Report: Knecht fired from PUC for violating policies

Steve Marcus

Regent Ron Knecht asks a question during a regents meeting in this Friday, July 10, 2009, file photo.

Associated Press

Thursday, July 26, 2012 | 11:10 a.m.

A Nevada regent was fired from his job at the state Public Utilities Commission for violating policies that included falsifying his timesheet and conducting political and outside employment activities during work hours, according to an investigative report.

The Nevada Appeal, which obtained a copy of the document, reported that investigators with the attorney general's office also found that Ron Knecht improperly used state equipment.

Knecht acknowledged the report but took exception with some of the conclusions, the newspaper reported.

The investigative report concluded the violations were administrative and further investigation was not warranted.

Knecht was a senior economist at the PUC for more than a decade until he was terminated in March. During that time, he also served one term in the Nevada Assembly and is currently completing one term as a member of the Board of Regents. He is seeking a second term on the board.

PUC Executive Director Crystal Jackson requested the investigation and confirmed to investigators that Knecht was terminated from the PUC for the reasons she listed in her complaint.

When asked in May about his termination, Knecht told the newspaper he had been given no explanation.

In an interview with the Appeal on Tuesday, Knecht addressed the allegations one by one. But he prefaced that by saying the allegations are the kind of things raised "when you're looking for an excuse (to fire someone) for some other reason."

Knecht said the misuse of state equipment occurred when he accidentally printed a 51-page document on a PUC printer instead of the one-page executive summary.

"I said, 'Yeah, my mistake. I'll be happy to pay for it,'" he said. The investigative reported noted that Knecht offered to reimburse the PUC for the expense.

The report also indicated that Knecht was an "unclassified" employee and, as such, had authorization to work a flexible schedule and didn't have to meet the same requirements as a classified worker. Knecht said the charge that he falsified a timesheet confuses him because, as an unclassified employee, he didn't fill out a timesheet. An unclassified employee is required to get the job done no matter how many hours it takes, he said.

Regarding he claim of conducting political activities, Knecht said he tried to avoid that but added he believes the PUC has some requirements that go too far.

"They seem to think if I want to go to Kiwanis for lunch, I need their permission," he said.

Knecht said he also had to get Jackson to sign off on his teaching a seminar on the cost of capital and utility financing — which he said he is doing again this year Oct. 1-2 in Denver — as well as his attendance at Board of Regents meetings.

The report does note that Knecht failed to follow PUC protocol on notifying his department of his outside activities, but it characterizes that as a "personnel or administrative matter and does not rise to a criminal level."

For the teaching activities and his service as a regent, Knecht said he takes vacation days, and he said he has had no outside employment that ever interfered with his PUC job.