Council switches off debate over work card problems

Erin Neff

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2000 | 10:51 a.m.

Spending

Here is how the Las Vegas City Council voted Wednesday to spend taxpayer money:

for Northwest Soccer Complex at Tenaya Way and Lake Mead Boulevard.

To Great Salt Lake Electric Inc. for installation of cable equipment.

To Allegro Consultant Inc. for design and engineering services for West Middle School and Clark High School sports lighting projects.

To Las Vegas Paving for installation of a barrier rail on both sides of Crestdale Lane at the new overpass to Summerlin Parkway.

The Las Vegas City Council found the simplest answer imaginable Wednesday to the embarrassing public airing of a person's criminal past during work card appeals.

If it makes you uncomfortable -- turn off your television.

That's the message the council sent after an hourlong discussion that skirted the issues of constitutional law, privacy and power but resulted in little meaningful dialogue and no change.

Civil libertarians and clergy were pleased two weeks ago when Councilman Lawrence Weekly expressed his discomfort while hearing appeals of people denied a work card by Metro Police. They thought the discussion he requested could change the process and shed light on areas where more reform is needed.

Instead, when Mayor Oscar Goodman demanded the conversation stick merely to whether the appeals should be televised, the larger issue seemed lost.

Work cards are required for anyone seeking employment in Clark County in any profession police believe requires background checks. Although the public lauds the background checks of those employed in child care and gaming, many question why the cards are needed for bus boys, ice cream vendors or waitresses.

Metro issued 116,000 work cards, compared with the 700 it denied last year. About 300 denials were appealed to the County Commission or City Council. Metro has been criticized for denying cards solely on arrests, and not conviction, of certain crimes.

"We have a more expansive, more extensive system here in Clark County than we do anywhere else in the United States," said Gary Peck, Nevada director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

But Sheriff Jerry Keller told the council his department has a "duty to report to you when a child molester wants a child care job."

Mike Slater, director of the Interfaith Council, who wanted to speak on the item before Goodman limited talk to the television issue, said he is upset that most examples of work cards cited Wednesday involved references to potential cases of child molesters slipping through the cracks.

"It was a disingenuous device to shut down all conversation," Slater said after the meeting.

The council was given several options to address Weekly's concerns, including hearing the appeals in a subcommittee setting or in a separate, nontelevised meeting of the full council.

At one point Goodman recommended "blacking out" the work card appeals on rebroadcast council meetings. The appeals would still take place in council chambers and be broadcast live one time, he said.

But resident Al Gallegos objected to anything on the city's cable channel being edited for content.

"I do not want to have a blackout on anything," Gallegos said.

ACLU attorney Allen Lichtenstein argued that the council should begin to examine the stickier issues of law and policy.

"Maybe the solution isn't to control the television but to examine the process," Lichtenstein said.

Sensing he had few supporters on the council dais for changing how the appeals are heard, Weekly said, "My advice then is to just turn off your television."

With that, the council agreed not to change a thing.

"This is obviously an issue they don't want to deal with at all," Peck said after the meeting. "They seem to not have the courage to acknowledge the system is flawed."