Does not offer local lawyers with expertise in school law an opportunity to bid on the position; Bd acted without information about reasons for previous extensions; legal justification was claimed need for “continuity, impact of change”
The Yavapai Community College Governing Board extended the current sweetheart contract for the position of Governing Board attorney for two years. It went to the Phoenix law firm that has represented the College Governing Board (not the College) for around a decade, possibly more. Under the extension, the firm will receive a flat fee of $2,100 for one of its lawyers attending any Governing Board meeting, regardless of length. (The October meeting lasted three and a half hours according to the video tape of the meeting—a charge of about $600 per hour based on the new contract extension.) The firm will also charge $385 an hour for any office work that the Governing Board might think its needs.
Deb McCaslind raised several issues about the contract and “reducing costs” but in the end the vote was unanimous. A “hope” was expressed by several members of the Board that a way might be found to reduce the need for the presence of a lawyer at its various meetings.
The Board also did not have information about the following issues before making the decision:
(A) Has this contract been extended since 2014 without competitive bidding on the basis of claimed “continuity” or some other basis? Chair Ray Sigafoos’ initial claim that there was a competitive bid two years ago was completely shot down by College Procurement Director Ryan Bouwhuis who provided information at the meeting. He has been Director since 2015. Although the contract has clearly been extended several times since 2014, Mr. Bouwhuis could not recall any competitive bidding while he was head of the division, which began in 2015 (no RFPs).
(B) No information was provided about the number of lawyers living in the County who could provide the school law advice to the Board at a much lower rate than is now provided by the Phoenix firm.
(C) The Board received no information about alternatives in terms of communication by video or audio by the attorney and/or reducing the need for an attorney at all its meetings.
Board member Pat McCarver led the renewal effort, which was strongly endorsed by Third District Representative Paul Chevalier. Chevalier opined that in his view it was not a good time to change attorneys as it might create confusion given a change in presidents. (see below video) As noted earlier, Representative Deb McCasland raised questions about the extension and urged the Board to find creative/alternate ways to reduce the need for an attorney.
The Phoenix law firm represents only the Governing Board. The College has its own attorneys who represent it and the College president. They handle all of the College’s legal problems, often with the assistance of specialty defense lawyers. There is no relationship with the Governing Board attorney.
President Lisa Rhine took no part in the discussion or vote.
The edited version of the twelve minute discussion about the position appears in the below video. (McCarver was participating by telephone.) You may view the entire discussion at the Governing Board web site, which may be reached by clicking here when it is eventually posted by the College.