North Las Vegas looks at outsourcing human resources

The North Las Vegas city manager told the city’s six human resources employees Wednesday she is considering outsourcing their jobs.

The news follows the dismissal of its human resources director in September and the unusual replacement of its recent director of neighborhood and leisure services, who had been with the city less than a year.

The city chose to forgo typical city hiring practices when it hired Cass Palmer, former president and CEO of United Way of Southern Nevada, who has no experience in parks and recreation. Palmer indicated he wanted to work in North Las Vegas, and City Manager Qiong Liu said she found him a space.

She said the human resources department has a budget of about $1.27 million for personnel, though with the two vacancies, the current cost is likely somewhere between $700,000 and $800,000. North Las Vegas already outsources its worker’s compensation.

Liu said no changes have happened yet, but the city is putting out a bid to see what offers come back so it can evaluate whether outsourcing would cut costs.

A North Las Vegas human resources employee contacted by the Review-Journal declined to comment.

Liu said the city was inspired by how other cities had outsourced their human resources departments, such as Reno.

Reno’s Human Resources Director Kelly Leerman, who has been with the city for about two weeks and replaced the previous human resources director, said that though the city outsources some tasks, like payroll and worker’s compensation, it has a department with about eight or nine people.

“I exist,” Leerman said. “I have an office and everything.”