Former NLV manager to pay $10K fine in ethics investigation

Former North Las Vegas City Manager Qiong Liu has agreed to pay $10,000 to resolve an ethics probe that stemmed from allegations she tried to bypass the City Council to inappropriately give herself a retroactive raise, which led to her firing in 2018, the Nevada Commission of Ethics announced Tuesday.

Liu disagreed with the findings, but agreed to enter into a stipulated agreement to “resolve” the ethics violations, read a copy of the proposed settlement. “In doing so, Dr. Liu makes no admissions of liability or fault.”

Since she was fired, Liu has filed a series of lawsuits in Clark County District Court claiming wrongful termination.

“It’s reassuring that the Ethics Commission conducted its own investigation and found that Liu willfully abused the power of her position and broke the law,” Delen Goldberg, assistant to the city’s chief of staff, wrote in a statement to the Review-Journal. “The City is hopeful that this outcome will help put an end to four years of baseless attacks and litigation harassment by Liu against the City and its officers.”

Attorneys representing Liu in the latest lawsuit did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Controversy over raises

Liu was promoted to city manager in 2014 with a $190,000 base salary and a yearly performance evaluation by the City Council to see if additional raises were warranted, according to the Ethics Commission. Marred by economic challenges in 2015, North Las Vegas did not increase pay for appointed employees like Liu, but gave her a $30,000 raise in September 2016, the commission said.

In 2017, Mayor John Lee proposed a 5 percent pay increase, along with a $10,000 bonus, the commission wrote.

She rejected the proposal, and told Lee that her 2016 raise “had not applied retroactively to her November 2015 anniversary date, which she believed was an error,” the commission said.

Liu then told the City Council that she wasn’t being compensated fairly in comparison to other chief executives in neighboring municipalities.

In January 2018, a day after Liu found out her annual evaluation was to be discussed at an upcoming City Council meeting, she signed a document requesting the retroactive raise from 2015, which would’ve provided her a “lump sum” of about $25,000 plus benefits.

But she did so without consulting the council, and had a subordinate deliver the request to the city’s human resources director, Cass Palmer, the commission said.

Palmer told the Ethics Commission that, although he reported to Liu, he told her she didn’t have the authority to request the raise. “Liu insisted that she did not need Council approval and directed the HR Director to process the request,” the commission wrote.

Palmer added that “he believed Liu was threatening his employment if he did not process the retroactive raise.”

Disputed findings

Liu disputed wrongdoing, and she claimed that she was only fixing a “administrative error.” She told investigators she expected her raise to be approved or denied through the proper channels.

She further stated she had “intended to personally” send the request to the City Council shortly after she notified human resources, but that before she could, Lee summoned her to his office and “pressured” her to resign.

“Dr. Liu disputes any suggestion that she directed subordinates to take improper actions or threatened (whether directly or indirectly) any City employees,” the ethics commission wrote. “However, Dr. Liu understands that the Commission anticipates providing testimony from Mr. Palmer that is contrary and therefore, based on that understanding, enters into the following Stipulated Agreement.”

Liu has 60 days to pay the fine and complete ethics training, according to the commission, which began investigating in 2020.

“We thank the Ethics Commission for their time, diligence and dedication to holding Liu accountable for breaching the public’s trust,” Goldberg wrote in the city’s statement.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @rickytwrites.