Serving two masters

Monday, Jan. 15, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

Harry Shull wants to serve as both referee and fighter in the battle over development in North Las Vegas.

The planning commissioner - responsible for making recommendations on every proposed development in the country's second-fastest growing city - has been named president of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, the largest local lobbying group representing developers.

The positions seem to pose a clear conflict of interest, given that Shull's dual roles will result in his serving as the voice of more than 750 people involved in the home building industry at the same time that he makes recommendations on what should or should not be built in North Las Vegas.

"He can't do that," said Bob Fellmeth, founder of the University of San Diego's Center for Public Interest Law. "That's crazy."

However, Shull, who has served on the planning board for most of the past decade, insists there is no conflict.

"It's a volunteer nonprofit organization whose mission statement is to meet the housing and development needs of Southern Nevada," Shull said of the homebuilders group.

Others, including North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon, also do not see a potential conflict. If anything, Montandon said, Shull's position with the homebuilders group allows him to bring more expertise to the table.

"When I'm looking at the members on our planning commission, I want our planners to be experienced," Montandon said.

The City Council appoints the seven planning commission members, who earn $75 per meeting. Shull is not paid for his work with the homebuilders association.

City Manager Gregory Rose said the city will not ask Shull to step down from the planning commission because of his new post. "We will leave that to our city attorney to investigate if City Council sees fit," Rose said.

Shull, who co-owns Celebrate Homes, pointed out that previous association board members have served in local government, including Bud Cleveland, who simultaneously served as association president and North Las Vegas mayor in the 1970s.

The association's top mission is to promote community attitudes that will ensure the success of the homebuilding industry, according to its Web site.

Shull said while he intends to abstain from voting on matters on which the association itself takes a position, he plans to help decide issues related to individual members of the group.

"I think I could disclose," Shull said. "Almost every builder in Las Vegas is a member. That wouldn't preclude me from being able to vote on the project."

Craig Walton, a former UNLV professor who helped found the Nevada Center for Public Ethics, said Shull is not doing anything illegal.

"Unless the trade association itself is appearing in front of the board, it's probably not going to legally fall into conflict of interest problems," he said.

Even so, some see ethics questions.

"The law is often a floor, not ceiling," said Jay Stewart, executive director of Better Government Association in Chicago. "You can go above what the law requires."

In California, holding both positions would be illegal, Fellmeth said. One of the original Nader's Raiders, Fellmeth has authored a bill adopted by several cities, including San Francisco, that sets ethics guidelines governing situations such as those in which Shull finds himself.

"It violates the most fundamental executive checks," Fellmeth said. "I don't think he can continue to do it. He's got to make a choice."

But, at least for now, no local officials seem overly concerned about Shull's sticky situation.

"If we're going to have citizen government we have to have people like that - people who are civic-minded sometimes and business-minded other times," Walton said.

Shull has found himself in hot water over perceived ethics violations before.

In 2005, six couples accused Shull of using his position on the planning commission to advance a North Las Vegas housing project being pushed by Celebrate Homes. However, the Nevada Ethics Commission dismissed the case, saying there was not enough evidence for a hearing.

Celebrate Homes has developed several neighborhoods in North Las Vegas with homes starting in the mid-$200,000 range. It has built and sold about 500 homes in the city over the past two years.

Montandon said he has no doubt Shull can be impartial on the commission, in part because the builders who go before the panel are his competitors.

"He may be representing all of them, but they're still his competitors," the mayor said. "I don't think he's going to tip his hat to competitors."