New department chief received pay for 2 state jobs

(AP) - The incoming director of the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation held down two state jobs last fiscal year, as a salaried employee and a consultant, a newspaper reported Thursday.

Frank Woodbeck was paid about $82,000 from July 2010 to March for serving as southern Nevada director of the Commission on Economic Development. During that time, the Las Vegas Sun reports he was also a paid consultant on green jobs training to the state agency he will now head.

He obtained that work through Manpower Inc., a staffing company that provides temporary employees to state government. Agency directors are given wide latitude in choosing who Manpower hires for a specific position.

Woodbeck said he worked nights and weekends on the contract job with the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.

"I put in 60- to 70-hour weeks," he told the newspaper. "Anyone who knows me, works with me, knows what kind of hours I put in."

The consulting contract ended in February.

Gov. Brian Sandoval named Woodbeck to head the department earlier this month. Woodbeck assumes his new role Monday.

The governor's office received an anonymous letter last week, apparently written by department employees, expressing concern over Woodbeck's holding of a full-time state job while doing state consulting work.

During the 2009 and 2011 sessions, lawmakers passed bills to curb the use of consultants and contractors, particularly work done by current or recently retired state workers.

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, who sponsored the legislation, said so-called "double dipping" leads to legitimate questions about whether employees are adequately doing their full-time state jobs.

"I think we have to be very sensitive to public perception," Smith said.

One bill passed this year prevents current or recently retired state employees from contracting with the state unless it's approved in a public meeting.

A 2009 audit by the Legislative Counsel Bureau found 250 former and current state workers providing services to the state, at a cost of $11.6 million in fiscal 2008 and 2009.

The audit also found irregularities. In one case, a contractor/employee logged 25 hours of work in a single day. Other consultants were paid without having written contracts.

The audit also found that the state lacked controls to ensure contractors were not working when they were supposed to be doing their full-time jobs.