By the end of June, North Idaho College will have only one president on the payroll.

Trustees Wednesday voted to end the college’s contract with Gregory South, hired as interim president in December 2022, Kaye Thornbrugh of the Coeur d’Alene Press reported.

South’s tenure in the president’s office was short, and illustrative of the politics on a divided NIC board.

On a 3-2 vote, the board hired South as interim president, giving him an 18-month contract. That came after the board placed President Nick Swayne on paid administrative leave.

Within a matter of months, a judge ordered NIC to reinstate Swayne. But while Swayne returned to the president’s job, South remained on the payroll as well.

South still ranks as NIC’s highest-paid employee — for now — at a salary of $235,000. Swayne makes $230,000 per year.

Meanwhile, the board took no action Wednesday on another matter: a judge’s order to turn over an investigative report to Swayne. The report examines claims by a former employee, who accused Swayne of “retaliatory treatment and retaliatory discharge,” Thornbrugh reported.

On a 3-2 vote Wednesday, the board assigned legal counsel to resolve the open records issue in the most “cost effective and prudent” way possible, Thornbrugh reported.