NIC board majority pushing plan to hire its own attorney; item on today’s agenda

Citing potential conflicts of interest between the North Idaho College Board of Trustees and the administration, a majority of trustees appear interested in getting the board its own attorney.

For the past 22 years, North Idaho College has been represented by the same attorney and, in more recent years, his legal team.

Attorney Marc Lyons said he and two other attorneys at his firm, Lyons O’Dowd, have served the college on issues involving contracts, compliance with federal and state law, personnel issues, student concerns, disability regulations and acquiring and selling property, among others. There isn’t a contract for these services; rather, Lyons characterized it as a typical on-call relationship that an attorney has with a client.

He represents all aspects of the college in this capacity, he said, be it the college administration, divisions of instruction or the Board of Trustees. With the board, Lyons sits in on trustee meetings, offering legal advice as requested and – in more recent sessions, at least – taking attendance.

“I have stated many times that the counsel for the college is the counsel for the college,” Lyons said Monday. “The board of trustees is part of the college. The administration is part of the college.”

Trustees debated the issue of a board attorney during their meeting Monday night, with the “selection of additional/supplemental board legal counsel” scheduled as an action item for its next meeting today. Similar to sessions over the past several months, at least, there is no public comment period on the agenda for today’s 6 p.m. meeting.

Board of Trustees Chair Todd Banducci said Monday he could see conflicts of interest possibly arising between what he described as three entities that exist at NIC: the Board of Trustees, the president and “the college itself.”

Banducci said issues from the past year, ones he didn’t specify, have put Lyons in an “uncomfortable position” as the legal representative for the college as a whole.

“There are times when it seems there could be a conflict and that it would be helpful that maybe some of the different entities have different people advising them,” he said. “Hopefully, this is one step to alleviate some of those challenges and some of those issues.”

The move comes with NIC – along with Banducci, Vice Chair Greg McKenzie and Trustee Michael Barnes – being sued by ex-President Rick MacLennan, who was fired by the board in September. MacLennan is claiming his termination was in retaliation for complaints the former president made in January against Banducci concerning allegations of aggressive, unprofessional and threatening behavior.

The college has also seen its eligibility for regional accreditation called into question by several human rights groups from across the region.

Lyons declined to comment when reached by phone Tuesday.

He told trustees Monday that he doesn’t recommend they hire a separate attorney, citing how there could be overlap between the issues dealt with by the administration and the Board of Trustees.

While he recommended against the plan, Lyons said the structure could work.

“There’s a lot of legal services that may be needed by the college at different times,” he said Monday. “I have suggested that if the board ever wants to change legal counsel from the college, that you would involve the administration in that very directly and let the administration have great input into the qualifications needed for the counsel for the college.”

Trustees Christie Wood and Ken Howard oppose the proposal, saying the move is similar to how the board majority fired MacLennan and hired his interim replacement, NIC wrestling coach Michael Sebaaly.

“I do not see the logic in any of this other than an effort by the three of you to try to rearrange the personnel in this college to be able to suit your own political and personal needs,” Howard said Monday.