THOMAS MITCHELL: In search of open records at the county building - Opinion

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Apr. 05, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

THOMAS MITCHELL: In search of open records at the county building

THOMAS MITCHELL
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Download PDF of firefighter contract

Sometimes you have to climb down from the pulpit and practice what you preach.

One afternoon this past week I sauntered into the Clark County Government Center in quest of some public records. Union contracts have been much in the news, what with various attempts to renegotiate pay raises, so I figured I'd ask to see some.

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I walked up to a couple of uniformed security officers seated in the lobby and informed them I wished to take a look at union contracts. After a couple of quizzical glances between them -- as though I'd stepped out of a hovering space ship and said, "Take me to your leader" -- finally, one officer, with no surfeit of certitude, suggested I try the Human Resources Department on the third floor.

Armed with a copy of NRS 239.010 in my hip pocket -- the one that says "all public books and records of a governmental entity, the contents of which are not otherwise declared by law to be confidential, must be open at all times during office hours to inspection by any person" -- I marched up to the receptionist and asked to see the county's union contracts.

After some hemming and hawing, shuffling of papers and tapping on a computer keyboard, a man approached the front desk and the lady introduced him as the director. He asked if he could help, and I explained.

Human Resources Director Jesse Hoskins asked, "And you're with?"

I gave my name but said, "I'm just a citizen," which is true enough. I wanted to see how the average taxpayer is treated, because sometimes the press gets special treatment.

By special, I do not necessarily mean helpful.

At one point a staffer walked over to the desk and began rifling through a stack of newspapers, pulling out this past Sunday's. As she flipped through the sections, I fully expected her to open the Viewpoints section and compare the visitor and the logo atop this column. Purely by coincidence, I was wearing the same sports coat and Nevada state flag necktie. But, no, she glanced at the jobs section of the classifieds and turned away.

I had asked to start with a look at the firefighters' union contract, but Hoskins explained he did not have a copy available and helpfully suggested I go online to the minutes of the County Commission meeting at which it was passed. The contract would be attached. While the staff was looking up the date, Hoskins fetched for me copies of five union contracts and handed them over.

During our chat, Hoskins explained his office was working on getting all the union contracts in proper format so they could be posted online, but that project is probably a few months from completion.

I took him at his word and headed back to the office with the five contracts in hand and looked up the meeting date I'd been given. It turns out the county keeps minutes of meetings on its Web site for only 120 days, but you can e-mail someone and request a copy of earlier ones.

I then called back to Human Resources and explained the problem. I was put on hold for a couple of minutes, but when the lady came back she said I could have the director's personal copy. I drove back and picked up the 120-page contract. Inked in the upper right-hand corner was the notation: "Jessie's."

Two days later I got an e-mailed copy of the minutes of the meeting at which the firefighter contract was supposed to have been approved, but the contract was not mentioned. I'll mark it up to human error.

It is heartening to know some of our public servants quickly and capably perform their lawful duties. I never had to pull out the public records law or make a fuss.

Actually, I'd anticipated a problem with getting that firefighter contract, because, you see, Article 2 of the contract states, "The Union and County agree that the only way the public shall obtain a copy of this collective bargaining agreement is a request in writing to the Union or the County. At no time shall the County place the collective bargaining agreement, in whole or part on any website."

Yes, it actually says that. Download it and read it yourself at:www.reviewjournal.com/media/download/CCFD-070106-063010.pdf

What made anyone think they could abrogate a state law with a clause in a union contract? It didn't work.

