Where I Stand -- Brian Greenspun: City taps into private sector to better serve Las Vegans

YES, VIRGINIA, there may be a Santa Claus. Your job, however, will be to defend a challenge to that notion every day.

I'm talking about the new Las Vegas city manager-designate, Virginia Valentine, who was selected by the City Council this week. She was chosen ahead of three other candidates who made the final list to succeed retired City Manager Larry Barton.

Virginia was a unanimous choice for the job, in part because of her experience as a former general manager of the Clark County Flood Control District and, in part, because of her lack of experience as a city manager. You see, Virginia has been a senior vice-president of one of the valley's top engineering firms for the past five years and comes to the city post directly from the private sector.

Now there's a switch. And if my hunch and the council's decision is right, this may pave the way for other hires from the private sector for what have traditionally been jobs available only to public-sector applicants. Virginia appears to have a proper mix of public and private experience, which may be just what is needed for a Las Vegas heading into a new century in which growth and rebirth will be leading economic indicators.

We live in a world that changes significantly almost every day. What has worked for years or even decades may not do the job today. That's one of the first lessons a person learns when they go to work in the private sector. There is no 5 p.m. check-out time, and there are no customers who will wait weeks for an answer. Most of the people I know need the answer right now and, if they don't get it, will take their business across the street. That's why working hours for many people often end just before the late-night news.

This is not to say that city government or any local government is not keenly aware of the changing needs of the people it serves. To the contrary, the very reason the City Council chose Virginia probably was its understanding of the needs of the people who put them in their jobs and the essentiality of trying to figure out the way to meet those requirements.

If you look out over the next 10 years or so, you see that what is required for the City of Las Vegas is no different from what every governmental entity faces -- how to catch up on needed infrastructure that, because of our tremendous growth, is still years behind. Virginia Valentine is an engineer by trade. She brings that experience, together with her management skills, to a city in need of both.

Only time will tell whether the City Council made the right decision, but one thing is certain. People who continue to believe that government is their own personal Santa Claus are in for some difficult times. For sure, our governments must continue to pursue service to the public as their No. 1 goal. And our elected officials must find a way to do that while taking less from our pockets in the form of taxes.

Doing more for less is what guarantees a private company a place on the ladder of success. Government has usually managed to do the same for a lot more. The message the City of Las Vegas has sent with the hiring of Virginia Valentine is that it is not afraid to seek help from the private sector. The message Virginia sends to those in and out of government is that public service remains a calling of the highest order.

Those are two very powerful messages to be sending out at a time when cynicism grows faster than service. Perhaps this latest action by the City Council will help move us in a better, more responsible direction.

Should that happen, Virginia, we may all agree that, indeed, there is a Santa Claus. Just don't confuse him with the new city manager of Las Vegas!

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