Open-meeting complaint hits health board

Friday, May 29, 1998 | 10:07 a.m.

The attorney general's office is investigating a complaint filed by the Nevada Environmental Coalition Thursday that the county's District Board of Health violated the open meeting law.

Deputy Attorney General Greg Salter said he had received a 10-page complaint Thursday afternoon from the coalition's director Robert Hall.

The Nevada Environmental Coalition, an umbrella organization for Citizen Alert, Nevada Seniors Coalition and other citizen groups, claims that the board met outside of a public hearing to discuss a review of the air pollution control program.

Board Chair Sherry Colquitt and former Chief Health Officer Otto Ravenholt requested an expanded audit of the APC Division after the public raised concerns, Colquitt said. The board learned about the more extensive review in March.

The accounting firm of Stewart, Archibald & Barney was hired two years ago by the board to conduct independent audits at the Health District. The company completed a special procedures audit of the Air Pollution Control Division and presented it to the board Thursday.

The report's first sentence states, "We have performed the procedures enumerated below, which were agreed to by the members of the Board of Health and management staff." This statement, Hall charges, violates the open meeting law which forbids a majority of board members from any elected or appointed body to meet without public notice.

The audit report said there was no evidence of fraud, but there were missing documents, said Gary Stewart, a principal partner in the firm. The Health District is installing a new computer system to track the complicated pollution permits and penalties for local companies.

But Hall said the audit failed because $1.1 million has not been accounted for by the Air Pollution Control Division. "This is a disaster," he said.

"It's too vague," noted Rick Nielsen, executive director of Citizen Alert after reading the audit at Thursday's meeting. "There's no way to determine if they found anything of significance."

However, Michael Naylor, director of the Air Pollution Control Division, said the Health District knows who owes what. Companies that owe a total of $1.1 million in credits to offset pollution have been billed and should pay by July 1, he said. Health District staff have to do much of the billing by hand, slowing the process, he said.

The Air Pollution Control Division has collected a total of $1.78 million so far, Naylor said.