Tuesday, April 6, 2004 | 9:53 a.m.
An innovative and award-winning assistant director of Clark County's Air Quality Management Department abruptly resigned last week as the department moves through a reorganization.
Air Quality Assistant Director Carrie MacDougall, who began working for the county in 2001, on Monday declined to discuss her resignation, as did county managers. In her three years at the department, the county has made strides in improving air quality and complying with federal standards for fine dust and carbon monoxide.
Last year, the national Air and Waste Management Association awarded MacDougall a fellowship for her work in Clark County. In 2001, MacDougall received an Award of Excellence from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for "outstanding efforts" to control dust pollution. MacDougall's accomplishments include creating a system, called the "MacDougall Method," for calculating dust emissions from vacant land.
MacDougall is the second assistant director at the department to leave within the last three months. Susan Shelby, former assistant director, left in January. The county said Shelby resigned to spend more time with her family.
Air Quality Director Christine Robinson said the resignations are not connected.
"The timing of Carrie's and Susan's departures being so close together was just a coincidence," Robinson said.
Robinson said she could not discuss the circumstances of MacDougall's resignation, but gave her former assistant good marks on the science part of the air-quality job.
"Carrie is an outstanding scientist," Robinson said. "Her technical expertise is stellar. I have never had a question about that."
MacDougall, contacted at her home, also would not comment on the circumstances of her departure.
"I enjoyed the three years I spent working at the county and I believe the air quality improved during that time," she said.
Jane Feldman, an activist with the local arm of the Sierra Club, said she was surprised by the resignation.
"We thought very highly of her," Feldman said. "Carrie's been there a long time and has gone through several changes of senior leadership.
"I always felt that she really did care about the goals there," Feldman said. "I always felt that way about Chris Robinson too."
While MacDougall's resignation leaves two empty positions at the top of the department, Robinson said the county will conduct a national search for at least one of the assistant director jobs. Air Quality compliance manager Robert Foley, who supervises the day-to-day air pollution throughout Clark County, is serving as acting assistant director, Robinson said.
Alan Pinkerton, until February the acting director of the county's Comprehensive (land-use) Planning Department, is now the number two person at Air Quality as a deputy director for Robinson.
The Clark County Commission, which has classified air, land and water quality as a "strategic priority" for county staff, has also merged some of the functions once under Comprehensive Planning into the Air Quality Department.
"We've done a reorganization at the county," Robinson said. "The regional environmental programs are under one roof."
Robinson said the changes in her department will not get in the way of the job to be done protecting air, and now land and water, resources.
"We've made a lot of strides in recent years and we will continue those efforts full force," Robinson said.
Pinkerton, the new deputy director, agreed.
"What's really important to keep in mind is that there are linkages between environmental impacts and the growth in our community," he said.
Robinson and Pinkerton said the department will go to the county commission later this year and request a new name for the agency that better reflects the wider scope of responsibilities.
Developers, particularly, had to deal with several different departments to get approval for their work. Now, those functions, including water-quality protection, habitat preservation and air quality, will be consolidated in one department, Pinkerton said.
"It just makes sense from a company point-of-view," he said. "There's one-stop shopping for all those issues. From a holistic point of view, this just makes more sense."
Monica Caruso, spokeswoman for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, agreed.
"It's all about the environment, so it makes sense to put it under one roof," she said. "Over the years, builders and developers have found they've had to go to more and more different counters and agencies and pay more and more different fees to different people.
"Any time we hear there's going to be some consolidation of various functions under one roof, that's good news for us," Caruso said.
Feldman, who is on a county committee that works on habitat preservation issues and is a member of the recently launched Clark County Growth Management Task Force, said conservationists were aware that the changes were coming. Some feared that issues such as habitat preservation for desert plants and animals would receive short-shrift, but that hasn't been the case, she said.
"It's kind of reshuffling," Feldman said. "I think it's going to be OK."
archive
