Douglas County School Board hires Joey Gilbert as legal counsel during long, contentious meeting
Submitted by paula on Thu, 07/20/2023 - 7:05pm
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Nev. - It was another contentious meeting of the Douglas County School District (DCSD) Board on Wednesday, with hours of public comment and board deliberations about the status of the district's legal counsel. Once all was said and done, as expected the board terminated the contract with its counsel since 1985, Maupin, Cox & Legoy, and hired Reno attorney and former GOP gubernatorial candidate Joey Gilbert to become DCSD counsel.
Wednesday's 10 a.m. Meeting
At the focus of the current controversy is the district's long-term counsel, Maupin, Cox & Legoy. The newly elected members of the school board, led by Board President Susan Jansen, said they did not trust counsel and wanted Gilbert to become the new district counsel.
The 10 a.m. meeting was called just days after the board decided to do a Request for Proposal (RFP) process for the DCSD legal counsel. The RFP was never put out to the public, and instead, the board set a meeting six days after the RFP initial discussion was made on July 13 to hire new counsel.
Even before the legal counsel portion of the meeting was discussed, there was a lot of discussion over the agenda.
The current board creates what they call a flexible agenda, meaning items can be taken out of order without notifying the public ahead of time. Jansen wanted to jump to hiring Gilbert (item 5) before deciding if they were going to terminate their long-term contract with Maupin, Cox & Legoy (item 3).
Board Trustee Linda Gilkerson asked the board to take care of business first and go in order, even though their flexible agenda allows for it. She said it didn't make sense.
"It is foolish for us to fire current legal counsel until we have someone already hired," said Gilkerson. She said things seemed "sneaky" to her.
"I am sitting here, afraid, afraid, afraid," added Gilkerson about taking the agenda out of order. "We'll never get a chance to talk about the RFP, about our lawyers, it's already going to be done."
The six-hour meeting Wednesday followed the board's Tuesday night hours-long meeting where the public spoke out against the hiring of Gilbert who doesn't have any school district legal experience.
Jansen wanted Gilbert to be able to speak first, before any other agenda items.
"This is a board, and the board is here to make decisions as a group, not one person," Gilkerson reminded her fellow trustees.
Many members of the public spoke during the initial public comment period of the meeting when non-agenda items could be heard, telling Jansen it was absurd to have one person dictate what was going to be heard at the meeting, and when.
Jansen approves the agenda but Superintendent Keith Lewis said he never got input when it was sent to her for approval via email, so the order of the ideas was as they were presented Wednesday.
"Nevermind, you caught me," Jansen said as she raised her hands when answering questions to the setting of the agenda.
More than once during the meeting there was confusion on what can happen during a closed session meeting as well as the Nevada Open Meeting Law (OML) which was enacted in 1960 to ensure that the actions and deliberations of public bodies be conducted openly.
Gilkerson and others had to remind Jansen more than once about Roberts Rules of Order and OML, and how the public has the right to comment before the board votes on each item.
Jansen beat incumbent Robbe Lehmann in November, and she was joined on the dias by newcomers Katherine Dickerson who beat incumbent Heather Jackson, and David Burns, who won over Roberta Butterfield for the seat held by term-limited trustee Ross Chichester. Jansen, Dickerson, and Burns ran together against the other three. They are joined on the board by Doug Englekirk, Tony Magnotta, Carey Kangas, and Gilkerson. Many controversial topics have Magnotta, Kangas, and Gilkerson on one side, and the other four on the opposite end.
Not only was the agenda discussed in length but also the fact that the meeting was scheduled for 10 a.m. when many parents are at work. Most of their other meetings are held at night.
It had been no secret what the majority of the board was going to do Wednesday with a 4-3 split on many of the year's hot items.
"We already know how the vote is going to go," said Gilkerson.
The Request for Proposal
Once discussions ended about the agenda, it continued into the topic of the RFP process not being followed.
Trustee Kangas said he read all of the dozens of letters received from the public and did not want to see the RFP process terminated.
"I do not want to fire [Maupin, Cox & LeGoy], I do not want to hire Joey Gilbert," said Kangas. "I'm concerned with additional costs, concerned about the transparency of the board, and about the time of the meeting."
Gilkerson, who had several chances to speak to her fellow trustees during the meeting, asked the others to remember their vote on June 13 to conduct an RFP process.
"I'm wondering why we are here today," said Gilkerson.
She was joined by Englekirk and Dickerson saying they'd like to interview candidates for counsel in a special meeting, Burns said he wanted to see what others had to offer. On June 13 they had agreed to interview others at their next scheduled board meeting, not at a special meeting on June 19.
