Ethics panel drops complaints

Wednesday, April 29, 1998 | 10:18 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Ethics Commission has dismissed a complaint that charged Boulder City Mayor Robert Ferraro and two council members with misconduct in a vote over the location of a garbage dump.

The commission decided at its meeting last week not to proceed with further hearings in the case of Ferraro and Councilmen Bryan Nix and Mike Pacini who voted to withdraw the city's application for a landfill permit in the Eldorado Valley. The complaint against Nix was dismissed in March.

The complaint was filed by Kathryn Hartman who alleged that the three had improper ties to Silver State Disposal, which wanted the garbage contract for the city. She said the mayor had received a campaign contribution from a Silver State affiliate.

Ferraro, in a letter to the commission, said 70 percent of the voters in an election decided against going forward with the Eldorado Valley landfill. "I did not vote to advance the competitive position of Silver State as to which I had and have no interest," he said.

The commission also voted not to proceed further with the complaint of George Malone against Clark County commissioners Myrna Williams and Yvonne Atkinson Gates and county officials Dale Askew and Maureen D'Ambra.

Malone complained the four were involved in creating a special improvement district to build streets at Vegas Manor III. He said Marion and Lucerne streets, where he owns property, are good streets now. He said he should not be required to pay anywhere from $19,000 to $32,000 to a special district to repair streets that already are in good condition.