CCSD trustee Katie Williams resigns as DA seeks her removal from seat

Clark County School Board Trustee Katie Williams resigned from her seat Wednesday after the district attorney’s office filed a petition to declare her position vacant due to her ceasing to be a resident of Nevada.

“I firmly believe the District Attorney’s Office is wrong on the law, and that I have been, and currently remain, a resident of the State of Nevada,” Williams wrote in a statement to School Board President Evelyn Garcia Morales on Wednesday.

Williams wrote that while she is confident she would prevail against the petition filed by the district attorney, it “would not be in the best interests of my family, and would not be consistent with my obligation to the service of my country through my current enrollment in the Sergeant Major Academy of the United States Army.”

Wednesday’s petition from the district attorney comes a week after an initial letter to Williams on Sept. 4, in which District Attorney Steve Wolfson said his office “shall commence a proceeding to declare the office vacant … due to you ceasing to be an actual resident of the State of Nevada and ceasing to be an actual resident of District B of the Clark County School District,” the letter said.

It asked her to respond in writing by Monday whether she intended to relinquish her office. On Monday, the district attorney said it was providing Williams with more time.

Wednesday’s petition said that the office believes Williams has been living in Nebraska and intends not only to remain in Nebraska but to abandon her residence in Nevada.

Although trustees are allowed to have more than one residence, it states that they can only have “one legal domicile.”

The district attorney’s office asked the court to conduct an evidentiary hearing to review evidence of whether Williams ceased to be a resident of Nevada, and thereby District B. If the court found this to be true, the petition asked the court to declare her seat vacant. It also asked for “such other relief as this Court deems just and proper.”

Wolfson’s initial letter came after five voting and nonvoting members of the school board asked Wolfson to investigate Williams in May.

People in her district had expressed a feeling of abandonment by a trustee they said failed to represent them properly.

Williams was elected as a trustee in November 2020, when the petition said she declared she was a resident of District B.

Her term will expire in December, and she has not sought re-election.

She attended the most recent School Board work session via telephone the day Wolfson sent the letter and voted with the majority in two 4-3 votes.

In her statement, Williams said that she looked forward to serve the citizens of Clark County again at an appropriate time.

In a series of posts on X about her statement, Williams wrote, “But I only feel sorry for the children of Clark County School District that will now be left with a board of chaos that will not remain focused on kids.”

Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com.