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FLORENCE, Ky. (AP) — The retired president of Northern Kentucky's state community college will soon begin receiving a $348,000 incentive that the president of the board says he was unaware of.
The 2014 incentive plan was obtained by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (http://bit.ly/1Ty5TSN) through a public records request. The payout to retired President G. Edward Hughes comes not from Gateway Community & Technical College, but from its associated nonprofit Gateway Foundation. The foundation's mission is to "raise funds and awareness for Gateway," but the payout has some officials questioning whether Hughes used it for personal enrichment.
Board of Directors President Jeff Groob said in a statement that the money would be better spent on scholarships for struggling students "many of whom attend Gateway without enough money to buy their own lunch.
"These revelations reinforce that KCTCS has lost its way and needs a structural overhaul with an emphasis on accountability," Groob said.
Hughes did not respond to requests for comment from the center.
The current foundation chairman, Jim Parsons, said the 2014 plan replaced the original one drafted in 2005.
"It was basically an understanding that was worked out years before as a concept of an incentive for him to continue to stay at Gateway for at least a 10-year period as president," Parsons said.
The station reports the 2005 plan only included a $210,000 life insurance policy for Hughes, but Parsons said he supports the $348,000 payment.
"I don't have a problem with it at all," he said.
Craig Mauk, who retired from Gateway last year, said the deal will upset faculty members.
"The fact that monies are tight, (that) they're not going to be traveling for professional meetings, (that) there'll certainly be no raises and, in looking at student enrollment declines, that money could have been better spent to attract students," Mauk said.
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