COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Since summer, the North Idaho College Board of Trustees has been discussing a sensitive personnel matter, as several members on the board have alluded to or directly stated they believe an employee of the college will sue them in the near future.
Since then the board has handed the issue over to former NIC attorney Art Macomber, and opened an investigation into the matter. They discussed the issue several times at length, and held a brief special meeting to give Macomber, under the direction of board chair Greg Mckenzie, the power to settle any pending litigation.
The special meeting also resulted in trustee Tarie Zimmerman almost getting censured for stating, without any corroborating evidence, the settlement would cost the taxpayers $1.3 million.
Tonight, the agenda said the board would discuss the issue in executive session before the meeting, and then have a discussion about it at the end of the open session. Instead, the executive session was canceled the morning of the meeting, and McKenzie decided to table the motion to be discussed at a later date.
“The board needed more time,” McKenzie said after the meeting.
This decision comes as accreditors from the Northwest Commission of Colleges and Universities are making an official visit to the school this weekend as a part of their show cause order.
