City’s building official exits job Friday

Carson City’s chief building inspector left city government Friday and the city manager said it was a resignation, though he didn’t get into reasons for it.

Kevin Gattis, whose official title was chief building officer, had been with city government about nine years. In 2013, he had a base salary reported by Transparent Nevada amounting to $102,190. He received “other pay” of $4,200 and benefits amounting to $39,266 for a total package of more than $145,656 last year.

“Whether he wanted to or not,” said City Manager Nick Marano, “I’ll leave that up to Kevin, but he did resign his position today.” Marano, who took over as city manager on June 2, said Gattis had been a loyal city official who conducted his duties with integrity and passion.

Interim coverage for the building official’s work will be handled in the short term by an interim replacement and a consultant who can provide personnel with proper credentials, Marano said a longer term, extensive search will be conducted. Marano said the interim replacement hadn’t been working in city government, but he expected that interim person will be in place Monday.

“We’re going to do a national search,” said Marano of filling the permanent position. He also characterized that position as one requiring “a balancing act to enforce the codes, review plans and provide customer service” while interacting with diverse community interests.

The city manager said he has “reached out” to affected interest groups’ representatives, such as the local Chamber of Commerce, builders, development officials and others to let them know about the change and what would be done going forward. “In the long term,” he said, “Carson City will remain Northern Nevada’s premier location for doing business.”

Attempts to reach Gattis at his former office and home telephone numbers Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

By the end of the working day, a message left at the home number listed for him in the directory hadn’t produced a return call.