Rock Springs, WY (February 12, 2019) – According to documents received from the Superintendent of Sweetwater County School District #1 Kelly McGovern, an investigation was done to determine whether four members of the SCSC#1 Board of Trustees held a secret meeting in violation of the Wyoming Public Records Act, Wyo.Stat.§ 16-4-401. The investigation was done by an independent investigator, Bruce T. Moats, P.C..
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=24]
As per the investigation report from Mr. Moats, “Trustee Stephanie Thompson read a statement at the meeting of the trustees on January 14, 2019, alleging that Trustees Carol Jelaco, Max Mickelson, John Bettolo and Matt Jackman ‘met following the December 2018 board meeting’ that was ‘not advertised and no agenda was published.'”
The following are the facts of the investigation as per the report from Moats:
“Trustee Thompson indicated that she received information about the alleged meeting from Supt. McGovern. Supt. McGovern reported that she received the information from Norma Stensaas.
Ms. Stensaas, who had served on the board in prior years, reported that she was told about a meeting of Jelaco, Mickelson, Bettolo and Jackman by a person whose name she was not comfortable in providing to the investigator. Stensaas said she called Bettolo about the meeting and he did not deny that it took place. She said she told him that she found the meeting to be inappropriate as it at least raised the perception that they had colluded when all four were elected to board offices at the December meeting. She did not know when the meeting took place, but said she was told about it on or about November 19, 2018.
Jelaco, Jackman and Bettolo all stated that a meeting did take place on or about two days after the election at Mickelson’s place of business. Jackman said he reached out to Mickelson asking for a heads up on what issues might come up at his first meeting on December 10 so he could get up to speed. No one was exactly sure how Jelaco and Bettolo came to be included in the meeting.
Jelaco said that they first congratulated Jackman and Bettolo on their election and then talked about personal matters. She and Jackman had met while he campaigned to be elected Rock Springs mayor and otherwise did not know each other. Bettolo was a former student of Jelaco’s when she was a teacher in the district.
Jelaco, Jackman and Bettolo all said that Mickelson had said he had a previous engagement and he left after about 10 minutes. The remaining three then discussed the upcoming Wyoming School Boards Association convention and other topics.
All three denied that they discussed any plans for once they were all formally on the school board. Supt. McGovern was only tangentially discussed, they said. Jackman said he asked Bettolo if he was coming to the board with an agenda as it was well known that Bettolo’s contract as an assistant principal had not been renewed earlier in McGovern’s tenure as superintendent. He and Bettolo both said Bettolo denied he had an agenda against the superintendent. They briefly discussed that Bettolo felt intimidated by relatives of McGovern at a meet-and-greet for trustee candidates hosted by Mickelson and Jelaco prior to the election.
All three denied that any conversation regarding who would serve as board officers took place. Jelaco said she and Jackman discussed that she might serve as chair and whether others might serve in the other positions. No evidence was uncovered indicating that a quorum of the board engaged in sequential electronic communications to pre-arrange who would be elected as board officers.”
According to the investigation report, Moats concluded that the meeting, “about two days after the election was not a violation of the Wyoming Public Meetings Act as a quorum of the board, as it was then constituted, was not in attendance. Jackman and Bettolo were not yet officially members of the board. The members they were to replace were still on the board until noon on December 1, 2018.”
The investigation report went on to state that, “This investigator found no cases in Wyoming or other states deciding whether a meeting including a trustee-elect, who has not yet begun his or her term, was found to be part of a quorum of the board in the context of an open meeting law violation. The issue seems to have never come up.”
The conclusion of the investigation went on to say the following:
“Certainly, a quorum gathering to discuss plans for what they would do once they were all officially on the board would arguably be a violation of the spirit of the law, and led many in the public to mistrust the board. The election of all four of the trustees to board offices at the December meeting of the board created the perception that there was prior agreement to do so. Jelaco, Jackman and Bettolo all denied that they discussed any such plans and only discussed district business in general terms.
Jelaco and Bettolo questioned why they were not asked or informed about the allegation prior to it be announced publicly, which led to the appointment of this investigator. Bettolo questioned the validity of the investigation given that the board did not vote to fund it. He said he cooperated because he wanted the issue resolved.
Jelaco acknowledged that there is a perceived division on the board. The allegation arose in the context with both sides fearing the worst from the other. Both sides mistrust the motives and actions of the other. Resolving that issue is clearly beyond this investigator’s scope, but one cannot help but hope that the board can find a path forward from here.”
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=33]
Read the full investigation report below:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wyo4news.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bruce-Moats-Investigation-Results.pdf” title=”Bruce Moats Investigation Results”]
Trustee Max Mickelson Investigation statement issued on January 29, 2019:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wyo4news.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Trustee-Mickelson-Investigation-Statement-1-29-19.pdf” title=”Trustee Mickelson Investigation Statement 1-29-19″]
Trustee Max Mickelson statement dated February 11, 2019:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wyo4news.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Trustee-Mickelson-Statement-2-11-19.pdf” title=”Trustee Mickelson Statement 2-11-19″]
Full statement from Trustee Leonard Hay on February 11, 2019:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wyo4news.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Trustee-Hay-Statement-2-11-19.pdf” title=”Trustee Hay Statement 2-11-19″]
Trustee Stephanie Thompson Letter dated January 14, 2019:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wyo4news.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Trustee-Thompson-Letter-1-14-19.pdf” title=”Trustee Thompson Letter 1-14-19″]
Letter from George Lemich, General Counsel for Sweetwater County School District Number One:
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wyo4news.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/George-Lemich-Letter-1-18-19.pdf” title=”George Lemich Letter 1-18-19″]
