Kincaid’s ties to facilities boss run deeper than campaigning

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2001 | 11:09 a.m.

Clark County Facilities Manager Bill Barrett has been admonished more than once in the last eight years for helping Commissioner Mary Kincaid with her campaigns for the District B seat.

But keeping Kincaid in office isn't the only connection the county's chief maintenance official and the two-term commissioner share.

Two men employed in Barrett's division as skilled trades workers list Kincaid's home phone number as their own. Kristofer Swan and Daniel Smith were both hired after Kincaid took office in 1997.

Smith was hired by the division in May 1998 and makes about $33,000 annually; Swan was hired in 1999 and earns $31,000 a year.

While Kincaid has reared about two dozen foster children in her North Las Vegas home, she said she didn't raise Swan or Smith. She initially told county spokesman Doug Bradford that the two played with her boys when they were younger and their relationship was "brief."

"Danny was a good friend of my son's," Kincaid said. "He got a job at the county through people he knew there and a year later asked if he could rent a room."

Documents show not only do the two men list Kincaid's home phone number, but Smith listed her address as his own in April 1999 and January 2000.

Kincaid said Smith began renting a room from her in 1998. Swan, a great-great-great nephew of the 62-year-old commissioner who appeared on a campaign flier featuring her extended family, rented a room until he moved in with his mother more than a year ago.

Smith befriended Barrett and supervisor Wally Kosbob when they all worked on Commissioner Myrna Williams campaign in 1998, Kincaid said. Smith was hired in May of that year and tipped Swan off when another position opened in 1999.

Barrett referred all questions to the public information office. Bradford said the men went through the typical application process for the two facilities positions and neither were extended preferential treatment.

According to the human resources division, Smith was hired out of a field of 23 applicants, and Swan was one of 88 applicants. Each named Kincaid as a reference on their resumes.

Skilled trades workers are required to know at least one building trade, but they are not at the same level as a "journey level craft worker," according to a county job description report. They must hold a certificate equivalent to a high school diploma and have at least two years' experience.

A Nevada statute that addresses county officials and their relatives does not address foster children; it applies only to blood relatives and relatives by marriage, according to Mary-Anne Miller, counsel for the commission.

"If someone has concerns, they would look at the ethics codes," Miller said. "It wouldn't violate the terms of this statute."

The fact the two men work in Barrett's department is noteworthy because of the long-term -- and sometimes controversial -- relationship between Barrett and Kincaid.

County administrators launched an investigation into Barrett in 1997 after there were rumors he paid his employees overtime to work on the campaigns of elected officials, including Kincaid.

Though those allegations could never be proven, Barrett was "counseled" by administrators after he was caught on video in August driving his Clark County-issued vehicle and wearing a Kincaid T-shirt.

Facilities employees have claimed over the years that they were directed by Barrett to work on certain commissioners' campaigns.

One county worker, who asked not to be identified because he fears retaliation, said that he was told by a facilities supervisor during Kincaid's first campaign bid in 1997 that he wouldn't be given a full-time position if he didn't assist the commissioner.

"They said if you didn't campaign, you wouldn't get the job," the employee said. "We met at her house for a pep talk about how (Barrett) was going to save the day and we went from there."

After Barrett was filmed in his county vehicle last summer, Kincaid said she was unaware Barrett campaigned for her on county time or with county equipment. The facilities worker said that three years ago Kincaid watched as Barrett loaded campaign fliers and signs into his county vehicle in front of her home.

"I have never seen Bill Barrett or any of his guys bring a county vehicle to my house," Kincaid said. "The only time they came to my house was on Saturdays when they helped walk my precincts."

Kincaid said as far as she knew, the workers volunteered to campaign as they had done for commissioners Williams and Erin Kenny in the past.

According to an ethics complaint recently filed against Kenny, Kenny was convinced Barrett and his employees helped Kincaid move her flower shop on county time using county equipment.

The complaint was filed after Kenny reportedly tried to convince a county employee to break into the government center to find documents backing workers' claims about the flower shop move.

County sources said it was Kincaid who spared Barrett's job after a 1996 incident in which Barrett ordered $120,000 in renovations to be done to a Metro Police substation. The work was done without county approval.

Kincaid said she too hears comments about her relationship with Barrett.

"I haven't decided if they're trying to use me to get at Bill or use Bill to get at me," Kincaid said.

Barrett's division also has been admonished for allowing excess amounts of overtime after it was discovered one manager earned more than $50,000 in overtime pay during two-year period.

It was Kenny who tried to rid the county of Barrett after the police substation was remodeled, according to an affidavit she filed in response to the ethics complaint. Kenny said she tried to "discharge" Barrett for retaliating against employees who declined to do him special favors.