Panel calls county ethics guidelines 'a good start'

Some claimed a cover-up. Some had personal gripes to air.

But the baker's dozen that showed up at a public hearing Tuesday night all had something to say about the conduct of their county officials.

The comments ranged widely at the first of several public hearings held by the ethics task force appointed by Clark County Manager Dale Askew to draft and recommend ethics guidelines for elected and appointed county officials.

Some even viewed the panel with skepticism.

"You have to clean house and start over," electrician Michael Wilson said. "Otherwise, everything is meaningless."

Wilson proposed appointing an independent counsel to investigate ethical allegations made against several county commissioners for the panel to carry any credibility with the public.

Task force member Dolores Brosnan, who also is acting chairwoman of the UNLV School of Public Administration, said that might be something better addressed to the County Commission.

"We did what we were asked to do," Brosnan said. "We cannot clean house, we cannot appoint an independent counsel."

Among those guidelines were a prohibition on fees and honorariums and a one-year cooling-off period before a top-level appointed or elected official can take a job with a company that does business with the county. The task force also recommended more funding for the state Ethics Commission to better do its job, but said no to creating a county ethics commission.

Administrative Services Director Thom Reilly said the guidelines apply to about 100 elected and appointed county officials -- including commissioners, town board members and department heads.

Larry Bertsch, a federal bankruptcy trustee, said the task force didn't go far enough and should make all 4,500 county employees follow the guidelines.

Bertsch also recommended more detailed disclosure of investments and other business dealings.

He said local government is a "laughingstock because it can't keep its house in order."

The task force's chairman, Larry Spitler, a former state assemblyman who now does educational consulting, mainly for the school board, apologized that the task force had a limited assignment.

"What we have is a humble document that we believe is a good start," Spitler said. "We didn't get where we are overnight, and there is not an overnight kind of fix. Until we are talking ethics daily, and making it a front-burner issue, we are in trouble."

The task force was appointed to review current standards and codes of ethics to develop guidelines to help public officials determine acceptable and unacceptable practices in the areas of disclosure, abstention and conflicts of interest. Its membership includes labor officials, university staff, charities and civic organizations.

After several more hearings, the task force hopes to forward its recommendations to the state Ethics Commission for review in June, Reilly said, and have something to present to the County Commission for adoption in August.

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