Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 | 11:23 a.m.
Assemblyman Wendell Williams has to repay Las Vegas for more than a month's worth of salary after city officials questioned the time he worked during the legislative session this year.
Williams, who works as an administrative officer in the Neighborhood Services Department, will repay $6,765 for salary he collected this year.
In an agreement signed by Williams on Sept. 24, Las Vegas will deduct $290 each pay period until the debt is paid off. Williams makes $43.42 an hour, according to the city.
Williams had been paid for 736.5 hours through Aug. 2 this year. According to a document showing Williams' "amended time sheets," that number was reduced by 208.5 hours -- slightly more than five weeks of time.
City documents show that time was changed from work hours to leave without pay.
Williams is serving a two-week suspension without pay for charging $1,844.38 in personal calls on his city-issued cell phone. He is paying that money back by having $70 deducted every pay period.
City spokesman David Riggleman said the time sheet issue was not the cause of the suspension but had an effect on the city's action. He said city officials felt they took appropriate action on both the cell phone issue and Williams' time sheets. He would not comment on any further disciplinary action.
Riggleman said Williams and Neighborhood Services Director Sharon Segerblom disagreed over Williams' time.
"Wendell was of the opinion that he was justified in those hours. His director felt he was not," he said. "They had finally agreed to come in and adjust his time sheets."
Riggleman said there were questions about the number of hours Williams submitted and the productivity seen by city officials.
He said the city will allow employees to amend time sheets if the city has overpaid them.
"It creates an opportunity for the city to recover money the city was owed," Riggleman said.
Segerblom was unavailable for comment. Attempts to reach Williams were unsuccessful.
Williams, the Assembly speaker pro tem, was paid for hours during the Legislature's regular session and two special sessions. It was unclear when or how he worked those hours. City officials have said he could have worked on weekends or during time off from the session.
The Legislature's regular session ran from Feb. 3 through June 2. The Legislature met in two special sessions in June and July.
The Assembly met for 96 days this year, although committees and leadership met on days the Assembly wasn't in session.
Riggleman said Williams would "conduct legislative business during the heart of the week and then try to do work on Saturday to get caught up on city work."
"In this day and age of cell phones he can say he was working on city projects while he was up in Carson City," Riggleman said. "I think that's in fact what occurred."
In his weekly news conference on Thursday, Mayor Oscar Goodman refused to wade into the Williams controversy saying, "I cannot get involved in personnel issues. This is being handled completely by the manager's office."
Goodman added that the city strives "to maintain uniformity in sanctions" and that staffers offered to tell him the punishment but that he demurred lest he be accused of being "a source of a leak to the press."
Former Goodman aide William Cassidy was suspended for a month without pay in 2000 and ordered to repay $1,686 for personal calls made on a city cell phone.
Another case regarding time sheets is being prosecuted by the attorney general's office. Two University of Nevada, Las Vegas police officers racked up $2,000 and 82 hours of time they never worked, according to attorney general prosecutors.
Clark County District Attorney David Roger would not comment on Williams, but he said in cases such as these intent is always a factor. He said submitting timecards for hours not worked can be considered a gross misdemeanor.
"The charge would be obtaining money under false pretenses," Roger said Thursday. "The crime has already been committed once they submit a receipt for payment."
Williams agreement to repay the city for salary he collected is the latest conflict for him.
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