A ‘confrontation’ in county Business License Department

It appears Clark County Business License Director Jacqueline Holloway lost her cool Wednesday and confronted former employee and local business consultant Nathan Taylor.

The incident occurred around noon and became the subject of county security officer Brian Kaatz’s report.

Taylor is an unabashed critic of Holloway and other Business License employees, whom he’s accused of favoritism and worse since leaving the department.

According to his hand-written and signed statement, Kaatz was asked by Security Supervisor W.F. Bowers to accompany Taylor to the third floor for the purposes of conducting his business. On they entered the Business License Department, “We were confronted by Director of Business License Jacqueline Holloway, who was coming in the doorway. I told her that I was on escort duty and pointed to Nathan she then stated his (Temporary Protective Order) is not valid and I could leave (and) was not needed. Then Jacqueline became the aggressor and escalated this confrontation between both of them. Nathan remained calm, tried to back down from confrontation. I then told her I was not here for a T.P.O from her but against her employee Dan Hoffman. She said it was fine as she was leaving told Nathan Do what you need to do and get out of my office.”

Kaatz and Bowers confirmed the incident Tuesday afternoon. An attempt to reach Holloway by phone as of 3 p.m. wasn’t successful.

Taylor had his share of dustups as a Republican Party operative and political consultant. He also accused Hoffman of being unprofessional and vindictive.

In an unsuccessful attempt to receive a Temporary Protective Order against Hoffman, Taylor filled out a police incident report accusing the county employee of making a “threat against a person.” He accused Hoffman of making a verbal threat to “hurt me,” according to his Sept. 15 TPO application.

Holloway is apparently too busy running her department to return a phone call.

But she also filled out a statement, which was filled out after I started making phone calls about the security officer’s statement.

Her version of events is different from those described by the security officer.

She wrote, “This is my second incident with Mr. Taylor approaching me in an aggressive fashion while on duty as a public officer. Both incidents occurred in the Clark County Government Center. As I left the Business License office for a luncheon meeting, I observed Nathan Taylor getting off the elevator with a security officer trailing him. Having first hand knowledge of a recent TPO filing by Mr. Taylor that was denied for non-compliance and the case was closed on 9/21/09, I approached the security officer to question him about the purpose of the surveillance. He indicated that Mr. Bowers asked him to accompany Mr. Taylor to Business License. At this time, Nathan aggressively entered into the conversation between myself and the security officer, stating that this was a legal matter between him and a Business License employee. I indicated that I was aware of atop application filing that had been recently denied, and at this time, Nathan went on to say that we were intimidating and harassing him and he was going to go to the DA’s office. He turned to put his belongings on the Business License counter and aggressively stepped towards me as if to get physical. He began pointing his finger and leaning towards me in a threatening manner. I did not move and indicated that he could go do what he needed to do. Again, I turned to the security officer to fully understand the purpose of the monitoring. He then stated that he was in the Department to watch Nathan Taylor instead of watching staff due to the TPO. I indicated that I was ok with the surveillance and proceeded to the elevator. I did not say that Nathan should leave the office. At this point, Nathan had seated himself in the reception area. No assault in any form occurred. I left the building for my meeting.”

Juxtapose that statement with Kaatz’s report: “Then Jacqueline became the aggressor and escalated this confrontation between both of them. Nathan remained calm, tried to back down from confrontation.”

Whether Taylor is a disgruntled former employee or gadfly isn’t the point. Holloway is the one accused of taking the aggressive posture.

Clark County Manager Virginia Valentine needs to look into this mess immediately.