The non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) concluded their investigations of Gateway Technical College’s applied technology centers this summer. The investigations, launched in response to inquiries by Sen. Judy Robson, Sen. Bob Wirch and Rep. John Lehman, revealed a lack of public accountability and questioned the relationship between the college and its not-for-profit partners.

Gateway’s two applied technology centers – the Center for Technology Innovation (CATI) and the Center for Bioscience and the Integration of Computer and Telecommunications Technology (BioCATT) – have been a matter of some controversy since their construction in 2003. Of particular concern to legislators and Gateway’s faculty and staff was the relationship between the college and the two non-profit corporations (CATI, Inc. and BioCATT, Inc.) created in part to operate and manage the facilities.

The Legislative Audit Bureau report, released in June, cited concerns over Gateway’s financial commitment to the applied technology centers. According to the report, Gateway has spent nearly $3.3 million on the operation of the centers since 2003 – a financial commitment that may have adversely affected other district programs. The LAB recommended the Gateway Board takes steps to reduce the centers’ operating expenses and increase revenue generated by the centers.

The LAB also raised concerns over the relationship between BioCATT, Inc., and Gateway, questioning whether the relationship was justified. The audit bureau found Gateway was actually performing many of the operational and management services BioCATT, Inc., was contracted to perform. Since the report was issued, Gateway has severed its contractual relationship with BioCATT, Inc. The agreement with CATI, Inc., has also been canceled.

The Attorney General’s investigation, initiated late last year, has focused on issues of public accountability, specifically non-compliance with the state’s public records and open meetings laws. In a recent letter to the executive directors of CATI, Inc., and BioCATT, Inc., the Attorney General wrote the two not-for-profit corporations are in fact quasi-governmental corporations and should therefore be subject to Wisconsin’s open meetings and public records law. The Attorney General’s Office wrote:

“BioCATT, Inc., and CATI, Inc., are just two more examples of an alarming trend in government to ‘spin off’ governmental functions to alleged private entities. The net result is a loss of public accountability, particularly in the area of financial oversight. ... We are particularly concerned that in the case of organization and structuring of Applied Technology Centers (ATC), the creation of nonprofit corporations to manage and run the centers is the result of a conscious effort to avoid compliance with Wisconsin’s tradition of open government.”

When BioCATT, Inc., raised objections to the conclusions reached by the attorney general, the state filed suit in Kenosha County Circuit Court against the BioCATT, Inc., executive director and the chairperson of the BioCATT, Inc., Board, alleging failure to comply with Wisconsin’s open meetings and public records law. Soon thereafter, a settlement was reached under which BioCATT, Inc., agreed to comply with the open government laws.