Every once in a while, whining and whisperings begin over the way the Virgin Valley Water District is formulated.
Specifically, the call occasionally goes out insisting on changes in the way the five members of the governing board are selected.
Currently, the people of Mesquite elect two board members, while the people of Bunkerville elect one member.
Another Mesquite board member is selected and appointed by the Mesquite City Council, usually choosing one of the council members to fill the slot.
The final spot is filled by the Clark County Commissioners, after recommendations from the Bunkerville Town Advisory Board.
The problem with that arrangement is that 40% of the board is not directly answerable to the people.
That reality was highlighted again on Tuesday night.
The contentious issue of adding another surcharge to the LONG list of permit fees, impact fees, connection fees, and various other costs involved in signing up for water was the topic. This one wasn't exactly the water district's idea. It was a pure and simple case of extortion by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal agencies to hammerlock builders and newcomers to the valley into paying a fee for a nebulous, undefined program for "endangered species."
Unfortunately, the only species endangered in this scenario is the "Overtaxed Overburdened Cost-Dissuaded Homeowning Newbie," a genre of new resident moving into Mesquite that will become all but extinct thanks to the new $166 fee approved on Tuesday that will be added to the City's $500 fee for new homes and businesses. All of the money is supposedly for the Habitat Conservation and Rehabilitation Plan, a government slush fund for a program that currently isn't even finished and that doesn't begin to specify where and how the money will ultimately be spent.
On Tuesday, the feds again explained that without that fee, they would make it almost impossible to develop future construction projects in Mesquite. No matter how you slice it, as Bunkerville water board member Kenyon Leavitt reiterated, it's a criminal practice of extortion that would lead to jailtime if it were attempted by anyone except Uncle Sam.
For the last few months, Leavitt and heroic board member Ted Miller have courageous fought against the fee.
On Tuesday, mostly because of the citizen-unfriendly makeup of the board, the fee finally passed.
In the final 3-2 vote, Miller and Leavitt did their job, representing and defending the people of this valley.
Unfortunately, current VVWD board president and Mesquite city councilman Karl Gustaveson led the charge in pushing this fee through. The City of Mesquite made no secret of the fact they desperately wanted the water district to impose this fee, and the G-man is THEIR man. Gustaveson, who it seems never met an anti-development fee he didn't like, could make that vote because he does not have to face the wrath of the voters in order to keep his seat on the Virgin Valley Water District board.
He does have to face the voters to stay on the Mesquite City Council in 2013, but he has about as much chance of being re-elected as a desert tortoise does of winning the Daytona 500. In fact, rumors are swirling that he won't even bother to face the embarrassment of running for re-election. It's a smart move, judging from the way his best political friend (former Mesquite Mayor Susan Holecheck) got humiliated after gaining only about 20% of the vote in her 2011 re-election bid.
The other untouchable board member is Mark McEwen, who was picked by the Clark County Commission to replace Cecil Leavitt. He doesn't have to pay a price for Tuesday's bad decision, because he isn't accountable to the voters.
The third member actually is accountable. However, since her election last year, board member Sandra Ramaker has shown that if board president Karl Gustaveson takes a crap, she'll be the one there to wipe. (And that's exactly what the two of them did on Tuesday - took a big dump on the people of this valley). Whatever Gustaveson wants done, it appears she is his sycophant.
We can only hope the people of Mesquite won't pull our famous amnesia act and forget harmful actions like this when her name reappears on the ballot in 2014. Hopefully, the board will also show better sense and not appoint this power-hungry seat seeker (she is next in line to head the Mesquite Chamber of Commerce, despite the fact that she doesn't own a business here) as the board president when Gustaveson is ousted in 2013.
But this is bigger than one 3-2 vote on one case of federal extortion.
It's really a question of whether democracy has a place here.
There is no way that the second most powerful governmental agency in the Virgin Valley should be structured with appointed officials. This agency has the power to essentially levy taxes with their fees and rates, and controls the most important and valuable resource in the desert - water. Any body with that kind of power must be answerable to the people. That means all of the board members, not just a little over half of them, should be elected.
This will take an action from the Nevada State Legislature, which originally created the VVWD.
With the next session of the legislature not scheduled until 2013, we have time to start petitioning and requesting that this issue be put on the senate and assembly agendas. Unfortunately, because of redistricting, we don't even know who our representatives will be in the legislature until after the 2012 election. The good news is, this should be an important campaign issue in that 2012 run-up. The people of this valley should make sure that every time one of the senate or assembly wannabes show up for a fund raiser or campaign stop, the question of changing the makeup of the Virgin Valley Water District gets pressed.
The hard part will be keeping old arguments from festering to the surface and killing this initiative, particularly the question of who gets to vote for whom. There is a good argument to be made for making all five board members "at large" candidates, meaning they all get voted on by everyone in Mesquite and Bunkerville instead of the current setup where the people of Bunkerville vote for one board member, and the people of Mesquite vote for two other board members. With an "at large" setting, it's possible that Bunkerville could wind up without anyone from their town on the board, which is unacceptable.
For now at least, the best approach would be to simply change the rules so two of the board members are elected by Bunkerville, and three are elected by Mesquite.
No matter how the final balance comes out, it's time to fix this abomination to thinking and voting people in the Virgin Valley. We need to be able to hold all of these board members accountable. It's our destiny, it should be up to us to decide whose hands rest on that tiller.
Between Gustaveson and Ramaker, it is hard to know who is more damaging to Mesquite. Gustaveson is more interested in his own self importance and Ramaker is clueless and unable to grasp the core argument. She sits at the table and never makes a comment only reads from prepared text if she says anything. Last night she had to make a motion on the fly and could not even formulate the text with the appropriate terms to make a coherent motion. It was painful. Gustaveson and Ramaker only goal was to add more fees to an already overwhelming array of fees. There is no reason that this fee should have ever been considered until the plan for the Virgin River Habitat Conservation & Recovery Program (VRHCRP) is completed.
ReplyDelete