There is an old saying in business that you don’t make a structural change to solve a personnel problem. It’s kind of the managerial equivalent of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
But as Acting County Manager Mark McCauley last week announced the elimination of Clark County’s Department of Environmental Services, it was impossible to separate the policy from the personnel. The department’s duties will be dispersed to other departments in a move that appears to be wise, prudent, and fiscally sound while leaving Environmental Services Director Don Benton and three other employees without jobs.
Benton represents the personnel portion of the equation. While also serving as a state senator, he was hand-picked for the position by Councilors David Madore and Tom Mielke in 2013, when they were a majority on the then three-person county commission. Because of the fact that Benton had no experience or training on environmental issues, because of the fact that he was a Republican crony of Madore’s and Mielke’s, and because of the fact that the commissioners ignored established hiring practices in making the appointment, the decision was indefensible. That inattention to protocol cost the county $250,000 plus attorneys’ fees in a lawsuit triggered by the hiring, and Madore has recently taken to disingenuously blaming a former county employee for the decision.
With voter approval of a county charter in 2014 that expanded the council to five members and gave additional power to the county manager, McCauley has sole authority to reorganize county departments. The changes to Environmental Services are the third time he has exerted that authority.
While some supporters of Madore’s and Mielke’s might view the reorganization as being politically motivated, the move wafts with none of the stench of Benton’s hiring. More important, it is financially expedient. McCauley estimates that the change will save the county as much as $1.26 million over the next 2½ years, and Council Chair Marc Boldt said: “We’re saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. The decision was fairly simple math.”
If the county can provide equivalent services at a lower cost to taxpayers, eliminating Environmental Services and Benton’s total compensation (pay plus benefits) of more than $150,000 is an obvious benefit. The department was formed in 2009, in part to streamline the permitting process for builders, so there is little reason to believe the county will be unable to function without it. “We have budget pressures,” McCauley said. “My goal is to make the county as efficient as it can be. I think this reorganization will.”
In addition to saving money, the decision will provide some insight into Madore’s motivations as a county councilor. Because he professes to be a fiscal conservative, we would expect him to applaud this move on the behalf of taxpayers. But given the selfish reality of his management style and the megalomania with which he approaches his job, we won’t hold our breath waiting for his approval of the decision.
If eliminating the Department of Environmental Services does, indeed, save Clark County more than $1 million before 2019, while resulting in no decline in services, then McCauley’s decision represents effective management. We’ll likely never know the inside wrangling that led to the elimination of the department, but the end result is a money-saving move that removes a director who should not have been there to begin with.
