Board says timing’s not right to go full time

By Sam Skolnik (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 | 2 a.m.

State Sen. Terry Care said recently he will push a bill in Carson City to mandate that Clark County Commission seats become full-time jobs.

His rationale: The commission is a vital legislative body, and it would make sense to get rid of the conflicts of interest that arise when commissioners hold outside jobs, which several do.

There would also be fewer abstentions on commission business because of these conflicts, Care said.

So if it’s good enough for the county, why isn’t the issue being addressed at the Las Vegas City Council, whose members are also part-time?

Mayor Oscar Goodman pushed the full-time idea about, but council members resisted and he lost — a rarity.

At the time, the council passed a pay raise for future mayors and council members, and a mandate that all mayors, but not the six on the council, would work full-time.

At the Nov. 21, 2007, meeting, the council voted 6-1 for the pay hike. As a result, council salaries will leap from $46,681 per year to $69,247 following each ward’s next election, beginning in 2009.

Future mayors will make $124,644 annually, about double Goodman’s current salary of $61,330.

Before that vote, council members hadn’t received a pay raise since 1986, when the city’s population, boundaries and budget were significantly smaller.

The one nay vote was from Councilman Larry Brown, who recently left the council after being elected to the commission.

At the time, Brown said he couldn’t vote for higher council salaries so long as the positions remained part-time, according to the meeting’s minutes.

Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian also said at the time she supported council members working full-time but that the proposed salary increase wasn’t enough to support a full-time job.

Tarkanian, who represents Ward 1, said recently that in the city’s older wards such as hers, with decaying infrastructure and higher crime rates, it has become necessary to work full-time.

But although she said she works many evenings and weekends attending neighborhood meetings, she doesn’t think the city right now could afford the extra costs to make council seats full-time positions.

Goodman said recently that he had made up his mind to work full-time at his job “because I love being the mayor. But I didn’t have to be. I could have come and gone and really not have to answer to anybody, but I chose not to do that.”

Goodman said on Dec. 18 at his weekly news conference that the council rejected the idea when he tried last year to consider changing their status to full-time.

“But when I did make this suggestion I felt this was a serious job, it should be taken seriously as far as the hours worked and the presence in City Hall, and they believed that they were able to fulfill their responsibilities without being here all the time, and I don’t think anybody’s suffered as a result of their action.”

Since then, Goodman said, with less development activity in the city because of the recession — something Tarkanian also noted — “perhaps they don’t have to work as hard because there aren’t as many projects which entail their undivided attention.”

Two councilmen gave a different reason for why they oppose becoming full-time legislators: The city doesn’t need a full-time council because it’s not large enough, with the types of big-city problems that demand a full-time legislative body.

“We’re still doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” said Ward 3 Councilman Gary Reese. “I’m in favor of making it full-time when it becomes necessary.”

Ward 2 Councilman Steve Wolfson agreed.

“I don’t think the city needs that yet,” he said. “I don’t think the city is big enough.”

Any such change in the council would require an amendment to the city’s charter. That can be made only by the state Legislature or by voters, with legislative consent.

A question could be raised as to whether such a pay hike could come close to matching what some council members make in their outside jobs.

Brown held an outside job, as do Wolfson, Reese and Steve Ross.

Brown has worked part-time for the Las Vegas 51s, the minor league baseball team; Wolfson is a criminal defense lawyer; Reese is a partner in a local barber shop; and Ross is an electrician who heads the local building and construction trades council.

Tarkanian does not hold a paying job outside the council. It is unclear whether the sixth council member, Ricki Barlow, has outside employment.

It also could not be determined how much money is being made by the councilmen who do work.

Care’s concerns about county commissioners — that they abstain too often in votes on important issues because of alleged or real conflicts of interest, and that these conflicts sometimes impinge on commissioners’ ability to do their work unfettered — is also an issue at the council.

The Nevada Ethics Commission found in April that Ross’ role as secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council opens him up to potential conflicts.

“Contractors and other private businesses often come before the council on matters requiring council action,” the commission’s April 21 opinion said. “These may be entities that Ross has contacted for (the Trades Council) in an effort to encourage their use of organized labor.

“Although abstention may be a safe harbor, the commission cautions Ross that frequent abstention deprives his constituents of a voice in matters which come before the council.”

Care said the issue — for now, at least — needs to be addressed more urgently by the county than the city.