Adams State College president Richard Wueste was fired Friday after a 17-hour hearing including testimony that he mismanaged the Alamosa school’s finances.
Wueste, hired in April 2004, said he felt like he was “in the twilight zone” and couldn’t believe he’d lost his “dream job.”
“I have not done anything wrong,” he said. “I have no intention of hanging my head or running away.”
The college’s board of trustees voted unanimously to terminate Wueste after two days of open testimony and closed-door discussion. Wueste, who moved to Alamosa from Yakima, Wash., was placed on administrative leave three months ago.
Problems between Wueste and the board surfaced last spring as they prepared the 2,500-student school’s budget.
Adams State’s income statement had to be adjusted by $558,000 and Wueste submitted a fiscal 2006 budget that had a shortfall of about $600,000, trustees said.
Wueste also made commitments neither budgeted nor approved by the board totaling $537,000 this year, the board said. And he signed two contracts after the board directed him to make no further contractual agreements – backdating one – and committed to a project not approved by the board.
Wueste said he inherited the 2005 budget and there was never an official board directive not to sign the contracts. He received a raise from $160,000 a year to $170,000 in April.
“There are logical explanations for everything that might have happened,” he said.
Wueste said he believes he and the trustees could have worked out the problems if he’d had the chance to talk to them before the termination hearing.
Wueste’s attorney, Todd McNamara, said the hearing was “preordained” because the trustees presented the evidence and acted as the judge and jury.
“They’re proceedings old Joe Stalin would be proud of,” he said, adding that he and Wueste are contemplating litigation.
Wueste sued Adams State while he was on administrative leave, asking the school to reinstate him as president. He alleged in his lawsuit, which was thrown out, that the board violated open-records laws when it put him on leave.
In court filings, the board conceded it held meetings that did not comply with open-records laws but said that was no reason to reinstate Wueste.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Arthur Kane contributed to this report.
