Las Vegas doesn’t question Williams’ time cards

Erin Neff

Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

Assemblyman Wendell Williams got paid for close to 300 hours of city work by Las Vegas while the 2003 Legislature was in session.

City officials said Thursday they had no reason to believe Williams was dishonest in filing time cards or to question the more than $12,000 in pay he received for hours worked between February and July.

While city officials are reviewing Williams' use of a city-issued cell phone during the Legislature to determine if disciplinary action is warranted, officials are not reviewing the Democratic Assemblyman's time cards.

"I have no reason to believe he was untruthful," said Sharon Segerblom, the city's Neighborhood Services director and Williams' supervisor.

Williams works as an administrative officer for the Neighborhood Services Department, making $43.42 an hour when his longevity pay is included in his salary.

Segerblom said it was her belief that Williams worked "on Fridays and Mondays when the Legislature was not in session."

She also said that Williams may have worked weekends, and that since he worked out of a city satellite office during the Legislature, she could not verify when Williams was at work.

"There's never a record that anyone's in the building," Segerblom said, referring to City Hall. "I would assume he was at work because he turned his time cards in."

Segerblom said Williams worked on the department's programs for felons returning to work and also was part of an integrated service team which works with other city departments in blighted areas.

"As far as I was concerned, I felt like I was getting a work product," Segerblom said.

Since the neighborhood outreach center where Williams had worked was closed by the city this month, Williams has been working out of the department's main office in City Hall.

He called in sick Thursday and did not return phone messages left at his home. Williams has been unavailable for comment to the Sun since Friday.

Segerblom said that if anyone is examining the time cards, "it should be Mr. Williams."

Mayor Oscar Goodman said Thursday that Williams' work for the city during the legislative session "crystallizes the issue" of whether public employees should be able to serve in the Legislature.

He also said his initial response to the planned initiative petition seeking to bar public employees from such service is that public employees should "probably not" serve.

A summary of Williams' bi-weekly time sheets shows that Williams used a combination of vacation, holidays and leave without pay to fill out the 80-hour pay period.

For example, for the two weeks ending April 30, Williams said he worked 30 hours, used 16 hours of vacation time and 34 hours of leave without pay.

In the time between special sessions of the Legislature when many lawmakers remained at home, Williams logged more hours worked and fewer leave and vacation hours.

For example, for the two weeks ending June 21, Williams said he worked 52 hours, and filed 8 hours sick time and 20 hours of leave without pay.

City Manager Doug Selby is examining whether disciplinary action is warranted against Williams for $1,844 worth of personal calls made on his city-issued cell phone, officials said.

Williams entered an agreement Wednesday to have $70 deducted from his paycheck per two-week pay period until the $1,844 is reimbursed.