The Douglas County School District Offices are located in the historic Minden school house on Mono Avenue.
If there is anything the parties involved in the public records request against the Douglas County School District and four school board trustees agree on, it’s that the matter should have been resolved long ago.
What’s not agreed is whether the work warrants $150,000 in legal fees, which four trustees disagree they should have to pay.
In October, Douglas County District Court Judge Thomas Gregory issued a 41-page ruling after hearing testimony on Sept. 17-18 from the trustees and other witnesses. The ruling found that the four trustees and the school district are liable for court costs.
Following the order, the petitioners had to submit their costs. Then both parties had seven days to argue for the fees before the judge renders his final decision.
In a response to the costs filed on Nov. 12, the trustees Susan Jansen, David Burns, Katherine Dickerson and Doug Englekirk claim that it would be unreasonable for them to be liable for any attorney fees and costs because third parties rejected the settlement back in April and any fees thereafter are “punishing” the trustees.
“The reason Petitioners seek an amendment of the order is because they belatedly realize that their request for nearly $150,000 in legal fees, $86,000 of which was incurred after the parties reached a settlement, is entirely unreasonable without a substantive basis,” according to the respondents.
A settlement was reached March 27, which ordered that a search be performed for the school district by then Douglas County School District IT Director Michael Roth and that the trustees perform another thorough search from a mutual agreed third party.
It was also ordered that the trustees receive training on Nevada’s Open Record laws and the district be responsible for financial obligations.
The school board is expected to receive a presentation on Nevada Public Record Requests from a member of the Nevada Attorney General’s Office during the school board meeting on Tuesday.
The settlement was brought before the April 9 school board meeting where the four accused trustees abstained from comment and voting due to perceived conflict of interest. The remaining three trustees Yvonne Wagstaff, Carey Kangas, and Linda Gilkerson voted to deny the settlement and have attorneys negotiate more favorable terms for the district, with the underlying term being whether the school district and taxpayers should be responsible for the majority’s legal bills.
“At the time of the settlement, the Douglas County School District agreed to pay all of the petitioners’ fees up to that date and the Trustees agreed to turn over all their electronic devices to a third party discovery vendor to search,” according to the respondents. “The nonparty trustees rejected the settlement for their own political motivations, and to personally punish the individual Trustees.”
The petitioners said their whole goal was to obtain the public records to which they were entitled, and had the trustees satisfied that legal obligation forthright, there would not have been any further litigation and fees.
The litigation was brought forward after the trustees failed to produce documents respondent to a May 2023 and July 2023 NRS 239 public records requests.
“The Petitioners should not be burdened with fees and costs that arose due to the respondent trustees’ false claims, dishonest tactics, and outright refusal to comply with the law.”
Gregory has yet to issued a decision in response to the parties’ arguments.
