The NorthWest Arkansas Community College Board of Trustees on a 6-2 vote Friday denied an appeal by Marty Parsons of his firing in early August from the Bentonville college.
Parsons is former senior vice president for administrative services and chief financial officer.
Trustees Johnny Haney and Mike Shupe voted for the appeal, according to an NWACC news release. Those who voted against the appeal were Alex Vasquez, Joe Spivey, Randy Lawson, Ric Clifford, Mark Lundy and Joan Clifford. A ninth trustee, Hadley Hindmarsh, was traveling and unable to attend the special-called meeting at 7 a.m., the release states.
In a prepared statement, college President Becky Paneitz said exercising strong leadership requires her to make “difficult but necessary decisions, including those associated with college personnel.”
“My first priority will always be to do what is best for the future of this community college and its students,” she said.
In July, the NWACC board discussed ways to clean-up a number of mishaps in its financial reporting protocol that cost the college nearly $70,000 in fines for late tax payments between 2009 and October 2011, some of which occurred on Parsons’ watch.
Board members discussed what internal processes were needed to prevent future problems. The college did not have a centralized person who was responsible for managing the payroll or delegating the responsibilities, which is why the board approved last month the hiring of a future payroll manager.
Parsons said last month he had been working to create standardized procedures and correct previous previous mistakes since joining the college more than a year ago.
(The City Wire contributed to this report)
