By the book? But how accurate are the books?

In his recent letter to the editor (“Assemblyman/firefighter did it by the book,” July 5), North Las Vegas Fire Chief Al Gillespie avoids any of the substantive issues raised by the Nevada Policy Research Institute’s Nevada Journal in a report it released last week, “Speaker Oceguera — another government ‘double-dipper’?”

I challenge Mr. Gillespie or anyone else to find a single factual error in that report on Assembly Speaker and North Las Vegas Assistant Fire Chief John Oceguera. Mr. Gillespie apparently would prefer to try to disparage our organization and attack the report with broad generalizations rather than address specifics, and for good reason: The report was based on documents and interviews provided to Nevada Journal by the city of North Las Vegas and its fire department. In other words, the records Mr. Gillespie now claims are inaccurate are records for which the chief is responsible.

One major issue of concern is that North Las Vegas staffing records show Mr. Oceguera worked 36 hours a week (full-time for NLV firefighter supervisors) during both the 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions. North Las Vegas Fire Department Capt. Scott Gorgon — who administers the staffing software the department uses to manage its rosters — told NPRI that for the past five years the staffing data has been the basis of the department’s payroll, implying that Mr. Oceguera had drawn full-time pay while in Carson City.

When Nevada Journal first reached out to Mr. Gillespie and other fire department officials for an explanation, they referred the publication to the city attorney’s office. Even department Public Information Officer Cedric Williams declined to speak to a reporter. It wasn’t until the following day that Mr. Gillespie agreed to an interview.

When interviewed, Mr. Gillespie had no explanation for why Mr. Oceguera received his full pay in 2009. When given the chance to offer documentation that would explain the staffing records, he only offered that because fire administrators are salaried, it doesn’t matter when “we’re actually in the office or when we’re responding to calls.” This is in direct contradiction with his claim in his letter to the editor that he “tried” to set the record straight when contacted by Nevada Journal.

After Nevada Journal published its report, the department released an “agreement” it claimed to have had with Mr. Oceguera during the 2009 and 2011 legislative sessions. Assuming those unsigned, undated, informal-looking and grammatically challenged agreements between Mr. Oceguera and the NLV Fire Department existed before the week of Nevada Journal’s report, it’s surprising that neither Mr. Gillespie nor Mr. Oceguera sent them to Nevada Journal, especially when the publication requested documentation that would contradict the staffing records provided by the department.

In addition, the agreements raise the unanswered question of why Mr. Oceguera was paid for nine hours of work per week in 2011 but for 18 hours of work per week in 2009, despite responsibility descriptions that were almost word-for-word identical.

Also unanswered is whether Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Oceguera’s “agreement” violated the city’s “secondary employment” policy, which states “[s]econdary employment must not interfere with the performance of the employee’s job with the City.”

Indeed, the questions raised by this report and Mr. Gillespie’s response now go far beyond Mr. Oceguera’s individual case. To explain inaccuracies in Mr. Oceguera’s staffing records, Mr. Gillespie discredited the entire staffing system he oversees, by saying it doesn’t apply to salaried employees: “We’re salaried. So it doesn’t matter what our … when we’re actually in the office or when we’re responding to calls.”

Mr. Gillespie claims that Oceguera drew his firefighter salary while in Carson City “by the book.”

The problem is, he’s also told the public that the books aren’t accurate.

Victor Joecks

Las Vegas

The writer is the communications director for the Nevada Policy Research Institute.