By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Three months after an I-Team report involving alleged favoritism at the Clark County Business License department, the county has released the results of an internal investigation.
It began after a local business owner recorded a county employee apparently admitting some businesses were given preferential treatment.
I-Team reporter Mark Sayre first broke this story. The county says it did a top-to-bottom review of this particular case and the licensing process in general. The county's conclusion was that the licensing process has not been compromised.
Read a letter of the team's findings
But as you might imagine, the business owner who feels victimized by this process is not at all convinced.
Audiotape:
Derek Dubasik: “Put it this way — more than just the 40/40 club has been taken and processed about a month earlier than they would have been normally.”
Irma Aguirre: “So why?
Derek Dubasik: “Because I was asked to do it and I did it.”
An audiotape was captured in January inside an office at the Clark County Government Center. Business owners George Harris and Irma Aguirre confronted then assistant manager of business license operations, Derek Dubasik.
They alleged Dubasik gave preferential treatment to the 40-40 club inside the Palazzo so it could open by New Year's Eve.
George Harris: “Did you put the 40/40 club — did you move their application up, yes or no?”
Derek Dubasik: “I personally did that myself.”
George Harris: “Under what authority, under what authority?
Derek Dubasik: “Under direction that I have received, under lawful authority that is all that I am saying.”
“The tape was an unauthorized taping of a conversation,” said Jacqueline Holloway, director of business license.
In an interview with the I-team in January, the county's director of business license made this promise.
“As a result of this, in order to alleviate any concerns that the community may have, we have put together a quality assurance review team. That means that we are going back to look at the process review all of the items to make sure that everything has been done appropriately,” said Holloway.
In a letter to the I-Team, Holloway says the review is now complete. ”The licensing process has 'not been compromised.'”
Eyewitness News showed the letter to George Harris whose Mexican restaurant called “La Madonna” now has its county business and liquor licenses and is open for business.
“For them to make a statement that the licensing process has not been compromised when the manager of that department said 'I was told to move someone in front of you' is a blatant lie! Harris said.
Harris says he lost $30,000 because he could not get a temporary license to open his business. While the letter does not specifically mention Harris' case, it does say even a “temporary” license can take up to 120 days to process.
“Well that's just not true. Because prior to this — this quote, unquote 'backup' — you could get a temporary license is a week-and-a-half to two weeks. So that is absolutely just blatantly false,” he said.
The business license department says new procedures are now in place to cut in half the time its takes to enter application information into a database and it will try to get more staff. Harris is not still not convinced.
“The culture hasn't changed. And that's the problem. This is going to take a cultural change. It's going to take these business to stand up to say, look, 'this isn't right.' Harris said.
As for Derek Dubasik, the employee caught on tape, he was placed on administrative leave immediately after this incident. As of March 25th, county officials say Dubasik was transferred to the county coroner's office.
His pay remains unchanged at just under $94,000 a year. Eyewitness News did reach Dubasik on the phone and he characterized his transfer to the coroner's office as “voluntary.”
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