Friday, Nov. 7, 2003 | 11:39 a.m.
Like the politicians targeted in the federal corruption probe, Clark County staffers waited throughout the day Thursday for the indictments that they knew were coming.
County Manager Thom Reilly released a short, written statement about 30 minutes after federal officials unsealed the indictments and guilty pleas that could ultimately send the majority of the Clark County Commission class of 1998-2000 to jail.
Four commissioners from that commission are facing federal cases. Commission Chairwoman Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, and former commissioners Dario Herrera and Lance Malone were indicted in a political corruption case. Former commissioner Erin Kenny has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the case.
Except for Kincaid-Chauncey, the current commissioners did not comment to the Sun on the indictments on Thursday.
Commissioner Myrna Williams said only that "people are innocent until proven guilty."
Reilly, likewise, said that indictments of Kincaid-Chauncey, Malone and Herrera are accusations, not guilty verdicts. He said the indictments of the elected officials are not good news, but noted that no staff members, current or former, were named in the accusations.
"On behalf of Clark County, we are saddened by the news of the indictments," Reilly said. "I am encouraged by the fact that county staff is not the subject of the investigation or indictment."
He said the focus at the Government Center will remain on the job that the county does every day, and he promised that work will not be affected by the indictments.
"I want to emphasize that the work of the county goes on," he said. "We will not be distracted from serving the citizens of this community, which remains our top priority. In this atmosphere, it's easy to lose sight of efforts to improve our county's quality of life.
"In addition to the everyday kinds of things the county is responsible for -- building roads, improving air quality, providing needed social services, operating an airport and providing for the welfare of abused and neglected children -- major initiatives are either recently completed or underway."
He listed a number of initiatives undertaken by the board since two new members were sworn in last January, among them protecting the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, boosting water conservation and encouraging master planning.
Reilly also touted the county's efforts to tighten ethics rules for commissioners and top county staffers. Recommendations for those rule changes are in front of the Nevada Ethics Commission, which was asked to review the proposals. The county commission could get the rule changes back later this month.
But those rules wouldn't affect allegedly criminal activities such as the ones outlined in the FBI complaint.
Reilly said county staff will not try to block any investigation.
"We will continue to communicate with our citizens in an open and honest manner and cooperate fully with federal authorities," he said.
One issue that the county could have to communicate on would be a new look at the existing county ordinances governing the strip-club trade and other adult uses. The ordinances are the focus of the federal case against those indicted.
County sources said several commissioners are considering reopening the long and often contentious debates over rules governing lap dances and zoning for the clubs because the process of adopting the ordinances was potentially corrupted.
"If the process was affected, the District Attorney would have to take a look at it first," Reilly said. "We would have to take a look at that and start analyzing that."
The indictment also points to county commissioners allegedly trying to improperly influence the building permitting process while Jaguars was under construction.
Clark County Building Division head Ron Lynn said the Jaguars' construction took a lot of his time, but his office did not cut corners on the project.
"Lance Malone called repeatedly on it, but he wasn't a sitting commissioner at the time," he said. "Erin Kenny (who was in office at the time), I don't think she liked me, so we never talked."
He said Kincaid-Chauncey asked him once how the project was going, but Lynn said he did not consider that a request to go easy on the construction project.
Lynn said the volume of calls from Malone, however, "caused me to spend more time on the project."
Malone, he said, alluded to meetings with Lynn's predecessor, Robert Weber, asking for expedited review and approval of the construction project. Those meetings allegedly included Kenny and Malone.
But the efforts did not pay off for the Galardis, Lynn said. Lynn's division at one point stopped construction on the project.
He noted that Jaguars, which opened in June 2002, took longer to construct than the 42-story Palms resort.
"I said it's got to be done properly," Lynn said. "It's got to be done by the books.
"What they did is created certain problems for themselves by changing the design in mid-stream," he said. "We didn't give them any favors."
Reilly said the FBI has told him that they have no evidence of wrongdoing by county staff, including the Building Division, Business Licensing or Liquor and Gaming.
"That doesn't mean the commissioners weren't calling," Reilly said, and it doesn't mean Galardi's representatives did not affect the votes of the county commission.
But the efforts to affect staff behavior, he said, appeared to go nowhere.
"I don't think they were successful," Reilly said. "Clearly, attempting to speed up the process didn't work."
However, since the probe began the county has changed one policy. Reilly said staff members need to be available to commissioners who may have questions about issues.
But when a commissioner begins making frequent calls about one specific issue, the staff member is now required to alert the assistant county manager with responsibility over that department, Reilly said.
"Department heads and staff meet and talk with commissioners all the time and we want that to continue," he said. "When there are repeated phone calls, that will be discussed with us."
Reilly said the staff, commissioners and his office will continue to look at what happened and what might be improved to ensure that no improper influence is applied.
"We'll continue looking at this and continue looking at ways to strengthen the process," he said.
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