College of DuPage – Tom Glaser Contract lies exposed –

DuPage Co. (ECWd) –

Over the last two years we have investigated more insider dealings  at the College of DuPage than I ever imagined possible, and surprisingly, the tips keep coming in and as usual, they have been spot on.

 January 20th, 2016, based on yet another tip, I submitted a FOIA for the following:

1. Copy of all contracts for a company named JLL, LLC. The contract was executed by Thomas Glaser during his employment at COD.
2. Copy of all RFP’s issued, proposals received, bids etc. related to the above referenced contract.

I received a copy of the contract however once again many red flags were raised.  Like the clause in the contract that states: “Invoices for services are to be submitted to College of DuPage prior to any payment to Thomas J. Glaser .”  One can only wonder why such invoices had to go to him instead of through the normal accounts payable process.  Maybe the fact the records point to approval by Glaser to have a “manual check” drawn for the payments was a way to circumvent the normal process that may have exposed this sham for what it appears to be.

Again, we see Tom Glaser involved in a process that appears to avoid any  scrutiny of the normal process and the elected Board of Trustees.  Many would argue this is in violation of the most basic procurement guidelines.  The response for the second item was met with the now famous COD FOIA response of:

“the College did not find responsive records”

Take special note of the this language found in the contract as I believe it may be the most disturbing part of the contract, short of the fact no work product exists.

“This Agreement incorporates COD’s RFP documents and the Contractor ‘s responding proposal.”

How is it that the signed agreement incorporates COD’s RFP documents and the Contractor’s responding proposal when COD claims no such records could be found?  Has Glaser scrubbed his files much like his computer?  I would pray that if any negotiations are taking place to settle the Glaser lawsuit against his termination they take into consideration the numerous problems now being exposed with yet another Glaser initiated secret contract.

What gave the former Treasure the authority to enter into a contract without any RFP, proposals, bids, etc.?  More importantly, the authority to sign contracts come from the elected officials, thus the Board of Trustees should have approved it.

January 28th, I submitted yet another FOIA related to this illegal contract.  I say illegal because my own research found no minutes where it was ever on the agenda or action taken in the minutes.  Based on the language in the contract I asked for the following.

1. Copy of all payments made to JLL, LLC and/or John Lininger during the last 5 years.
2. Copy of all work product produced under the 2014 contract JLL, LLC entered into with COD, signed Tom Glaser
3. Board minutes where the 2014 contract with JLL was approved.
4. The contract has this statement on the second page (see below). I am requesting all of those documents claimed to have been included, which is the RFP documents and the Contractors responding proposal.

I received the payments made and the so called “work product”.  A status report made this claim in September of 2014: “The objective of my assignment is completed to date, to deliver energy solutions to the College of DuPage to reduce energy consumption, thus cost savings, in a manner that is cost effective and produces an attractive ROI. We have accomplished the initial objective of proceeding with the process of determining the specific savings and related guaranteed savings”.

So they claim they accomplished the objective which was to “deliver” energy solutions to the college of DuPage to reduce energy consumption.  So if that is the case, why is it that the COD has no record  of any such work product? If the objective was to “deliver” energy “solutions” and they accomplished it, they should be forced to produce those solution or COD should take legal action to recover the funds paid for the so called accomplished objective which they dont have.

Even after being paid, the contractor states in one of the two August status reports: “Although we can’t specifically identify or quantify which areas, at this time, will produce the majority of the savings, (the purpose for doing the Investment Grade Audit) the savings will be there.”

Reading this status report it becomes clear that not only is their no work product available, the very contractor who claims to have accomplished their objective states they can’t identify or quantify which areas will produce the savings but claim they will be there if they can just get another contract that ties them to what they are calling an “Investment Grade Audit”.

Looking back at items #3 and 4 of my FOIA request, once again COD has no records responsive.  That means there was never any board approval for Tom Glaser to enter into this contract nor was there any RFP documents or proposals, which the contract claimed existed.

Clearly this is another example of the Breuder Administration doing what ever they please with total disregard for the rule of law.  Now the question becomes, who is John Linninger and JLL, LLC and what connections do they have with Tom Glaser outside of COD?

What jumped out the most during the entire review of this contract was the fact at no place in the contract does it outline what COD is getting in return for the money being paid out. That should have been the first red flag……….but I digress, this was all done in secret from the Trustees.

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