Wal-Mart discussion expected to draw big crowd to meeting

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 | 11:36 a.m.

Clark County commissioners are bracing for a record crowd at Wednesday's meeting as union members and Wal-Mart supporters make their last-ditch pitches to the commission about a proposed zoning ordinance.

The ordinance, which would essentially prevent Wal-Mart from building a Supercenter in the county, has unleashed a controversy like none other in recent history, according to county spokesman Doug Bradford.

In less than a week, the county has been bombarded with 750 e-mails, 3,500 phone calls and 10,000 post cards.

Now the county is considering a process typical for Super Bowls, but unheard of for twice-monthly local government meetings: lottery seating.

Bradford said representatives of Wal-Mart and local unions will be guaranteed a place to sit inside the 300-seat chamber, but others might have to rely on a lottery system. Those who don't secure a chamber seat will be ushered into other rooms inside the building to watch the meeting on monitors.

"(County Manager) Dale Askew doesn't remember any issue that has garnered this much attention," said Bradford, who expects at least 1,000 people to attend the 9 a.m. meeting. "We want to accommodate people; we want people to be here."

Meanwhile, Clark County commissioners received the state Attorney General office's opinion on its ordinance introduced during a Sept. 22 meeting. Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury has repeatedly expressed concerns about whether government should be involved in what boils down to a labor issue.

If passed, the ordinance would prevent stores that are more than 100,000 square feet and dedicate more than 2,000 square feet to untaxable groceries from opening. If a Supercenter is allowed to open, it would be the first major nonunion grocery store in the county.

Woodbury said as board members reviewed the Attorney General's opinion, which was received this morning, they will attempt to assess comments submitted by the public.

"We're just trying to get a rough idea of what (the public's feeling) is and then consider it as input," Woodbury said. "There will be a public hearing Wednesday, probably a lengthy one."

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union No. 711 and Wal-Mart have engaged in a weeklong mailer battle that encourages residents to return post cards urging commissioners either to kill the ordinance or pass it.

A pamphlet mailed out by supermarket clerks says $10 million of taxpayer money in Clark County subsidizes companies that do not offer health insurance, which suggests Wal-Mart does not provide benefits.

And while union members have said Wal-Mart pays low wages and puts small shops out of business, representatives of the discount giant maintain the store benefits communities.

Some residents believe government should not be involved in the decision.

"If people don't want to shop at Wal-Mart for whatever reason, they don't have to go in," Henderson resident Floyd Buell wrote to the County Commission. "What has happened to free enterprise?"

The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, a Washington-based nonprofit corporation, also raised concerns about the government's involvement.

Ron Arnold, executive vice president of the group, said Monday that the union and Wal-Mart should work out a compromise. He even suggested that residents be permitted to vote on the ordinance.

"I think before anybody makes a hard-and-fast decision on this, they would at least find out what the people really want," Arnold said. "It isn't clear (elected officials) ever think about the people who put them there. They think about two competing interests. What about people who elected them?"

Some commissioners have denied that the ordinance is related to union issues, even though the union helped craft the pending law.

Board member Erin Kenny introduced the ordinance because she had concerns about traffic problems that accompany "big-box" stores and she opposed smoking and gambling in large department stores.