Regents urged to take refresher course on open meeting law

Monday, March 13, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

In a letter, Deputy Attorney General Victoria Oldenburg suggested regents schedule a class from her office on the proper way to conduct public meetings.

The letter came after Oldenburg completed an investigation into a grievance filed by Regent Tom Kirkpatrick against the 11-member board.

She decided there was no evidence to support his claim that the board agreed privately to hire Richard Moore as founding president of Nevada State College in Henderson in December.

But Oldenburg found problems with other meetings in December that led up to Moore's hiring. Vaguely written agenda items may have contributed to the complaint, she said.

"The board needs to be more attentive to the advice of its legal counsel," she wrote.

The letter "stands as warning that the Board of Regents must adhere to future agendas, and must properly describe agenda items on the notice and agenda."

Failure to do so could result in legal action by the AG's office, Oldenburg warned.

Tom Ray, general counsel to Nevada's higher education system, said a date for the open meetings workshop hasn't been set because he has not replied to her letter.

He contended regents complied with the open meeting law in hiring Moore.

"I disagree with (the AG's office) 100 percent. They're flat-out wrong," Ray said.

Board of Regents Chairwoman Jill Derby said she was thankful for the AG's opinion.

"I think what we did was entirely related to the agenda," she said. "I've said from the beginning that (Kirkpatrick's) case was baseless."