LVCVA board gives chief a healthy pay increase

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board gave its president a healthy pay increase Tuesday to bring him up to par with the nation's other top tourism executives.

Authority President and Chief Executive Officer Rossi Ralenkotter was given a $276,000 salary, retroactive to July 3, that includes a 5 percent merit increase and $40,000 performance bonus.

The salary maintains Ralenkotter's status as one of the highest-paid individuals in the state who works for a tax-supported agency. The majority of the agency's revenue comes from hotel and motel room taxes.

His salary the prior fiscal year -- his first as president -- was $235,000, which included a $10,000 performance bonus.

Board member Chuck Bowling, executive vice president of sales and marketing for MGM Grand Resorts, praised the "great year" Ralenkotter had in his first year as president.

Fellow board member, North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon, said Ralenkotter's new salary puts him on par with 13 other tourism executives who were surveyed. Montandon said the $40,000 performance bonus, based on Ralenkotter's work from the prior year, was still below the average performance bonus of $54,000 for similar executives.

Ralenkotter, in turn, thanked the board for its unanimous support but gave credit to his staff for his performance.

As part of his annual review, Ralenkotter submitted a memorandum in which he noted that there were an estimated 37.7 million visitors to Southern Nevada in fiscal 2005, a 2.9 percent increase over the prior year.

He also cited the launch of a five-year marketing plan, a 29 percent increase in weekly international flights to McCarran International Airport, the opening of an LVCVA office in Mexico City. And Ralenkotter stated that Las Vegas maintained its status as the nation's top trade show destination for the 11th consecutive year.

Following the salary approval, the board received recommendations to firm up the authority's management of its trademarks, the powers and functions of its legal counsel, its acquisition of property, procurement of goods and services, and its conflict-of-interest policy.

The recommendations came from a special, four-member committee of the board headed by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the authority's board chairman. The committee will meet again next month to refine the recommendations, then bring them back for final approval at the board's Oct. 11 meeting.

A key recommendation is that the authority maintain ownership of its own trademarks, as is the policy followed by other large tourism authorities throughout the country.

That would represent a reversal of an action that occurred in November in which Ralenkotter, without notice to the board or the public, transferred the rights to the popular slogan, "What happens here stays here," to R&R Partners Inc. of Las Vegas, the authority's advertising agency.

That agreement was signed the same day the board gave Ralenkotter authority to assign intellectual property, but board members said they were never told of the agreement with R&R, which had developed the slogan for LVCVA's use.

Ralenkotter has said that the agreement was reached in order to help R&R in a trademark infringement lawsuit the ad agency filed in March 2004 against a California clothier who has sold clothing bearing the slogan, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."

The LVCVA has since joined as a plaintiff in the ongoing litigation, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Reno. A trial date has not been set.

Morrison & Foerster, an international law firm hired by the LVCVA, billed the authority nearly $118,000 to prepare the proposed new policies and investigate the trademark transfer agreement with R&R. The law firm also billed the authority $82,000 through July 31 for litigation expenses tied to the lawsuit against clothier Dorothy Tovar of Placerville, Calif.

"We determined there were best practices that could be adopted as a result of their presentation," Goodman told the board.

"These were not simple concepts and the issues were complex. I think it has been a very worthwhile experience."

Fellow board members saved most of their questions for a committee recommendation that the authority's legal counsel, a position now held by Luke Puschnig, be responsible directly to the board while still maintaining a daily relationship with the authority's president.

The recommendation also would give the board the authority to hire and fire the legal counsel, a power now vested in the president.

Board member Kevin Smith, president of Boyd Gaming Corp., objected to that recommendation because he said it would "create conflicts with management" and did not seem to be the practice followed by private industry.

But Zane Gresham, a partner at Morrison & Foerster, said many large corporations have legal counsel that report to their boards.

"I don't think there will be a substantial difference in the relationship," Puschnig said of his dealings with Ralenkotter. "I don't think there will be any substantial difference in how we act."

In other action, the board:

bu.(c) Agreed to spend $10,150,000 to acquire a 2.13-acre parcel at 750 Sierra Vista Drive from Bingo Apartments LLC, a Nevada corporation managed out of offices in North Hollywood, Calif.

The land, adjacent to entrances into the Las Vegas Convention Center's South Hall, is being eyed as a possible location for a new Metro Police substation or for additional parking for South Hall. According to Puschnig, the property was appraised at a higher value.

/bu.(c) Agreed to give Stars Las Vegas LLC, representing the Las Vegas 51s minor league baseball team, a four-year extension on their lease of Cashman Field. The ballpark is owned and operated by the authority.

The 51s, who are affiliated with Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers, have had a lease that expires on Dec. 31, 2006. The extension will take the lease through Dec. 31, 2010.

The base rent, to be increased by 7 percent annually, will be $246,100 in 2007, $263,327 in 2008, $281,760 in 2009 and $301,483 in 2010. The lease agreement also calls for the LVCVA and the 51s to make annual contributions of $25,000 each to improve the ballpark.

/bu.(c) Agreed to allocate $1 million to local government agencies for recreation facility capital improvements for fiscal 2006.

The grants include $376,942 to Clark County to help fund its Parks Master Plan, including payment of debt related to 1999 park improvement bonds; $315,196 to Las Vegas to help construct Alexander/Hualapai Park; and $134,550 to Henderson for safety and sign enhancements along park trails, Henderson Pavilion improvements and computer equipment for fitness programs.

The board also awarded grants of $98,798 to North Las Vegas to help pay for construction of an off-leash dog park at Willie McCool Regional Park and for turf replacement of soccer fields at Seastrand Park; $38,938 to Boulder City for shade structures at Veterans Memorial Park and Bicentennial Park and renovation of tennis courts at Central Park; and $35,576 to Mesquite for a weight room expansion project.