Marren may take job as Mesquite city attorney

Thursday, Jan. 29, 1998 | 10:44 a.m.

Family Court Judge Terrance Marren said today he plans to put Mesquite on the map -- the map of the super information highway, that is.

"One of my first suggestions will be that we establish a website and put all of the stuff about Mesquite on the Internet," said Marren, who on Tuesday was offered the job of Mesquite's first full-time city attorney.

"In five years, Mesquite has grown from a sleepy dairy town of 2,000 people to 10,000 and, by all indications, it could grow to 20,000 in five years. It has growing pains but it also has so much to offer with tourism and retirement. The city also is facing issues of homelessness and domestic violence."

Marren, a Family Court judge since 1992, earns $82,000 a year.

"I have thrown a number out to them (Mesquite officials) that I think is reasonable," Marren, 49, said of his proposed salary, which is not yet public record but will be when the Mesquite City Council votes on his contract on Feb. 10.

Marren, who was fined and publicly reprimanded last September by the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission for taking too long to make decisions on three divorce cases, said that incident was not the main reason he is leaving Family Court. His seat is up for election this year.

"You hear 50,000 cases, and you get called on the carpet on three of them, and that is what everyone wants to talk about," he said. "No, that is not the reason.

"Becoming the first full-time city attorney in Mesquite is a challenge I just could not pass up."