County manager picks third assistant

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said today that with commissioners' blessing, he hopes to hire Catherine Cortez-Masto, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, as his third assistant manager.

Cortez-Masto, former chief of staff to Gov. Bob Miller, accepted Reilly's offer to fill the newly created third assistant county manager position. The attorney, who is also the daughter of Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President Manny Cortez, will earn $130,000.

"She has a breadth of experience in local, state and federal government," said Reilly, who hopes the commission will ratify his recommendation Nov. 6.

Reilly's announcement came with the unveiling of a bevy of structural changes to the county, including the elimination of one division and the consolidation of several others.

Reilly, who proposed the "Organizational and Resource Review Project" shortly after he was hired as county manager in July, relied on a six-member task force that took three months to review county operations.

The third assistant county manager position was created to oversee courts, Family and Youth Services and the new Welfare Division. Reilly said 60 percent of the county's $3.2 billion budget is spent on those services.

"It's an enormous investment for Clark County," Reilly said.

Even by adding Cortez-Masto's salary, Reilly said, the county will save about $530,000 a year because of the major changes announced this morning.

Reilly, who eliminated four managerial positions and two senior analysts, emphasized that the jobs were vacant and nobody was fired.

Under the task force's recommendations, the Human Resources Department will merge with Administrative Services. The Finance Department would take over record-keeping for Human Resources.

Reilly said the Human Resources department-head position -- which was vacated by Beverly Glode last summer -- would be eliminated as well as two other vacant jobs.

The General Services Department, which included the automotive, business development and contract and purchasing divisions, will be eliminated. Those responsibilities were transferred to the Real Property Management division. General Services' purchasing and contracts responsibilities will be shifted to the Finance Department.

The role of the county's Parks and Recreation Department will also change and include not only park activities, but park design and community outreach programs.

The reorganization plan calls for Parks and Recreation to consolidate with community outreach programs. Neighborhood Services, Animal Control, the Neighborhood Justice Center and Community Resources will become part of Real Property Management.

The new division will adopt a new name, which, like many of the details related to the reorganization effort, have not been determined.

"I made the decision to merge these departments, the details will be discussed by the departments involved," Reilly said.

Aside from consolidating departments, the county will shift employees around to help short-staffed departments and create incentive-based programs. Reilly also plans to establish a "one-stop" system so that public works, planning and building officials work together.

Reilly said residents are also involved in the changes. He hopes to increase citizen participation in the budgeting process.

"We have a $3.2 billion budget," Reilly said. "That's quite a bit of money and it's incumbent upon us that people understand what we do with our budget."