The Virgin Valley Water District held their first meeting of the year on Tuesday, and immediately made a mess of things.
Fortunately, not all of the news is bad.
On Tuesday, only three of the board members bothered to show up. As is frequently the case, Bunkerville's elected board member Kenyon Leavitt was absent. Unfortunately Bunkerville's second board member, appointee Mark McEwen, is quitting the board, and wasn't in attendance either.
That meant there was no representation for Bunkerville at a meeting where officers were appointed.
The result is that all three of the key positions on the board - president, vice president, and treasurer/secretary - will be filled by Mesquite representatives, meaning Bunkerville has been shut out of the top spots.
Since the three board members in attendance ended up delaying a decision on who to appoint to the city's Economic Development committee, the only other item on the agenda, it would have been a good idea to have scrapped Tuesday's meeting altogether until McEwen's replacement could be approved and appointed by the Clark County Commission.
To make matters worse, the three Mesquite board members in attendance repeated a horrendous mistake they made in 2010, namely the appointment of Mesquite City Councilman Karl Gustaveson as the president of the board.
There are at least a half-dozen reasons why Gustaveson is the worst of the five choices for the top job on the board. For starters, he is a paid Mesquite city councilman, which means his first loyalty is and will always be with the city. That doesn't work out so well in the real world, because the city and the water district are so often at cross purposes, and the city already abuses its smaller, weaker cousin at every turn.
Second, it is improper for the president of a quasi-public board to not be one of those elected by the people. He is appointed by the city, which means the top officer of the Virgin Valley Water District has not received the seal of approval from the electorate.
Then you have a variety of actions by Gustaveson over the last year while he was president of the VVWD that should have sent up enough warning flags to keep the board from repeating his appointment as president. Chief among them was the way the local golf course owners had their way with him like a discount Vegas hooker while arranging whatever reduced rates they pleased.
Gustaveson has done nothing to distinguish himself during his reign in 2010.
However, since the only people voting for his appointment on Tuesday were Mesquite representatives, led by his sycophant and nominator Sandra Ramaker, it's not a particular surprise.
Also, to be fair, it's not like there were that many options.
Leavitt, the longest serving member of the board, is the only elected representative from Bunkerville. However, he misses way too many meetings to seriously be considered for the top position.
The other Bunkerville representative won't be appointed until Jan. 17 at the earliest.
On the Mesquite side, making Ramaker the president would be the same as making Gustaveson the president, since they're basically the same person. If you look closely during VVWD board meetings, you could swear Gustaveson's lips are moving whenever Ramaker speaks. So if you're going to appoint a bad president, you might as well go with the original.
The other option would be Ted Miller. Miller has been the courageously outspoken defender of the ratepayers. Endowed with an abundance of common sense and occasional downright stubbornness in standing up for the little people of this community, his gruff and direct manner hasn't won him many friends inside or outside the board room. As such he would be a tough sell even though he is the second-longest serving member of the board behind Leavitt. He isn't enough of a soul-selling politician to play the games necessary to win the presidency, particularly among this collection of escapees from the island of misfit toys.
Fortunately, some good news is on the way.
Rich Bowler has been tapped as the new Bunkerville appointee to replace McEwen. McEwen wasn't a bad guy, and always made the board stop and think. His only weakness was a myopia when it came to putting the best interests of Bunkerville over the needs of the entire community. He also tended to agree with Leavitt too often, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Leavitt can be a good watchdog for the ratepayers when he bothers to show up.
Bowler will be an excellent addition to this board.
For starters, as a real estate broker, he will be the only current business person on the board.
Second, it's hard to believe how long the Virgin Valley Water District has functioned without direct input from a member of the real estate community. No facet of Mesquite's economy is as directly affected by water decisions as the real estate market, yet he will be the first full-time Realtor to sit on the board in a while.
Also, Bowler is a Bunkerville resident whose business happens to be in Mesquite. As such, he will bring the kind of balance that is needed in decision making for the entire valley.
His family has been a part of this community for decades. Bowler Elementary School in Bunkerville and the Bowler Plaza in Mesquite where Smith's Food and Drug is located are both named for his grandfather, J.L. Bowler. His father, Joe Bowler, has been a philanthropic blessing and longtime business icon in this valley for years. Yet even with those deep roots, Rich Bowler's name is rarely mentioned among the area's nefarious network of "good ole boys."
Hopefully, the "Caucus of Common Sense" including Bowler, Miller, and Leavitt will be able to keep the "Gustamaker twins" in check during the coming year.
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