Council resolves ethical conflict, grants award to Catholic Charities

Erin Neff

Tuesday, March 9, 1999 | 10:59 a.m.

Dogged by an ongoing ethical conflict, the Las Vegas City Council on Monday held its third 1-0 vote on an item related to Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada.

Ironically, this time, Mayor Jan Laverty Jones wasn't the lone official casting an aye vote.

Jones' absence from the morning session of the City Council meeting almost forced the board to hold for two weeks an item to award U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds to Catholic Charities. Instead, Councilman Arnie Adamsen, relieved of his conflict, cast the singular vote of approval.

Last October, Jones cast the lone vote to approve a Catholic Charities apartment complex in downtown Las Vegas.

Her four council counterparts -- Adamsen, Larry Brown, Michael McDonald and Gary Reese -- all had received legal representation in an unrelated ethics matter from attorney Harold Morse of the law firm Morse & Mowbray. Morse's partner, John Mowbray, serves on the board of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada.

Since the four councilmen had yet to pay Morse for his services, there was a potential conflict of interest.

Adamsen told the council he has since sent a check to Morse for legal services. "I paid my bill," Adamsen announced, but then called for a two-minute recess to double-check that assertion.

Brown, McDonald and Reese all abstained.

Under Nevada law, a board is reduced in size for a particular vote when any of its members are forced to abstain from voting because of potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, the quorum shrinks -- if necessary down to a lone board member.

Adamsen's lone vote sent a $35,000 award to Catholic Charities for use in an emergency rental assistance voucher program.

Jones cast the only vote on the Catholic Charities matter Oct. 12 and again on Dec. 7, when the council heard a request to allocate $400,000 in redevelopment funds to the same Catholic Charities apartment complex downtown.

The Dec. 7 vote came after the four councilmen all had to abstain on the item during a Nov. 23 meeting at which Jones was absent.

A 26-member board, the Community Housing Resources Advisory Committee, selected Catholic Charities and 10 other non-profit agencies for $303,000 in funding that the city and Clark County received from HUD's Emergency Shelter Grant program.

In addition to the Catholic Charities award, the council approved $107,000 in funding to EOB, HELP of Southern Nevada, the Interfaith Hospitality Network, the Key Foundation, the Salvation Army, Shade Tree, SVDP/MASH, United Methodist Social Ministries, WestCare and to the Women's Development Center.