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Dec. 04, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CONSTRUCTION: Harrah's executive resigns

Step-down called unrelated to investigations

By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Harrah's Entertainment's top construction executive will resign at the end of January, the gaming giant told its employees in a Nov. 30 company e-mail.

Kirk England, vice president of design and construction, will leave the company Jan. 31 after three years in his current position and eight years with the company to join his family in Colorado.


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    • The resignation comes while the company is the focus of internal and external investigations into remodeling that was done without proper permits or inspections at Harrah's on the Strip and the Rio.

    However, a company spokeswoman said his resignation does not have to do with the investigations.

    England was scheduled to retire from the company in the fall and join his family in a house they bought earlier this year.

    However, he was asked to remain in his position when the problems with the remodeling came to light.

    "He was asked to remain on and be the liaison from the company to the county to resolve the matter," Harrah's spokeswoman Marybel Batjer said. "He extended himself at our request. He agreed at that time that he would work through the issues through the end of the year."

    Harrah's is scheduled to go before state gaming regulators Wednesday and Dec. 20 to gain approval of its $17.1 billion buyout by Texas Pacific Group and Apollo Management.

    Harrah's Entertainment was recently named in three complaints filed by Clark County with the Nevada State Contractors Board. It is unknown whether the problems with room renovations will be discussed during the hearings.

    Former Harrah's employees who have talked to the Review-Journal about construction problems at the company's hotels never mentioned England as being directly involved in or knowing of the problematic work.

    Tom Adams, area director of design and construction for Harrah's subsidiary Roman Empire Development, and Mike Nasby, vice president of facilities and construction services, now work under England but it is unclear whether they answered to him when the problems occurred.

    While it is not publicly known how much England knew about the renovations, the company has made a procedural change to make sure his successor is kept better informed.

    Harrah's Entertainment has created a "project clearinghouse" process that requires the design and construction department to review and approve all contracting and remodeling work.

    "This department will approve all engineering and design decisions, and verify that all work is properly permitted," Senior Vice President Jan Jones said in a statement Monday.

    During the past year, England has been involved in the $1 billion expansion of Caesars Palace and construction of the $704 million Margaritaville Casino & Resort in Biloxi, Miss., as well as the design and planning of other projects.

    The county's complaints against Harrah's allege that the company performed construction work without permits at the two properties and a warehouse building on Twain Avenue.

    The company has hired the Los Angeles-based law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher to investigate events related to the remodeling projects.

    The county hired Kessler International, a New York-based audit firm, to investigate the county's response to a whistle-blower's complaints about possible safety hazards resulting from construction work at the two properties.

    In early 2007, the county cleared the Rio of alleged remodeling without permits or inspection after a superficial one-day review. After the Review-Journal researched allegations from whistle-blower Fred Frazzetta, the county reopened its investigation in September.

    That second inspection led to the closing of 140 rooms at the Rio, then nearly 600 rooms or suites at Harrah's.

    Kessler International met with Jeremiah Carroll, the county's audit department director, on Monday. Additional interviews with other county officials are expected this week.

    The length of the investigation isn't set and will depend on what the investigation uncovers, county spokeswoman Stacey Welling said

    Most of the rooms at Harrah's have been reopened while 87 of the rooms at the Rio have been cleared for occupation.

    Review-Journal writer Joan Whitely contributed to this report. Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or (702) 477-3893.

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    Fred Frazzetta wrote on December 07, 2007 11:02 AM: dsm:

    You have been sadly misinformed...for the record I have received no settlement from Harrah's to keep quiet. As long as they continue to get protection from the Clark County Building Department, the CC Fire Department, the DA's Office and every other entity that I have contacted they will let me continue to speak freely. Until an honest entity gets involved in this there will be no chance for justice to be served, which is what Harrah's is depending on. The word on the street is that all the entities that are in place to protect the public feel that they are looking out for the best interests of the Public by not prosecuting Harrah's because of the Economic Impact that it would have on Las Vegas. Maybe they should start upholding the law, and let the decisions be made in a court of law.

    And no unfortunately I will not be spending Christmas in Hawaii.


    Fred Frazzetta wrote on December 04, 2007 07:47 PM: I met with both Michael Kessler (President & CEO) & Charles Shields III (Managing Director) of Kessler International yesterday for approximately 3 hours at the Luxor Hotel. Their report will be open to the public at the end of the investigation, and I for one will be very interested in their recommendations to the Clark County Commissioners!

    I am very interested to hear the names of the people employed by Harrah's that Supervising Inspector Richard Maddox talked to during his "so called" inspection of the Rio Hotel & Casino back in February of this year.

    Now that it is documented by both the Clark County Building Department & the Fire Department that Harrah's not only did ILLEGAL remodel work, but also left behind very real Public Fire Safety Hazards for their valued guests & employees - I am waiting for criminal charges to be filed against the Harrah's personnel & the other licensed contractors that participated in these illegal activities. Folks for years Harrah's has knowingly put people at risk in their hotel rooms at both the Rio & Harrah's Hotels. If there would have been a fire we would have had a tragedy on our hands on the same scale as the MGM Grand Fire of 1980! But for some "unknown" reason our nice county fire department headed by Fire Chief Smith, who was appointed to his position by Thom Reilly our ex-County Manager and now employee of Harrah's Entertainment is unwilling to issue citations against those responsible for this blatant disregard of the law. Chief Smith have you forgotten that you are entrusted to protect the public not Harrah's? If you continue being a nice friendly fire department as you have...you will probably end up getting people killed directly as a result of you not doing your job!


    dsm wrote on December 04, 2007 07:47 PM: Have not heard from Fred Frazzetta for awhile on this after he met with the lawyers of Harrahs. I heard he recived a hefty settlement to keep quiet and off this blog. Yep ol Fred is now with the big boys. Lesson one, find something about a casino and have the Rj do a follow up and maybe you could be having Christmas in Hawaii. Thanks for the info Freddy.


    HarrahsWorst wrote on December 04, 2007 12:38 PM: Harrhas is the worst employer in Vegas and crap all over the workers,, they should firs the entire management team atall the properties


    coverup wrote on December 04, 2007 10:49 AM: this audit is just another cover up for the County, They hired the external auditor, and their internal auditor of course has had meeting with the external auditor to tell them what to say. The county government is just a joke and another opportunity for the county manager and her staff to cover-up for their friends and the errors they have made. give us a break we can see whay has occured.


    oh really!! wrote on December 04, 2007 10:10 AM: and who's going to do the audit?


    LittleBird wrote on December 04, 2007 05:16 AM: If the resignation of England wasn't from the lack of sound planning and leadership at Harrahs' then they should remove more "responsible" people.Jan Jones,Tom Adams,and Mike Nasby should be gone also.If the truth be known,this practice probably runs rampid through outHarrahs'properties,ie.,Ballys',Paris,and all their other entities.Why would it just be restricted to Harrahs' and Rio? Maybe a good tight audit of all their properties is in order.