Aviation official quits under threat of being terminated

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.

An Aviation Department official who oversaw the now-disputed appraisals of airport-owned land resigned last week amid swirling questions about the propriety of the transactions.

Project coordinator Keith Kinsey resigned Thursday after airport officials found just cause to fire the county employee for a county statement says was questionable judgment in reviewing the sales of county-owned land to private developers.

County spokesman Erik Pappa, citing confidentiality rules governing personnel records, would not name Kinsey other than to say in a written statement that "one Department of Aviation employee had been recommended for termination based on Phase 1 audit findings."

According to information provided by the county, Kinsey was one of five employees working on the airport's land disposal program in May 2003. Kinsey's supervisor, program administrator Sharon Jolley, has since resigned.

Kinsey no longer works on the program, the document shows. Under the county's collective bargaining agreement, "the employee in question" was notified of the department's intent to move forward with termination proceedings, but voluntarily resigned, the statement says.

Kinsey's resignation came barely a week after Clark County commissioners voted July 19 to recommend the state Real Estate Division launch an investigation into appraiser Tim Morse for his role in several deals between airport officials and land broker Scott Gragson.

Commissioners also voted to suspend Morse from doing any more work for the county until the state's investigation is complete.

On Monday afternoon, Audit Department Director Jerry Carroll was drafting a letter to the state board requesting they investigate Morse, Pappa said. That request is expected to be sent to the state board later this week.

Last month's presentation detailing two transactions involving Morse, who worked for Gragson was the first public report about a thorough review of the deals started in February. A second, more comprehensive report on 91 separate transactions is expected to come before the commission in September or October.

Consultants hired by the county to audit the transactions said Morse, one of five appraisers used by the county to review parcels for sale under a plan to dispose Bureau of Land Management property transferred to the county, did not provide enough information about how he arrived at the land values for auditors to decide if his methods were appropriate.

Metro Police, the Clark County district attorney's office and FBI are also investigating whether the transactions broke any laws. Those findings are expected in another report later this summer.

Commission Chairman Rory Reid said last month that "there were a lot of mistakes (in how the land was appraised) and you have to question whether they were honest."

The allegedly questionable transactions prompted the commission in April to move the handling of all sales of airport-owned land to the county's Real Property Management Department. That was one of 11 sweeping policy changes enacted since concerns were raised over the deals.