Coffin: Water authority board broke the law
A routine appointment flared into an ugly fight during Thursday‘s Southern Nevada Water Authority meeting when Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Coffin accused fellow board members of violating Nevada‘s open meeting law.
Coffin said it was obvious that the rest of the board had deliberated in private and decided in advance of Thursday‘s meeting to replace him as a representative on the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
"These kinds of things happen by accident sometimes. Or it could just be politics," he said.
The authority board did vote 6-1 Thursday to replace Coffin on the river commission with Henderson City Councilman Sam Bateman, but members denied any collusion behind closed doors.
"The accusations are just low blows," board member and Clark County Commissioner Susan Brager said in response Coffin. "I think it‘s unprofessional for you to go down that road."
Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak also denied that board members illegally discussed the issue prior to the meeting, but he said he made no secret of his desire to see Coffin removed from the state agency that manages and sells water and power from the Colorado.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority is one of the river commission‘s biggest clients, and the commission‘s seven-member board includes three representatives from the authority board and four others appointed by the governor.
The dispute between Coffin and his fellow authority board members dates back to April, when the river commission voted to support a bill in the Nevada Legislature that would have allowed the agency more flexibility to boost salaries to retain staff.
That measure, died in the Legislature without a vote, drew concerns from the water authority and some of its member agencies, including Clark County, Henderson and North Las Vegas.
Sisolak and water authority board member Duncan McCoy, a Boulder City councilman, voted not to support the bill, but Coffin joined four other Colorado River Commissioners in favoring it.
"It‘s not about the salary (issue). It‘s the mixed message coming out of the water authority," Sisolak told Coffin Thursday. "You didn‘t support the water authority‘s position."
But Coffin said the authority never even discussed an official position — unless that too was done in violation of the open meeting law.
Such heated exchanges are unusual among water authority board members, who frequently cast unanimous votes and rarely stray from the recommendations they receive from agency staff.
After the meeting, Coffin said he suspects the Nevada Attorney General‘s Office or the state Ethics Commission might take a look at the way he was removed from the Colorado River Commission after four years as one of the authority‘s representatives on the panel.
When asked if he plans file a formal complaint, Coffin said: "I don‘t know what I‘m going to do."
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Find him on Twitter: @RefriedBrean.
