Las Vegas ‘cannot break ranks’ amid emergency, city manager warns

Las Vegas city facilities are closed to the public through April 20, including the City Hall lobby and cultural and community centers, in an effort to reduce public risk amid the coronavirus outbreak.

“It doesn’t mean, and I want to be very clear on this, that we are shutting down the city of Las Vegas,” City Manager Scott Adams told the City Council on Wednesday. “We very much will maintain business operations in the city.”

The council moved to ratify a state of emergency officially declared Tuesday and requested financial assistance from the state during its Wednesday meeting.

As the largest city in Nevada maneuvers through an evolving crisis, where new orders and directives come daily, it seeks like every other government to simply keep going.

Adams, who received signals of confidence from most city lawmakers, including Mayor Carolyn Goodman, will be leading the charge. He now holds certain emergency powers, including spending authority. But on Wednesday, he first called for unity from a “fractured” council.

It is difficult at times to understand what they want to do, Adams said.

“But in an emergency, I would hope you stand together as a council, coalesce and act in consensus of support behind me as we go forward because we are going to have to work together as a team to get through this,” he told them. “We cannot break apart. We cannot break ranks.”

Quick decisions, troubled waters?

The suggestion of gridlock between city lawmakers was brushed aside by council members who echoed the call to come together, but it followed Councilwoman Michele Fiore seeking assurance that Adams would not be able to make any major decision without first consulting Goodman.

“You might think that we’re fractured, but I just want to remind you that the fractured is behind the mayor,” she said later.

Fiore also sought, and received, assurance that the council could make a change in any of three jobs the City Council oversees, including city manager, even during a state of emergency.

“There will be times that I may get ahead of your skis in the interest of public safety and health,” Adams said, pledging he would do his best to keep the mayor and the rest of the council apprised of his decisions.

Yet things are likely to move quickly, he noted, and “to say that we’re in normal times is really burying our head in the sand.”

Bucking the trend

As the city accelerates its response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, some inside City Hall worry whether it has done enough.

“I am perplexed on a lot of things,” Councilman Cedric Crear said by teleconference, one of three city lawmakers to call in to the council meeting rather than to join in person.

While Gov. Steve Sisolak has urged the state to “stay home for Nevada,” the city is the only valley municipality not to cancel public meetings. Councilman Brian Knudsen said the guidelines were clear from Sisolak and President Donald Trump and he only attended to support staff, and “in future meetings, if we can’t figure out a virtual meeting format, I would not be here.”

As surrounding jurisdictions nix events across the board, Fiore said an outdoor bluegrass festival planned in her ward Saturday would follow public health precautions and not prevail only if the bands and technical support didn’t show up. The city later announced it was postponed indefinitely.

Crear said he worried about city employees who were confused why they were at work when the state was essentially shut down and as Trump discouraged congregations of 10 or more people.

“Yet we have people right now, sure as we speak, that are working in close confines of their offices and they are afraid to … say something, and because they don’t want to be reprimanded,” he said.

Keeping government employees at work is not rare: In announcing that it would close all its buildings Tuesday, Clark County said employees would remain to communicate with residents by phone or email. It was not clear, however, what plans each local government across the state had to ensure employee safety.

Government open for business

Adams acknowledged that needing to maintain vital services during a state of emergency means that a significant percentage of employees will be engaged in running the city and that nonessential employees could potentially support them.

The city will also need to keep backup plans in the event that any of its employees contract the virus, he said.

Residents may continue to call or do business online and set appointments for services in certain city facilities but will be screened for symptoms of the virus before entry, according to the city. Adams assured that the construction industry will not shut down. The city’s economic development department will become the “one-stop shop” or pipeline between affected businesses in the community and federal stimulus packages coming out of Washington.

Adams said the city has identified the essential functions that will continue throughout the state of emergency: jail, fire and wastewater treatment services, among them.

“Our citizens expect that from us,” he said.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.