"I feel you're trying to sneak in a lawyer," said Gilkerson. "You need to be fair and transparent, and this is not transparent."
Both Burns and Jansen said during the meeting that Gilbert had reached out to them during the 2022 campaign, prior to their being elected.
Jansen said the RFP written by Mr. Hsu of Maupin, Cox & LeGoy was biased and written to exclude many others, including Gilbert. It had been sent out to the board as a draft by Lewis, but nobody had commented on it until the meeting. A discussion was held on having the RFP to be rewritten and sent out, something supported by numerous members of the public.
Several times Jensen said she spoke to five lawyers who all told her the RFP was biased, but when pressed she could only name one - Emily Mimnaugh from the Pacific Justice Institute in Reno. Jansen read a statement written for her by the attorney as to why the RFP created was not objective and shouldn't have been written by the DCSD counsel.
"Those are her words, what are your words?" asked Gilkerson of Jansen. "Let's not throw out the process that is fair and transparent."
"Continue with the RFP process and see what they have to offer, one that has the experience needed, and is fully vetted," said Lauren Larson, a member of the public who was just one of many asking to follow the process. Others also asked the board to step back, and slow down, and not rush to a decision.
"We need to make sure the process is transparent, we deserve, and our community deserves a choice," said Gilkerson. "Vote to keep the process."
One concern about hiring new counsel quickly was an alleged lawsuit by the ACLU over the district's recent transgender rulings. Gilkerson said there is no lawsuit so there should be no urgency in hiring Gilbert.
"If we do nothing to break the law, they can't sue," Gilkerson told Burns.
"This board is a complete joke," said a frustrated Colin Burrows during public comment.
Joey Gilbert
Reno attorney Gilbert said he respects the current firm, but a client needs to trust their legal counsel.
"These meetings have been a circus," he said of watching the board meetings for the last five months. "I don't come to this process claiming to be the best." Gilbert said he'd bring in the experts should it be needed and named an out-of-state attorney as an example.
"Hire me on my qualifications, hire me on my ability," said Gilbert.
He said the four biggest issues facing education today are social justice, absenteeism, drug use, and school credit recovery. During his gubernatorial campaign, Gilbert said in an opinion piece to a Reno newspaper that, if elected, he would: provide full vouchers for every parent, replace the state curriculum that allows things like CRT, perverse sex education and an 80 percent functional illiteracy rate to exist; get rid of the restorative (no accountability) discipline policy; eliminate the credit recovery policy (do no work but still get a passing grade); make 200 hours of paid employment a graduation requirement; implement voluntary drug testing; and open up the school campuses to unannounced community visits.
There was talk of having both Gilbert and Maupin, Cox & Legoy on board, each handling different tasks. Gilbert said he'd only come on board as counsel if he could "run the show."
Gilbert will be costing the district more money than the previous firm.
"You get what you pay for," Gilbert said when answering the question about fee differences.
Gilkerson questioned Gilbert about his denying the results of the 2022 primary where he was running against the now-governor Joe Lombardo. Gilbert challenged the results and lost his bid for a recount. Gilbert said he no longer denies the election.
He then threw his hat into the ring for an open Washoe County School District (WCSD) board member spot, but his application was rejected due to a lack of resume submission. Gilbert said he was told that this portion could be done at a later date.
In recent months Gilbert has filed multiple lawsuits against WCSD, including two suits that allege students with disabilities were victims of violent assaults, and over their regulation 5161 "Gender Identity And Non-Conformity Students."
He filed the suits with Sigal Chattah, a lawyer he said he could bring in to help with DCSD issues. Chattah unsuccessfully ran for attorney general against incumbent Aaron Ford.
During the Wednesday meeting, Gilkerson reminded Gilbert that as legal counsel he cannot defend personal beliefs, only on items the board brings to him. She used gender identity issues as an example.
"Will you write a policy that directly breaks the law?" asked Gilkerson, stating her concern with his stance on gender. "You are here to represent the community, you aren't here to represent your personal beliefs or their [the other board members] personal beliefs."
The Vote
The board voted to terminate its contract with Maupin, Cox & LeGoy in a 5-1 vote, with Gilkerson as the sole vote in opposition
The board voted 4-2 vote to hire Gilbert with trustees Magnotta and Gilkerson voting against the motion. Trustee Kangas had to leave the meeting at around 2 p.m. and was not present for this vote.
During the meeting, one parent said they would be looking into a recall of the newly elected board members who pushed for the Gilbert vote.