Goodman says council has 2 distinct choices for auditor

Erin Neff

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he believes the City Council has a choice about what kind of internal auditor the city should hire based on two styles of management exhibited by the finalists for the position.

Members of the council's Audit Oversight Committee met Tuesday to interview the two finalists for the position that has been vacant since March 1997.

K. Radford Snelding, internal auditor in Shreveport, La., and Phillip Cheng, the city's acting internal auditor, were the two candidates interviewed for the post.

"The choice now is do they want somebody who's more of a policeman, like the gentleman from Shreveport, or do they want an evaluator, like Mr. Cheng is," Goodman said Thursday at his weekly press briefing.

Rick Anderson, the city's Human Resources manager, said both candidates performed well in Tuesday's interviews.

"Phillip certainly is a known entity, and he's done good work here," Anderson said. "Snelding was in an entirely different type of political arena in Louisiana and even had to testify at one point against one of this councilmen."

Audit committee members Goodman and former City Councilman Scott Higginson interviewed each candidate as current Councilman Michael Mack observed.

Audit committee chairman Bill Martin and committee member Connie Lentz also interviewed each candidate.

"They both have different strengths," Goodman said. "Phillip Cheng is used to the way the council does business. The other man appears to be much more of an enforcement type gentleman."

Anderson said the audit committee will soon schedule a meeting at which it will decide which candidate to recommend for appointment. The City Council can either accept the committee's recommendation or make its own choice.

Goodman downplayed concerns about Cheng's residency status.

Cheng, a Canadian citizen, is legally registered with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to work in the United States, under terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

NAFTA allows auditors and other financial officers exemption from immigration rules provided they remain gainfully employed in the United States.

"He has to supply a letter each year to INS from his employer saying he's a senior internal auditor," Anderson said.

The letter is considered routine, he added.

Goodman said he saw no conflicts of interest with Cheng's candidacy in light of the letter. Some have questioned whether Cheng can independently examine the city manager's office since that office writes the letter to the INS for him.

"I have no concerns," Goodman said.

Cheng was added to a list of four finalists identified in a national search for city auditor at the request of Councilman Michael McDonald during an audit committee meeting in January.

Cheng was not considered in the top tier of candidates based on his experience during preliminary screening by the city's human resources department.

The auditor position has been vacant since Susan Toohey was fired without reason amid allegations surrounding a number of internal audits that were not made public. She later filed a $2.8 million wrongful termination lawsuit, which has yet to be resolved.