Clark County deputy manager leaves after a year, expensive search

Clark County paid tens of thousands of dollars to an executive search firm to find a replacement for an embattled deputy county manager, only to have the new hire resign after a year, records show.

Sam Bateman started as deputy county manager on Oct. 31, 2023. He replaced Jeff Wells, who retired after an investigation into whether he improperly intervened in his son’s job-related discipline, records show.

Bateman, who previously worked as chief deputy in the Clark County district attorney’s office and chief justice at Henderson Justice Court, resigned effective Nov. 12, saying he wanted to work in criminal justice instead of managing departments and budgets for agencies like the county coroner, district attorney and public defender.

He took a nearly $40,000 cut in pay to work as a Henderson assistant city attorney, records show. The county job paid $219,606, plus about $70,000 in benefits, but he will make $181,000 a year plus benefits in Henderson.

“I was a practicing attorney, and switching to management you don’t practice criminal justice law,” he said in a phone interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He said his new position is similar to the work he was doing before taking the county job.

The county “engaged” Ralph Anderson &Associates in May 2023 to conduct an executive search to replace Wells and another deputy county manager, according to emails from county spokeswoman Jennifer Cooper, and the total cost was $60,290.79.

Resignation letter withheld

The county initially withheld Bateman’s resignation letter, and Review-Journal Chief Legal Officer Ben Lipman said that wasn’t allowed under state open records laws.

Cooper wrote that there were no records responsive to a request for emails and other documents related to Bateman’s departure. When the Review-Journal asked for the resignation letter, Cooper cited Clark County Code and a court ruling to argue that the document was exempt from disclosure.

“Any voluntary resignation letter would be considered confidential pursuant to CCC 2.40.150 as a resignation letter is part of the employee’s personnel file,” Cooper wrote. “Also, in accordance with CCSD v RJ, employees have a privacy interest in certain information in their personnel records. … Here, there is very little significant public interest in Mr. Bateman’s voluntary resignation. Mr. Bateman has had no complaints or investigations; he is simply voluntarily resigning.”

Lipman said that the county can’t use its own ordinances to circumvent state law and that the legal ruling was not cited accurately.

If “there is information in the document that is sufficiently private, the information still must be disclosed if the public has a significant interest in seeing it,” he wrote, adding that the state Supreme Court never suggested resignation letters are private under the ruling and that the ruling requires governments to hand over records even if there is private material in them that the government can redact.

Bateman declined to release his resignation letter to the Review-Journal because the county was taking the position that it was exempt from disclosure, but he said “there’s nothing there” and “no story.”

After the interview, the county released the letter, saying Bateman agreed to make it public.

Bateman wrote that he eagerly accepted the county job and the decision to leave was tough.

“I have concluded over the course of the year that my skill set and disposition is better suited to the practice of law, as opposed to non-law related management,” he wrote.

As a Henderson city attorney, Bateman will prosecute misdemeanors like DUI cases, draft ordinances, and oversee legal professionals and peace officer staff, according to the job posting.

County promises transparency

Cooper declined to make a county staff member available for an interview about the apparent violation of state open records laws in initially withholding the letter.

After Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German was murdered by then-Clark County Administrator Robert Telles, whose office was under Wells, the county promised more transparency in personnel issues — particularly for top employees.

Then-Clark County Commission Chairman Jim Gibson said the county needed to increase transparency and accountability.

County officials released the Wells investigation under that justification but not the investigation of his son, who was an attorney in the public defender’s office.

Current Clark County Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom declined to comment about Bateman’s resignation and the records issues.

Contact Arthur Kane at akane@reviewjournal.com and follow @ArthurMKane on Twitter. Kane is editor of the Review-Journal’s investigative team, focusing on reporting that holds leaders and agencies accountable.