Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Chancellor search must follow open meeting law

Members of the Board of Regents' chancellor search committee discussed today how they could follow the Nevada open meeting law, even as it constrains their search.

"It's obvious we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard spot," said committee chairman Regent Bret Whipple in the first meeting of the committee that will screen candidates for chancellor to replace current interim Jim Rogers.

Assistant Chief Counsel Brook Nielsen advised the committee that a new interpretation of the open meeting law by the state attorney general's office prohibited members from voicing their opinions on candidates in closed meetings.

The attorney general's office found the regents in violation of the open meeting law after they met in November in private and demoted Community College of Southern Nevada President Ron Remington and the college's lobbyist John Cummings.

The regents settled the dispute over the open meeting law by pledging to follow the law and instituting policies to prevent violations.

"We clearly don't want to break any laws," Whipple said, but some members also thought that a lack of closed meetings compromised their search.

"The issue is to get the best person possible for the job, not to fight about the open meeting law," he said.

The new chancellor is likely to take office after next semester and before June 1, the date which Interim Chancellor Jim Rogers said he would leave by.

During the search for a new Community College of Southern Nevada president in May, a consultant told regents that she could not share detailed information with regents about candidates in an open meeting.

Consultant Narcisa Polonio, vice president of the Association of Community College Trustees Board Leadership Services, said at the time that candidates' careers could be jeopardized by open meetings.

Regent Doug Hill called the attorney general's interpretation "bizarre" and said its restrictions on confidentiality were a "severe problem" for the chancellor's search.

The committee considered inviting a member of the attorney general's office to the meetings and asking the Legislature to provide them an exception to the law for personnel searches.

"It can't be obvious to all of us and nobody else that you can't do a search without in some ways judging the candidates," said Truckee Meadows Community College President Philip Ringle.

The committee decided to request bids from search firms to consult them and provide some confidentiality in the search. A consultant can screen the candidates in private and bring the regents only a roster of finalists, who would be subject to public interviews. The proposals will be heard at the committee's Dec. 9 meeting.

Regent Steve Sisolak said on Thursday he would prefer not to automatically hire Virginia-based AT-Kearney, the firm searching for a Nevada State College president.

"I would like to compare some firms," Sisolak said. "You're looking for something clearly different at the state college than you are for chancellor."

Sisolak said he wanted the search process to be open even if that might deter applicants.

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