AG accuses regents of violating open meeting law

In a rare court action, the attorney general's office Wednesday filed for an injunction to stop the Board of Regents from further violations of the open meeting law.

The complaint filed in Carson City District Court charges regents with violating the the open meeting law Sept. 7 when they discussed a confidential report on a drug raid at a Las Vegas campus dorm.

It points out the board was earlier criticized for improper discussions during a closed session on the qualifications of Dr. Richard Moore. Moore is now president of the proposed Henderson State College. Fellow regent Tom Kirkpatrick charged that other members of the board violated their own rules and Nevada's open meeting law in selecting Jill Derby for a third term as board chair during meetings in 1999.

Deputy Attorney General Victoria Oldenburg wrote regent attorney Tom Ray a letter at that time threatening action if the board did not properly notice future agendas, properly describe agenda items and follow the state's open meeting law.

Oldenburg later followed the warning letter with another threatening letter dated April 3 citing a complaint from Regent Steve Sisolak that the board violated the open meeting law during a closed session Feb. 10. He complained that during the closed session regents discussed a number of matters outside the scope of Moore's professional competence including proposed action on Moore's appointment as Henderson Founding President, the alleged conduct of Sisolak and standards "relative to the general conduct of regents."

Meetings can only be closed to discuss the professional competence of an individual, reviewing legal strategies in a court case or to discuss proposed real estate purchases and sales.

"The board's failure to clearly describe the subject of the closed session was a violation of the agenda requirements of (Nevada law)," the letter said.

But the attorney general's office again gave regents another chance.

The final straw was the September meeting of the Campus Environment Committee.

The agenda item described only a general discussion of university system policies regarding the release of documents.

However, the discussion included a lengthy exchange on the contents of a confidential Nevada Division of Investigation review of University of Nevada, Las Vegas police handling of a dormitory drug raid.

Despite the fact that the report was kept confidential for personnel reasons, regent Doug Hill said it made him think the UNLV police acted like "Keystone cops" and regent Kirkpatrick urged the report be edited so it could be released to the public without violating personnel rights of those involved. The discussion continued for some time despite warnings from Ray.

The complaint filed Wednesday says the agenda for the Sept. 7 meeting failed to tell the public the NDI report and other topics would be discussed. It said the regents attending violated the open meeting law in their discussion.

Because of the repeated violations, the complaint asks a district court injunction against the regents ordering them to follow Nevada's open meeting laws in all future meetings - properly stating what will be considered in each agenda item and prohibiting discussion of things that aren't on the agenda.