Harper College’s Board of Trustees spent about $10,000 Saturday to hold a hearing on the validity of petitions for four candidates for the board even though challengers had withdrawn their complaints days earlier.
Board members said they felt legally compelled to hold the hearing, which cost the college about $10,000 in legal fees and staff time and lasted about 15 minutes. The college’s election board met Saturday to hear complaints filed Jan. 26 by Thomas Bryers of Hoffman Estates and Jeffry Ketelsen of Palatine.
Bryers is running against David Hill of Inverness to fill the remainder of a six-year term on the board. According to Bryers’ written complaint, Hill’s nominating petition was improperly circulated and the required paperwork was incorrectly filled out. Ketelsen filed similar complaints against candidates Bill Graft of South Barrington, Dick Hoffman of Arlington Heights and Philip Spiewak, of Rolling Meadows. They are competing for two board positions with six-year terms.
Bryers said he and Ketelsen thought they gave the college enough time to cancel Saturday’s hearing. They decided to drop their objection after an attorney told them the complaints would probably land in court, and they wanted to avoid that, Bryers said.
There are seven candidates for the board election, which is scheduled for April 5.
