Clarification on NMC president’s retirement

Buenas yan Hafa Adai.

Much attention has been drawn to an issue that the college’s Board of Regents discussed at our Personnel Committee meeting on Thursday, February 23, 2006. The issue relates to the board’s review of the president’s contract. To be specific, the board is considering offering a severance bonus equal to 30 percent of the president’s annual base salary of $80,000 on his departure from the institution. We have been deliberating over this issue for some time now. This discussion arose as a result of the president’s eligibility to retire back in December 2005 and his opportunity to take advantage of the 30-percent retirement bonus that all retiring employees could avail themselves of.

The president of the college approached the Board of Regents sometime in early October and informed us in advance that he has reviewed his options and found himself to be both eligible to retire and receive the 30-percent bonus under the CNMI retirement system. He also expressed his desire to continue to serve as the president of the college, realizing that there are many key issues that we would be dealing with in the coming year that would be best handled with the continuity in leadership. It should be pointed out that the college has been criticized by WASC for NMC’s high turnover in the institution’s top post and leadership. It should also be noted that the college is due for a comprehensive site visit this Fall 2006 when its eligibility for accreditation will be considered for reaffirmation.

In light of these and other issues, the president asked the Board of Regents to consider amending his contract to include a severance payment amounting to the retirement bonus he would have received if he had retired in December 2005 so that he would not lose his financial benefit. Naturally, this request by our president was not deemed unreasonable and the Board of Regents assured the president that his request would be considered and a decision when reached would be communicated to him. Unfortunately, since then, the terms of four of the college’s seven members expired and the board could not act on this matter or other pressing issues due to a lack of quorum since the month of October. I, as chairperson of this body, along with my fellow members Regent Eloise Furey and Regent Elaine Hocog-Orilla, assured our president that his request would be placed on the agenda for consideration and action as soon as a quorum is established.

Needless to say, we now have a quorum and the issue is on the agenda to allow for an open discussion of our president’s request. Let me clarify the issue once again because there appears to be a misunderstanding that the college is considering increasing the president’s salary by 30 percent. This statement is false. What was requested and is currently being considered by the Board of Regents is a severance bonus of approximately $24,000 on the president’s departure from his current capacity at NMC. This $24,000 was arrived at based on a base salary of $80,000 multiplied by 30 percent, the percentage of the retirement bonus he was eligible to receive in December 2005. This would be a one-time payment, which would be made upon the termination of the president’s employment at the college.

The Board of Regents wanted to afford an opportunity to the college community and the CNMI community in general to provide us input on the issue, which is why we decided to discuss the matter in an open meeting. We have received considerable input on the issue and have decided to table the matter to also afford the new board members with the opportunity to further deliberate the request and not be rushed into making a hasty decision. This issue will be tackled in the next regular meeting of the Board of Regents.

Our aim is to be always transparent in our operations and decisions. We will continue to seek community input on issues as they arise. As a public institution, we believe in making decisions in an open, public forum. We invite all those interested in this and other matters before the Board to please take the time to attend our meetings.

Thank you for your time and this opportunity.

Kimberlyn King-Hinds
Chairperson
Board of Regents
Northern Marianas College