Ethics complaint filed over site for auto dealership

Diana Sahagun

Tuesday, June 26, 2001 | 11:01 a.m.

A complaint filed with the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board Monday alleges that Councilmen Michael Mack and Larry Brown attempted to broker a deal between a businessman and a northwest land owner.

Frank Maione, hired by John Staluppi Jr. to be the general manager and a partner of two car dealerships Staluppi was planning to open, filed the complaint, which is similar to one filed against Councilman Michael McDonald last year.

In Monday's complaint, Maione argues that the councilmen created a conflict of interest by attempting to broker a deal between Staluppi and Joe Scala, who owns land in the northwest pegged as the site for an auto village.

Staluppi last week filed a separate complaint, which asks a District Court judge to reverse a decision by Councilmen Lawrence Weekly, Gary Reese, Mack and Brown to deny Staluppi's application for a car dealership. Mayor Oscar Goodman and McDonald, citing conflicts of interest, recused themselves from the June 6 vote.

Attorney Anthony Sgro, who is representing Staluppi and Maione, said he plans this week to file a lawsuit against the city of Las Vegas, Mack and Brown seeking monetary damages.

Maione and Staluppi say they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars when the dealership was not approved.

Staluppi was trying to open his dealership on a commercial parcel on Rancho Drive near Santa Fe Station. The ethics complaint says Staluppi and Maoine were assured by Mack that the project would be approved. But when Staluppi appeared before the council June 6 for a routine site plan review, the members voted down the dealership, saying it did not conform to the Town Center master plan.

The plan, adopted in 1996, requires all commercial uses, including car dealerships, to be located in one area near U.S. 95 and Centennial Parkway.

Nothing prohibited the dealerships from opening in other areas, however. To resolve that, Mack proposed a new ordinance that would require all new car dealerships to open in a proposed auto village, in which Scala and two others own more than 100 acres.

Both councilmen say their votes had nothing to do with personal interest, but rather with maintaining the integrity of Town Center.