Airport contractor lands McCarran chief

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

Airport boss Randy Walker's new job will likely keep him involved with the airport he has managed for nine years, working for a company that has received contracts at McCarran International Airport and that already is expected to bid on a new airport planned in the Ivanpah Valley.

Walker, the director of Clark County's Aviation Department, which oversees McCarran and other county-owned airports, plans to resign Jan. 31 to take a job as vice president and Las Vegas area manager with architectural and engineering firm Carter & Burgess.

Walker has overseen tremendous growth at McCarran, from 19 million passengers in 1990, when he was hired as deputy director of aviation, to more than 44 million passengers last year. The airport is now the fifth-busiest in the nation and is regularly ranked as one of the most customer-friendly.

Also under Walker's watch, Carter & Burgess received several no-bid contracts for work at McCarran and the county-owned North Las Vegas Airport.

Since 2000, Carter & Burgess has received contracts from the aviation department totaling at least $11.8 million, airport officials said Monday. Of that, the biggest single project was a $7.6 million award in March to design roadwork connecting the Las Vegas Valley to the proposed Ivanpah airport.

Of engineering firms that have performed work for the aviation department over the past five years, Carter & Burgess' payments rank third-highest, according to aviation department documents.

Most local engineering firms have worked with the airport, Walker said.

The aviation department is not required by state law to seek bids on its projects, Walker said.

"Sometimes we send out a request for qualifications, but generally we just go negotiate with firms. It just depends on who's got the staff available to do the work we need."

Locally, the Fort Worth, Texas-based, Carter & Burgess also has developed a 37-acre, 10-building site for the Regional Transportation Commission's bus maintenance facility and helped design a three-mile stretch of the Las Vegas Monorail and five passenger substations. The firm also helped construct Mandalay Bay.

Walker, 53, said he expects Carter & Burgess will be interested in future work on the Ivanpah airport.

Walker has been a strong advocate of the proposed airport, needed because McCarran is expected to reach capacity by about 2011.

County ethics rules require a 12-month cooling-off period for former employees, which means that Walker cannot "represent or act for others before Clark County government" until 2008.

The veteran administrator, who earned about $190,000 annually in the airport post, said the timing of his resignation announcement - one day after Tuesday's election that saw two county commissioners replaced - is coincidental.

A headhunter contacted him on behalf of Carter & Burgess a few weeks ago, he said. He said he will fill a position left vacant by Dennis Waibel, who died in a car accident June 24.

County officials said the announcement took them off guard.

"We were surprised and disappointed," said County Commission Chairman Rory Reid.

Commissioner Tom Collins said: "We are lucky to have had him."

Although Walker's employment arrangement might raise eyebrows, there is nothing illegal about it, said Craig Walton, director of the Nevada Center for Public Ethics.

"It looks funny because how much cooling off is enough?" Walton said. "He can't be told he can't exist. Cooling off doesn't mean freezing."

The board will select someone to replace Walker, who oversaw more than 1,200 employees. McCarran generates about $324 million in annual revenue for the county through sources such as airline landing fees, concessions and advertising.

Reid said he would ask Walker to recommend a replacement. A national search also remains an option, Reid added.

Among potential replacements mentioned by county officials are Deputy Airport Director Rosemary Vassiliadis and Regional Transportation Commission Director Jacob Snow.

In addition to the Ivanpah airport, the new director will oversee construction of the new Terminal 3, a $1.7 billion project scheduled for completion in 2011. Bids for that project are expected to go out in 2007.