Henderson council considers options to fill Ward 3 vacancy

When the Henderson City Council meets Tuesday to consider how to fill a vacancy left by Councilwoman Kathleen Vermillion's pending departure, members might be torn between financial prudence and political expedience.

They have three options: Appoint Vermillion's Ward 3 replacement; have a special election with polling places and early voting; or have a special election through an all-mail ballot.

The cost of the three options varies significantly.

The appointment process would cost taxpayers $340, City Clerk Sabrina Mercadante said. She estimates a special election with polling places and early voting would cost about $122,500 and an all-mail ballot about $248,800.

"I don't know of a better way to enfranchise voters than to allow them to pick their elected official," Councilman Sam Bateman said.

But Bateman said he had not decided which avenue he would endorse Tuesday.

"A mail election would be the fairest way to go," Vermillion said. "But an election would be an unbudgeted expense, and doing it this way represents an enormous cost to the city. I want to apologize to the City Council and the voters of Henderson for putting them in this pickle."

Vermillion announced her resignation Dec. 5 in an interview with the Review-Journal. She stepped down to spend more time with her children and to tend to her charity, the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth.

The City Council might be motivated to let voters decide the issue despite the cost disparity. That route not only gives people a role in choosing Vermillion's replacement but calms a constituency angry over a recent council decision.

Mark Peplowski, a longtime political science professor at the College of Southern Nevada, thinks City Council members will choose one of the two election methods after enduring criticism for hiring Josh Reid as city attorney last month over a handful of candidates many people believe were more qualified.

"I think the council will opt for an election, so the voters have only themselves to complain to when votes are taken down the line," Peplowski said.

He said many people think Reid was offered the job after his father, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, called Mayor Andy Hafen and lobbied on his son's behalf. Harry Reid also called Vermillion, but other members of the council said they were not contacted.

Hafen's daughter worked for the elder Reid for eight years.

Every member of the City Council said that their decisions were based on Josh Reid's performance in interviews and qualifications and that they lowered the job requirements to attract a larger candidate pool, not to make Reid eligible for the job.

Though prominent Southern Nevadans lobbied the council on behalf of other applicants, the fallout continues.

Peplowski said the City Council's decision to appoint Ward 2 Councilwoman Debra March to a vacant seat in 2009 through a secret ballot process, a violation of the state's open meeting laws, might also prompt officials to choose a special election. March easily won election to a full term earlier this year.

Peplowski thinks the council would be wise to avoid more political damage.

"It appears that many governments are looking to allow a commission or committee to screen applicants to get down to the best choices," said Peplowski, who mentioned the current effort to replace departing Clark County District Attorney David Roger as an example.

"But Henderson's prior episode with appointing someone and now the issue with Josh Reid will leave many people with a sour taste regardless of whom the council picks."

Peplowski agreed with Vermillion's concerns regarding the expense of a special election.

"I think, principally speaking, that a special election would be the most democratic way to proceed," he said, "but the costs inherent in that process can get burdensome during such tough economic times."

Two candidates have expressed interest in the job to the Review-Journal. Cathy Rosenfield came in second to Vermillion in the five-person Ward 3 race in 2009. Erin Lale ran for the state Assembly in 2010.

Whoever prevails would have to run for election in 2013 to keep the seat. City Council elections are nonpartisan.

Contact Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@review
journal.com or 702-224-5512.