SIU Chancellor Carlo Montemagno released a statement Thursday regarding a “misunderstanding” related to moving expenses used to move two homes from Canada to Carbondale. 

On Feb. 2, the Daily Egyptian filed a Freedom of Information Act requesting documents related to the chancellor’s moving expenses. On Feb. 9, SIU’s FOIA office requested a five-day-extension on releasing the documents. The end of the five day extension is Friday. The DE has not yet received the documents.  

Montemagno’s original employment contract included $61,000 in moving expenses. This was meant to cover “actual costs of expenses related to moving and storage, if needed, of household, personal, and professional office possessions from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to Carbondale, Illinois,” the contract read.

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This cost was used to move two homes in Edmonton, Canada, owned by Montemagno, to Carbondale. This cost — not including the expense of moving his lab equipment — exceeded the contracted amount. Montemagno agreed to reimburse SIU for the cost of moving the second home, according to the statement.  

“What was to be included in the contracted amount was not part of a detailed listing, so there was a misunderstanding about what could be covered in the move,” Thursday’s statement read.

The readjusted final moving cost following contract guidelines is $49,853.58, according to a moving invoice also released Thursday by the chancellor. This covers the cost of moving just one household. 

A final decision has not been made regarding the pending move of Montemagno’s lab equipment —which he said he intends to donate to SIU. The original announcement can be found on his blog.

This announcement was made “in the interest of transparency,” the post read.

Staff writer Anna Spoerre can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @annaspoerre.

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