Tue, Jul 17, 2007 (7:17 a.m.)

The college construction chief under investigation by the Nevada attorney general's office earned a pay increase this month for meritorious service.

Employees have accused Bob Gilbert, associate vice president of facilities, operations and maintenance at the College of Southern Nevada, of using his position to build his ranch estate off Kyle Canyon Road. State investigators on June 13 raided Gilbert's college offices, his ranch and a business that supplied workers to the college.

Outgoing CSN President Richard Carpenter has stood behind Gilbert, praising his ability to get jobs done on time and under budget. Although Carpenter acknowledged that some of Gilbert's actions - such as hiring college contractors to do work at his ranch - raised red flags , an internal investigation into employees' allegations found no evidence of malfeasance. Gilbert was warned, along with other supervisors, for ignoring employee grievances.

Carpenter ultimately would have had to sign off on Gilbert's $6,000 raise, which includes a 2 percent cost of living increase provided to all state employees and a 2.5 percent merit increase, according to college documents. Carpenter was not available for comment.

The increase went into effect July 1, bringing Gilbert's salary to $141,542.

The college distributes merit increases to employees who have earned outstanding evaluations based on a pool of available money from the state. Gilbert received two promotions in 2006, from director of construction to executive director, and then to associate vice president over all of construction, operations and maintenance. His pay has jumped $38,597 in two years.

He started at the college in 1997 as a construction manager, earning $55,000.

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