County commissioner has eyes on another gig

By Joe Schoenmann

Monday, Aug. 9, 2010 | 2 a.m.

It looks as if one of the county commissioners could be leaving before his four-year term expires.

Who?

Larry Brown. The former Las Vegas City Council member was elected to the commission in 2008. Fellow commissioners say Brown is “95 percent” sure he’ll run for the Las Vegas mayor’s job. That election is in 2011.

What did Brown say about it?

That he’s going to make a decision “very soon.” Friends say that could be this week.

•••

With contract negotiations between the firefighters union and the county at an impasse, both sides have agreed to forgo a lengthy “fact-finding” process and send their last, best proposal to an arbitrator, who will decide what to do.

That seems risky for both sides, doesn’t it?

Given the dire economy and depleted county coffers, the government hopes an arbitrator will see its expenses are outweighing its revenue and ability to pay.

What concessions has the county asked for?

The county would not divulge the offers made to the union. The county wants to make long-term changes in the salary, overtime and benefits structure, which has led to an average compensation per firefighter of $180,000 annually.

What can officials do in the meantime to cut costs?

With staffing and operational changes the county has enacted this summer, the county projects it will save several million of dollars in overtime payments. With those savings, the Fire Department budget will be cut 5.1 percent.

But weren’t all county departments required to submit plans for 8 percent savings? If the Fire Department did that, where would the other 2.9 percent come from?

The Sun obtained a summary of additional cuts recommended by Fire Chief Steve Smith that the county did not enact this year. Two ideas that went nowhere were eliminating six fire investigation positions. Then Las Vegas or North Las Vegas would handle investigations, or the county would hire 8-hour-a-day employees to do the job instead of 24-hour-a-day firefighters. The investigators would be returned to regular firefighter or fire engineer positions and used to cut into overtime.

Another idea was to shut down some of the county’s first-responding units. About 80 percent of the department’s calls are for emergency medical service, not fires. To minimize the effect on response times of taking EMS vehicles out of service, the county would need close cooperation with neighboring fire departments, which would be asked to cover certain areas.

So are those ideas dead?

Not exactly. If the county doesn’t win enough concessions through arbitration, and if the projected overtime savings do not become a reality, expect these ideas to be resurrected.

•••

Heidi Fleiss got her wish.

Which one is that — and keep your smart-aleck ideas of Fleiss’ “wish” to yourself.

The Clark County Planning Commission granted a use permit to Fleiss and a business partner to open a dog grooming and boarding business at Bermuda Road and Silverado Ranch Boulevard.

When will it open?

Fleiss told the Sun she hopes to open in about four weeks.

County Quote of the Week

“I’m not afraid to say it, we’d have to raise taxes.”

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani to schoolchildren in the commission chambers after being asked what she would do to fix the state’s fiscal problems if she were governor. Giunchigliani also said that if she were governor, “education has to come first,” and she would like to consolidate as many agencies among municipalities as possible.