Plan to revamp county announced

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2001 | 9:47 a.m.

Hoping to improve services and cut costs, Clark County Manager Thom Reilly this morning unveiled a new plan to consolidate divisions and allocate vacant positions to departments with the greatest customer demands.

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 spent three months reviewing county operations.

One recommendation that Reilly has already acted upon is to hire a third assistant county manager. Reilly extended an offer to Catherine Cortez, a former chief of staff to Gov. Bob Miller, last week. Reilly declined to comment on whether Cortez will take the job.

The third assistant would oversee court and justice functions. Positions that would go unfilled because of the new oversight would save the county about $529,000 a year, Reilly estimated.

Also under the task force's recommendations, the Human Resources Department would 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 director position, which was left open when Earl Hawkes retired in July, will also be eliminated to save money. The division will be consolidated with Real Property Management.

To eliminate duplication of responsibilities, the purchasing and contracts for General Services will shift to the Finance Department.

As the county's population has exploded, responsibilities of some departments have changed. For example, the Parks and Recreation division isn't only about coordinating activities -- it has expanded to park design and outreach services.

Reilly held off on hiring a new Parks and Recreation director after Glenn Trowbridge's retirement last summer because he first wanted to clearly identify the role of the department.

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.

Aside from consolidating departments, the county will shift employees around to help short-staffed departments, create incentive-based programs and increase citizen participation in the budgeting process.

The six-member committee that came up with the recommendations included former county Administrative Services Director Terry Murphy, former county Finance Director Guy Hobbs, R&R Advertising's Dale Erquiaga, former Chamber of Commerce boss Bob Forbuss, lobbyist Rose McKinney-James and businessman Jeremy Aguero.