Official quits before he starts

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2003 | 8:57 a.m.

North Las Vegas' newly hired Development Services Department director has quit before he started, and the second in command and acting director is retiring, the city announced Tuesday.

The city will fill both of those positions, city spokeswoman Brenda Johnson said. But the department could have a different name when that happens.

City Manager Gregory Rose is proposing to change the name of the Development Services Department to the Planning & Zoning Department, the city statement said. In addition to the name change, Rose is proposing moving the building inspections division from Development Services to the Public Works Department.

"These changes would result in centralizing most land development inspections under one department and better reflect the focus of the new department," the city statement said.

The proposed changes would have to be approved by the City Council, Johnson said.

The proposals "are a result of news that the recently recruited director of Development Services, Lehman Walker, decided not to accept the job, and the current acting director, Steve Baxter, has announced his retirement, effective Jan. 6, 2004," the statement said.

Walker would have replaced former Development Services Director Donna Kristaponis, who resigned in September.

Since September, Baxter, the planning manager, has been acting director of the department. Baxter, 60, said he plans to travel after his retirement.

Walker, most recently a planning and development department director in University City, Mo., was to start work with North Las Vegas on Monday with an annual salary of $110,000.

In a letter to the city, Walker complained that he was treated poorly during the recruitment process and never received budget and staffing information he had requested. Johnson denied the claims.