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Bucks County commissioners voted to replace five members of the Board of Trustees at Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania, noting concerns about the college’s finances, the Bucks County Beacon reported. Four trustees weren’t reappointed and one resigned.
Two out of the three commissioners, both Democrats, voted in favor of the move at a meeting July 10, while the third commissioner—a Republican—voted against it.
Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, who voted for the replacements, expressed her appreciation for the outgoing board members but justified the decision as a way to address financial issues at the college.
“There have been a series of financial dilemmas that have come up in the past few years—very serious things that the board should have been dealing with,” she said at the meeting. “I'm not sure why they weren't dealing with it, but I think sometimes that happens when you have people who are on boards for six, seven, eight terms.”
The Bucks County Courier Times reported that two audits of the college in 2022 and 2023 found “material weakness” in the college’s finances, meaning the auditor had trouble confirming if financial statements were accurate because of issues with the college’s records.
One of the outgoing trustees, Republican state senator Frank Farry, told the Courier Times that commissioners never brought up financial concerns before, and the sudden move was “beyond disappointing.”
He added, “There’s a recognition on both sides of the aisle that there’s systemic problems with declining enrollment and the like,” and board members were trying to address these issues.