Thomas Mitchell is the editor of the Review-Journal and writes about the role of the free 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/mitchell.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. Thomas Mitchell wrote on April 11, 2009 04:10 PM: Gib: I'm not. Gib wrote on April 09, 2009 11:05 AM: Tom: That was a good article. Thanks for directing me to the right blog sight. On the down side, I may just read your blogs, instead of the news, for the real story (and humorous tones)! By the way, don't hold your breath waiting for the girls to take a high school proficiency test! Thomas Mitchell wrote on April 09, 2009 08:09 AM: Gib: The blog item is still there. lvrj.com/blogs/mitchell Gib wrote on April 08, 2009 11:17 AM: Tom, What is the shelf life of these blogs? I checked Colorful Brain story today, and noticed that your entry was absent. Do you remove your entries? Is this thread over? Have we been dismissed? Another Concerned Parent wrote on April 06, 2009 09:22 PM: Tom, I have been relocated all across the USA and by far the CCSD is the worst run school district I have run into. Gib is just hitting the tip of the problem with the Coronado re-zone. Please take a look into what has happened in Anthem and let the truth be known for all your readers. It's a shame that the people in power can cause so much pain to a small area of town just to get a good start on a major problem. A problem does exist but the solution that the AZAC board and approved by the board of trustees is simply put a horrible solution to a real problem. Nevada has a high drop out rate and poor test scores not because we have stupid kids but because we have only one school district and only having one they have no incentive to improve. I bet if we had a Henderson school district the CCSD would be forced to improve. truthiness wrote on April 06, 2009 09:50 AM: In the same vein...The Nv. Commission on Tourism posted their quarterly meeting minutes online for a limited length of time. Now, they've stopped the online posting altogether. A call to the Commission revealed that they've made changes to their website, and that hard copies of minutes can now be garnered only by requesting them directly from the Commission. Concerned Parent wrote on April 06, 2009 07:08 AM: After looking at the numbers that Gib gives regarding the School Board issue, it seems like a stupid move on their part to disrupt so few kids. It is time for parents to get more involved. This has been happening for years and the kids are the ones that suffer. We wonder why Nevada has a high drop out rate, high teen pregnancy rate and more.... Gib wrote on April 05, 2009 03:07 PM: Tom: I have sent info Jim can use. Even today's blog could be a useful start to uncovering the motive behind the Trustees useless zone change. Do you need to endorse my solution? I'm not asking you to do that, even though it would make sense for all high school students in the SE district. But let me spell it out, so there is no confusion: Step 1. Look at the zoning map for the south east district high schools Step 2. Check out the attendance figures for school year 2008/2009. To further aid you, I'll do the math. School Capacity 9/19/08 Coronado 2659 3117 Liberty 2621 1853 Green V 2959 2817 Silverado 2544 2584 Recommended move by Trustees to correct this imbalance: move approximately 200 students from Coronado to Liberty; taken from the southern tip of the Anthem area. Sharon Datolli's numbers for school attendance 2009/2010: Coronado 3159 Liberty 2000 Students living within walking distance of Green Valley and Silverado HS that are still zoned for Coronado (and have to ride a bus at a $44,000/yr cost per bus): 150+ I also commented on Jim's colorful brain story in the blog below. I am encouraged that yours is the first reply I've received from countless attempts to reach someone with some credibility (grown up) that could possibly counter the actions of our Trustees (who are responsible for $2.2 Billion, with a "B" tax dollar budget). If more useful information is needed, please let me know. It my fervent hope to shine some light on the Trustees futile effort, which sometimes best describes any political solution. What say you to that, Tom? Thomas Mitchell wrote on April 05, 2009 12:45 PM: Gib: Office as motive: No. What do you want? An editorial endorsement of your zoning solution? JIm reports the news. He doesn't make it. Send him info he can use to futher his reporting efforts. Example: Jim repored on colorful brains. I remarked how silly it was in a blog posting. And several readers did likewise in the comments section below the story. Gib wrote on April 05, 2009 11:23 AM: Mr. Mitchell, Interesting article on your travails to obtain the union contract. Would that getting an answer from the CCSD School Board could be as easy! I'm still taken back by the bail out effort of Jimmy Haug to ascertain how the trustees plan to balance the attendance figures of the SE districts high schools, without moving that privileged section north of St Rose parkway out of Coronado, and back into their neighborhood schools. No one seems to want to answer that one, and there are no helpful clerks or directors that this citizen can go and see. The sad part is the fluff job your paper did on this whole affair. It wouldn't have anything to do with the nice office CCSD provides for Mr. Haug at the Taj Mahal, would it? It's really not a tough question, especially given the fact that this years solution left the high schools as bad (if not worse) than last year, unless there's some real Erin Kenny type shenanigans going on here. Any comments to that, sir? Read All Comments