LOOKING IN ON: CLARK COUNTY

Monday, May 7, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

After a six-week break, a clash of titans resumed last Tuesday when Clark County commissioners again considered which of three companies deserve a shot at a multimillion-dollar airport concession contract.

In March Aviation Director Randy Walker asked commissioners to select from among three companies - Paradies, Hudson Group and RELAY-Ayala's - bidding to handle concessions in the expanded C gate area.

Each company was represented by some of Nevada's most well-connected political players.

Richard Bryan, a former U.S. senator and Nevada governor, lobbied commissioners on behalf of Paradies. In Hudson's corner was another former governor, Bob Miller, who tag-teamed commissioners with Frank Schreck, a gaming lawyer and top political fund raiser. Ayala's, the only local company in the mix, boasted well-connected Las Vegas lawyers Chris Kaempfer and Jay Brown.

By the end of the March meeting, commissioners could not agree on a pick and asked Walker to seek new proposals from the companies.

Though the new proposals produced a winning company, the biggest winner was the county.

Ayala's initial proposal would have guaranteed Clark County $1.3 million in annual rent, about $200,000 less than its bigger national competitors. But in the proposal the company came back with last week, that figure jumped to more than $2.4 million, nearly $100,000 higher than runner-up Hudson Group.

Commissioners were baffled. They had either been low-balled during the first round or else the company was going way out on a limb.

Commissioner Susan Brager was suspicious.

"I'm a little uncomfortable that this would go from $1.3 million to $2.4 million that quickly," she said. She wanted assurances that Ayala wasn't just fudging the numbers to win the contract, only to later ask commissioners to amend the deal.

Walker said he believed all three companies would be able to pay up, in part because of their other holdings.

"If they didn't pay, we would put them in default and cancel their agreements to run the store, no question about that," Walker said.

In the end, commissioners went with Ayala's, with only Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani opposing that move.

"I just don't think that one is realistic," she said.

Walker will negotiate a written contract with Ayala's and bring it back to commissioners for approval.

University Medical Center lost less money in February than it has in other recent months.

George Stevens, the county's chief financial officer, told commissioners that in the first seven months of the current fiscal year, the public hospital lost an average of $5.1 million a month.

In February, though, UMC bled only about $4 million, Stevens said.

The reasons?

"One, frankly, is it's a shorter month, so there's less days in the month," Stevens said.

If only commissioners could shorten the rest of the months.

Cash collections from patients were also up, Stevens said.

UMC might get some help from a bill pending in the state Senate.

One of the hospital's biggest problems is cash flow. In short, UMC bills patients but often either doesn't get paid or gets paid late. While the hospital is waiting for the cash, it must somehow pay its own bills.

Senate Bill 532 might help .

The bill requires the state to presume that potential Medicaid recipients who meet certain requirements are eligible. That presumption would get money into the hospital's hands faster than the current process, under which the federal government can take two years to reimburse the hospital.