By Heart of Illinois ABC
NORMAL – Illinois State University’s governing board is scheduled to meet Saturday morning to extend the school’s contract with a COVID-19 test provider, and also plan for its future without retiring President Larry Dietz.
Also on the Board of Trustees’ agenda is to extend Dietz’ contract until the end of June, when he’s scheduled to leave office.
Administrators are asking trustees to extend ISU’s contract with Pekin-based Reditus Laboratories to process up to 12,500 more COVID-19 nasal tests through the end of June at a cost of up to $1.25 million.
ISU’s current $3.3 million contract with Reditus expires at the end of December. The company also administers COVID nasal tests at the Interstate Center, just west of the Twin-Cities.
The contract extension is necessary, said ISU spokesperson Eric Jome, because the FDA has yet to approve the use of saliva-based testing developed by the University of Illinois.
Saturday’s action comes as ISU is requiring all students living on campus to be tested when they return for the spring semester.
In another business, trustees will decide whether to authorize ISU to spend public dollars for an outside search firm to help find Dietz’ replacement. The cost of hiring the search firm is not disclosed in the resolution presented to the board.
Trustees are also being asked to approve a six-month contract extension for Dietz until his retirement, along with a provision paying Dietz a performance bonus of up to $50,000. The bonus would be on top of Dietz’ annual salary of $375,000.
The board’s virtual meeting is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m.
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