4 Thursday, June 12, 1997 Pahrump Valley Gazette
Enough for new town manager?
Continued from front page
one additional week of paid vacation, three additional paid
personal days and term life insurance at one and a half times
the annual salary. Another stipulation is a vote of four of the
five board members to terminate the manager.
In the discussion that followed Smith's presentation of
McDermott's proposal, Chairman of the Board Charlotte
LeVar asked if the search committee had any indication the
candidate was so unsure of himself that he needed this kind of
contract. Smith said he thought the counterc0ntract indicated
McDermott was unsure of the town rather than himself.
LeVar said she thought this was a "heavy handed"
response to the town's offer of employment. Smith said that
it at first appears that way, but he thought probably this is what
McDermott is use to in his major city on the east coast where
it is not as relaxed as it is here.
Residency was another concern of the board. McDermott' s
wife has a gaming license and plans to work in the [,as Vegas
gambling industry. Gronda said McDermott would initially
stay with his daughter and son-in-law in Las Vegas while his
wife remained in New Jersey to sell their house. The board did
not object to a temporary arrangement, but said they wanted
the contract to stipulate that the Town Manager is required to
live in Pahrump.
Following a lengthy discussion, in which Smith empha-
sized McDermott has not been hired and his proposal is a
response to the contract he received from the town, the board
made several decisions.
Salary at $50,600. Pahrump residency is a requirement
of employment. Moving expense, with a cap on the amount,
will be reimbursed after McDermott is actually residing in
Pahrump and has been employed for six months. The amount
will be determined after estimates are received from three
moving companies. The three personal days will be added,
but the additional week paid vacation will not. Severance pay
with 30 days notice of termination will be paid, but a majority
vote of three to two will suffice for termination. Life insur-
ance will be the standard $10,000 provided to all town
employee.
Smith will present the counterproposal to McDermott's
proposal to the candidate. At a special meeting scheduled at
the town office Tuesday, June 17, 1997, Smith will present
the result to the board for their decision.
'TI1 bring you something different," Smith said. "How
different, I don't know."
If an agreement is reached, McDermott has indicated he
can be on the job July 1, 1997.
Business License issues go on and on
by Patti Babcock
Like the energizer battery, business license issues at
Town Board meetings, continue on and on. AI Pryor appears
at most meetings to protest the legality of the license as he
has since the issue first surfaced several years ago. He has
met with former town managers, board members and the
town attorney. Pryor says, no one has yet shown him a
Nevada Revised Statute (NRS) legalizing business licenses,
and he will continue to speak up until they do.
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Two members of an exasperated Town Board reacted
when Pryor again questioned the legality of the license
during a separate action to establish a special fund for
business license revenue and expenses. Charlie Gronda said
he would not listen to any more of this from Pryor who
refused to hear anything he did not want to accept. To prove
his point he left the podium and stood by the door. Pryor said
Gronda was the one who refused to hear. Gary Hollis, too,
left the podium and sat in the back of the room until Pryor
sat down.
At issue was a request from board member Steve Rainbolt
to establish a separate fund account for business license
revenue and expenses. Rainbolt said the fund would keep
business license monies from comingling with general fund
money and provide a full accounting to the people who pay
the fees.
CPA Michael Cox said a special fund could be estab-
lished under NRS 354.24 !. It would require a budget stating
anticipated revenues and expenses. Four expense categories
are required: salaries, employee benefits, services and sup-
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plies, and capital outlay. A
provision for utilizing prof-
its, if any, for community
development/tourism would
be included.
Board member Bob
Little said he thought this
was "bad legislation." He
said if a special fund was
made for business license
revenue, they could go
through the entire town struc-
ture and create aspecial fund
for each type of revenue. For
example, the boardcould
make a special fund for sales
tax and say revenue could
only be used for business
purposes and so on and on.
Little asked Cox, "How
many cities and towns in
Nevada have a special fund
for business licenses?" Cox
said, "None."
1
"Why does Pahrump always have to be the first one to
be stupid?" Little asked. This brought an angry response
fromRainbolt who said he didn't care much for Little's
opinions.
LeV .ar called for order. Rainbolt said, "He called my
idea stupid." Little asked, "Why do we have to be the only
one?" Rainbolt later apologized for his outburst.
Cox said every town is unique and it is not unusual for
them to have separate funds. He said if business license
revenues are put in the general fund, they just disappear.
With a special fund, any balance would be carried over from
year to year.
Rainbolt reiterated his purpose was to provide an ac-
counting to the people who pay the fees. Gronda agreed with
Rainbolt. LeVar asked how many people present paid the
fee. Three board members and a number of people in the
audience responded affirmatively. LeVar asked for license
holders to give their opinion. Only general contractor Curtis
Rudnik spoke. He said he is against the business license. "I
don't see why you should have to pay for permission to work
when it's life's duty," he said. If the money is just used to
collect the fee he questioned why the business people
couldn't just keep the money. However, since the license fee
is required, Rudnik said he is in favor of a special fund.
The board voted 3-2 to establish a special fund with
Little and LeVar voting "No."
Then, business license decisions continued on and on.
Rainbolt said, 'Tin not sure I want to talk about this issue,
but I've made my bed now I'll sleep in it." He then asked
to have the names of business people who blatantly ignore
license requests placed on the agenda and read at the Town
Board meetings.
Rainbolt said all but two or three percent of businesses
comply with the business license ordinance. He said he
wanted to give those who refuse a little "free publicity."
Rainbolt said he wanted the board to publicly request
noncomplying businesses be referred to the District Attor-
ney to receive letters demanding compliance. And, for
those who had received letters and still refused to obtain
licenses, to publicly re, quest that they be prosecuted by the
D.A.
Lack of enforcement, which has to be done by the
D.A., is a problem the town cannot control. Apparently, 12
offenders have been referred to the D.A., and only one has
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received a letter. There have
been no prosecutions. Smith
said with county budget
cuts, he doubted that en-
forcement would improve.
A solution, already pro-
posed to the District Attor-
ney would be to appoint the
Town Attorney as a special
District Attorney to handle
the problem. The request
was refused.
Smith Said there was no
problem with the Town
• Board making the names of
noncomplying businesses
and the subsequent referral
to the D.A.'s office public.
He did caution against pub-
licly questioning the offend-
ers.
Rainbolt's "free public-
ity" idea passed unani-
mously. Four names will
appear on the next agenda.
