A new audit of the Clark County Public Administrator’s Office found eight “high-risk” issues or instances of mismanagement in the troubled department that deals with people’s estates after they die if they have no next of kin.
asserted
they → find → kin
Findings included that the department has nearly 1,900 open cases, $623,000 in collected fees it has not handed over to Clark County, an absence of a plan for disposing human cremated remains, non-deposited checks from estates long after the amount of time a bank is required to cash them, as well as lax security around people accessing the inventory collected from the homes of the deceased.
asserted
bank → include → deceased
After people in Clark County die without a will or someone to take care of their belongings, their estates — which includes pets, property, vehicles and other belongings — goes to the public administrator’s office, which then figures out how to reallocate or care for their estates.
asserted
which → die → estates
The head of the office is an elected position that serves a four-year term and oversees a roughly $2.5 million annual budget with a staff of 29 part-time and full-time employees.
asserted
that → elect → employees
Auditors said they had asked the public administrator’s office for an action plan to address the findings but had not heard back as of Oct. 22.
asserted
they → say → Oct.
The audit will be finalized during a county audit committee meeting Wednesday.
asserted
audit → finalize → meeting
The current public administrator, Rita Page Reid, declined The Nevada Independent’s request for comment.
asserted
administrator → decline → comment
She is not running for re-election.
asserted
She → run → election
The department has a tumultuous history — former Public Administrator Robert Telles murdered Las Vegas Review-Journal journalist Jeff German in 2022 after he investigated Telles’ conduct.
asserted
he → have → conduct
Now, that history is bubbling to the surface again.
asserted
history → bubble → surface
Republican Mike Murphy, the interim administrator during Telles’ last months in office and after his arrest, is running for the office against Deputy Attorney General Stephanie Itkin-Goodman, a Democrat.
asserted
Murphy → run → Goodman
In an interview, Murphy said that many of the office’s problems date back to Telles’ leadership and German’s story on Telles creating emotional stress in the office through bullying and favoritism.
asserted
Telles → say → bullying
Telles, who was the public administrator for two years, also had an affair with a subordinate, something he originally denied but later confirmed during his trial for German’s murder.
asserted
he → have → murder
“Certainly, half of the time was spent with Robert at the helm,” Murphy, the county coroner for 14 years, said of his time in the office.
asserted
Murphy → spend → office
He said he was brought aboard in May 2022 to address some of the allegations uncovered in German’s article while Telles was still in office.
uncertain
Telles → say → office
German was murdered in September 2022, and Murphy said he stayed on to deal with the aftermath of the murder, though he said he was not afforded the same power as a standard public administrator.
asserted
he → murder → administrator
“High risk” areas of improvement
The audit — spanning from 2024 to 2026 — paints a picture of a department with long delays in processing, unpaid fees, high staff turnover and instances of security lapses that went unnoticed.
asserted
that → span → lapses
According to the audit, the longer a case is open, the more time, money and resources it demands.
uncertain
it → accord → time
Belongings sit in storage, “contributing to overcrowded storage areas, increasing the risk of depreciation and requiring additional staff time to manage the inventory.”
The longer a case takes, the harder it can become to contact attorneys, heirs, creditors and other financial institutions, as well as processing any payments on old bank accounts.
asserted
it → sit → accounts
During the two-year audit period, the office closed 1,808 cases within an average of 532 days per case.
asserted
office → close → case
However, some took much longer; 59 percent of all cases have been open for more than two years.
asserted
percent → take → years
Of the cases still open, most have been ongoing for more than three years, according to the audit; 315 have been open for more than five years, and 34 for more than 10.
uncertain
315 → accord → 10
Authors of the audit recommended a timeline of two years for administrator cases.
asserted
Authors → recommend → cases
More than 147 vehicles are in the public administrator’s possession, several for three years or longer, and are sitting in a parking lot that is almost full.
asserted
that → sit → lot
Several of the checks had been in the possession of the administrator’s office for years without being deposited, forwarded to a next of kin or disposed of.
asserted
Several → deposit → kin
The office is also in possession of 105 human cremains, a technical term for cremated remains, and six pet cremains.
asserted
office → cremate → remains
The county’s crypt, where these remains are kept, is full, which means additional cremains cannot be properly disposed of and forces cases to be left open.
asserted
cases → keep → ?
The audit also found that the office regularly failed to conduct timely visits to a decedent’s home after an initial visit, which sometimes meant that property — in one case, a car — had gone missing or been “compromised.”
asserted
property → find → case
Throughout the last two years, the department collected $623,000 in fee revenue but did not send it to Clark County, which it had previously been doing but stopped in February 2024.
asserted
it → collect → February
In the audit, the county said that processing fees are necessary for the budget but did not say why the office had stopped forwarding its fees.
asserted
office → say → fees
Another major concern outlined in the audit was the fact that several people without proper authorization accessed the areas where dead people’s belongings are kept.
asserted
belongings → outline → areas
The audit also outlined a lack of security oversight for vault technicians, who can currently modify the records of items after they have been stored without supervisors approval or oversight, meaning that vault technicians “with physical inventory access, record-editing privileges, and sole auditing responsibility can easily steal items without detection.”
asserted
technicians → outline → detection
Both candidates for the public administrator, Murphy and Itkin-Goodman, said in separate interviews they were concerned with the findings of the audit.
“I think it has provided a roadmap for the next public administrator to come in and take it to the next level, and to follow the guidelines of the audit,” Murphy said about the findings.
asserted
Murphy → say → findings
He said he was aware of some of the issues raised by the audit during his 11-month stint as interim administrator, but he did not have the authority to address it at the time.
asserted
he → say → time
However, Itkin-Goodman sees it differently.
asserted
Goodman → see → it
“My opponent was brought in to help manage those long-standing problems,” Itkin-Goodman said during an interview.
asserted
Goodman → bring → interview
“His promise to finish what they started is precisely why this office needs independent leadership and fundamental reform, which is what I bring.”
asserted
I → finish → what
Both candidates also expressed concern about the finding that unauthorized people, including someone who was not Clark County staff, were getting access to the inventory of deceased individuals.
asserted
who → express → individuals
To solve this issue, Murphy suggested requiring body cams, while Itkin-Goodman said the lack of safety was a “failure.”
uncertain
lack → solve → safety
“The work begins on Day 1 with the county’s audit as our roadmap,” Itkin-Goodman said on her plan to address the issues in the office.
asserted
Goodman → begin → office
The Aporia
