Electric company’s power shuffle sorted out

Wednesday, May 22, 2002 | 10:53 a.m.

The naming of former Clark County Manager Pat Shalmy as a new senior vice president of Nevada Power Co. is proving popular even among critics of the embattled utility.

The first impressions following Tuesday's announcement were that Nevada Power finally landed an executive who understands the needs of Southern Nevadans. That is a quality critics said has been lacking since Nevada Power merged into parent Sierra Pacific Resources of Reno in 1999.

"I've known Pat a long time," state Public Utilities Commission Chairman Donald Soderberg said. "He's a strong manager and has a reputation for being straightforward. He will help Nevada Power with two major problems. Management had made a lot of mistakes and did poorly relating to customers and to suppliers. He will help them on both fronts."

Shalmy, 61, will begin work next Tuesday in charge of customer relations and services, government relations and economic development. He will report directly to Walt Higgins, Sierra Pacific chairman and chief executive officer, who was also named president of Nevada Power on Monday.

The job responsibilities of the newly created executive post suggest that Shalmy will be Nevada Power's point man as the utility attempts to repair its tattered public image.

"Pat Shalmy is a very competent guy," state Consumer Advocate Timothy Hay said. "He's had a distinguished record of public service in Southern Nevada. "He understands the community better than much of the management team that was running things for the past couple of years."

Higgins had announced Monday that Nevada Power President Mark Ruelle and three vice presidents were no longer employed, a reaction to the company's shaky financial situation as well as its damaged reputation. But it was a week earlier that Higgins said he contacted Shalmy, whose last job was as director of government and community relations for the Las Vegas law firm Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner and Renshaw.

"In particular, he's got a great track record of running organizations and he's focused on good customer service," Higgins said. "Clearly our Southern Nevada customers are not feeling as good about us as we think they should be. Pat Shalmy brings experience about how things work in Southern Nevada."

It would have been difficult for the utility to have come up with a more politically connected choice than Shalmy. Having served as county manager from 1984 to 1997, Shalmy had one of Southern Nevada's toughest jobs -- having to answer to seven county commissioners -- while also having to guide the nation's fastest growing community.

Shortly after resigning from his county post, he became president of the 7,000-member Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, a position he held until last year. He then joined the law firm but conceded Tuesday that that job was a bit too low key for him.

"I'm one of those people who likes change," Shalmy said. "I like challenges. I'm not a miracle worker and challenges like this take time.

"It's going to take time to deliver what we need to deliver to the customers. It will take time to repair relationships. But yes, you can have positive things happen quickly."

Steve Boss, president of the Nevada Energy Buyers Network, said he believes his commercial clients will embrace Shalmy after having problems communicating with prior Nevada Power management.

"Pat Shalmy is an excellent person to repair Nevada Power's reputation," Boss said. "He's a people person. He's a person a lot of people in the community feel they can talk to."

The selection of Shalmy also had the blessing of Joyce Newman, president of the Utility Shareholders Association of Nevada.

"He's very well thought of and certainly has good connections with the community," Newman said. "I know the company is anxious to do more outreach."