Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Former recorder wants back pay

Former Clark County Recorder Judith Vandever, despite an illness she said required her to spend months out of the office last year, is asking the county to pony up back pay because she never called in sick.

Vandever told county officials last year that she had serious health issues and could not come to her office at the county's government building. Despite the absences, the former recorder, who formally left office earlier this month, has submitted a claim to the county for eight years worth of sick days that she says were never taken, county officials said.

Vandever, an elected official who relinquished some day-to-day supervisory duties to employees in the office last year, did not return phone calls to her home this week.

Assistant County Manager Rick Holmes said the county receives thousands of such claims in the course of regular business. Vandever's is one of them.

"We will review the claim," Holmes said. "It's in the status of being submitted, reviewed and sent back (to Vandever)... It has to be a valid claim."

He said issues of how long Vandever worked and how much time she was out of the office will be a part of the review process. Holmes said he did not know how much the claim would cost the county.

If there is a dispute over the validity of the claim, the seven Clark County commissioners would ultimately decide the issue, he said.

"I wouldn't say there's anything necessarily wrong in what Judy submitted, but we haven't made any payment," Holmes said.

County officials, who asked not to be identified because they are unsure of the confidentiality restrictions involved in the issue, said Vandever never submitted paperwork documenting her sick time away from the office, but such documentation would not customarily be expected from an elected official such as a county recorder.

In May the county's district attorney explored filing an "abandonment" complaint against Vandever for her absence. Vandever never warned the county manager's office that she planned to take medical leave and did not inform administrators who would oversee the office in her absence. Vandever decided to retire and not run for office again later in the year.

Recorder Frances Deane, a former mortgage banker, won her campaign for the position last November after Vandever bowed out. Deane declined comment on Vandever's sickness or sick-leave issues.

In August the County Commission voted to submit a bill draft request to the Legislature to do away with the county recorder job, as well as public administrator, in 2009. Both jobs pay $72,000 a year.

County policy allows employees to be paid for sick days that are never used.

Former Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera, who tangled with Vandever over the last several years, said he has not heard of elected officials drawing sick pay.

He said his relationship with Vandever was stormy because of legitimate issues.

"She was essentially AWOL for long periods of time," Herrera said. "I took issue with Miss Vandever because of her lack of accountability to her office and to the public she serves."

Vandever told the Clark County commissioners and local media last year that she missed weeks from her office because of illness but worked from home.

Despite a rocky relationship with the commissioners, her staff and some county employees, Holmes said his working relationship with Vandever "has always been very good."

"Every time I needed to reach her on issues, I never had any trouble getting a hold of here," he said. Holmes said he could reach her either at home or at her office.

Others, however, said Vandever did little from either place.

Mary Anne Dawicki, Service Employees International Union local 1107 political director, said she does not believe Vandever can justify her claim for back sick pay.

"The bulk of problems that came up in her department arose because she wasn't there to make decisions," Dawicki said. "I was a rep for the union at the county. If there was an issue with a union member, where we had to sit down and discuss the issue, it would take months to get a meeting because she was so rarely there."

The union and Vandever clashed frequently over conditions for workers in Vandever's office. Problems in the recorder's office created difficulties for other county offices, including the treasurer, assessor, clerk and public administrator, officials said last year.

The recorder plays a crucial role in documenting property ownership, marriages and births.

Dawicki supports making the position of recorder an appointed position, so the office holder is accountable to the Clark County Commission and county manager.

"To me this is the best evidence we have to make these seats appointed," she said.

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