Constables put Bonaventura days behind them starting Monday

Clark County’s elected constables frequently have been mistaken for Las Vegas Township Constable John Bonaventura over the past four years.

Bonaventura has been the most prominent constable in the county, with high-profile controversies and headlines that overshadowed the county’s other 10 elected constables who work in such urban areas as North Las Vegas and rural towns as Goodsprings and Laughlin.

These other elected constables are looking forward to putting the days of public confusion behind them now that the controversial figure is no longer a constable.

The Metropolitan Police Department officially takes over the Las Vegas constable’s office today, bringing to fruition a March 2013 vote of the County Commission to abolish the elected post of Las Vegas constable. Incoming county Sheriff Joe Lombardo is now the ex officio constable.

Metro and the county pledged Friday to provide uninterrupted service that is “both professional and efficient,” two qualities that critics have not used to describe the Las Vegas office in recent years.

Laughlin Township Constable Jordan Ross said he has had to explain to the public that he’s not connected to the Las Vegas constable’s office when people incorrectly use phrases such as “your boss, John Bonaventura.” Ross explains that each township has its own constable.

“Of course, the tendency is for us all to be painted with the same brush,” Ross said. “… I think that we’ll see the public image will begin to recover very rapidly.”

Another constable echoed this sentiment.

“I always tell them I’m not the one in the paper, and they laugh,” said Goodsprings Township Constable Gary Rogers.

The commission’s action action came after a variety of high-profile controversies in the office on Bonaventura’s watch.

Constables, who are elected officials, typically serve as low-profile lawmen who quietly go about their duties of performing evictions and serving court papers.

But Bonaventura’s first and final term as constable was rarely quiet. His controversies included an online reality television pilot show with foul-mouthed deputies, financial conflicts with the county and turf disputes with neighboring constables.

His financial creativity also attracted headlines. When the county didn’t want to pay the costs of a lawsuit he filed against neighboring constables, he deputized his attorneys so they could get paid.

While the handover of the Las Vegas operation doesn’t directly affect the other offices, which will continue to operate independently of Metro, Ross said he welcomes the change. It will improve communication between constable offices and restore the discipline that the Las Vegas office used to have, he said.

TRANSITION DETAILS

Friday was the final business day for the Las Vegas constable’s office under Bonaventura’s administration. Signs at the office entrance and clerk windows informed the public that the office will continue to operate without interruptions today.

Deputies turned in their equipment and, for most, left their place of employment, said Dean Lauer, who was Bonaventura’s chief deputy.

“Obviously, the mood is somber,” Lauer said Friday.

However, Lauer said, “All of the deputies conducted themselves professionally up until the last day.”

The agreement reached between the county and Metro in November states that all deputies automatically lost their jobs when Bonaventura’s term ends. It also gave Metro the option to re-hire any of them.

Five deputies will continue working under the new administration, Lauer said. The office had about two dozen deputies, with Bonaventura responsible for hiring them.

About 13 support staffers, primarily clerical workers who are county employees, will keep their jobs, too.

Las Vegas police Friday said the constable’s office will remain a separate entity and be part of the department’s Detention Services Division, which has the Sheriff’s Civil Bureau.

The logistics for the public will stay the same.

The office will have the same location on the fifth floor at 302 E. Carson Ave., Las Vegas. The hours of operation, 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Monday through Friday, will continue.

Metro officials said they anticipate the office having 15 deputies in place by March, including the five rehired ones. Background checks will be made for all the hires — current and new deputies

Bonaventura didn’t respond last week to a request for comment. But he remained busy with paperwork on his final Friday in office, records show, filing his final annual financial disclosure for elected officials.

For the last time, he reported his annual $103,000 constable salary to the secretary of state.

Bonaventura is now off the public’s payroll.

THE FUTURE

In the unassuming downtown constable’s office, most things will stay the same: Clerks still will process paperwork and deputies — albeit mostly different officers — will perform the same tasks.

But with a different boss at the helm, the colorful internal office dramas and other conflicts that embarrassed deputies are likely to disappear.

For example, under Bonaventura’s watch, a culture of recording conversations was prevalent. That led to further controversies, such as when a recorded phone call between Bonaventura and County Commissioner Tom Collins was obtained by the Review-Journal.

That came after Bonaventura played the recording for an associate, who was recording the conversation. Metro raided the office in a wiretapping probe in response to the Review-Journal story about the recording.

In another instance, Bonaventura said in a recording that he wished he could spend all of the office’s money and sell off the office’s equipment before turning it back to the county.

County officials later said Bonaventura spent down the office enterprise fund’s dollars. But that sidewalk sale never happened.

If anything, Bonaventura’s term heightened public awareness about constables — but not with the type of public relations that other constables desired.

“He put a huge spotlight on us and not a favorable one,” Rogers said.

“People had never heard of constables. Now, very few people haven’t heard of constables.”

Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Follow @BenBotkin1 on Twitter.