Rowe looks forward to last job

Carl Rowe's brief stewardship of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District is scheduled to end Sept. 15 when the six-month contract between the district and the business consulting firm that employs Rowe expires.

Assuming a new executive director is hired by the time the contract with Fair, Anderson and Langerman ends, there is not much left on Rowe's agenda for an organization that was in crisis when he arrived.

Since Rowe exerted firm leadership, the crisis seems to have either faded away or is bubbling below the surface, ready to boil over if the new director is unable to take control of the district that some say became the victim of weak leadership under previous director Darrell Batson, who resigned under pressure at the first of the year.

Rowe says he does have one last major task in his position.

"I want to make sure the district gets a decent director. Then I will feel like we did a good job," said the man who was no stranger to controversy when he arrived in the middle of a battle between the Board of Trustees and the staff, who have since organized a union to protect their interests.

Rowe was executive director of the Las Vegas Housing Authority from 1991 until he resigned in 1994 in the midst of criticism of his management of the authority.

He says now he stayed about a year too long in that job -- after he accomplished his initial goals in turning around that troubled agency he says he should have moved on.

He won't have that problem this time, though he did say he thinks he may need to stay at least a month beyond the end of the contract to help with the transition of the new leadership.

"It isn't that we want to leave," he said, "but you can't start the process of getting on with things until you get a new person."

The new director will have to stand in the middle of what has become a battlefield between the trustees and employees.

"They (the three candidates) know there are bad feelings, but they all feel competent to deal with them," Rowe said.

A lack of communication highlighted the beleaguered reign of Batson, who was hired following a lengthy search for a replacement for popular former director Charles Hunsberger, who resigned under pressure from the board in 1993.

"(The executive director) must be willing to argue with both sides," Rowe explained.

Rowe said the staff had some legitimate concerns, which resulted in members joining the Teamsters Union.

"The trouble here was misperception, caused by the sides not talking to each other. There was no communication and the employees felt vulnerable, and the board felt vulnerable for different reasons. They felt they were dealing in the dark," Rowe said. "It was almost like they got pitted against each other, and once the negative stuff starts to happen, it mushrooms."

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