TSC BOARD APPROVES TERCERO DISMISSAL 5-2

By Juan Montoya
By a 5-2 margin, the board of trustees of the Texas Southmost College approved the dismissal of President Lily Tercero for what board counsel Frank Perez said were at least 22 instances of "willful and reckless" acts that cost the college, the students and the community real and potential damages.

Perez, in his recitation of the facts, focused on Tercero's failure to alert the trustees of the impending demise of the college nursing program, her unilateral extension of a windstorm insurance coverage without board approval, her use of signature stamps of past board members to issue more than $1.5 million in payments through checks, and her willful disregard of directives from her supervisors, the members of the board.

Only two trustees – Art Rendon and Rey Garcia – voted against dismissing her.
After Perez's recitation of the reasons for Tercero being placed on suspension with pay, her attorney, Richard D. Illmer, of Dallas, said he was objecting to the whole dismissal hearing process saying it denied his client of due process and did not afford her the right to face her accusers since the college did not call forth any witnesses.

However, Perez said at the start that 95 percent of the evidence put forth in his reasons for dismissal could be found on the public record and in the minutes of the meeting. In the case of the windstorm insurance, he said that Tercero had been told that 2015 was the last year that she was authorized to renew it without going through the board. Instead, about two weeks before the insurance was due for renewal, she decided to act on her own and renewed it regardless.

In the case of the nursing program, Perez said that even though Tercero knew as early as 2013 that the program was in trouble, she "willfully and recklessly" kept this from the board.
"She did it willfully and deliberately after considering the circumstances." Perez told the board.
And when new board member Ruben Herrera requested seeing the checks which Tercero was using his name stamp to co-sign, Perez said that she refused to show them to him citing a board policy.

Herrera then requested that a policy change item be placed on the next board agenda.
The case will most likely end up in the courts as Tercero tries to collect on the two-year extension that the former board majority bestowed upon her in May, just two weeks before the election. Two of the trustees who engineered that little stunt – Kiko Rendon and Ed Rivera – opted not to run for reelection and left the new majority saddled with the contract extension.

Now, in the unlikely case that Tercero prevails in the courts if her for-cause dismissal is overturned, TSC will have to pay her close to $500,000 to buy out her contract.