NIC accreditation crisis: Board replaces legal counsel with Boise firm

The North Idaho College board Wednesday voted to replace its controversial legal counsel with a Boise-based law firm.

In an uncharacteristic move, chair Greg McKenzie sided with minority faction board members by following NIC president Nick Swayne’s recommendation to hire Holland and Hart, a firm with over 400 lawyers.

Partner Robert Faucher will act as NIC’s general counsel and point of contact. The firm will serve at the board’s pleasure on an hourly basis.

Swayne said the advantage of such a large firm is that it covers all the necessary bases of expertise that would be difficult for one lawyer to have.

Holland and Hart will replace Art Macomber, who was serving the college on an interim basis after longtime counsel Marc Lyons resigned late last year. Macomber will continue to give guidance until June.

It was difficult to find new counsel to represent NIC. Of five firms that responded to requests for quotations, three had conflicts of interest, Swayne said.

The board’s decision was made just two days after it followed Macomber’s recommendation, outlined in a lengthy report, to undo the June hiring of Swayne to cure alleged open meeting law violations. Swayne continues to serve as acting president.

Swayne had been placed on administrative leave in December at Macomber’s recommendation so the terms of his contract could be investigated. Swayne filed a lawsuit, and a judge ordered NIC to reinstall Swayne as president.

“It’s hard to hire a lawyer at the recommendation of an individual who is suing you,” McKenzie said, referring to Swayne’s ongoing lawsuit against NIC for placing him on leave without cause. But McKenzie said he voted in favor out of a gesture of trust that Swayne is doing what is best for the college.

Macomber advised against hiring the new firm without first reviewing their contract terms.

Trustees Todd Banducci and Mike Waggoner voted against the motion, saying they were not prepared because there was no information provided about the new legal counsel beforehand.

“I’m not comfortable blindly approving this,” Banducci said.