Record salary eyed for county manager

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, June 27, 2001 | 11:11 a.m.

Incoming Clark County Manager Thom Reilly might earn more than all his predecessors if a three-member task force, composed of county commissioners, can persuade colleagues to accept its recommendation.

After a meeting Monday the task force -- Erin Kenny, Chip Maxfield and Mary Kincaid -- will suggest Reilly receive a $193,000 annual salary, county sources said Tuesday.

The salary would be unprecedented for a Clark County manager.

If approved, Reilly -- whose sole experience at the county was a two-year stint as administrative services director -- would make about $30,000 more than outgoing county manager Dale Askew, an 18-year county employee.

"It's outrageous," Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera said when told of the proposal.

Herrera declined to elaborate on why he believes the salary is too high until an item to approve Reilly's salary is placed on Tuesday's commission agenda.

Reilly, 40, was handpicked by the majority of the seven-member commission after Askew was pressured to resign June 6. The board sidestepped a search for a replacement and hired Reilly less than two weeks later.

Although Herrera fully supported hiring Reilly and communicated regularly with him before he was hired, board members Maxfield, Bruce Woodbury and Yvonne Atkinson Gates complained they had been left out of the process.

"I don't believe it," Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said when told of her colleagues' proposal. "I can't believe that."

Neither members of the task force nor Reilly returned phone calls Tuesday. Askew and administrative services director Don Burnette, who also attended Monday's task force meeting, were out of the office.

Aside from his time as right-hand man for former county managers Pat Shalmy and Askew, Reilly has little experience in local government.

He was, however, chief of social services in the state Welfare Division and was an administrator for the state's Division of Child and Family Services. Reilly holds a doctorate of public administration and master's degrees in social work and public administration.

When the commission unanimously voted to hire Reilly June 19, his salary was not discussed. Instead, the board decided to assemble a three-member task force to study the wages of managers in counties comparable to Clark. Askew, 56, earns about $160,000; Reilly's pay would put him well ahead of other government leaders in the valley. A recent pay raise bumped Las Vegas City Manager Virginia Valentine's salary to $167,425. Phil Speight, Henderson's city manager of 12 years, makes $164,406.

The Clark County manager oversees more services than his city counterparts and is also responsible for a population of about 1.4 million people and a budget of more than $2 billion.

In Maricopa County, Ariz., which has a population of more than 3 million, County Manager David Smith makes $169,145, said Maricopa spokesman Al Macias. Smith, who oversees a budget of $2 billion, has been county manager for seven years.