DA calls for CCSD trustee to relinquish her seat over residency issues
The Clark County district attorney has determined that schools Trustee Katie Williams no longer lives in the district that elected her, as required by law, according to a letter dated Wednesday.
The office “shall commence a proceeding to declare the office vacant,” states the letter from District Attorney Steve Wolfson to Williams. This is “due to you ceasing to be an actual resident of the State of Nevada and ceasing to be an actual resident of District B of the Clark County School District.”
He asks that she respond in writing by Monday about whether she intends to relinquish her office.
“This was way overdue,” Trustee Linda Cavazos said Wednesday. “I’m relieved, glad, that there’s finally action being taken.”
In May, five voting and non-voting members of the school board asked Wolfson to investigate Williams, who had been attending meetings remotely and, they said, no longer was residing in the district or fulfilling her duties. Williams responded at the time that she traveled for work and had no intention of giving up her seat.
Williams, who attended a board work session Wednesday remotely, did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, the district’s media relations department wrote that the school board was aware of the letter sent by the district attorney to Williams.
Clark County Education Association Vice President Kenny Belknap called on school board President Evelyn Garcia Morales to step down from her position due to negligence. He said that any board members who knew Williams wasn’t living in the district should step down.
He added that any 4-3 votes in which Williams voted with the majority ought to be reviewed and possibly reconsidered.
“If the district isn’t trusted or doesn’t have the sense of accountability, how can anybody trust the decision that they make?” the teachers union executive asked.
Williams on Wednesday voted in two 4-3 votes regarding the superintendent search and upcoming trustee schedule.
The controversy began early this year when Williams began to attend board meetings remotely.
She announced on social media that she had started a new job for a Nebraska-based law firm. The firm told the Review-Journal when it phoned that Williams was at lunch but usually there five days a week. Her name and her ex-husband’s are listed on a deed to a house in North Las Vegas.
Williams’ term expires at the end of the year and she is not seeking re-election. If removed from the board, the remaining board members would select a replacement to complete her term.
Cavazos and Trustee Ramona Esparza-Stoffregan in recent weeks told the Review-Journal that Williams hasn’t been advocating for, or responding to, her constituents.
Williams has again been attending regular board meetings in person. She has not attended meetings at Mount Charleston to discuss whether to reopen storm-damaged Lundy Elementary School — a sore point for parents in the community, which falls within Williams’ district.
In an email addressed to the board president, Williams had asked to be removed from the district committees on which she served.
“Madam President due to my increasing workload I’m requesting that you reassign my current committee assignments,” from the debt management commission and as representative to the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Commission.
Cavazos repeatedly pressed board Garcia Morales for more information. “If there are others (possibly other trustees and counsel) who are aware that Trustee Williams had moved, but the rest of the board members have not been informed, that is a problem in regards to collusion,” Cavazos wrote in an email to her.
In an interview, Cavazos said about Williams, “If she’s living in Omaha and is just coming back part time, that’s fraudulent. She’s showing up to meetings where she ends up being the deciding vote.”
Williams often sides with the board majority on split 4 to 3 votes, such as the vote for her motion to explore using the Mount Charleston library for classes rather than restoring Lundy Elementary.
Chris Giunchigliani, who owns a house at Mount Charleston, said that she believes Williams has never been to Lundy and hasn’t responded to residents’ phone calls and emails.
“What is your job, then?” the former Clark County commissioner and state lawmaker said. “Just to come in and vote?”
The board in the coming months will be selecting the district’s next superintendent in a process that Cavazos described as both critical and “extremely complex.” She and other trustees have questioned whether some board agenda items may need to be revisited, if Williams wasn’t living in her district when the vote was taken.
In June, Williams said she planned to continue the work she was elected to do. “As a single working mother and citizen-Soldier, my schedule has certainly become difficult,” Williams, a member of the Nevada Army National Guard, said at the time in a statement emailed to the Review-Journal. “Even while traveling for work, I make sure to continue to attend meetings and represent the best interests of the voters.”
Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0336. Follow @MaryHynes1 on X. Hynes is a member of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable and exposes wrongdoing. Contact Katie Futterman at kfutterman@reviewjournal.com