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May 31, 2006
NO GENDER DISCRIMINATION Report clears town manager
By JOHN PAWLAK
Town Board Chairman Richard Billman read the results of a hostile work environment investigation levied against Town Manager Dave Richards at the May 23 board meeting. In summary, the report said there was no evidence to support the unidentified complainant's allegations. It also said none of the allegations against the town manager were verifiable through documentation or through witness testimony, and that there was no evidence of illegal gender discrimination resulting in a hostile work environment. The board's closed-door meeting resulted in a 4-0 vote authorizing full payment of $18,497 to former interim town attorney, Len Smith. The board also reinstated firefighter John O'Brien as a town employee by a vote of 3-1, with member Ron Johnson voting nay. O'Brien was fired from the Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue Service in 2005. He was driving a water tender to a brush fire in late May 2005, when he struck and killed a mother and daughter near the intersection of Homestead Road and Thousandaire Boulevard. Whether the accident resulted in O'Brien's dismissal was never stated. The board approved the expenditure of $61,760 for a Pahrump Valley Fire-Rescue - which was a budgeted item - as well as a water tender for $220,998. It also approved the selection of Lawrence Nathan Associates as an additional collection agency to pursue delinquent ambulance accounts. A request for proposals for a Parks and Recreation plan consultant was approved, as was a request for proposals for infrastructure improvements and engineering services. The public will have the opportunity to attend workshops on June 16 at 7 p.m. and June 17 at 10 a.m. to listen to a proposal for a one-half cent countywide sales tax, half of which would benefit the fire department. The remainder would go to the county to fund the Sheriff's Office. The measure would appear as a tax initiative on the November election ballot. Pahrump's share of the one-quarter cent proceeds would be about $900,000 annually. The Pahrump community pool lifeguards were awarded a 25-cent houly pay raise that will keep them at prevailing wages with Las Vegas and Clark County lifeguards. It was brought up that if the pay awarded the lifeguards in reflecting their skills, they would tend to return as trained guards that would better serve the community. The town's budget and the Pahrump Swimming Pool District budgets were also approved before the board adjourned. In other town business, the board delayed until June 23 consideration of a proposal to establish what it would take to build a theme park in Pahrump so that all proposals could be considered in a timely manner. |
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