by P.D. Lesko
THE MARCH 2014 catered “celebration” for WCC Trustee Diana McKnight-Morton cost county taxpayers $1,146. The event was charged to Dr. Rose Bellanca’s P-card. A receipt (below) detailing the cost of the event and what was served was provided to The Ann Arbor Independent in response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request.
The March party menu included fig glazed sea scallops, Genghis Kahn lamb chops, Parisian stuffed chicken roulade, wine and a $75 birthday cake decorated with candles. There was a bartender who served up beer, wine and lemonade. There were pink napkins and white tablecloths.
WCC allocates $11,000 to each trustee for travel and expenses, according to internal documents turned over to the paper by a source. However, receipts turned over in response to FOIA requests show that WCC President Bellanca pays for trustee travel and meals using her own college issued credit card.
Alex Milshteyn is running for the WCC Board of Trustees. When asked whether he thought the “celebration” was an appropriate use of public money, Milshteyn did not hestiate before answering: “I take the college’s finances very seriously. I want to make sure that the college’s policies are adhered to.”
Milshteyn went on to say that if a $1,146 party for a college trustee did not violate college policy then “we need to at that policy. Policies can and should be reviewed.”
He also addressed the issue of WCC’s president openly violating college policy concerning the purchase of alcohol with her college’s credit card. Milshteyn said: “If the policy says no alcohol then no alcohol should be charged to the P-card.” He went on to say that “maybe that’s a policy we need to look at.”
Tony Derezinski spent 13 years on the Eastern Michigan University Board of Trustees. When asked for a comment, Derezinski initially said he would need “more details” to respond. After he was told the amount, date and purpose of the expenditure, Derezinski replied, “I would need the details to comment.” However, he added, with a chuckle, that “in 13 years on the Board of Trustees at EMU, no one ever threw me a birthday party at the college’s expense.”
WCC President Rose Bellanca has come under fire by local media, including The Ann Arbor Independent and The Ann Arbor News, concerning use of her college credit card. Bellanca came out swinging in a recent op-ed. In her piece, she accuses Ann Arbor News writer Matt Durr of leaving important details out of his stories.
Eric Borregard, another candidate running for the two-year college’s Board of Trustees was blunt in his reaction to the celebration paid for with public money:
“It’s deplorable,” Borregard said. He added: “They’re running the college like it’s a company, but it’s not. It’s a public trust.”
The menu, which included fig glazed sea scallops and Genghis Kahn lamb chops, elicited a reminder from Borregard that WCC students are “taking out loans” to pay for college.
Last year 21 percent of WCC students defaulted on their student loans, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. The number of students in default has almost doubled over the past half a dozen years.
Christina Fleming is enrolled at WCC. She is one of the eight candidates competing for two open seats on the Board of Trustees. While she has no student loans and is not facing the pile of student debt that the average college student faces, Fleming was nonetheless appalled when told about the total cost of the party for Trustee McKnight-Morton.
“That money spent on the party could be a full ride for a student,” said Fleming.
Bellanca got a contract extension and a raise. So much for governance. Maybe after the meeting last night the Trustees and the President retired to her office for some fig glazed sea scallops, lamb chops and champagne.
And the hits just keep on coming. This is a community college not Versailles and it’s time Rose Bellanca realizes this. McKnight-Morton showed exceedingly poor judgment in allowing the public to throw her a $1,146 party.
The problems outlined in the A2 Independent are the SAME kinds of things the WCC President encountered at St. Clair County Community College in Port Huron. Obviously the WCC Trustees failed to do due diligence before they made their hiring decision.
A $1,146 birthday party for a trustee!! No wonder they support Rose Bellanca, I might support her too if she showed up with lamb chops, sea scallops and a cake on my birthday. This is sickening. WCC deserves a president who doesn’t act like she has money to burn when she’s spending on herself and then cutting our department budgets and programs for students.
Here we go again. Who’s running the show over there? Not the trustees it would appear. They’re too busy eating cake and sipping wine at fetes for themselves. Bellanca’s piece in the AA News was an embarrassment. This piece is an embarrassment. Fig glazed sea scallops? Thanks to the board candidates who commented with enough sanity to say this was not an appropriate expenditure of public money. Because it’s not.