NIC board increases athletics budget by $2.6 million

COEUR d’ALENE — North Idaho College trustees voted this week to increase the athletics budget by up to $2.6 million, contemplated censuring one of their own and shared new insight into a decision to appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court a district court ruling that ordered NIC President Nick Swayne’s reinstatement.

As part of NIC’s return to the National Junior College Athletic Association, the board voted 3-2 Wednesday night to have NIC cover tuition, fees, books, room and board and one round-trip flight for all student athletes playing sports associated with the Scenic West Athletic Conference, regardless of the student’s residency. This includes students who are from states other than Idaho, as well as international students.

The decision would apply to 152 student athletes, Swayne said. If all those students come from out of Idaho, it will cost the college $2.6 million.

Trustees Greg McKenzie, Todd Banducci and Mike Waggoner voted in favor of the motion, while Brad Corkill and Tarie Zimmerman opposed it.

“We’re representing the taxpayer, and we’re saying this is the priority,” said McKenzie said.

Swayne questioned whether the move is the right one for a community college where student athletes have mostly come from within the region.

“We provide an opportunity for regional athletes who are really good athletes to come and compete,” Swayne said. “But I think giving coaches basically carte blanche to recruit nationally and internationally, we’re likely to see (nonlocal) people here …. When they finish their educational career here, they go home.”

Banducci, who made the proposal, suggested Swayne was “being antagonistic” and said the athletics budget will “self regulate.”

“The coaches know this is an upper limit,” Banducci said. “What you tell everybody to do is do it smartly, prudently, efficiently and if you abuse it and you go hog wild, then the board will adjust it next year.”

Earlier in the meeting, McKenzie proposed that the board censure Zimmerman for her comments during the August special meeting, when the board voted 3-2 to authorize the college attorney to negotiate a settlement with a former NIC employee.

Zimmerman revealed during the public meeting that the settlement could be as high as $1.3 million and said a third-party investigation was incomplete. Banducci called the $1.3 million figure a “fabrication” Wednesday night.

“These statements hereby attempted to prejudice NIC’s investigation and assessment of the involved claims,” McKenzie said. “I personally feel the timing was horrible for NIC.”

Zimmerman denied any wrongdoing and criticized what she described as attempts to silence her. In order to perform her duties to the college, she said she must express her views and “raise a voice of dissent” when necessary.

“My ability to express my opinions and views as I am entitled to do under the First Amendment has been stifled by this board and the chair,” she said, referring to McKenzie. “I have been talked over, shushed, disrespected and gaveled more than I can count.”

Though the board voted in June to authorize hiring a third-party investigator for the still undisclosed personnel matter, Corkill said he was shut out of the process.

“We sat in the president’s office and you said I would be part of the decision and the next thing I knew, you hired that investigator out of Spokane,” Corkill said to McKenzie.

The investigator is Jenae Ball, according to public records obtained by The Press.

The board ultimately tabled the motion to censure Zimmerman.

Trustees also briefly discussed the college’s appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court over a Kootenai County judge’s decision to reinstate Swayne.

Swayne won his lawsuit seeking permanent reinstatement without going to trial in June, when First District Judge Cynthia Meyer granted summary judgement in the case. NIC’s legal counsel in the case filed a notice of appeal Aug. 31, the last day it was possible to appeal the decision under Idaho’s rules.

Though McKenzie said he was the one who made the decision to appeal, in concert with legal counsel, and it appears the board has not discussed the matter in any meeting, Banducci shared insight into the reason for the appeal.

In August, legal counsel for NIC failed to object to Swayne’s motion for fees and costs within the statutory time frame. For that reason, First District Judge Cynthia Meyer ruled in August that NIC waived any objection to paying the costs.

Swayne’s attorneys billed a total of $153,639 for work on the case, but the exact amount NIC will be ordered to pay remains to be determined.

Banducci pointed to the fees and costs as the reason for the appeal.

“It’s like getting a chicken bone caught in your throat,” he said.

Corkill questioned whether the appeal is legitimate because the matter never came before the board.

“I don’t recall voting on that,” he said.

McKenzie indicated that the board empowered him in February to “work with the attorneys and to make these decisions.”

During the Feb. 22 board meeting, trustees authorized McKenzie to be a “point of contact” related to two lawsuits that were ongoing at that time and to “explore terms of settlement” with Swayne and Swayne’s legal counsel.

The board also put off approving a formal response to feedback from college and faculty and staff, including numerous votes of no confidence over the past two years.

“I don’t think it says enough,” Corkill said, referring to the one-page response included in the meeting materials. “I don’t think this addresses the issues.”

In addition to that document, McKenzie provided trustees with copies of a draft response he had created, which was not made public before or after the meeting Wednesday night.

Corkill indicated McKenzie’s draft was potentially “inflammatory” and proposed creating a subcommittee to write a new response.

Banducci — who refused to support a response to the votes of no confidence in May, after a former NIC employee reportedly dumped a bucket of soapy water on him — said he liked McKenzie’s draft.

“I’m tired of the vitriol and the adversarial nature of this,” he said.

When addressing the Staff Assembly chair earlier in the meeting, Banducci described college staff as “insubordinate.”

“Do your jobs and be thankful for them,” he said.