Election

Efficient justice

passed a bill to require some reporting,” lawmaker Smith said. “That’s exactly what we wanted was some reporting to make sure it is helping.”

But she said the resulting information drawn from reports by companies operating under STAR bonds has not been all that useful, sometimes consisting of estimates instead of hard numbers.

“It wasn’t contemplated that nontourist companies would come in as a result of STAR bonds,” Smith said. “It wasn’t contemplated that existing businesses would be hurt by STAR bonds. It wasn’t contemplated that the state would lose money from these projects.”

“How many Californians are saying, ‘Let’s drive to Scheels in east Sparks?’” asked Atkinson.

He said that in addition to the quarter cent sales tax and wages paid, the Truckee Meadows will also benefit from property taxes and a business tax calculated on payrolls—which, like the sales tax, are split among various governments. “But that’s about it,” he said.

He said that without the tourist component of STAR bonds, the only thing developments like Legends do is shuttle sales taxes around the valley—and create “unfair competition” for local businesses from big box chains.

“Does this move the sales base from one location to another?” he asked. “Unless they’re bringing in customers from outside the state, it’s the same tax base.”

Some Sparks officials have said that businesses that moved to Legends from other valley locations would otherwise have left the valley altogether. No company has confirmed that.

Meanwhile, RED is also having problems that transcend Sparks— including some in the birthplace of STAR bonds. Steve Vockrodt wrote in the June 8 edition of the Kansas City Business Journal, “RED Development LLC’s local status is cooling after years as one of the area’s hottest retail developers. In the span of a week, its One Nineteen retail project in Leawood sold, and a federal judge appointed a receiver for RED’s signature Legends Outlets Kansas City that will look to replace the company as property manager and explore a sale of the Kansas City, Kan., project.”

The full name of the project is Outlets at Legends and some of the stores have outlet or factory in their names, but few if any of them have the pricing policies that are normally associated with outlet stores. “[C]all them ‘outlet’if you want, but I’m not paying those prices,” wrote thenSparks Tribune editor Nathan Orme last year. Ω

Gassing up

In Sparks last weekend, mounted police officers patrolling the Street Vibrations motorcycle events stopped under a convenience store carport to eat some fast food lunches. There was no hay at hand for the horses. by On Nov. 6, the Reno Justice Court will gain a sixth department and a new justice of the peace in its ranks. Candidates Pierre Hascheff, a lawyer and Reno City Councilman since 1993, and Gemma Greene Waldron, a criminal lawyer and 16-year deputy district attorney, are competing to fill the newly created position. Previously, the justice court was composed of five departments, each with one justice of the peace at its head. But due to a higher volume of court cases, another seat was added to meet increased demand. The Reno Justice Court handles a wide array of legal cases—JPs hear everything from citations and small claims to misdemeanors and even the preliminary examination of felony cases. Both candidates have stated that, if elected, increasing efficiency within the court will be at the top of their to-do list. Waldron said the six justices need to become more uniform in their court proceedings. She believes the use of a courtroom script would increase efficiency by making the court more productive and predictable. “Some judges take longer to do a task than others,” she said. “If we became more uniform in how we do a canvass, in how we take a plea, in how we handle arraignments … if we all followed a certain script, we would know that we could hear X amount of people in X amount of time.” With the county already stretched for funding and a population that continues to grow, Waldron said the court’s efficiency problems will only worsen if correctional action is not taken immediately. “The court just can’t afford to increase hours,” Waldron said. “The only solution is to do things in a more efficient manner.” Waldron believes that increased efficiency is possible in the court’s sentencing process. Currently, she said, the court allocates a single justice to handle all cases that are deemed to require extra tutelage. Waldron would propose that all six

justices take on share of such cases, carving out one morning a week to dedicate to the task. “It would require the whole justice Bethany Deines court to sit down and reevaluate,” she said. “How do we, now six judges, make the court more efficient as a whole, but still keep it at four days a week, keep the budget straight, and not have to hire more people?” Pierre Hascheff, Waldron’s opponent, agrees that increasing efficiency should be a top priority of the court, given Washoe County’s tight economic condition. He said that although the Reno Justice Court is one of the most efficient courts in the state, there is still work to be done. He believes his years serving on the City Council lend him a large amount of knowledge and experience in creating efficient government. Hascheff suggests exploring the option of merging the municipal court and the justice court to increase efficiency. In his City Council experience, such consolidation efforts were very effective, he said. “In the city we consolidated a lot of our functions,” Hascheff said. Another of Hascheff’s suggestions includes the continued advancement of the technological capabilities of the court. He wants to continue initiatives such as “out of line and online,” a goal set by the justice court to get at least 40 percent of those with outstanding fines to pay online. If not required to come to court, Hascheff said people will be more likely to pay their fines, allowing the court to create revenue while saving on court costs. “It’s very expensive to have people go through the system,” he said. “On-line services provide the same result without the cost.” Hascheff’s ideas extend beyond mergers and fines. He calls for mandatory settlement conferences, which he said allow the court to dispense justice without the expense of a lengthy trial period. “If the judge can resolve a case before it goes to a two-week trial or a one-week trial, it saves the court a lot of money,” he said. Hascheff said the creation of Department 6 could not have come at a better time in his career. After a 23year stint serving as a member of the Reno City Council, Hascheff said he’s now ready to give up his law practice fulfill his lifelong goal of becoming a judge. “It won’t be hard to move on,” he said. “I’m 57 years old, I’ve been practicing for almost 30 years, so I look at this as another opportunity.” Ω

The candidates agree: Budget limits will impose a changes in how the court does business.