The Vice Chairman of the UNC Board of Governors says it was an error to vote last month on salary increases for chancellors in closed session and not disclose the amounts immediately.
"I believe it would’ve been in the best interest of our board to have returned to open session after that closed meeting and voted in public on the final chancellor salary adjustments," said Lou Bissette, speaking to state lawmakers at a joint legislative commission meeting Wednesday.
Even so, Bissette said he did not believe the vote violated open meetings laws. He called it an unusual situation because the board had already released information about the salary ranges members had in mind for those positions.
The raises the board approved for a dozen chancellors ranged from 8 to 19 percent. The board released the amount of those raises a couple days after the vote, once Bissette said chancellors were notified.
The Board of Governors unanimously voted to hand over records of that closed session vote last week after state lawmakers requested it.
Bissette said he’ll urge the board to adopt a process to balance the public interest with the confidentiality requirements of the personnel law.
