RENO - An anticipated fight over who will chair the Board of Regents for the coming year evaporated Friday when several members interested in the job decided not to put their names in the hat.
The only nominations were for Steve Sisolak and Michael Wixom.
Dorothy Gallagher said she was abstaining because she first promised Wixom her vote. Then, she said, when it appeared Wixom wasn't going to seek the job, she promised Sisolak her vote. Howard Rosenberg said the same thing had happened to him.
When it became clear Jack Scofield was in the same situation, Sisolak stopped the process.
"There are a lot of people in a very bad situation here and I don't want to see that," he told the board. "I withdraw my nomination."
The board was advised that since they had already started the vote with the ballots split between the two, they should finish the process. At that point, Sisolak cast his vote for Wixom, giving him the seven votes necessary.
"I want to say I'm very impressed," outgoing Chairman Bret Whipple told Sisolak.
The board then voted to make the ballot unanimous as a show of support for Wixom and voted Rosenberg vice chairman for the coming year.
Wixom will take over at the next board meeting.
Until just a few hours before the vote, there were apparently at least four members interested in the chairmanship, including Rosenberg and Ron Knecht.
• Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at gdornan@nevadaappeal.com or 687-8750.