LOOKING IN ON: CLARK COUNTY

Tony Cook, Las Vegas Sun

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 | 7:15 a.m.

Clark County commissioners work too much.

That was the consensus last week when commissioners decided to cut one of the meetings they usually hold each month.

Typically, commissioners attend five meetings a month - two County Commission meetings, two zoning meetings and a liquor and gaming licensing meeting. That doesn't include special meetings or other boards on which some commissioners sit, such as the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority or the Regional Transportation Commission.

But Commission Chairman Rory Reid told county staff that the liquor and gaming licensing meetings, held on the fourth Tuesday of each month, could be eliminated by handling more issues administratively and incorporating others into one of the commission's other meetings.

"I think we waste a lot of time," Reid said. "There's no need for us to waste the paper to be in the middle of the process."

He said many of the 400 to 500 items on which commissioners vote during liquor and gaming licensing meetings could be handled by Clark County Business License Director Jacqueline Holloway.

Liquor and gaming licensing meetings deal with routine items such as transfer of interest notifications and the suitability of locations and key employees.

If most of those items were handled administratively, the remaining business, including changes to county code, concerns raised by Metro during background checks and appeals of licensing decisions, could occur during the commission's regular meetings on the first or third Tuesday of each month.

Holloway said the proposed changes would help the licensing process run more smoothly. She plans to discuss the proposed changes with the county's attorneys and start working on an implementation plan.

A proposed federal change to Medicaid that would limit payments to public providers could be another blow to the financially struggling University Medical Center, hospital officials have told commissioners.

Under the proposed change, the way that Medicaid determines a provider's cost would change, essentially forcing UMC to take a loss.

That and other changes are expected to save the federal government $774 million annually, but for UMC it could reduce revenue significantly - anywhere from $7 million to $37 million, hospital officials said.

"Obviously, given our current financial situation, anything that is going to reduce revenue is of grave concern," interim hospital Chief Executive Kathy Silver said.

The public hospital lost more than $34 million last fiscal year and already about $29 million in the first half of the current fiscal year.

UMC officials urged the county to lobby Congress to reject the proposal and the Bush administration to withdraw it.

Public comments on the proposal are due by March 19. If approved, the change would go into effect Sept. 1.

At his first commission meeting last week, Lawrence Weekly showed growth as a politician.

In an embarrassing slip of the tongue in January, during Gov. Jim Gibbons' announcement that Weekly would replace resigning Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Weekly accidentally thanked Gibbons' predecessor, "Gov. Guinn."

But the former Las Vegas councilman had his A-game on during Tuesday's meeting.

"Of course, I want to thank the governor - the Honorable Jim Gibbons," Weekly said.

The knowing reference to his former slip drew chuckles from the audience.

Weekly kept that tone of humility throughout his first speech as a commissioner. He said he was "star-struck" working alongside longtime Commissioner Bruce Woodbury and promised his constituents he would do the best he could to represent them.