State official says criticism led to firing

Friday, Jan. 12, 2001 | 11:20 a.m.

The state ombudsman designated to resolve disputes between homeowners and their associations said she was fired for publicly criticizing a proposal to eliminate her office.

Mary Lynn Ashworth of Las Vegas, whose position was created by the Nevada Legislature in 1997, said Thursday her firing last Friday occurred the day after her criticism was published in a local weekly news magazine. She has since retained an attorney.

"I was fired for speaking to City Life magazine publicly opposing the elimination of my position," Ashworth said. "I have a meeting scheduled with a representative of the state regarding this subject. Until that meeting occurs I have been advised to say nothing further."

Jack Finn, spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn, said he could not discuss Ashworth's departure because it was a personnel matter.

"The fact that Mary Lynn Ashworth no longer works with the state has absolutely nothing to do with comments to the press," Finn said.

The weekly reported that Ashworth was opposed to a proposal supported by state Sens. Mike Schneider, D-Las Vegas, and Ann O'Connell, R-Las Vegas, to create a commission to resolve disputes between homeowners and their associations. Schneider, author of the ombudsman bill, could not be reached for comment Thursday but was quoted as saying he would retain the ombudsman.

O'Connell said, however, that she favored replacing the ombudsman with the commission because she said the problems confronted by homeowners were too vast for one individual to handle.

"I have more homeowners associations in my district than anyone else in the state," O'Connell said. "We have a lot of people who are abused by associations. Last fall Mike and I held an all-day hearing on those problems and how to solve them. We talked about the concept of a commission with some teeth."

But she added that Ashworth could have been considered as an executive director of the commission and therefore would have remained a state employee.

"We were trying to find a way that people could have due process more quickly than they have now," O'Connell said. "I told Mary Lynn it had nothing to do with her job."

But Phil Testa, president of Justice For Home & Condo Owners in Las Vegas, said Ashworth was "canned" for trying to do her job. He said Ashworth often faced resistance when she attempted to get financial records from homeowners associations, even though the Legislature gave her limited subpoena powers in 1999.

Testa said part of the problem was that the Legislature placed the ombudsman in the state Real Estate Division, which he charged was more sympathetic toward developers and managers of homeowners associations. He said homeowners would have been better served by placing Ashworth in the Attorney General's office under the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

He also said Ashworth was never given enough staff to handle complaints from homeowners, which number 500 to 1,000 a month.

"She could have done much better if she was given full rein," Testa said. "She was scheduled to lobby before the Legislature in February, but she lost her job because she knows where all the bodies are. We're going to try to get her to testify anyway."

Fellow activist homeowner Ted Samules, who lives in the Peccole Ranch master planned community, agreed with Testa that Ashworth "was only allowed to do so much" by her superiors. But Samuels said he did not believe Ashworth was necessarily the best person for the job.

"I would have preferred somebody more knowledgeable with the problems they were getting into," Samuels said. "She came into the job a little green."

Finn said Steve Urbanetti, a management assistant in the Real Estate Division, is serving as the acting ombudsman.

"The services of that office will go uninterrupted," Finn said.

He added that Guinn has not taken a position on the proposed commission, but O'Connell expressed confidence that the idea would be supported by fellow lawmakers during the upcoming legislative session.