously in sessions that I was not a part of, but I feel that I have been brought up to speed on those is-sues,” he said. “So I don’t feel left out.”
He will not be the student represen-tative with the official vote, as Gov. Pat Quinn gave that honor to Springfield student trustee John Tienken. However, all three students traditionally vote in line with each other.
“Student perspective is critical as the board weighs decisions that will af-fect their academic future — and the generations of students who will fol-low them,” University President Rob-ert Easter said. “I’m deeply grateful for their insights and their willingness to serve.”
Three student representatives — one from each campus — have served on the board since 1973, one having voting power each year since 1998.
Former President Hogan to teach history at Springfield campusBY CARINA LEESTAFF WRITER
July marks the first month of Robert Eas-ter’s presidency at the University and the announcement of Michael Hogan’s new posi-tion at the University of Illinois at Spring-field as a history professor.
Hogan, former University president, announced his resignation March 22 because of controversies and concerns about his lead-ership ability.
After his resignation, Hogan was given the choice to teach at any of the three cam-puses, and he chose Springfield.
He will be a distinguished professor of his-tory at the Springfield campus. He signed his employment agreement July 14.
Hogan said their were two main factors at the Springfield campus that had influenced his choice.
“Among the factors in the decision to base my faculty appointment at the University of Illinois at Springfield are two of the key dif-ferentiators that distinguish UIS excellence — access in our state capital to the Abraham Lincoln presidential library and museum, and the campus’s international reputation for online learning,” Hogan said in a statement.
The end of his term as University presi-dent has been effective since July 1, and he will begin a one-year sabbatical for the upcoming 2012-2013 year. When he returns for the 2013-2014 academic year, Hogan will be required to teach a minimum of two aca-demic courses each year with a minimum of one taught on campus in person – others could be online.
Hogan is an expert in American Foreign policy and International Relations. UIC cam-pus Chancellor Susan Koch said Hogan will be expected to be an active scholar of the campus.
“Dr. Hogan is an accomplished scholar in history, and we expect he will be a posi-tive academic addition to our outstanding faculty.”
During the summer period of July 2 to Aug. 15, Hogan will be receiving a monthly rate of one-ninth of full-time rate. The total amount of salary for the summer period will be $47,516.678.
Starting Aug. 16, Hogan will be receiv-ing an initial academic year faculty sal-ary of $285,100.
He will also be eligible for annual sal-ary increases.
DAILY ILLINI FILE PHOTO
The Natural History Building, located on Green Street.
BOT nixes contract over conflict of interest
