Alabama community college system Chancellor Roy Johnson and his immediate family received more than $560,000 for jobs and contracts they held last year with the state's twoyear colleges, records show.

Johnson in recent weeks has discussed jobs his son and daughter held at the Alabama Fire College in Tuscaloosa. Last week, his son-in-law canceled three contracts totaling $6,000 a month with community colleges after those agreements were reported by The Birmingham News.

In addition, Johnson's wife and daughter-in-law also work in the system, finance records show. Linda Johnson, Johnson's wife and executive assistant to the Southern Union Community College president in Opelika, received more than $90,000 in salary last year.

Luann Johnson, who owns a home with her husband in Helena, received more than $47,000 as a recruiter for the Opelika college, according to payroll records.

Roy Johnson, who earns more than $237,000 a year as chancellor, said there is nothing unusual or improper about his family's work in the system. "We are a family of educators," Johnson said.

But one state Board of Education member said she is concerned about the connections Johnson's relatives have to the system. "It's become a family business and it's been quite lucrative," board member Stephanie Bell said. "I think it sends a very bad message. It's a poor example."

Board members received a complaint in 1996 about Johnson's daughter-in-law, claiming she was paid by the Opelika campus but did not work, Bell said.

"I was concerned then about this and I'm concerned now," Bell said. "I was told at the time that it would be investigated, but I never heard anything further."

First, the fire college

The issue of jobs for Johnson's family surfaced after questions were raised about problems at the firefighter training school in Tuscaloosa. The former executive director, W.L. Langston, had hired Johnson's daughter, Malinda Morgan, and his son, Steve Johnson.

Malinda Morgan still works for the fire college, drawing more than $21,000 a year and receiving state health and retirement benefits. Morgan also works in her husband's Opelika law office.

State records show she also receives money from another two-year college program. Morgan has a $4,000-a-month contract with Southern Union and the Central Alabama Skills Training Consortium.

The contract calls for her to work in a program aimed at targeting non-custodial parents in the Lee County area, assisting in court visits, counseling coordination, job placement and other services.

Southern Union President Joanne Jordan on Friday said she does not supervise Malinda Morgan in the program. Jordan referred questions to Claude McCartney, the training consortium's director. Efforts to reach McCartney failed.

Morgan has helped bring non-custodial parents into the program for services, said Amanda Vaughan, a spokeswoman for the two-year college system. "It's been very, very successful," she said. Efforts to reach Malinda Morgan last week failed.

Ends contracts

Malinda Morgan's husband, Greg Morgan, canceled his contracts with three colleges Friday. He had earned $24,000 a year from each - for a total of $72,000 a year - to be available as needed to college presidents who have legal questions.

Steve Johnson, the chancellor's son, left the fire college in 2004 to work at Lawson State Community College in Birmingham, earning more than $49,000 a year to oversee capital projects at the campus. He and his wife, Luann, list their residence in Helena.

Luann Johnson receives a salary from the Opelika campus for recruiting, which includes working with students in Jefferson and Shelby counties to consider attending Southern Union.

Lawson and Jefferson State Community College serve students in Jefferson and Shelby counties. But Roy Johnson, who was Southern Union's president before becoming chancellor in 2002, said it's not unusual for Southern Union to attract students from across the state. Efforts to reach Luann Johnson Friday failed.

Board's interest

Bell said she and other state board members received a complaint in 1996 claiming that Luann Johnson "has been paid for the last two years while not actually working." The complaint noted that she was enrolled full-time at the University of Montevallo while on the Opelika campus payroll.

Bell said that, at the very least, board members should consider whether this type of employment - paying employees who live so far away - is the best use of system resources. "We have to deliver what we say we're going to deliver in a cost-effective way," she said.

Johnson said he hired Luann as a recruiter before she married his son. She worked initially at Opelika State Vocational Technical College before it merged with Southern Union in the early 1990s, Johnson said. She stayed on as a recruiter even after she and her husband moved out of the area, Johnson said.

Johnson said he was not aware of the 1996 complaint. He said no one, including thenChancellor Fred Gainous, talked to him about the claims.

Effect of merger

Johnson said he has never hired his relatives and has never given them special treatment. "The standard is, 'do you hire your own relatives and do you somehow give them preferential treatment.' The answer is no, I have not," he said.

Johnson said his wife worked under him as an administrator at Southern Union after the Opelika technical school merged with Southern Union. "I inherited her through the merger," he said.

He said his wife had established her own career at Southern Union before she fell under his supervision.

Bell said she is concerned that administrators at different campuses might be hesitant to discipline relatives of the chancellor. "He obviously has the authority over those presidents who would have hiring responsibility over people so close to him," Bell said.

Johnson said there is nothing improper about his relatives working in the system and they should not be denied jobs because of him. Spouses and children often work at the same education institutions, he said.

"It's not unique to our system," he said.