Since the Douglas County School Board hired Joey Gilbert as legal counsel in July, his services are on track to exceed the districtâs legal budget for the year.
Gilbert filed expenses of $110,000 for the first two months his firm has represented the district.
At Tuesdayâs school board meeting, Gilbert said $15,000 will be returned to the district.
During Tuesdayâs board meeting, Trustee Linda Gilkerson broke down a charge that appeared to be for the September board meeting alone.
âI know you know how up in arms the community is about the charges you have accrued so far,â said Gilkerson. âI have several concerns that appear on the legal serviceâs notice.â
She listed $7,475 billed for creating the agenda and supporting documents, $1,625 was charged to attend the agenda development meeting, $13,000 to review the agenda and documents prior to the meeting and $750 for a binder that staff created for this meeting.
Gilkerson pointed out that Gilbert charged for 15 hours at $325 per hour for the Sept. 12 meeting, plus hundreds of dollars for emails and phone calls between board members.
âI hope you understand that our budget cannot support the continued legal bill,â said Gilkerson.
Gilbert replied that substantial research and time has gone into reviewing the boardâs bylaws and that the district has received 30 public record requests and four open meeting law complaints, which is where a majority of the bill has gone.
âWhen I came in here I never in my wildest dreams imagined that Iâd be in here with, like I said, 30 public record requests, four open meeting law complaints and writ of mandamus thatâs now 900 pages,â said Gilbert. âAt least half goes to that.â
After hearing previous criticism regarding his bill, Gilbert is now looking at ways to reduce the amount.
According to Gilbert and Kiera Sears, the firmâs fees are meant to be charged against the $7,500 monthly retainer first before other charges add up.
Sears is an employee at Gilbertâs firm who handles finances. Though she is not a licensed attorney, she has offered legal opinion during at least two board meetings.
Gilbert said additional charges would be reduced including the rate for Sears. He said her services are typically billed at $475 but were being billed at the same rate he charges at $325. He said that rate is due to come down. too.
âSo, thereâs going to be a retroactive credit back and probably another $10,000-$15,000 on top of that,â said Gilbert.
Tuesdayâs meeting exceeded several hours of debate, not only with Gilbertâs fees, but specifically with the board bylaws, including No. 060 regarding meetings, No. 070 the Boards Code of Conduct, No. 902 the boardâs communication with the public and No. 338 which was a new Whistleblower policy.
There were several claims that the bylaws were changed in November following the election of the new board in order to âtake awayâ the responsibilities of the board and grant more to the superintendent and that it aligned with NASB standards.
âThereâs been a lot on our plate as to why things are not working,â said Gilbert. âOne thing I find interesting is the National Association of School Boards. Iâm trying to defang ⌠the districtâs bylaws with what has been added to them since COVID. The public probably isnât aware of this, but starting April 20, 2020, additions started being made to the bylaws, there was no public meeting and no one else involved. So, what I have been doing is going through those and showing President Jansen whatâs going on.â
However, a review of the meeting agendas and minutes on the districtâs web site indicates that at least the boardâs code of conduct was approved after four public meetings, including two subcommittee and two involving the full board.
The code of conduct was approved by a 5-2 vote on June 9, 2020, after a call for public comment.
Those recordings and minutes can be found on the Douglas County School District website.
âThe Bylaws we are talking about 060 and 070, neither one of these were changed after the election, the last time they were changed was in March 2022, so I just wanted to clarify that,â said former school board trustee Heather Jackson.
Former President Robbe Lehmann denied that there was any influence from NASB for the changes of the bylaws.
âI was involved with several of these bylaw changes, and I can tell you that never once was NASB part of my decision for these,â said Lehmann. âNever once did NASB contact me and ask me to make changes, never once did I communicate with them. In fact I have my own issues with NASB, but I donât think itâs fair to say that all of these were pushed through by NASB because they really werenât.â
Trustee voted to combine the four bylaws into one agenda item, the first reading to amend them was approved 4-3.
Changes are expected to be made and brought back to the board for further review.