Williams’ City Hall colleague placed on leave

Sito Negron

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003 | 11:26 a.m.

Another employee in the city of Las Vegas Neighborhood Services Department has been placed on leave, becoming the third person in that office ordered away from work this week.

Officials Wednesday confirmed the on-leave status of Senior Planner Michael Chambliss, but could not talk about why or whether it was connected to the ongoing audit of work performed by Chambliss co-worker in Neighborhood Services, Assemblyman Wendell Williams, or Williams' supervisor, department Director Sharon Segerblom. Both are on administrative leave this week.

City of Las Vegas Communications Director David Riggleman said Chambliss is a union employee, and as such he is subject to different rules than Williams and Segerblom, who both are in positions that are not covered by collective bargaining.

He said Chambliss' leave was part of a "potential disciplinary issue, but no discipline has occurred." He said an investigation is under way by Chambliss' supervisor, Planning Manager Stephen Harsin, who was not available for comment.

Chambliss, contacted Wednesday at his home in the Scotch 80s neighborhood, declined to comment.

Representatives of the Las Vegas City Employees Association also said they could not comment on the matter.

Chambliss, who started with the city in 1985, makes $77,958 a year, according to figures provided by the city. He is a senior planner in the department, which has about 75 employees and handled $36 million in fiscal 2004, $6.8 million of it from the city of Las Vegas general fund.

The department is being run by Harsin in Segerblom's absence, said Las Vegas City Manager Doug Selby.

"I think the department is on track. My concern is for the morale and well-being of the employees there in that department," said Selby. When asked about the effect of missing three top employees, including the director, he said the department was functioning well: "We have good employees there and they're taking care of business."

Chambliss previously worked with Williams in a Neighborhood Preservation Office in West Las Vegas. The office was closed, and Williams and Chambliss were based at City Hall and reassigned to community outreach positions at the beginning of September.

In articles from early September, Segerblom said the office was not getting enough traffic to justify keeping it open.

Besides working as an office-mate with Chambliss, Williams also pushed to secure a $250,000 state appropriation for a group called Fighting AIDS in our Community Today, FACT. The funding was to go toward for outreach, testing, counseling and dissemination of information on HIV/AIDS.

The not-for-profit group, for which Chambliss serves as chairman of the board, ran into some controversy when it proposed to spend half the amount on a gospel festival. He said the idea was to produce a self-sustaining annual event, and he invited scrutiny of the group's books.

As of late September, Chambliss was president of the group and the treasurer was Franklin Simpson, who also works at City Hall and whose address on FACT's IRS filing is one of several homes owned by Chambliss, according to Clark County assessor records.

Chambliss said there were no financial ties between the group and Williams.

Meanwhile, in the review of time cards filed by Williams while he was serving in the 2001 Legislature, the city auditor said he's still working to complete a report.

Radford Snelding said there will be a review process before it's completed, and that process has not yet begun. He said while he's briefed Mayor Oscar Goodman on the audit, it's been oral only, and no documentation had been given to Goodman as of Wednesday evening.

The auditor's review is to be done sometime this week, Goodman said last week. The review was to assess time cards filed by Williams and Arberry, Democratic Party legislators in the Assembly who worked for the city in 2001, Goodman and others said. Arberry, who also worked in Neighborhood Services, left the city's employ in early 2002.

The review is one of two established by the city after news accounts regarding Williams' time cards. The first, performed by the city manager's office, concluded that the city ought to consider firing Williams and Segerblom, his supervisor, for their mishandling of his leave and sick time.

That inquiry, led by Segerblom's supervisor, Deputy City Manager Betsy Fretwell, and questions that developed regarding time cards from 2001, led to the second review by the auditor.

Fretwell's inquiry reviewed Williams' allegations that he was forced to change his 2003 time cards -- for which he ended up agreeing to pay the city back $6,700 -- because of pressure from his bosses. The report said that was not so, and that Williams and Segerblom did not follow procedure to note leave and sick time.

Williams also had charged that his 2003 time cards were forged. Fretwell found that Chambliss had signed some of Williams' cards, which were faxed back to the city while Williams was serving in the Legislature. City officials said at the time that Chambliss was merely trying to ensure his co-worker got paid, and no discipline would be meted out.

During inquiries into the 2003 time cards, the Sun learned that in 2001 Williams billed the city for 527.5 hours of work time between Feb. 3 and June 23, a period when the Legislature would be meeting. In addition, he billed 208.25 hours of sick time, 112.25 hours of vacation time, and 32 hours of holiday time in that period. He received $32,014 at an hourly rate of $38.36.

Arberry noted 1,040 hours in 2001, including 190 hours of sick time, in a similar time frame.