Budget concerns weigh heavy on sheriff’s mind

Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie is facing one of the tougher political battles of his career this spring — finding a way to close a $46 million shortfall in the department’s budget for fiscal year 2013-2014.

Gillespie said the department has made all the cuts it can, and he sees the current budget hole as the organization’s biggest challenge. He’s asked the Legislature to green-light an additional quarter-cent sales tax approved eight years ago. The revenue is restricted to hiring and equipping officers, but Gillespie wants to use some for operating costs.

A quarter-cent increase could raise more than $75 million annually. The sheriff’s office would need nearly two-thirds of that to close the gap and avoid further cuts. Gillespie estimates more than 100 positions would have to be eliminated if no new revenue is found. That’s on top of 238 positions eliminated in recent years.

Gillespie, with his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from the Rochester Institute of Technology, came to Las Vegas in 1980 with a single mission: to test for the Metropolitan Police Department. He became sheriff 26 years later.

Gillespie begins his day at 4 a.m. riding his bike , leaves for work around 6 a.m., and returns home at 7 p.m.

Gillespie’s wife of 30 years, Louise, is a watercolor artist and Web page developer. They have two daughters, Karen, 25, an environmental engineer working in Montana, and Susan, 22, a UNLV hotel administration school graduate.

Question: What are your great concerns, personal fears?

Answer: I have great concerns about the economic stability of Clark County and ultimately my police department. That places a lot of pressure on my employees who have a very difficult job to do. That’s a great concern to me not only short term, but long term, because of our reliance on tax dollars. Plus tax revenues aren’t what they were back in 2009.

Question: What do you see happening for Las Vegas in 2013?

Answer: I see more stabilization to the resort industry. I don’t necessarily see growth, meaning more visitor volume, more revenues increasing and stuff. I just see more stability in those numbers which bring stability to the community.

Question: What’s your management style?

Answer: I would say I’m pretty flexible, meaning I have the ability to bounce around from autocratic to democratic to laissez-faire to humanistic. I think any good leader needs to be. Not stuck in any one mode. I think it depends on the circumstances.

I can’t say at times I wasn’t autocratic dealing with my girls, cause I was. Can’t say I’m not in that mode from time to time here as well. I think, really, at work, I’m much more of a listener today than I’ve ever been, and I think that bodes very well for the position I have here at Metro. At home I’m at that point of time in my life as well. I think I’m a much better listener than I was years ago.

Question: Why did you go into law enforcement? Has your enthusiasm changed over the years?

Answer: I always wanted to be a police officer. I think that light bulb really turned on for me when I was in college and I did an internship ... with the Rochester, N.Y., Police Department. It really intrigued me. I am as enthusiastic today as I was 32 years ago.

Question: How do you clear your mind when the day is over?

Answer: Very difficult. I can’t say that I am very good at that. I guess that the best way that I know is conversations with my wife that do not revolve around work, and then reading. When I can’t seem to turn it off, reading fiction works for me. I like Vince Flynn. He’s probably my most favorite author now. James Patterson, I read a lot of his stuff; and John Sanford. It’s got to be fast-paced like the Bourne books, something like that. I like listening to Tom Clancy novels, but I can’t read Tom Clancy novels; he takes way too long to tell me about the character and I don’t need all that. I need to get into the meat and potatoes of it.

Question: What’s a typical day like?

Answer: Most of my day is meetings. Some days I can literally be stacked from meeting to meeting to meeting throughout my whole day. … Normally it has to do with department business. So, Tuesdays, for example, my meetings tend to be more on the operational aspect of the department — crime fighting, homeland security issues. I do meet with other electeds from time to time. But that is not as frequent as people might think. The majority of my meetings are with the criminal justice community or dealing with aspects of the criminal justice system and/or the police department.

Question: What about days off?

Answer: Well my days off as far as having a whole day off varies, because being sheriff, it would be very easy for me every Saturday and Sunday to be scheduled to attend certain events. But when I do have weekends off, I like to golf, I like the outdoors, boating, camping. Usually my wife, Louise, and I will go to Lake Mohave or something along those lines, depending on how much time we have. This upcoming weekend I have two events scheduled that take up all day Saturday for me, supporting some nonprofits. Sunday our plan is to head down to the lake. … I’m definitely T-shirt, polo shirt, shorts, and sandals kind of person. Wintertime, my blood’s thinned out like anybody else who’s been here for any length of time, so blue jeans, flannel shirts, sweatshirts. I was brought up in upstate New York in very small rural community, so when I’m afforded the opportunity, I sort of dress like I did when I was a kid.

Question: What do you most like to do?

Answer: I like to fish. I don’t get to do it as much as I like to. I like salt-water fish as well as freshwater fish. … I catch and release.

Question: And your wife’s interests?

Answer: She’s a watercolor artist. She’s very active in the Nevada Watercolor Society. She also develops Web pages on the side. She’s very creative. For years she was a graphic designer. She designed slot glass — the glass for the slot machines, the themes and things of that nature, on the Mac . She had her own little business. Slot companies would come to her and say that this is going to be our theme; you come up with the design for the glass. She’s at home and doesn’t work anymore. She takes care of our two dogs and the house and me.

Question: What achievements are you proudest of?

Answer: I’m not very good about talking about myself, to be honest with you. My greatest achievement is 30 years of marriage and two wonderful daughters.

Question: What frustrates you the most?

Answer: Things taking too long to get accomplished.

Question: What have you learned from your experiences in your career?

Answer: The overall majority of people are good. All you tend to hear about are the not so good or the bad people, whether it’s on the media or policing. I found out working in the community and now as sheriff, people are just good people. I think that’s why this job is so rewarding that you have the ability to make their lives easier.

Question: Have you thought about running for office other than sheriff?

Answer: No. Political offices really don’t interest me because of the politics associated with the offices. I went after this job because my former boss chose not to run, and I wasn’t ready to retire. I never really envisioned myself being the sheriff.