North Idaho College held their monthly Board of Trustees meeting yesterday that included replacing Art Macomber as NIC’s legal counsel, previewing the NIC 2024 budget, and kickstarting the Board Policy subcommittee.
In a surprising move, Board Chair Greg MacKenzie cast the deciding vote to hire Bob Faucher to replace Art Macomber as NIC legal counsel. Faucher is a senior partner with Boise-based legal firm Holland and Hart.
Both trustees Mike Waggoner and Todd Banducci cast the dissenting vote. Banducci stated this decision felt too sudden, and could have used more time to learn about Faucher.
Faucher is expected to transition into his new role before the June board meeting.
Additional coverage of last night’s meeting available in bulleted format:
- NIC 2024 budget preview:
- The budget is $53 million for 2024.
- No increase in property taxes is expected.
- Budget includes +8% compensation increase for full-time and part-time employees. This seems to be an adjustment for inflation.
- This was just a budget preview, and expected to be finalized in the coming months.
- Trustee Waggoner and Zimmerman are forming a new board subcommittee that will be tasked with shaping Board Policy. The intent of this decision is to minimize as much of the gray area related to the how Trustees interact, and conduct business for the college.
- Thirteen faculty members were granted tenure last night. This is considered a highly-coveted achievement for education professionals, as it provides academic freedom and job security to professors seeking to pursue research outside of the normal bounds of an untenured professor:
- Connie Clum
- Brandy Fries
- Sharon Funkhouser
- Hillary Ginepra
- Travis Hagner
- Ekaterina Miller
- Kathleen Miller Green
- Matthew Nolan
- John Reese
- Sean Sater
- Stephen Smith
- Duane Sunwold
- Nicole Willms
