By Vernon Robison
County officials announced last week that the full-time administrative Northeast County Liaison position will be eliminated. Logandale resident Matt LaCroix, who has filled the position for over five years, was informed last week that his post at the Clark County Northeast office would be concluded by July 6.
According to Jennifer Lances of County Town and Liaison Services in Las Vegas, the change is part of a larger round of county layoffs being carried out due to deep budget cuts. “The county is facing a $47.3 million deficit for fiscal year 2011,” Lances said. “This round of layoffs will reduce that deficit by $27 million. So even after this we still have to come up with another $20 million.”
Lances explained that the Northeast Liaison position is one of 109 full-time filled positions that are being eliminated. These, in addition to another 124 vacant positions being cut, will amount to a total downsizing of 233 county staff positions in this most current round.
The Northeast Liaison position has been in place to act as a facilitator of information between the county commissioners and staff and the residents of the townships of Moapa, Moapa Valley and Bunkerville. LaCroix has attended the various meetings of all three town advisory boards bringing reports to the boards on county programs and initiatives, and reporting back to county staff on the needs expressed in the community. LaCroix and his staff have also provided support to members of the community who seek to navigate through the departments of county government for information or necessary approvals.
Lances said that the Northeast Liaison role will be divided up between two other staff members in County Town & Liaison Services division. “The service that Matt has provided will continue to be done through liaisons who work out of the Government Center (in Las Vegas),” Lances said. “One of them will always attend the town board meetings. If there are community issues needing to be facilitated, they will take care of those things going forward just as Matt has done.”
All other support staff who are currently working in the County Northeast Office will retain their positions, Lances said. But they will be managed and directed by these two Las Vegas Town & Liaison Services staff members. Lances identified the two Las Vegas staff members who would be covering the Northeast Region as Tiffany Hesser and Janice Redondo.
Up to now there have been nine county liaisons doing similar work servicing the various parts of unincorporated Clark County. The Northeast Liaison is the only one of these nine positions being eliminated in these layoffs.
Over the past approximately 18 months Clark County staff specifically tasked with serving the Moapa Valley in various roles has shrunk significantly. The local Parks and Recreation and parks maintenance staff has shed at least four positions. The Development Services office has lost its full-time building inspector and plan review positions. One Comprehensive Planning staff member who had been assigned part-time to service the Moapa Valley has been pulled back. The northeast office has lost one part time clerical staff member. And all three town advisory boards have lost their part-time secretaries. Lances was unable to comment on whether these cutbacks were reflective of the scale of cuts going on in other areas of the county.
The Northeast Liaison full-time position was created in 1996 when Sue Baker was selected to fill the role. Before that time, the liaison role was handled through non-resident staff from Las Vegas. Baker was the first full-time resident Liaison. When Baker moved to Colorado in the fall of 2005, LaCroix, who had been working as a real property manager for the Clark County School District, was hired to the position.
LaCroix said that, after the announcement that his position was being eliminated, he had been offered another County position with Real Property Management as a Coordinator at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas. But LaCroix said that he was also looking for other opportunities within the County. “It is early yet and the whole thing is still pretty new,” he said. “I’m still not entirely settled on what I’m going to be doing next.”
