Segerblom will accept offer of new position

Sito Negron

Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2003 | 8:58 a.m.

Sharon Segerblom, former director of Las Vegas Neighborhood Services, will accept the city's offer to work in its Department of Detention and Enforcement as an administrative officer, she and her lawyer said Monday.

Segerblom's new job will begin after the New Year. Until then, Segerblom will take sick time and vacation time for medical reasons, she said. She declined to specify the reasons, saying it was personal.

Segerblom and the city's Neighborhood Services Department were embroiled in months of controversy related to whether her former employee, Assemblyman Wendell Williams, improperly billed the city for work performed while the Legislature was in session, and whether she was culpable.

Two reports -- one by Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell and one by City Auditor Radford Snelding -- indicated Segerblom failed to exercise adequate control over Williams. Segerblom contested those findings, but in the end decided to accept the option of taking a new position within the city instead of going to court.

The position she will take in Detention and Enforcement was created for Segerblom, who said as a former department director she's well qualified for a supervisory job. Her former department handles almost $30 million a year in various grants and programs, she said.

When asked whether she felt it was favoritism to give her another position within the city that allows her to keep her salary of about $125,000 a year, she said: "I don't think it's favoritism to take something I loved so much away from me.

"Justice would have been keeping my job," she said.

She and her lawyer still contend that the system that was set up and allowed by the top levels of the city was the problem, not the lack of supervision attributed to Segerblom by the two reports. Given that, any charge of favoritism is laughable, Segerblom's lawyer, Laura FitzSimmons, said.

"Until you show me another director of a department that the city manager has decided to terminate for no cause, for absolutely no cause, until you show me that, I don't think anybody who knows what happened to her could ever claim this is favoritism," FitzSimmons said.

Williams has alleged that he helped the city pass legislation, and that's at least partly why he received so much city pay during the 2001 and 2003 legislative sessions, as well as a promotion in November 2001.

While the city reports indicated that the system lacked controls and policies regarding how to handle Williams, they either did not address or did not substantiate his allegations. As a result, Segerblom's supporters, and some council members, have questioned whether the reports went far enough and whether the city's response -- Segerblom's demotion and Williams' firing, was fairly aimed.

City Manager Doug Selby said that he's not concerned about the perception of favoritism. He said Segerblom has valuable management experience and will contribute in her new position.

He said the department, which employs law enforcement personnel, has civilian administrators, and her position requires no special training. The position was created by taking a job vacancy from Segerblom's former Neighborhood Services Department and transferring it, he said.

While Segerblom has accepted the city deal, Williams still was formulating his response to being fired by the city. Last week, he requested a hearing before the City Council, which was denied. His lawyer, Larry Semenza, said Monday he and Williams were still looking over documents before deciding on a course of action.

The city is trying to wrap up more than two months of a scandal that developed after the media requested Williams' cell phone records, which showed thousands of dollars in charges. He agreed to pay the city back about $1,800.

After that, pay records showed he received city pay while he was serving in the 2003 Legislature, and when those records were questioned, he agreed to pay back the city about $6,700.

That led to scrutiny of Williams' 2001 time cards, which showed he and Assemblyman Morse Arberry, then his Neighborhood Services Department supervisor, collected city pay -- including sick time -- while serving in the 2001 Legislature. Williams took 208.25 hours of sick time while the Legislature was in session in 2001, and Arberry took 80 hours of sick leave during a time period in which he attended legislative meetings.

The city has not said whether it plans to seek repayment for the payments made to Williams and Arberry in 2001.