Bill Walters Developer has said his deals with city went through public discussion, approval

Investigators leading an inquiry into the city's dealings with Royal Links Golf Club and developer Bill Walters say they believe Walters received more benefits and resources at city expense than previously reported.

Senn Meulemans, the law firm hired by the attorney general's office to conduct the investigation, plans to examine the new allegations in its investigation.

"We have already discovered several facts and transactions, which apparently were not reported by Metro or the press, that lead us to believe there were other, unreported expenditures of city monies and resources for the benefit of Mr. Walters," said a Feb. 13 letter from Senn Meulemans attorney Catherine Meulemans to Mayor Oscar Goodman.

The letter offered no details on the city actions that might have benefited Walters, and a member of the Senn Meulemans' investigative team would not comment Thursday on that aspect of the investigation.

The attorney general called for an investigation after allegations surfaced last year in a Las Vegas police report that former Public Works Director Richard Goecke might have given Walters unfair advantages in deals related to Royal Links.

After the mayor's news conference Thursday, the city released letters between the city and Senn Meulemans.

"We are very concerned that there has been considerable and unnecessary delay and a lack of cooperation with this investigation," investigators said in one of the letters to the city released Thursday. "As I am certain you can appreciate, this (now almost three-month) delay in producing responsive documents has significantly delayed the investigation."

The city handed over to investigators five compact discs containing 18,000 pages of documents Monday. The attorney general's office first requested city documents in a letter dated Nov. 29.

Goodman defended the city clerk's office, which prepared the documents.

"All I can tell you is that's 170 hours of taxpayer dollars," he said Thursday. "That's a lot of documents, a lot of work."

The documents include phone records, lease agreements, transcripts of meetings and e-mail exchanges among senior management staff members debating the merits of lifting a deed restriction on Royal Links.

Walters had sought to lift the restriction to turn the golf course, located next to a city sewage treatment plant, into a 1,200-home subdivision.

In one e-mail sent in May to several senior staff members, including Goecke, Deputy City Attorney Tom Green implies Walters has a reputation for getting favorable deals.

The e-mail said: "We hold all the cards, since the deed restriction conveying the golf course to Walters provides that the property '... can never be used for any other purpose or use other than operation of a Golf Course Facility.' So I assume that whoever negotiates with Walters will get the best deal possible for the City before we release our hold. But if the past is any indicator ..."

Amid controversy last year over environmental reports on the deed restriction proposal, the city asked for a police investigation.

Police found no criminal wrongdoing related to the effort to build houses on the golf course land. But they concluded Goecke probably had committed criminal acts in the late 1990s benefiting Walters and possibly costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

After the Clark County district attorney's office reviewed the police inquiry and determined that criminal charges could not be pursued because the statute of limitations had expired, the attorney general began investigating the matter.

Attorney General George Chanos took himself off the case after he disclosed that he had business pending before the City Council.

Goecke has denied any wrongdoing.

Walters, who did not return messages left Wednesday and Thursday, has said the deals were legitimate and were approved publicly.

Goodman has maintained his support for Walters' plan to turn the golf course into housing and has said that after the investigation is over, he will have the council again consider the matter.

The Review-Journal requested all correspondence between the city and law firm. But a Feb. 8 letter sent by the law firm to the city was not included in the documents provided to the newspaper. A city spokeswoman said officials are still looking for the letter.

In a Jan. 11 letter to Goodman and members of the City Council, Catherine Meulemans asked for assurances from the elected officials that City Hall would be open to them.

"In order to carry this investigation out thoroughly and effectively, we would like to confirm that our office will have full and complete access to all City employees and documents, including all relevant documents in the possession of the City Attorney's Office."

The firm received no response to that letter, Catherine Meulemans said. Goodman said Thursday that he had forwarded the letter to the city attorney's office.

Goodman and Councilmen Steve Wolfson and Larry Brown defended the city's behavior at Wednesday's City Council meeting and attacked the investigators' conduct.

On March 1, the City Council will consider waving attorney-client privilege on about a half-dozen documents. City Manager Doug Selby has asserted his attorney-client privilege on at least one of those documents, according to Catherine Meulemans' Feb. 13 letter.

Selby did not return a call for comment Thursday. But through a city spokeswoman, he released a statement that said: "I am going to follow the mayor and City Council's lead on the release of documents, but I'm not going to comment any further due to the ongoing investigation."

Goodman has said he will back waving the attorney-client privilege on all the documents because the city has nothing to hide.