Virginia Valentine Assistant county manager has support to replace Thom Reilly

Forgoing a national search, the Clark County Commission next week will consider promoting Virginia Valentine to replace outgoing County Manager Thom Reilly.

Commission Chairman Rory Reid and Commissioner Bruce Woodbury requested that the board at its Tuesday meeting consider offering Valentine, an assistant county manager since 2002, a three-year contract as the county's new chief executive officer.

Both commissioners said Wednesday that they have such confidence in Valentine that they see no need to conduct a national search.

"She knows the community well," Reid said. "We didn't see a need to look elsewhere."

Woodbury said a search would waste time and money.

"A lot of government entities will go through that, and it's just a charade when they already have someone in mind," said Woodbury, whose experience working on public projects with Valentine stretches back two decades. "Virginia Valentine is someone I have confidence in."

Valentine, 49, would oversee 11,000 employees in 38 departments, including McCarran International Airport and University Medical Center.

She would be responsible for fiscal management of the county's $5 billion budget and be charged with carrying out policies established by the seven county commissioners.

For nearly four years, Valentine has worked under Reilly as one of the county's three assistant managers.

Before that, she was Las Vegas' city manager, overseeing 2,800 employees and a budget of about $740 million, and briefly was senior vice president of government affairs for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.

County officials said Wednesday that they expect Valentine will win unanimous approval because she shares many of the management philosophies commissioners value in Reilly, who is resigning Aug. 10 to become a vice chancellor with the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Valentine said Wednesday that her chief priorities would be to keep government open and inclusive, streamline development services and focus on financial stability, specifically regarding ongoing salary negotiations with labor unions representing county firefighters and service workers.

"Thom and I are philosophically in line on collective bargaining and labor unions," she said. "People are enjoying good jobs at the county. But at the same time we want a highly skilled and happy work force, we can't continue to have salary growth ahead of what the economy can support."

Officials with the Service Employees International Union of Nevada said they hope Valentine is committed to adding workers at county facilities struggling to offer adequate service to a rapidly growing population.

"We're seeing the beginning of slipping quality, because we need more staff and resources, whether you're talking about the crisis at Child Haven with children sleeping on floors or the shortage of nurses at UMC," said Jane McAlevey, executive director of SEIU of Nevada.

Reilly is paid about $230,000 a year as manager. A proposed salary for Valentine was not included in the drafted contract to be presented to commissioners Tuesday. County spokesman Erik Pappa said commissioners will decide her pay on Tuesday if she is approved.

Valentine currently makes about $161,000.

Reid and Woodbury said that while Reilly and Valentine share well-honed administrative skills, they have different personalities that result in different management styles.

"Thom is like the Energizer bunny," Reid said. "He can't sit down for more than five minutes. He bounces from place to place and issue to issue, and I don't mean that as a criticism. Virginia is more measured."

Woodbury made similar comments, saying, "She's more likely to delegate authority and maybe not micromanage quite so much. That's not better or worse, just different."

Valentine, who is married and has a 5-year-old daughter, earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2000 and a bachelor's in engineering from the University of Idaho in 1980.

Woodbury said he first became impressed with Valentine's skills when she was the Clark County Regional Flood Control District's chief engineer and general manager upon its creation in 1986.

Woodbury was the first chairman of the district's board.

"She has an engineer's background, which I like, but her strengths are really very extensive knowledge of all aspects of local government," Woodbury said of Valentine. "She understands she's there to be a servant of the people, and she takes that obligation seriously."