In Our View: McCauley Earns Title

Mark McCauley has earned the change in his title.

After serving as acting Clark County manager for more than a year, McCauley had the temporary nature of his position altered Tuesday. The Clark County Council voted 3-1 to remove “acting” from his title, an adjustment that was a long time coming. McCauley was granted a raise of 3.9 percent, to a salary of $169,460 a year, and Councilor Julie Olson summed up the proceedings by saying, “He’s the person that’s the right person to be leading this organization right now.”

While the move helps stabilize county government and continues it on a path toward full implementation of the home rule charter passed by voters in 2014, it also demonstrates the destabilizing force that resides on the council. With fellow Councilor Tom Mielke on vacation, David Madore was left as the only dissenting voice to McCauley’s hiring. In the process, Madore once again revealed a selfish bent that damages his credibility, calls into question his integrity, and poorly serves the people of Clark County.

Prior to the vote, Madore complained that no public comment on the hiring was scheduled. There might be some validity to this argument; government always should at least consider input from taxpayers. But the county charter notes that appointment of a manager requires only a majority vote of the council and that, “The council shall establish the county manager’s terms of employment, including compensation, by written contract, provided the county manager’s employment shall be at-will.”

Once Madore raised the issue and had it rejected by Council Chair Marc Boldt, he should have dropped it. But Madore has grown increasingly desperate in his flailing attempts to seize power, and he said during the council’s debate, “We have a candidate that is competing against himself. I feel it is inappropriate.” A couple points are salient about that:

• Madore is the one who pushed for the hiring of an unqualified Don Benton as head of the Department of Environmental Services, a position that since has been eliminated. His concern about hiring processes is newfound, and in this case seems related to bitterness over McCauley eliminating Benton’s job.

• McCauley received high marks in a review of his job performance conducted by an outside firm, which provided feedback that contributed to removal of the “acting” tag and the offer of an 18-month contract.

• Madore, who combined with Mielke to form a majority coalition when the council had three members prior to being expanded to five this year, is directly responsible for the fact that McCauley was not given a review last year. As Councilor Jeanne Stewart told Madore: “You had two votes to go ahead, as you did with so many things. The fact that there was no performance review, that was a violation of his contract. It rests with you and Tom Mielke.”

Facts, however, are increasingly unimportant to Madore as his petulance continues to expand. When he had control of a majority on the council, Madore often was complimentary of McCauley’s work; an hour prior to Tuesday’s hearing, he sent an email to the manager accusing him of being “openly disrespectful and insubordinate.” The only thing that has changed is that Madore now must build coalitions rather than impose his singular will — and he appears disappointingly ill-equipped to do so.

The appointment of McCauley was a wise and reasonable decision by the council, further removing Clark County from the vainglorious rule of Madore.