AG: Regents violated law again

Cy Ryan and Christina Littlefield

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state attorney general's office has accused the university regents of violating the open-meeting law again for refusing to provide a copy of a proposed employment contract with Jim Rogers as interim chancellor.

In a ruling released Monday, Deputy Attorney General Neil Rombardo noted that the regents of the University and Community College of Nevada have "a history of repeated violations of the open-meeting law," and unless they agree to a settlement deal that forces the regents to admit they broke the law, a suit will be filed against them.

The Las Vegas Sun submitted the complaint to the attorney general's office after system lawyer Tom Ray refused to release the contract. The posted agenda for the May 7 meeting of the regents listed approval of the contract between the board and Rogers.

Rombardo said an attorney for the regents sent a draft copy of the employment agreement to the board on or about April 30. The Sun requested the draft agreement on May 3 and Ray denied the request. A member of the Board of Regents later released the contract.

Ray told the attorney general's office that the employment agreement was not sent to the board as support material for the agenda item but instead was meant to inform members he had started the negotiation process in hopes of having a contract for the board to consider at the meeting.

The law, Rombardo said, "clearly states that upon any request, agenda support materials for a meeting must be provided to members of the public."

Rombardo said, "The attorney's (Ray's) intention with regard to why the agreement was distributed is irrelevant if the information provided would in fact give a board member documentation related to a topic on the agenda."

He said the potential contract should have been provided to the Sun.

Rombardo added: "Additionally, there can be no reasonable claim that the draft agreement was a confidential document. The final employment agreement was accepted by the board in an open meeting and provided to the public."

Ray could not be reached for comment. Board of Regents Chairman Stavros Anthony, Vice Chairwoman Jill Derby and Rogers declined to comment until they could review the attorney general's opinion and discuss it with the system's lawyers. Other regents, such as Tom Kirkpatrick, said they were in favor of openness but could not comment on the particular case.

Regent Steve Sisolak said it was quite common for the system to release documents to the regents as drafts in order to avoid releasing it the public. He testified about the problem at a recent Legislative committee on the open-meeting law.

"They call it a draft so they don't have to release it, because they say it's a work in progress, and I think that's wrong," Sisolak said.

"I think that if the regents get it and it's not attorney-client privilege, I think it should be public information."

Regent Howard Rosenberg agreed. He was the only regent to vote against appointing Rogers as interim chancellor because he said he was upset by the process leading up to the May 7 meeting.

"I can't understand why they wouldn't release a contract," Rosenberg said. "Why is it secret? The contract between any public employee is public information."

Rosenberg said he thought the board needed to sit down with the attorney general's office to discuss the open-meeting law in order to avoid future violations, and that they should abide by the attorney general's opinion.

"The advice we are getting does not seem to be good advice," Rosenberg said. "I'm very much disturbed by it. How many times do you have to be hit over the head with a baseball bat before you say something is wrong here?"

Regent Mark Alden, who released the contract to the media, was surprised the document had not been released immediately by Ray.

"Someplace, somewhere we have to make some corrections, and it's up the chancellor to make those corrections," Alden said. "The counsel reports to him, not to us. And if Jim Rogers needs to make those decisions, I'll back him up."

Under the proposed settlement, the regents must agree by Aug. 13 that they violated the open-meeting law and agree to put in place procedures to ensure that agenda support materials are timely provided to those that request it.

"I think that is good advice," Sisolak said. "I would make the motion to approve it. It's totally appropriate." Rombardo said the settlement places the board on notice that continued violation of the agreement increases the likelihood of a lawsuit.

If there is no settlement, Rombardo said he will file suit against the Board of Regents, alleging that they violated the open-meeting law.

If a suit is filed, the attorney general's office could ask that the contract of Rogers be voided and that the regents vote again. Or it could seek an injunction against violations in the future.

If the regents continued to violate the law willfully, he said a misdemeanor criminal complaint could be filed against them. But he said it is a high burden to prove they willfully violated the law.

Rombardo said Attorney General Brian Sandoval is seeking changes in the open-meeting law to "put some teeth in it."

Earlier this summer, the regents were found by Clark County District Judge Jackie Glass to have violated the open-meeting law in their handling of the case of Ron Remington, former president of the Community College of Southern Nevada, and John Cummings, the school's former lobbyist.

Glass voided those disciplinary actions but did not say whether the men were reinstated. System lawyers have filed a notice of appeal to take the Glass decision to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Remington and Cummings were demoted and they filed suit. An out-of-court settlement has been reached with Cummings for him to return as a tenured English professor earning $78,500 a year compared with his former $115,313 salary.