NLV agency may have violated law

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 11:02 a.m.

The North Las Vegas Housing Authority, a $14 million agency, did not post an agenda on its Web site as of Tuesday afternoon for a regularly scheduled board meeting today, apparently violating state law.

It is the second time in six months a local housing authority has not posted its meeting agenda online in a timely fashion. The Las Vegas Housing Authority previously failed to do so and was forced to cancel a December meeting to avoid violating the law.

Don England, chief executive officer of the North Las Vegas agency, said the agenda was not posted "because the IT (information technology) guy is in the Marine reserves ... he left Wednesday night (April 6)."

The agenda was posted on the Web site as of this morning, but that appears to be too late to comply with state law, based on the Nevada Attorney General's manual on the law.

Neil Rombardo, senior deputy attorney general, said that if a complaint is made and it is determined that the meeting was held in violation of the law, "we would ask the housing authority to reconsider the items (in the meeting) because they would be void under the law."

The agenda -- sent by fax to the Sun Tuesday afternoon -- includes consideration of an annual audit of the agency.

Rombardo said that if the authority "refused our request, we would either have to write a reprimand or litigate."

The manual on the open meeting law states that the public should be notified of regular meetings of public agencies receiving taxpayer money by 9 a.m. three working days before meetings occur, in public places and on the Internet if a Web site is available, "unless the public body is unable to do so because of technical problems relating to the operation or maintenance of its Web site."

England said Tuesday the absence of his staff member was a "technical problem." He did not return calls seeking comment this morning.

Kent Lauer, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, said the absence of a staff member "certainly doesn't qualify as a technical problem."

"Giving adequate notices of meetings is a critical component of the law and public boards have a responsibility to inform as many people as possible," he said.

The North Las Vegas agency becomes the second local housing authority in six months to run into a problem with posting agendas on Web sites. In December, the Las Vegas Housing Authority cancelled its monthly meeting after the Sun discovered the agenda was not posted on the Internet in a timely fashion.

Rombardo said the question regarding a staff member's absence is "an area that hasn't been touched upon."

"A technical difficulty could include the absence of a staff member if he is the only one capable of maintaining the Web site -- but posting the agenda ... after (the Sun asked about it) does create the impression that they could do it."

Also, he said, with the staff member gone since last Wednesday, the agency appears to have had enough time to obtain assistance in posting the agenda.