State commission: Las Vegas councilman violated ethics laws

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Friday, Dec. 11, 2009 | 6:51 p.m.

The Nevada Ethics Commission today ruled that Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Ross broke state ethics laws because he voted over the last year on a city hall project while a construction union he leads was negotiating a labor deal on the project for its members.

Ross, who is secretary-treasurer of the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, should not have participated in votes taken on the project on Dec. 3, 2008, and on Feb. 18 this year, the commission ruled on a 4-1 vote.

However, the commission also unanimously voted that Ross's violations were not "willful."

The commission said that Ross violated the law the first time by not disclosing at the Dec. 3 city council vote that he had a conflict of interest because he was working for the trades council.

At that time, the trades council was in negotiations for a labor contract with the developer of the project at that time, Forest City, according evidence presented at the hearing.

After that Dec. 3 vote, Ross had received an opinion from the ethics commission warning him that he was possibly violating the state ethics law. But, on the advice of his attorney and the city attorney, Ross again voted at the Feb. 18 meeting on the project instead of abstaining.

At that time, Las Vegas City Attorney Brad Jerbic told Ross he could vote because the project had not “gone to contract” or received final approval from the City Council.

Since that time, Ross has abstained from voting on the project, although he has voiced his support of the project.

Last week, the city council approved the project and preliminary construction work is expected to begin on it in January.