Where is Clark County School District Trustee Katie Williams?
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A Clark County School District Board of Trustee who has missed dozens of meetings may actually not be living in Nevada full-time.
The absent trustee is Katie Williams and she may be living in a town more than 1,200 miles away. However, if that’s the case what does it mean for her seat and the area she represents?
CCSD trustee misses 14 in-person school board meetings
Williams, first elected in 2020, told 8 News Now in March she has no plans of running for re-election.
Yet, there are questions on whether or not she even lives in the county, and if she’s able to carry out her duties.
“I’ve never opened a car door on a date, and I lived in big cities. Like Springfield, Illinois is not super big, but I lived in Las Vegas. I was up in Chicago a couple of times. I lived in St. Louis for a time,” Williams said in a TikTok video.
Williams said the past tense when mentioning Las Vegas.
She’s very active on social media, and looking through her accounts, she has made several posts about Nebraska.
In one LinkedIn post, she wrote, “Pray for Nebraska.”
In another, she mentions “tornadoes on the ground while working.” These posts were made when severe weather battered the state.
Her Pinterest page, which was updated four days ago, has a section dedicated to Nebraska.
When asked about this, Williams told 8 News Now in a text, “I work remotely for a company in Utah, Nebraska, and California and travel between the three.”
“If you want to hold elected office, you also have to be an actual resident, because people sometimes have multiple homes. Maybe they travel to work,” David Orentlicher said. He’s a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law.
Orentlicher said two statutes govern election eligibility.
One law states a seat can become vacant if an official has moved, or has failed to carry out their duties.
“If there’s somebody who’s just not doing their job, then the district attorney could also bring a proceeding to vacate their position,” Orentlicher said.
Williams represents schools from the far Northwest valley to rural Clark County.
Since January of last year, Williams has not attended in person at least 15 board meetings, including on Thursday when her chair sat empty.
According to property records, Williams’ believed-to-be fiancée bought a house in La Vista, Nebraska, which is a suburb of Omaha, back in March.
Since March, 8 News Now has emailed CCSD for comment on the issue, even as recently as Friday afternoon. But the district has ignored those requests.
According to Nevada statute, if a school board seat is vacated, it’s the board of trustees who appoints a new member who must then run in the general election to complete the unexpired term.
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