Of fired bureaucrats and cockroaches

Sometimes the irresistible force of the press slams into an immovable object -- public employee job security.

Over my many years in the newspaper business, I've often compared what we do to turning on the lights and watching the cockroaches skitter. We don't rid the house of roaches, we just point out where they're hiding and send them running.

This past week we published yet another story about the inability of the taxpayers to hold the bureaucrats responsible. After a series of Review-Journal articles by Joan Whitely in 2007 highlighting dozens of hotel renovations that took place without county permits or inspections, the sum total of one person was fired by the county for dereliction of duty.

It turns out, he was off the job 11 months and then was quietly returned, following an arbitration ruling, to his same job, at the same pay, plus back pay, even the same phone number.

In a bizarrely worded ruling, arbitrator Peter Maydanis wrote: "In reaching this decision, the Arbitrator has considered and found that (Rick) Maddox failed to properly devote the time and attention necessary for the County to properly discharge its obligation to ensure the safety of the public using public places of accommodation within its jurisdiction. Maddox's sins of omission or commission were serious ones, when one considers them in hindsight."

But then he went on to dismiss all this by saying Maddox had never been properly trained to uncover concealed renovations, never mind that an untrained reporter was able to do so. Maydanis also wrote "no questions of Maddox's honesty or integrity have been raised."

But you might get a different picture if you go back and read the Kessler report, an independent audit conducted by the county.

In the 97-page report, consultant Michael Kessler wrote: "Kessler also reviewed the GPS records for Supervising Inspector 2's vehicle (that is Rick Maddox's) and determined that on February 16, 2007 at 9:02 a.m. the vehicle was reported at West Viking Road and South Valley View Boulevard (that is the Rio hotel). The log indicates that the vehicle was only at the location for 38 minutes."

According to Maddox's written report, he inspected 37 rooms on several different floors of the hotel during that 38 minutes. Kessler tried to find out who Maddox contacted at the Rio but was stonewalled.

So Kessler concluded "the Building Inspectors handling these complaints were derelict in their duties by failing to properly inspect the property in question, and by falsifying the official documents indicating that the complaints were actually investigated. All indications suggest that no inspections were ever conducted."

No questions of honesty or integrity?

How serious was all this? Even the arbitrator who gave Maddox his job back wrote: "The life and safety issues created by the hotel's deliberate concealment would have been just as real and imminent for the public put at risk had it not been uncovered by the earnest work of the press' dedicated reporters. This leads one to ponder how many other 'skeletons' lie buried in the many hotels of Clark County ..."

He then said Maddox's "bungled inspection" served as an impetus for stricter standards. "That is not to suggest Maddox is some type of hero, but only that sometimes one's actions result in unintended consequences ..."

All's well that ends well.

Surely this reinstatement was an isolated incident, right?

Consider the fact that two Clark County employees who are also state legislators were fired following another Review-Journal report, this one by Frank Geary in 2003, that found they were drawing county pay while also being paid by the state. Yes, they were reinstated to their jobs following arbitration.

Assemblyman Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas, was cleared of any wrongdoing and awarded back pay. Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, was awarded her job back but did not receive back pay.

Atkinson defended drawing county sick pay on July 17 and 18, 2003, while in Carson City. He told the Review Journal, "I was so sick, literally all I could do was get out of bed to vote."

At a county human resources hearing Atkinson said, "I made a serious error in judgment when I requested sick time rather than vacation time during the legislative session. I wish I could go back and change that, but of course, I cannot."

To the arbitrator, he insisted he was ill, though he was well enough to have lunch on July 17 at a Chinese restaurant with two other public employees also serving in the Legislature.

Who are you going to believe? The self-contradicting public employee or your lying eyes?

Thomas Mitchell is the editor of the Review-Journal and writes about the role of the press and access to public information. He may be contacted at 383-0261 or via e-mail at tmitchell@reviewjournal.com. Read his blog at lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell.