NLV city manager candidates questioned by council

North Las Vegas City Council members kept their questions general and broad for two candidates vying to be city manager during Wednesday’s meeting.

It’s possible tougher questions are being asked in private since council members can talk to candidates — one city employee and an outsider — individually during the hiring process.

The council asked both finalists the same eight questions to keep the interviews as similar as possible.

As such, no questions about the outside candidate’s stormy relationship with some of the current council members he serves in Casper, Wyo.

In February, a Casper councilman sued John Patterson alleging he had held secret meetings in an attempt to derail the embattled elected official’s campaign, according to the Casper Star-Tribune. Patterson denied the claim.

And in June, a different councilman wrote a letter to the newspaper asking for Patterson’s resignation.

At that time, another councilman defended Patterson, saying that councilman wrote a letter to the newspaper because the council supports Patterson and doesn’t want him ousted. The headlines surrounding the Casper city manager were the result of vendettas, he said.

North Las Vegas Councilman Wade Wagner said he didn’t ask questions about the past controversy because staff had allayed his concerns.

“There’s always something going on,” Wagner said. “Our city’s been sued over and over.”

Councilwoman Anita Wood said she wasn’t clear on how much she could deviate from pre-planned questions because, at the direction of the city attorney, council was working to make sure each candidate faced the same interview experience.

Patterson is up against Qiong Liu, who came to North Las Vegas in 2005 to serve as the public works director. Liu came to the Las Vegas Valley in 1999 to work as Las Vegas’ transportation planning manager after work in the private sector with engineering firms. She’s been acting city manager since June.

The North Las Vegas city manager’s job is a position with power. Whoever is hired will be key to keeping the city out of financial ruin.

In many big cities, power lies with the mayor in a structure that’s known as mayor-council, where the mayor can override council decisions.

North Las Vegas has a council-manager style of governance, meaning the city manager has executive role and serves at the pleasure of the council.

The structure is often compared to how a CEO answers to a board of directors.

Contact Bethany Barnes at bbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @betsbarnes on Twitter.