Last week NMC President Timothy J. Nelson sent the campus community an e-mail in regard to an issue that would be addressed at last night’s Board of Trustees meeting. As promised here is an update from the president.
Last night the regular April meeting of our Board of Trustees was held at our Parsons-Stulen building, and it was the first meeting to be video recorded. I want to thank Kyle Morrison and Dennis Schultz of our Educational Media Technologies department for their work in creating a very professional and unobtrusive process for recording the meetings. The meeting will soon be posted on the NMC website and that process will be the same for all future regular board meetings.
The college and the Board of Trustees value input from the public, and public input was a key factor in the decision to begin recording the meetings. Transparency is an important factor in keeping the public trust, and we are committed to maintaining that trust.
Last week I sent you all an e-mail and encouraged you to await the final report to our Board of Trustees for an understanding of the facts in regards to an issue being brought up by our local newspaper. At last night’s board meeting, the college’s counsel, Chuck Judson gave a presentation and stated that his firm, Smith Haughey Rice and Roegge had conducted a thorough review of records provided by members of the Board of Trustees in compliance with numerous Freedom of Information Act requests by the Traverse City Record-Eagle. The requests were for electronic or written communications between board members as they considered adopting a policy for recording our regular Board of Trustees meetings.
It was Judson’s opinion that the Trustees’ email communications did not constitute a violation of the Open Meetings Act.
In his chairman’s report, Board Chair Doug Bishop detailed a letter received in the NMC President’s Office from the Record-Eagle that accused the Board of Trustees of multiple violations of the Open Meetings Act and included a statement from the Record-Eagle that it might file a criminal complaint unless NMC’s “elected officials and administrators” complied with the following demands.
That letter was received in the President’s Office on Friday afternoon, March 28, and the Record-Eagle requested a response no later than Wednesday, April 2. Their letter, and my reply to them (sent to them on April 2) are included here:
“1) NMC’s elected officials would acknowledge during a public meeting their violations of OMA, an acknowledgement that would meet with Record-Eagle approval prior to its publication;
2) NMC’s elected officials and administration would draft and approve a policy that requires their adherence to the OMA and FOIA laws, and do so with the specificity that would include, but not be limited to, policy language that expressly prohibits elected officials’ email, telephone or other non-public meeting deliberation of or discussion on public business;
3) NMC’s administrators and all NMC elected officials must agree to receive training from a recognized expert on state FOIA and OMA laws as to NMC officials’ legal responsibilities and obligations under those laws. That training must occur within a reasonable time and either occur in a public meeting or be documented in minutes of a closed session, if the training occurs in such a setting.
Separate from the above-mentioned alternative to civil or criminal action, the Record-Eagle also demands the immediate resignation of NMC Board Chair Doug Bishop from that post.”
In last night’s meeting, Chairman Bishop stated that there were no violations to acknowledge and that there were no circumstances, on any topic, where the board would seek the approval of the local paper before issuing a statement.
As to the second demand, Chairman Bishop said the board does adhere to all laws, and would not need to create a policy to do so. He also said that as someone elected by the public to serve on the NMC Board of Trustees he would not dignify their final demand with a response.
We take our role in the community very seriously, and we took these allegations seriously. As a result, and as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we are going to take some action. As outlined by Chuck Judson during last night’s meeting we are going to plan annual formal refreshers on the Open Meetings Act for our board, and because of our role as an educational leader we will look to make these refreshers open to members of other local boards as well.
Our board charged the Board Policy Committee last night with evaluating a policy to formalize board e-mail communication protocols.
We, as a college, are ready to move on. We complied with the multiple Freedom of Information Act requests, counsel’s review of the materials have shown no violation occurred, and we have taken formal steps to make our processes even better and stronger.
There are a lot of important things happening at the college right now, and we are planning for even more great things in the future. As always, I thank each of you for helping us keep learning at the center of everything we do.
Sincerely,
Timothy J. Nelson
President