The Board of Clark County Commissioners will vote Tuesday on Chairman Tom Mielke’s proposal to formally establish existing departments by ordinance.
The vote will follow a public hearing.
The commission’s last scheduled regular meeting of the year will start at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin St.
Those who wish to testify during the public hearing should be prepared for a wait.
The consent agenda, which includes actions that don’t require public hearings, has 31 items, some of which may be pulled for discussion if commissioners have questions for staff members.
Three public hearings are scheduled in addition to the one for Mielke’s proposed ordinance, which is listed last on the agenda.
While Mielke has said he proposed the ordinance because the county’s current configuration works so well, a former commissioner, Ed Barnes, said it’s designed to save Don Benton’s job as director of Environmental Services.
The Department of Environmental Services was created five years ago.
On Nov. 4, Barnes suggested dissolving the department because eliminating three positions — the director, finance manager and administrative assistant — would save the county $713,225 in the next two years in employee costs, a figure confirmed with the county budget office.
The work could be split between Public Works and Community Development, which did the work before the department was created in 2009, Barnes said.
Under the voter-approved county charter, effective Jan. 1, executive authority over departments will be turned over County Manager Mark McCauley, the current county administrator.
If Mielke’s ordinance passes, McCauley would not be able to consolidate any of a dozen departments, including Environmental Services.
Commissioner David Madore has said he doesn’t support the ordinance, leaving Commissioner Jeanne Stewart to cast the deciding vote.
