Sunday, Feb. 19, 2006 | 12:35 p.m.
It took more than 18,000 pages of documents for the city of Las Vegas to comply with a records request from the law firm hired to investigate issues surrounding Bill Walters' plan to turn his Royal Links golf course into a residential community.
But it took only a single footnote in a letter from the law firm to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman last week to offer a tantalizing glimpse at what investigators are searching for in the voluminous documents from City Hall.
"We have already discovered several facts and transactions ... that lead us to believe there were other, unreported expenditures of city monies or resources for the benefit of Mr. Walters," the footnote in the Feb. 13 letter said.
Despite that assertion, three months after Attorney General George Chanos launched a probe into possible improprieties concering how Walters acquired Royal Links in the 1990s and his current plan to convert the golf course to a residential development, the investigation still appears to be in its relatively early stages.
From the perspective of Senn Meulemans LLP, the San Francisco law firm hired by Chanos to conduct the investigation, the probe has been delayed by foot-dragging at City Hall in complying with a document request initially made last November.
City Hall officials deny that, emphasizing that it took the city clerk's office 170 hours to assemble the 18,000 pages turned over to Senn Meulemans last week.
Walters, for his part, says it is Senn Meulemans that has a vested interest in dragging out the investigation, because of a state contract that will pay the firm up to $265,000.
"We have not received any communication from (Senn Meulemans) in over three months, so I have no idea what they're looking for," Walters said.
The Las Vegas City Council last year approved Walters' request to lift a deed restriction on Royal Links - which limits the land's use to a golf course - to clear the way for a residential development, which also would require county approval. After Chanos announced the investigation, however, the council rescinded its approval pending completion of that study.
When completed, Senn Meulemans' report will be forwarded to Assistant Attorney General Randal Munn, who then will decide whether any civil or criminal prosecutions are warranted.
"There has not been a deadline to complete the report," Munn said. ''We all believe it will take several more months."
A Nov. 29 letter from Chief Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner to Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic, made public Thursday, sheds considerable light on the wide-ranging extent of the inquiry. In the letter, Gardner laid out an expansive request for city documents.
"The documents sought would include all documents related to the property in the possession of the City Attorney's Office, dating from 1996 to present," Gardner wrote.
Gardner's list included all City Council agendas related to the property over the past decade, along with all leases, management agreements and appraisals; all engineering and public works reports, environmental studies and soil reports dealing with the property; all documents concerning the city's water agreement with Walters; records from a 1997 city investigation of the property, and all documents related to Walters' request to lift the deed restriction.
The Royal Links investigation was sparked in part by a July memo that then-assistant city attorney John Redlein wrote to Jerbic.
In the letter, Redlein alleged that in the late 1990s, then-public works director Richard Goecke violated city bidding protocols, giving Walters an edge over competitors in his effort to secure the lease for the land that would eventually become Royal Links Golf Club.
Redlein also alleged that Goecke, who retired from his position in September, also violated other city procedures that benefitted Walters after he won the lease from the city in 1997.
Goecke has denied any wrongdoing. Redlein was later demoted to deputy city attorney, though city officials said the demotion was unrelated to the memo.
A Metro Police investigation conducted last summer found that "Goecke did commit acts which were likely criminal in nature." But the report said legal action was not possible because the statute of limitations had expired.
The police report, authored by Detective Joe Kelley, cited two occasions when Goecke had dinner with Walters and other times when Goecke played golf at Walters' facilities on a comp basis. It also noted that a wedding reception for Goecke's daughter was held at Walters' Desert Pines Golf Club.
But the report concluded that there was "no compelling evidence related to the request for the removal of the deed restriction which would establish probable cause to believe that political corruption existed between the relationship of Dick Goecke and Billy Walters or any other city employee."
Chanos, though, called for a new investigation after the police report and Redlein's memo were reported in the news media.
Senn Meulemans, Assistant Attorney General Munn explained, "is going to look at what has been done by any previous investigation to make sure that no stones are unturned."
Steve Kanigher can be reached at 259-4075 or at [email protected].
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