Review is tough on air quality agency’s policies, management

Friday, Feb. 23, 2001 | 10:22 a.m.

The Clark County Health District heard a blistering report on past management at the agency's Air Quality Division, as well as proposals to correct the problems and thoroughly restructure the division.

The review of the division, which enforces air pollution rules throughout the county and plays a vital role in preventing federal sanctions because of poor air quality, came because of criticism leveled by environmental advocates and policymakers on the state and local levels.

"There are significant management deficiencies in that division," said William Kirchhoff, an analyst working with Ralph Andersen and Associates, a California-based consulting firm.

One of the biggest problems is a "negative organizational culture," Kirchhoff said.

"It is not a happy place," he said. "There is a lack of espirit."

Kirchhoff said the division suffered from a "leadership void at the division head level," "ineffective supervisory practices," "unacceptable employee behavior" and other problems.

The physical space of the division offices are not adequate, and there is no formal records management system, he said.

All of the problems have helped create a "cadre of malcontents" at the agency, Kirchhoff said.

He said the review didn't try to identify what the division does right. There are probably more positive elements than problems at the division, he said.

The analysis does not apply to the new division director, Christine Robinson, who took over management in November. While he didn't name him, Kirchhoff said the problems simmered under former Director Michael Naylor.

Naylor left that position in August, but remains on the Air Quality Division's staff as a consultant. He did not attend the health board's meeting, where the management study was discussed.

Naylor said after the meeting that the review, based on a survey distributed to division employees, didn't separate the different levels of management at the agency.

Those levels include human resources, administration and legal, and the policies that come from the health board, he said.

"When we talk about management, all those are a part of the picture," Naylor said. "Many elements, the director has no control over."

Naylor said as the division director since 1976, he did not focus on the personnel side of the management equation, but on the technical aspects of cleaning up the air.

In 1976 the Las Vegas Valley had more than 100 days designated "unhealthy" under federal clean air standards for carbon monoxide. In the last two years, the valley hasn't had a single violation of that standard, he said.

Naylor has been at the helm during a particularly troubled period. The federal government has required local governments -- particularly the Air Quality Division and the Clark County Comprehensive Planning Department -- to draft and enforce plans to clean up carbon monoxide and fine dust in the air.

At the same time, the two agencies are working to merge the separate enforcement and planning functions into one new agency.

Kirchhoff said that the division has a need for more administrative personnel, but a second study discussed at the health board meeting spoke on a more sweeping reorganization -- the merger of air quality agencies from the county and the health district. "We are not currently meeting the commitments that we have," said Jeremy Aguero, an analyst from Hobbs, Ong and Associates, a Las Vegas-based consulting firm. "We lack the resources to ensure compliance."

He said that the division can ensure compliance at only 10 percent of pollution sources in the county. That doesn't mean those sources don't meet federal, state and local standards, but they might not.

The long-term implications can affect businesses that unknowingly violate pollution laws, and then face potentially stiff penalties, Aguero said.

And if the region doesn't get approved plans in place, the federal Environmental Protection Agency could take over local zoning authority, and the region could face the loss of about $200 million a year in federal highway funding, he told the health board.

Aguero told the board that new employees and more money are needed to do the work at the division -- by 2006, about $5 million more than the $10 million in expected revenues, and 39 new employees added to the 91 employed by the division.

A single new agency, which is probably needed, will need even more money and more employees than the two agencies now in place, Aguero said.