Board member Kathleen Winn had alleged that the Governing Board’s former president, Linda Thor, coordinated with other board members outside a public meeting to remove Winn as a board officer in January 2020
According to a story in the Arizona Republic of November 9, 2020 by Anne Ryman, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has closed its open meeting law investigation involving Maricopa Community College. It concluded it could not substantiate a violation of state law.
The investigation was launched when Governing Board member Kathleen Winn filed an Arizona Open Meetings Law complaint in August. Ms. Winn alleged that the Maricopa Community College’s Governing Board former president, Linda Thor, coordinated with other board members outside a public meeting to remove Winn as a board officer in January.
The complaint to the Attorney General claimed board members engaged in serial or chain communication related to board leadership positions. It alleged that Thor strategized in January to remove Winn as an officer through conversations with three other board members: Marie Sullivan, Laurin Hendrix and Tom Nerini. It also alleged that Hendrix then had conversations with board member Jean McGrath.
An attorney representing the Governing Board wrote that Thor, Sullivan, Hendrix and Nerini said they did not discuss board positions before the January meeting. He also said that the topic of the board presidency came up in two unrelated, one-on-one conversations between two different pairs of board members. But neither exchange rose to the level of a “discussion” under state law, he said. “These conversations did not involve a quorum of board Members, and they were not part of a chain or serial communication.”