Disclosure rules pass with changes

Erin Neff

Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

The full disclosure required of city business partners by a recently passed resolution got a little less complete Wednesday in front of the city's Redevelopment Agency.

The Las Vegas City Council had previously approved Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald's resolution requiring disclosure of anyone with a 1 percent interest in a city-funded project. But a second approval was required by the council, acting as the Redevelopment Agency, in order to apply the resolution to downtown redevelopment projects.

In response to concerns raised by members of the City Centre Development Corp. board, the city attorney's office redrafted parts of the resolution. As a result, the type of loophole Boggs McDonald tried to close with her original resolution has been left open.

Under the version approved Wednesday for redevelopment projects, the Redevelopment Agency may waive the disclosure requirements as long as it provides written findings citing why disclosure would be a hardship.

"It's meant to anticipate the unanticipatable, if that's a word," City Attorney Brad Jerbic said in explaining the new paragraph added to the resolution.

For example, Jerbic said, if the Redevelopment Agency wanted to hire a bond lawyer, it may find the required 1 percent disclosure related to each of the law firm's partners to be "too burdensome."

The resolution dealing with redevelopment projects has two other differences from the one applicable to other city business.

In the case of publicly traded corporations, disclosure of all 5 percent or more partners will be required. That is the same requirement the Securities and Exchange Commission places on such corporations.

"To require more than 5 percent, to go down to 4 percent to 1 percent may be more burdensome than it's worth," Jerbic said.

In a project whose principal source of funding is through pension funds, disclosure of all 3 percent or more partners will be required.

Boggs McDonald said she didn't think the changes affected the "spirit of the intent" of her original resolution. She approved the changes, which passed 4-0, with Councilman Michael McDonald absent.

"I think that if there's an expectation of public (financial) support, there should be expectation of public scrutiny," Boggs McDonald said.

The original resolution had drawn criticism from the development corporation, the private sector arm of city redevelopment efforts. City Centre Development Corp. board president Jodi Goodheart wrote a letter to the city asking that a compromise be reached on the disclosure issue.

Goodheart and fellow board member Ken Templeton argued that such stringent disclosure requirements could stall redevelopment efforts.

Juanita Clark of the Charleston Neighborhood Preservation Group said she applauded the disclosure efforts but was "concerned about the amendments."

"Doesn't that really negate everything that you did?" she asked.

Jerbic said the resolution's goal was still intact because a waiver of full disclosure would require a written request with detailed reasons.

"It's not just because someone doesn't want their name known," Jerbic added.