Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ken McCall: LV taking zoo ‘profiteer’ to court over unpaid loan

THE CITY OF LAS VEGAS is turning up the heat on Pat Dingle to pay back a large loan his Southern Nevada Zoological Park took from the city in 1989.

The city plans to add the zoo director, his wife, Mary, and their company, For the Birds Inc., to a lawsuit demanding repayment of the $143,854 still owed on the loan.

The move follows a recent collapse of settlement negotiations and the increasing impatience of Councilman Matthew Callister, who accused Dingle of trying to "profiteer" off the city's loan.

Deputy City Attorney Steve Jones said he's notified Dingle of the city's intent to modify the suit, originally filed against Dingle's for-profit Southern Nevada Zoological Park Inc., and will soon file a motion if the director doesn't agree.

Jones said the move was necessary to cast the "broadest possible net" in the city's attempt to get its money back. By adding the Dingles, he said, the city could help secure the loan with a lien against their home.

"If they have any assets," Jones said, "they're liable on it as well."

Dingle made a settlement offer to the city, Jones said, but the city attorney's office found it "pretty much unacceptable across the board."

Dingle obtained the loan in 1989 from the city's Community Development Block Grant fund to help expand and create jobs. As part of the agreement, the zoo was to have created 12 permanent full-time jobs.

That never happened, however, and the zoo made only $3,675 in payments before it requested a renegotiation of the loan.

The city in 1992 agreed to waive the 8 percent interest and reduce the monthly payments from $1,584 to $600.

Dingle, in turn, promised to create the new jobs, make the payments on time, and turn over deeds of trust to the zoo and an adjacent parking lot that was purchased using $60,000 of the city loan as a down payment.

Less than a year later, however, the zoo had stopped making payments and had not delivered either of the other two promises.

The city finally filed suit last December to get the money owed as well as the promised deeds of trust, only to discover that Dingle had the 1.5-acre parking lot across the street up for sale.

The city filed a motion to attach the escrow for the lot, Jones said, but the sale fell through.

Callister, whose northwest district includes the small Rancho Drive zoo, said he became involved when a request for a zoning variance stirred up considerable neighborhood opposition.

In the process of meeting with the upset neighbors, Callister discovered the parcel in question was the zoo's parking lot.

"It turned out that most of their concerns were from the owner of the property," he said, "which was the zoo."

Callister was astounded to learn that Dingle had purchased the parcel with part of the city's loan.

"Then I find out the land's being sold," Callister said, "and since we do not have the deed for collateral, we would not get paid."

Dingle declined several requests to comment on the issue or to name a lawyer who was serving as his spokesman.

In an interview earlier this year, however, Dingle predicted that a settlement would be worked out.

"I'm confident the matter will be dropped," Dingle said, "and we will begin making payments shortly."

He also said the zoo was behind on payments and was "in the process of returning the acre and a half back to the mortgage holders."

Dingle admitted trying to sell the parcel, but only to help meet the zoo's "financial obligations."

"Sure, we tried to sell it," he said. "We haven't made the mortgage payment for two years.

"Apparently the city misunderstood."

But Callister was skeptical that Dingle was planning to pay back the city with proceeds from the sale.

"If that's the case," the councilman asked, "why didn't he give us the deed of trust years ago?"

Callister said he's not ruling out further negotiations with Dingle, but he's not inclined to give much ground.

"There's been an effort to profiteer off the city's money," Callister said. "I don't think it's appropriate for someone to make money using city money and not pay it back.

"Here's a guy who's thumbed his nose at the judge, breached his trust with the city. ... I would suggest we get full payment."

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