Complaint sought against Kincaid, Barrett

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2001 | 11:30 a.m.

The close relationship between Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid and facilities boss Bill Barrett raised the suspicions of an ethics review panel, which has recommended a complaint be filed against the county officials.

The two-member Ethics Commission review panel was initially assembled to look at an ethics complaint filed against Clark County Commissioner Erin Kenny.

Included in the complaint, which was filed in November by former facilities employee Gene Smith, was a discussion about Barrett and his crew members campaigning and doing other favors for Kincaid on county time.

"The panel took it up in its deliberations and made some inquiries trying to get a grasp on the total picture," William Flangas, a member of the review panel, said of the decision to expand the investigation.

Flangas said it is up to the eight other members of the Ethics Commission to determine whether to move forward with ethics complaints against Kincaid and Barrett.

"The board does have the authority to file its own complaint," Flangas said.

Smith's ethics complaint was triggered by an August meeting at Kenny's home.

The complaint says Kenny badgered facilities carpenter Bradd Banaszak and Smith to break into the Clark County Government Center in search of paperwork that would prove Barrett's employees helped move Kincaid's flower shop. Kenny, the complaint says, contended the move was done on county time with county equipment.

Kenny wanted the information to help her friend, North Las Vegas City Councilwoman Stephanie Smith, win Kincaid's District B seat in the September primary race, the complaint says. Kincaid eventually won the race.

Neither Gene Smith nor Banaszak was involved in the flower shop move, but each said they have campaigned for Kincaid on county time under orders from Barrett.

"I was there for six years, and it was going on way before then," Gene Smith said of facilities employees campaigning for commissioners.

Kincaid could not be reached for comment this morning, but has recently said she was unaware if any work or campaigning was done on county time. She said she hears comments about her relationship with Barrett periodically, but she does not know the motive of the sources.

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

Clark County spokesman Doug Bradford said Barrett inquired about retirement packages last week.

"He's looked into the voluntary separation program we have," Bradford said.

The chief of the facilities division, which maintains all county buildings, has been at the core of controversy for years. Barrett's outward support of some commissioners is no secret to county administrators.

Barrett was admonished in July after he was videotaped getting into his county vehicle wearing a Kincaid T-shirt and later leaving Beano's Casino still wearing the shirt and driving his car. Barrett was on duty the entire time, county documents say.

"Your actions were clearly a violation of county policy regarding political activity and the use of county-owned property," an August memo to Barrett from his boss Sandy Norskog says.

The memo also says that after a countywide warning from Clark County Manager Dale Askew about political activities, Barrett received two additional reminders when Kincaid campaign fliers were found posted in a facilities building.

Kincaid and Barrett's ties go beyond campaigning.

Two of Barrett's employees have listed Kincaid's home phone number as their own. Kristofer Swan, Kincaid's distant nephew, and Daniel Smith, a childhood friend of her son's who now rents a room in Kincaid's home were both hired by Barrett after Kincaid took office in 1997.

Kincaid said Daniel Smith began working in the facilities division after he met Barrett while campaigning for Commissioner Myrna Williams. He then notified Swan when another position opened, Kincaid said.

Barrett, who has refused to speak to the media, transferred to the county from Metro Police in 1983. His career with the county has been somewhat turbulent during the past five years.

In 1996 Barrett ordered $120,000 in renovations at a Metro Police substation without the required approval from the budget office. He was suspended for five days and his salary was reduced by 2 percent, according to county documents.

In 1998 he was reprimanded for picking up a woman using his county vehicle, violating a policy that says the vehicle must be used for assigned duties only. Barrett was stripped of his county vehicle last year.

Barrett also is in the center of an investigation launched last year by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is looking into shoddy record-keeping that resulted in missing paperwork documenting the disposal of refrigerant. The county could face fines up to $25,000 a day for the last two years if the EPA finds it was willfully neglectful in its record-keeping practices.

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