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April 11, 2007
Editorial
Water District Needs Close Eye
On Tuesday, the Lincoln County Water District’s 4 p.m. meeting was cancelled.
It turns out that it was a good thing, since a lot of people were unaware of the meeting.
The Lincoln County Record was one of the groups that did not receive notification of the meeting.
Obviously, it was just an oversight.
And we weren’t alone.
Apparently, notifications weren’t forwarded to Caliente or Alamo, as required by the Nevada Open Meeting Law, which led to the cancellation of the meeting.
It was the right call by the Water District to scrap that get-together.
However, the mix-up underscores the fact that the citizens of this community need to become more vigilant about the activities of our Water District.
Special emphasis on the “our” part.
The Lincoln County Water District, which is controlled by the five Lincoln County Commissioners, is more than just another dull governmental agency.
It is the powerful County department charged with handling one of the most critical resources necessary for our future:
Water.
Unfortunately, unlike most departments, the Water District has formed a partnership with a private corporation.
When it comes to something as crucial as water for this community, it is essential that the Water District is working for the protection and best interests of the citizens.
We can’t expect the same level of stewardship from a private corporation whose primary reason for existence is money.
While there are some valid reasons for the partnership, including the fact that the proprietors of Vidler Water Company have deeper pockets and access to the kind of cash necessary for the development of water, it’s still an uncomfortable alliance to some citizens.
That discomfort isn’t helped when the Water District is less than up front with information on that company.
During an interview last week with Lincoln County Water District’s General Manager, he pointed out several errors in a previous report by the Lincoln County Record, including the fact that the Water District has not sold any water shares.
We apologize for that confusion on our part.
However, when pressed for the identities of those who make up the Vidler Water Company, he was less than forthcoming with that information, admitting that he knew, but insisting that the Record should do its own research.
While this may appear to be the normal gamesmanship between a bureaucrat and a newspaper, it is actually more serious.
When a government official refuses to give information to a newspaper, they aren’t hiding it from the reporter.
They are hiding it from you.
And it is a stone-cold, hard-core fact that YOU are their bosses.
Also, by not disclosing that information, it’s like waving a bright red flag in front of a bull.
Now, we’re REALLY curious.
We’ll eventually get the facts and present them to you.
Until then, the citizens need to be extremely vigilant about who and how your water is handled.
That means you need to show up at Water District meetings.
We can’t tell you exactly when that will be.
We’ve been told that the next one will be on April 18, but we haven’t received confirmation yet.
The interesting part is that, if it’s on the 18th, it’s one day before the next edition of the Record comes out, meaning we won’t be able to announce it to you in the newspaper.
Therefore, we will update our website at http://www.lincolncountyrecord.com/ as soon as we get the official date of the next meeting.
We recommend that you check the website over the next few days, then make plans to be there.
After all, it’s your future being decided.
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