Next phase of Las Vegas Convention Center construction set for approval

Crews work on the foundation of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s $935.1 million convention center expansion on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, on the north end of the construction site, which formerly was used as a parking lot. (Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal; @RickVelotta)
Crews work on the foundation of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s $935.1 million convention center expansion on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018, on the north end of the construction site, which formerly was used as a parking lot. (Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal; @RickVelotta)
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While construction has begun on the city’s $935.1 million convention center expansion, the first steps of the next phase began Wednesday.

The Las Vegas Convention Center District Committee unanimously recommended approval of a $13.5 million contract for a builder representative to oversee the final phase of what ultimately will be a $1.4 billion expansion and renovation project.

The committee recommended a contract extension with Cordell Corporation and that decision will go to the LVCVA board of directors for consideration on Nov. 13.

Cordell principal and owner Terry Miller has served as the LVCVA’s builder representative on the expansion portion of the project, which includes a 600,000-square-foot exhibit hall project, and three stories of meeting rooms underway northwest of the existing convention center campus on space previously used as a parking lot.

Progress update

Miller and Guy Martin, a partner with the Turner-Martin-Harris joint venture, gave an update on the project’s progress prior to the vote on the contract extension.

Miller said crews first had to relocate NV Energy power lines to trenches on the periphery of the project. They then removed all the asphalt from the parking lot and replaced it with fill dirt about 6 feet high to provide a level platform for the building’s construction.

A two-story visitor information center at Convention Center Drive and Paradise Road and a single-story building with restrooms were demolished and the connection to a pedestrian bridge over Paradise Road was left to be repurposed to connect to the new building.

Miller said the contractor is now drilling 595 holes 3 feet in diameter and ranging from 40 to 70 feet deep. Rebar cages will be dropped into the holes, then filled with concrete to form a network of underground columns on which the building will rest.

“Progress is being made and it’s all on schedule,” Miller said.

Crews must finish building new exhibition hall by January 2021 to accommodate the CES trade show.

Once the new exhibit hall is opened, the renovation stage would begin with crews taking the Convention Center’s four existing exhibition halls off line for renovation over a two-year period.

The Cordell contract amendment considers paying the company $545,000 a month during new construction and during the early stages of renovation and $169,750 a month for the last 12 months of the contract.

Martin said the contracting joint venture is finishing efforts to hire the last subcontractors and laborers to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 1. The legislation directed 25 percent of the work — about $189.5 million in contracts — go to Small Business Enterprise-qualified subcontractors.

Women, minorities included

While the legislation doesn’t demand it, Martin said the contractor also established a goal of hiring 14 percent (about $26.5 million of work) to go to minorities and 7 percent (about $13.3 million) to women-owned businesses.

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The small-business hiring requirement strictly involves Southern Nevada contractors. But Martin said the contractor would be hard pressed to fill the self-imposed 7 percent quota for women with local businesses. The company opted to give priority to Southern Nevada business women, then Nevada business women and then women from the region to fulfill the goal.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.

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Biden campaigns for Nevada Democrats at Las Vegas rally on Saturday

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke of working class struggles and said President Donald Trump is shredding American values as the Democrat rallied union members in Las Vegas to support Jacky Rosen and other Nevada Democrats.

Rosen, a freshman congresswoman from the Las Vegas-area, is challenging incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dean Heller and the race is seen as one of Democrats’ best chances to flip a seat this November.

Heller is the only Republican senator seeking re-election in a state Democrat Hillary Clinton won in 2016. He’s a former Trump critic who has become an ally of the president and rallied with him in the northern, rural Nevada city of Elko Saturday.

In Las Vegas, Biden criticized Trump for his approach to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, his equivocating on white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, and his immigration policies, including the separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border.

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American values, "are being shredded," Biden said. "They’re being shredded by a president who is all about himself. It’s all about Donald."

The crowd was dominated by members of the powerful, heavily immigrant Culinary Workers Union Local 226. The union represents about 57,000 housekeepers, bartenders, bellmen and other workers in the city’s casino-hotels and has been credited with giving Democrats key wins in the state in 2016.

People listen to former Vice President Joe Biden as he speaks during a Nevada State Democratic Party rally to promote voting at the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 headquarters in Las Vegas, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Democrats are counting on Latino mobilization driven by the union this year to avoid a repeat of the 2014 elections, when Democratic turnout in Nevada faltered.

Trump in Elko later scoffed at the idea of a "blue wave" of heavy Democratic turnout this November and mocked the smaller crowd at Biden’s event.

Culinary Union spokeswoman Bethany Khan said later Saturday organizers checked in more than 500 people for the Las Vegas rally, including some who filled in overflow areas away from the stage.

The rally outside the union hall north of the Las Vegas Strip included appearances from comedian Billy Eichner and a mariachi band and came as two weeks of early voting kicked off in the state.

Former President Barack Obama, who won Nevada during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, will be visiting the battleground state Monday with a get-out-the-vote rally in Las Vegas.

