Clark County manager faces new review process

Clark County’s county manager will face a formal review process in the months ahead.

The county council has been working with county human resources staff for six months to create a more consistent review process for the role currently held by Kathleen Otto. The council approved the new process during a meeting Sept. 24.

The process is designed to provide a more structured way to evaluate the county manager, Lora Provolt, human resources director for Clark County, said during the meeting.

The county manager is supervised by the county council, which hasn’t consistently or formally reviewed Otto’s performance in recent years. And county human resources staff haven’t played a role in the process before, Provolt said.

The process will gather evaluations from the county manager, as well as all directors under the county manager; other elected officials like the county treasurer and assessor; and select support staff who report to the county manager.

The self-evaluation and peer evaluations will begin shortly, with the council’s formal review set to start later this year.

The evaluation also will involve a goal-setting component in early 2026.

Otto was appointed county manager by the council in February 2021. Her pay has increased roughly 20 percent — from $180,000 to $219,000 — over the past three years after her contract was set in 2022. Her salary increase caused a stir among county staff, leading several unions representing county employees to argue for higher wages commensurate with the county manager’s percent increases.

Council Chair Sue Marshall and Councilor Glen Yung said creating a more consistent and formal review process for the county manager has been a goal of theirs since they were first elected in 2022.

“This is beneficial for the community, beneficial for the council and also beneficial for the county manager,” Yung said.

The council members said they hope to review the process early next year to see if it can be further improved.

Otto’s contract is set to expire at the end of this year, although it has a built-in extension available for use, Provolt said. Any compensation conversations among council members will be done in public meetings, likely after the review process, the human resources manager said.

Otto’s performance evaluation, however, will be presented to her in an executive session.