LV benefits for gay partners unlikely

City employees seeking benefits for their domestic partners may have a longer wait now that Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones is leaving office.

Although the City Council will vote Monday to ratify changes in benefits to the City Employee Association's collective bargaining agreement, the changes do not include extending medical benefits to gay, lesbian and nonmarried heterosexual couples.

The association's negotiating committee in January asked the city to provide such health benefits. A study estimates $35,000 or less would be the program's annual expense.

Human Resources Director Rick Anderson said, "Right now the council is not interested in going there."

Jones has been the lone council champion for benefits for domestic partners of employees, calling it "an equal rights issue." She has said she considers the cost of adding those benefits to be negligible.

The city's health plan covers 1,800 employees at city expense. Spouses are covered for $130 a month -- a cost split evenly by the employee and the city.

Jones was unavailable for comment this week because she attended out-of-town business meetings and moved into a new home, her staff said.

Others on the council, however, don't seem willing to pick up the issue as their own.

"The church I belong to doesn't believe in that sort of thing," Councilman Gary Reese, a Mormon, said. "I have not really formed an opinion on that, but it's a touchy situation."

Councilman Arnie Adamsen, who is running for mayor, said he did not believe the issue was a "morality question."

"My only concern is what kind of legal instrument would trigger financial responsibility on the city," Adamsen said. "Say two guys, or a guy and a gal are roommates and one loses a job and says to the other, 'Can you put me on your insurance?' How do you prevent abuses?"

Councilmen Larry Brown and Michael McDonald did not return phone calls seeking comment on the issue.

Chris Erwin, an employee in the city's Neighborhood Services Department, said, "To me this is about equal rights, not special rights."

Erwin, who is gay, said she would welcome benefits for domestic partners. "By virtue of the mayor not running for a third term, I think it was kind of just ignored," she said.

The 47,000-member Culinary Union and the union representing Clark County School District teachers and support staff already offer benefits to domestic partners of employees.

Clark County's risk management division is conducting a financial analysis of such a benefit program. The commissioners are expected to consider domestic partner benefits after that study is completed.

Cities nationwide, including Philadelphia, Seattle, New York and San Francisco, and many large companies, including Microsoft and Time Warner Inc., offer such benefits.

Although Adamsen said he did not have enough financial information to form an opinion, his mayoral opponent, Oscar Goodman, said he is in favor of benefits for domestic partners.

"Yes, I am in favor of any request that is fair and reasonable and necessary to maintain everyone's constitutional rights," Goodman said during an April 22 candidates' forum at the Gay and Lesbian Center.

Goodman received rousing applause at that forum, while Adamsen did not attend and did not submit a questionnaire with answers to questions about domestic partner benefits and other issues of concern to the gay community.

Tasha Hill, deputy director of the center, said she was disappointed the council was not pursuing the benefits.

"It's not about special treatment," Hill said. "The City Council has not been a very welcome space for gays and lesbians."

In addition to voting on changes to the employee benefits contract, the council will also consider several other controversial issues Monday.

During the morning session, the council will introduce a bill that would create a Metropolitan Police Department Citizen Review Board. The public will not be able to comment on the proposal during Monday's meeting. However, the bill will be forwarded to a recommending committee, at which time public comment is accepted.

The 25-member board would work in panels to screen requests for review of police officers and their actions.

The Clark County Commission passed a similar ordinance April 6.

During the afternoon session, the council will consider a review of landscaping and traffic issues related to the planned Town Center development in the valley's northwest.

The board will likely hear from residents protesting a zoning change request from Metro Police. The request is for a proposed substation and police academy at Cheyenne Avenue west of Grand Canyon Drive.

Protesters are concerned that as a result of that planned development, the proposed Nevada Power substation will be forced farther north, and much closer to the Tara Villas residential development than originally planned.

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