Mayor to Legislature: Consolidate Southern Nevada governments

By Dave Toplikar

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 | 12:48 p.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman today called for consolidating all government in Southern Nevada to help the region improve its economy.

"I'm looking for the whole kit and caboodle," Goodman said this morning at a meeting of the Las Vegas City Council, one of several governing bodies in the Las Vegas Valley.

"I personally think it's the only way that Southern Nevada is going to bail themselves out of these financial woes," he said.

Goodman, a longtime proponent of consolidation, asked City Manager Betsy Fretwell to begin working out a plan to present to the managers of Clark County, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City and other neighboring cities for complete or partial consolidation that could be taken to the Nevada Legislature.

He said if there "is a taste" for consolidation, there could be a meeting among those entities to come up with a joint presentation that could be taken to the Legislature.

His recommendation came during the discussion of a report on what efforts have been made so far to comply with a state law that requires Clark County, Washoe County and the governing bodies of each city in those counties to come up with a plan to consolidate or reorganize certain government functions.

Currently, governing bodies in Clark County are working toward making reports about the feasibility of consolidating services in seven areas, including animal control, local government television and purchasing. The reports are to be ready in September. Goodman asked that his position be sent as "a footnote" to the report going to the Legislature.

"I've found in my experience that government in Southern Nevada isn't working the way it should be working," he said. "... I find us not competing with each other ... but competing against each other."

As an example, he said that when the city goes to arbitration when it can't work out an agreement with a union — as it is currently doing with firefighters — the arbitrator looks at one municipality versus another.

And Goodman doesn't agree with what some of the other municipalities have done.

"They're giving away the kitchen sink, and I don't know how they can afford it," Goodman said.

"I think that the Legislature should look at complete consolidation of Southern Nevada, with one government, with one set of ordinances," he said. "... I think we've become too big of a city. We have too much responsibility to have different rules for different folks and different decisions being made. I think there has to be uniformity and I think the Legislature seriously has to discuss this."

He also said that if a 9-11 type of disaster struck Southern Nevada, there are too many law enforcement jurisdictions to provide for a uniform response.

"It will be like the Tower of Babel," he said. "...We have a sheriff, who is in charge of the unincorporated area of the county, the city of Las Vegas, we've got a police chief in North Las Vegas, we've got a police chief in Henderson, we've got public information offices in each one of these places, we've got managers for the city of Las Vegas, managers for the county — it'll be chaos."

Goodman said it seriously needs to be explored by the Legislature because cities do not have the time to do so. Past efforts have proved to be too slow, he said.

"We don't have time for this," he said. "I think we have to act quickly. And the only way that's going to happen is with legislative action. Because it's not going to happen with us trying to deal with each other. Everybody's too interested in protecting their turf."

Other council members had varying opinions on the matter as to how far consolidation should go.

Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese said he agreed with Goodman, although he stressed moving forward with caution.

Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian said her main concern about consolidation is that the bigger the government bureaucracy gets, the harder it is to meet the needs of individual people.

Councilman Steve Wolfson said consolidation was very important, but he would be more inclined to look at consolidation of services rather than governing bodies.

Councilman Ricki Barlow said a good example of a consolidation that is working is the regional housing authority. He said there are other areas that could also work, including law enforcement, parks, public works and business licensing.

"We have to make sure that our community is one community and not a community of many fractions," Barlow said.

Councilman Stavros Anthony called for being aggressive about consolidation. Councilman Steve Ross echoed him.

"Mayor, we need to put our foot forward first, whether it's TV stations, animal control, business licensing, we can get to all of that. But let's not talk about it and let's not put it on paper so it looks pretty. Let's get it done," Ross said. "Let's make a statement to the local governments and the rest of this community that we're taking this very seriously."

Ross said because the economy is faltering, businesses are closing and people are being laid off, government has to change.

"There needs to be a new city of Las Vegas," Ross said. "And mayor, I submit that we start that process today.... Let's get this done."