NIC gets new trustees

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COEUR d’ALENE — After a spate of resignations and an unsuccessful lawsuit that sought to block the appointment of new members, the North Idaho College board of trustees is back in business.

The State Board of Education voted unanimously on Friday to appoint David Wold, John Goedde and Pete Broschet to the NIC board, effective immediately.

The new trustees will serve through the November election and the end of the year.

The now-functioning board is likely to appoint a permanent president for the college — one of the actions recommended by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, NIC’s accrediting organization.

The NWCCU sanctioned NIC with a warning in April, citing persistent issues specifically related to the board of trustees.

Presidential candidates are expected to visit the Coeur d’Alene campus for interviews next month.

NIC’s board was deadlocked in 2-2 votes after Michael Barnes resigned in January, amid questions about his residency. The four remaining trustees were unable to agree on a candidate to replace him.

The departure of longtime trustees Christie Wood and Ken Howard last week left the board unable to function without a quorum, with only Todd Banducci and Greg McKenzie still in office.

Banducci did not respond to a request for comment. In a May 4 post on Facebook, he called the candidates “illegitimate.”

McKenzie said Friday that he believes the State Board’s appointments are part of a “disturbing trend” by Idaho Gov. Brad Little to “squash local control and move all power to Boise.”

“This anti-democratic move may or may not be allowed under one judge’s interpretation, but it flies in the face of local control,” McKenzie told The Press in an email.

State Board President Kurt Liebich emphasized during Friday’s meeting that the state stepped in only because Idaho law required it to.

“The right place for decisions to be made is closest to the institution or the district,” he said. “We’re firm believers in local control. We hold that in high regard.”

This appears to be the first time the State Board has had to fill the ranks of a college board, Liebich said.

Last week, a judge rejected an attempt by McKenzie and Banducci to block the State Board from appointing more than one new trustee.

They dropped the lawsuit after First District Judge Cynthia Meyer denied their request for a temporary restraining order against the State Board.

Meyer said Idaho law empowers the State Board to fill all vacancies on a board of trustees, not just the number needed to constitute a majority.

“It’s not a difficult interpretation of the statutory language,” she said in court.

House-passed legislation that would’ve changed the statute died in a Senate committee in March.

HB 783 would allow the State Board to fill only enough vacancies to restore a majority — in NIC’s case, just one.

The bill would also have restricted voters in districts with more than 250,000 residents to only voting on the trustee from their geographic zone.

NIC’s new trustees were selected from among 37 candidates.

Wold is a retired ophthalmologist who has served on the North Idaho College Foundation Board for 15 years.

Goedde served for a decade as the Senate Education Committee chairman. He’s a former NIC Foundation Board member.

Broschet is the human resources director for Empire Airlines.

The three newly filled trustee positions will be on the ballot in November.