Trustees debate the tax levy and who's to blame

CARTERVILLE - Before the John A. Logan Board voted to adopt the resolution certifying the tax levy, the discussion turned to the state of the community college in general. Voices were raised, as were hackles, when talk turned to the cause of the college's problems.

It all began when Trustee Ray Hancock said that John A. Logan was "in worse shape as we have ever been in our history. Many of our key functional areas have been damaged.

"We must rebuild," he said. "We will need a strong and effective board and good leadership to solve these problems."

Rebecca Borgsmiller, the only trustee to vote against the tax levy, said that she agreed.

But Jake Rendleman bristled at Hancock's remarks and loudly announced that he disagreed with his colleague. "The college's problems come from a lack of funding from the state," he said, and not lack of leadership.

Hancock tried to explain that he had not blamed the college's problems on lack of leadership, but called for strong leadership in order to solve the college's problems.

Rendleman refused to accept this explanation and continued to state that he disagreed with Hancock. "We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "But we're going in the right direction."

Poshard quickly agreed, diffusing the tension. "And we have the right leadership in place," he said.</group><group id="16121AC7-0C90-41E6-B320-30C5A84A7EE6" type="seoLabels">