Recorder’s office crew not saying too much

Friday, June 16, 2006 | 7:26 a.m.

Go to the end of the hallway that leads to the Clark County recorder's office and there she is, Frances Deane - hunched and half-smiling - frozen and mounted in a framed head shot next to a window decal promising, "Celebrate the Customer."

On Tuesday television crews lined that hallway, cameras primed and microphones poised to announce that Deane had been charged with 19 felony counts, including theft and misconduct by a public official. She is accused of selling about $44,000 worth of documents for personal profit. She posted $20,000 bail on Thursday.

By the time TV anchors broadcast that news, Jill Willis, a manager for the recorder's office, had already contacted employees who sat within camera range and told them they were free to move - to continue working, out of the limelight.

"I was concerned for the staff," Willis said Thursday. "I didn't know if they would be swamped with media. They just get a little embarrassed with all the cameras."

Camera crews have been setting up shop in the recorder's office since March, when news first emerged detailing allegations that Deane was profiting from the illegal sales of county documents, Willis said. Since the allegations, Deane has been in and out of the office. And her staff of about 75 has been the next best thing for journalists looking for news.

Most have made it known to Charles Harvey, assistant recorder, that they do not want to be interviewed, he said.

Some who do talk, however, are adamant about one thing: They don't want to be associated with Deane; any malfeasance would be hers, not the product of their work or a result of their actions. As one staffer, who asked not to be identified, said Thursday, "We don't want to get involved. This is a Fran issue."

Employees are also concerned that TV news reports have given the public the impression that documents were taken from the recorder's office and will never come back. Specifically, one said, a video clip of Metro investigators wheeling out boxes of documents from Deane's office makes it appear that hard copies of county documents were being sold. "If you know our internal operation, you know it's almost impossible to take originals," she said.

Deane is accused of selling so many documents that she couldn't contain them on a compact disk and, instead, had them transferred to a one terabyte drive, according to the criminal complaint.

A second staff member said she first learned of the corruption allegations against Deane in March, when she stood up in her cubicle in the recorder's office and came face to face with a camera crew. Since then, the staffer said, she has gotten accustomed to seeing the cameras when a new angle breaks. She has also made a point of avoiding the television news broadcasts.

"I've tried really hard not to watch it," she said. "The less I know, the less I have to answer."

Concerned that news of Deane's investigation might hurt office morale, managers set aside time during meetings so that employees could ask questions , Willis said.

The only questions employees had? Whether they could decline an interview, Willis said.

If they're not talking to the media, they are cautiously talking among themselves, according to another employee who requested anonymity. She said that everyone is wondering what's next, comparing it to a mystery novel: "What's Chapter 2 going to be like? What's in Chapter 3?"

Recorder employees aren't the only ones who find themselves in the spotlight. The Clark County assessor's office is on the same floor, in the same room, separated from the recorder's staff by a walkway.

Tammy Hansen, who works at the assessor's office, doesn't mind talking about the case, and is mystified by someone such as Deane risking a well-paying job.

"To give up the career she's had," Hansen said, "she's not some dumb. She's plumb dumb."