U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, left, and Rep. Jacky Rosen, raise their hands together during a Nevada State Democratic Party rally to promote voting at the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 headquarters in Las Vegas, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018. (Erik Verduzco/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Biden also touted the candidacy of other Democrats, including Steve Sisolak, the powerful chairman of the county commission overseeing the Las Vegas Strip who is running for governor, and Susie Lee and Steven Horsford, who are seeking seats to Nevada’s 3rd and 4th Congressional Districts, both of which are considered swing seats.

"This election is literally bigger than politics. It’s bigger than politics," Biden said. "No matter how old or young you are, you have never participated in an election that is as consequential as this election national and locally."

Biden, who has said he won’t decide until at least next year whether he’ll seek the presidency in 2020, has been keeping a presence in early voting states like Nevada.
He’s scheduled to return Dec. 1 to speak to a fundraiser for the law school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
___
This story has been updated to correct the proper name of the union.

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Southwest Gas wants to raise Nevada rates to pay for homes, massages

A Southwest Gas truck is seen on Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, in North Las Vegas. (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @bizutesfaye

A utility company wants Nevadans to foot the bill for costs associated with houses for its employees, “frivolous” charges for consultants and even employee massages, a state review found.

In May, Southwest Gas applied to the Public Utilities Commission to increase its retail natural gas services. As part of that process, the PUC reviews a plethora of charges submitted by the company to justify the need to increase rates for each customer by $2 to $3 per month.

The review of Southwest Gas’ charges, which was filed Wednesday, calls into question many of the expenditures and recommends that the PUC not allow many expenditures to be included in setting new utility rates.

“It became very clear during the course of my investigation that SWG does not prudently manage its contracts or expenditures and does not properly document the justification of its actions,” Adam Danise, an electrical engineer with the Public Utilities Commission, wrote in 42 pages of written testimony that detailed, down the the penny, the purchases and charges he deemed inappropriate.

Those charges included $1,645 of vouchers for regular 10-minute chair massages in August and September 2015; multiple charges for lunch and dinner meetings, including one for $800 at Brio in Las Vegas; bartender costs; membership at a golf club in Las Vegas; and $90,000 for a backhoe, which Danise described as “the most egregious” because Southwest Gas had previously agreed to remove it as part of a safety violation.

Southwest Gas also submitted $7,568.39 in charges for a Casio digital piano, a Yamaha home theater system, a grill and multiple Bose wireless speakers and JBL Bluetooth headphones, as well as $41,000 for non-travel meals and $3,000 for non-travel entertainment.

The company would pass on all of those costs to customers if the PUC approved them.

“I find it troublesome that, based on the documents provided, SWG never questioned any charges, never questioned the booking of those costs as project costs for ratepayer recovery,” Danise wrote.

Danise also criticized the company for a lack of preparation in the review. He said he gave Southwest Gas more than 20 business days to round up documents he wanted to review, but when he showed up “not one single document had been gathered.”

“It is very troubling that SWG did not have the documentation readily available during my on-site audit, which suggests to me that SWG either is very haphazard with how regulatory audits should operate, has inadequate internal processes and documentation, or it was intentionally making the process difficult to frustrate the investigation.”

Danise added that it appeared the company “was not expecting that the $600 plus million in capital costs it is requesting be placed into rates would be vetted/examined in detail.”

When asked about Danise’s findings in the review, Southwest Gas spokeswoman Amy Washburn said it would “file rebuttal testimony with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission later this month.”

Consultant problems

The audit also criticized Southwest Gas’ use of consultants for several capital projects, citing throughout the report “excessive consultant expenses” tied to their overall pay, travel, lodging and meals.

One consultant, for example, was paid $130 per hour, received a $165 per diem and was flown back and forth from Las Vegas to his home in Washington each weekend. Danise said Southwest Gas gave no justification for those charges.

Danise also pointed to the consultants’ use of rental cars included in the rate base application. Those included $135.58 to rent a Dodge Charger that was driven 10 miles, along with a Volvo S60 that was rented for three days at the cost of $184.72 but driven a single mile. Danise questioned why less expensive alternatives like a taxi were not used.

Homes for employees

Another item submitted into the rate base that caught Danise’s eye was $307,000 to buy a house in Winnemucca for the company’s Winnemucca district manager.

According to Danise’s testimony, Southwest Gas said it needed to buy the existing district manager’s house when he took a new position in the company. It also said it kept the house when the new district manager couldn’t find “suitable housing.”

The company doesn’t charge the new manager rent, according to the audit, but it includes the cost as additional income in the employee’s pay. It also rents out two apartments in Las Vegas for a total of $2,350 to temporarily house new hires, according to the audit.

But the auditor also found that Southwest Gas pays for the home for the district manager in Incline Village. That house was bought by the company in 2004 for more than $750,000. As it does with the Winnemucca house, it includes the costs as additional income for the Lake Tahoe district manager.

“If SWG wants to offer free housing for its employees as part of its compensation plan, its shareholders should pay for those costs, not ratepayers,” Danise wrote.

The PUC will hold a hearing on Southwest Gas’ rate increase application Oct. 22, and it will make a decision on the application by Dec. 25.

Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ColtonLochhead on Twitter.

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