Thursday, Sept. 26, 2002 | 10:52 a.m.
Whether Clark County's ratio of white male employees to minorities is due to discrimination or the makeup of Southern Nevada's work force, supporters of both theories support the county's new training program.
Last week, the newly created Office of Diversity named six county departments that will undergo "sensitivity training," the first step in an attempt to diversify staffs.
Figures released by the county this week show a total of 2,399 staff members in the six divisions; 1,533 are white, 405 are black, 273 are Hispanic and 166 are either Asian or Native American. Other groups made up the balance of the staff.
Critics say the ethnic breakdown of county departments has always been off-balance and out of line with the community's available work force.
"The county deserves credit for finally moving forward in an aggressive way to correct an obvious problem," said Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
"Over the past several years we have had scores of complaints from people who work at the county, from people who aspire to work at the county and from people who are simply concerned about what's going on at the county."
Peck's concerns are supported by two recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decisions that found Clark County retaliated against employees because of their association with former county EEO Director George Cotton.
Cotton, who had filed a discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, resigned in November 2001.
On Friday, the commission ruled that Janice Bates was passed up for an office administrative secretary position because of her friendship with Cotton and because she is black. It said George Michael Kilpatrick was overlooked for a job as senior human resources analyst because of his association with Cotton.
The county must respond to the rulings by the end of today.
Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said the claims were made two years before he changed the mission -- and the name -- of the county's Equal Opportunity division.
Rather than reacting to discrimination complaints filed by employees, the Office of Diversity visits divisions to identify problems, offer sensitivity training and develop outreach programs to tap into the community's work force.
"If there does seem to be a disconnect between the work force and departments, we'll explore ways to be more creative and innovative," said Reilly, who emphasized that quotas will not be set. "We need to discuss how the county can reflect the work force out there. That won't occur overnight; strategies have to be put in place."
The six divisions on the county's list of priorities are Comprehensive Planning, the Aviation Department, Development Services, the Fire Department, Juvenile Justice Services and the Public Defender's office.
Not only have questions been raised about the disproportionate number of minorities on county staffs, but also about the level on which they are placed.
According to countywide statistics, 83 percent of the county's administrators are white, 10 percent are black and 4 percent are Hispanic. On the professional level -- mid-range positions -- 77 percent are white, 12 percent are black and 6 percent are Hispanic.
Sixty-nine percent of employees who hold clerical positions are white, 14 percent are black and 12 percent are Hispanic.
According to the 2002 Census, the county's civilian labor force amounts to about 731,000. Of that, 504,717 are white, 55,653 are black, 124,623 are Hispanic, 40,275 are Asian or Pacific Islanders and 5,579 are American Indian.
Explanations vary on why the county's staff does not mirror Southern Nevada's work force.
Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at University of Nevada Las Vegas, believes Southern Nevada's working pool has changed so dramatically it is difficult for any business's staff to perfectly reflect the work force.
Schwer said the level of education also plays into the statistics.
"Under the professional level is education," he said. "A substantially lower rate of blacks and Hispanics complete higher education. Many jobs might have been filled with reference to diversity perimeters."
However, some differentials are more glaring than others. For example, only 61 of the Fire Department's 619 employees are women. And of the Development Services Department's 337 staff members, 17 are black and 22 are Hispanic.
Public Defender Marcus Cooper, whose staff of 113 includes six black investigators or attorneys, acknowledged the selection pool is limited but added that attempts to diversify the division have been meek.
"Prior administrations haven't been concerned about ensuring that we have a diverse office, that it mirrors the demographics of the community," said Cooper, a 24-year veteran of the division who is black.
"When you take into consideration we service a tremendous number of minorities, it's important to have attorneys, investigators here of that ethnicity."
Cotton also blames the prior administration. He said the numbers grew out of proportion, and discrimination complaints began to flood the county in the late 1990s, when the office was placed under human resources. The office became less proactive and more reactive.
"That changed the entire focus," he said. "We reacted to complaints; that's what we were told to do."
Fire Chief Earl Greene's crew of 619 consists of only 61 women. Greene said the human resources division hires for his department, but his staff recruits. Firefighters search for female candidates at fitness centers and visit neighborhoods that are heavily populated with minorities.
"It's important for the community to see firefighters that are like them," Greene said.
While Peck commends the county for being progressive, he scoffed at the notion that keeping up with the work force is difficult because Southern Nevada's demographics change as the valley grows.
"Some seem bent on rationalizing and justifying rather than simply acknowledging there is a problem that needs to be fixed and getting about the business of doing it," Peck said. "It's not helpful for them to try to explain away numbers that are obviously out of whack."
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