Variety learned that NMC may have settled an illegal hiring case referred to OPA in 2007.
“I haven’t seen anything about that [illegal hiring case],” Public Auditor Mike Pai told Variety.
OPA audit manager Ross Zapanta said the matter was resolved during Mike Sablan’s term as public auditor last year.
“I think it was settled within NMC,” Zapanta said, adding that the settlement resulted in the resignation and departure of a few long-serving employees at NMC.
According to Zapanta, NMC “is no longer an issue with OPA.”
In March 2007, the illegal hiring case at NMC was disclosed and later referred to OPA.
The case involved the hiring of personnel unqualified to teach a specific program at NMC during the term of then-acting president Danny Wyatt.
The instructor was assigned to the nursing department while not actually instructing the class.
Complaints from students were received by the college leadership who also learned that another instructor was performing the actual job through a “personal agreement.”
Wyatt, who was the former dean of student services, served as acting president of NMC following the resignation of then-president Anthony Deleon Guerrero in Aug. 2006.
In Jan. 2007, Wyatt resigned, saying he wanted to seek “greener pastures.”
NMC at that time was hesitant to issue an official statement regarding his resignation.
