Guinn alters look of administration

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Carol Jackson, director of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation and the highest-ranking black female in state government, and state Prison Director Bob Bayer, who was praised last year by Gov. Kenny Guinn, are being bounced in an administration shakeup.

Guinn also announced that Donald Denison, chairman of the state Parole Board, is retiring.

In a game of musical chairmen, the governor named these state officials to the posts:

Guinn said he's been impressed by the work of Florence and Crawford.

"I feel it's time to move them into positions where their exceptional talents can best benefit the people of Nevada." He also praised Wyett as being "capable and dedicated."

Jackson of Las Vegas has been director of the master employment agency since it was created in 1993.

Her office oversees the divisions of employment security, rehabilitation and the jobs training office, and she started a "one-stop shopping concept" to put the services together to help the client.

She was involved in controversy recently when she fired Stan Jones, the long-time director of the state Division of Employment Security shortly before Christmas and with little notice.

Bayer has headed the prison system during a time of great expansion, including overseeing the development of a Nevada's first full-scale venture into contracting with a private firm to run the prison for women in North Las Vegas. And a private medical firm is providing the health care for inmates at the prison in Ely.

In his 1999 State of the State message to the Legislature, Guinn praised Bayer for his plan to accelerate completion of the High Desert prison near Indian Springs and shifting inmates from the prison at Jean in an effort to free up space.

The new prison should be completed in September and the Jean prison space will be available for lease or for other agencies.

Florence, who takes over from Jackson, has been welfare administrator since 1993 and before that was director of the state Health Division. She has directed the biggest change of the public assistance program in Nevada history, cutting back the number of recipients from 42,703 in 1995 to 16,421 last month.

Guinn said Florence is "crucial to the state's very successful welfare reform efforts."

She's also been responsible for the NOMADS project, the overhaul of the welfare computer, which started out as a $22.6 million project to be completed by 1995.

NOMADS is now over the $100 million mark and may be completed by this October. The governor said her handling of NOMADS "demonstrated her dedication to solving complex problems."

Florence will also continue managing NOMADS until the system is fully functional, the governor said.

Crawford has 32-years experience in criminal justice with 18 of them as warden of male, female and juvenile facilities. She served four years as corrections administrator for the city of Las Vegas, developing a detention center that was the first city jail in the United States to receive national accreditation.

She will be taking over a system with seven prisons and more than 8,000 inmates.

The priorities, Crawford said, are to ensure public safety, have safe institutions for staff and inmates and conduct operations that are constitutionally sound.

Wyett, 58, has more than 25 years experience in the criminal offenders field and will be returning to the Parole Board where he previously served.

Wyett was the first black highway patrolman in Northern Nevada and the first black parole and probation officer in Northern Nevada. He previously served on the Parole Board before being named as administrator of the Parole and Probation Division. He later resigned from that position.