Clark County commissioners correct error; pay consulting firm

“The contractor did the work in good faith and billed us and they thought they should be reimbursed because they did the work per the request of a DJFS employee,” said County Administrator Nathan Kennedy.

Kennedy said any contract or contract amendments of $50,000 and above must approved by the Clark County Board of Commissioners.

Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize the “moral obligation payment.”

Commissioner John Detrick said a former Clark County DJFS official promised to pay Hyden Consulting for work the company had performed, but there was no paperwork on the deal.

“We feel a moral obligation because they are a good local business … to take care of them,” Detrick said.

The moral obligation payment to Hyden Consulting is the second such payment since commissioners have agreed to as a result of commitments made for more DJFS staff.

Clark County commissioners recently voted in April to pay Opportunities for Individual Change nearly $60,000 to resolve an error by a former Department of Job and Family Services employee.

Ex-DJFS staff told OIC officials they were allowed to keep $58,842 in federal funds for administrative duties as part of a re-entry contract without the approval of commissioners and the grantor, Kennedy said.

But after the grantor twice denied OIC the ability to use the money for administrative costs, Kennedy said OIC was forced to return the money to the county, and the county then returned the funds back to federal officials.

OIC officials asked for the funds late last year or early this year, Kennedy had said.

Commissioners voted 2-1 to authorize the “moral obligation payment” for OIC’s “reliance on any of the board’s past employees authorizing any agreement when the employee did not have explicit contract authority to authorize OIC to perform administrative duties under the Re-entry Contract.”

Commissioner Rick Lohnes voted against the payment.

Lohnes said then that OIC is a wonderful organization, but the county is not under a legal obligation to make good on the contract issue.