Here's what might be paralyzing NIC trio

Maybe now we know why North Idaho College board chair Todd Banducci looked like a fish out of water.

Much has been made of the latest and not greatest trustee meeting, when a clearly befuddled board prepared to decide the future of NIC President Rick MacLennan — and then haltingly decided to table the matter.

Again. That Aug. 31 meeting was the third in August alone when the board planned to take some sort of action on MacLennan’s contract, which has been dangling in limbo since May, but didn't.

A series of email exchanges acquired this week by The Press offers some possible insight into why the board’s majority — Banducci, Greg McKenzie and Michael Barnes — were suddenly unwilling or unable to flex their far-right muscles and either rid the college altogether of MacLennan or at least send him a strong no-confidence message by refusing to extend his contract.

MacLennan, who has publicly aired his grievances with Banducci, remains under contract for roughly a year and a half. Normally, presidents operate on an annual renewal that results in an ongoing three-year contract.

According to information gathered from the email exchanges and the newspaper contacting the college’s insurer, Banducci & Co. might suddenly have learned that if they fire MacLennan and he successfully sues for wrongful termination, they, personally, could be forced to pay. For many an elected official, that could be an instant game changer.

One of the easiest things for elected officials to do is to act in an irresponsible way that leads to a lawsuit. Just ask the Idaho Legislature, where citizens are now on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills because legislators defied their own legal counsel’s advice and adopted an insanely restrictive law on citizen initiatives.

And that’s the point: In most cases, elected officials are gambling with taxpayers’ money, not their own. Taxpayers pay for the lost lawsuits directly or through the entity’s insurance rates going up — or both — and in the case of NIC, the burden also is borne by students.

So what incentive would board members have to act responsibly? Well, plenty if the bill for a million-dollar wrongful termination judgment landed in their personal mailboxes.

Granted, it’s still speculation at this point because most of the board chatter behind MacLennan’s back is taking place in closed session. Maybe the lights will come on soon, though. The board has scheduled yet another meeting this Wednesday, ostensibly to decide what to do with the college’s leader.

It’s not too late for them to do the right thing, which would keep NIC strong and taxpayers from regretting having elected the wrong people to oversee the institution.

Avoid a big lawsuit, no matter who ends up paying. Extend Rick MacLennan’s contract and work together to find ways to make an excellent community college even better.