Reilly: Problems are already being addressed

Mathis Winkler

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

Capital management: C+

Financial management: B+

Human resources management: C-

Information technology: C

Managing for results: B

Overall: C+

Source: Government

Performance Project

Clark County officials do a good job managing finances, but could deal with employees better, a national study says.

The Government Performance Project by New York's Syracuse University rates 40 of the nation's largest counties. Clark received an overall C+ grade, putting it somewhere in the middle of the pack in the national study, which was released this morning.

Maricopa County, Ariz., and Fairfax County, Va., topped the list, receiving grades of A-. Nassau County, N.Y., and Allegheny County, Pa., trailed the rest with D grades.

Researchers chose the country's largest counties according to revenue and graded them based on an analysis of surveys completed by county government officials.

Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said his organization's ranking was "not something to be happy with."

Although he praised the overall project as a useful tool in identifying areas that need improvement and engaging residents in government, Reilly said county officials have already addressed several problems raised in the report.

Reilly said he did not come onboard until after the survey was completed. He said he was surprised that researchers raised concerns about issues such as the county's difficulty in hiring top-level officials.

"I don't know where that came from," he said, adding that he has had no problem filling positions.

Michele Mariani, one of the authors of the report, said she understood Reilly's concerns.

"We certainly recognize the fact that (Reilly) was just going into office" at the time researchers evaluated the surveys and interviewed county officials for more information, Mariani said. "It's certainly possible that things have changed."

But she added that some of the people interviewed were still with the county as late as December.

Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said county officials should have chosen a point person to check surveys for accuracy before they were sent to researchers.

"Maybe the staffer who filled that (survey) out just didn't understand the question," she said.

"Obviously we could have done better," Atkinson Gates said, but she added that she felt the county had fared well considering the massive growth and limited funds it has to deal with.

The report's summary found:

"The county's growth hasn't affected its ability to plan and construct infrastructure," Mariani said.

But delays in completing the new regional justice center and a lack of computer equipment to track projects were listed as negatives.

The report also found that the county had to scale back the Las Vegas Beltway project, but Reilly said this never happened, and commissioners consciously decided to scale down the beltway in some areas so it can be completed sooner.

Mariani said a larger-scale beltway originally had been planned according to the information researchers received, but said that it was understandable that the county would try to complete it faster to serve people quicker.

Reilly said the county's information technology department is already working to address these issues.