Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.
Clark County and local labor unions lost their legal feud with the sole company supplying concrete for the Hoover Dam bypass bridge project this week.
District Judge Michelle Leavitt ruled that county commissioners exceeded their authority by rejecting a permit for the company's batch plant near Eldorado Valley.
In a 4-3 vote in May split along party lines, the County Commission's Democrats rejected the permit despite claims from the company, Casino Ready Mix, that work on the $234 million project could grind to a halt because no other company's concrete mix had been approved by federal authorities.
The company took the issue to court, arguing that commissioners had no right to deny their permit because the county's planning board had given final approval to the project months earlier. Typically, permit issues are not forwarded to county commissioners unless a protest is filed within five days of the planning board's decision.
Although no written protest was filed in this case, Deputy District Attorney Rob Warhola said county staff at the planning board meeting said the permit would be forwarded to commissioners.
Leavitt said commissioners didn't have a right to hear the case because no written appeal was filed.
The decision is a loss for the International Operating Engineers Union and Commissioner Tom Collins, who led the charge to deny the permit. In court filings, Casino Ready Mix, a nonunion company, said that before the commission vote, Collins tried to persuade the company to pay prevailing union wages to its workers. Collins contended he was trying to help the company by getting the unions to stop protesting.
Clad in a denim jacket and cowboy boots, Collins said Wednesday he plans to run again for Nevada Democratic Party chairman.
He has served in that role since being selected at the party's convention in April.
Although he said earlier this year that he wouldn't run again for chairman, Collins said many people have asked him to keep the position.
He plans to hire a chief of staff to help him coordinate the party's activities, which include organizing Nevada's second-in-the-nation Democratic presidential caucus in 2008.
A state legislative proposal to create a regional airport authority in Clark County is attracting at least two big-name backers - Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev.
Incoming Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera said he plans to steer the proposal through the next Legislature.
The proposal would take oversight of McCarran International Airport and other county-run airports away from Clark County commissioners and put a regional board composed of representatives from local governments and private businesses in charge.
County officials, of course, hate the idea.
Commissioners Rory Reid and Bruce Woodbury, along with County Manager Virginia Valentine, said a change in oversight structure would be bad when McCarran is in the midst of building a new $1.8 billion Terminal 3 and has plans to build a $7 billion airport in Ivanpah Valley.
The airport has operated well and bonds for those projects might be more expensive if a newly created agency is asking for the loan. The county has the best bond rating for any government entity in Nevada.
Porter said Wednesday that differing community opinions about the so-called right-hand turn issue show why the new oversight structure would be a good thing.
The Federal Aviation Administration approved the change, which will allow about 200 planes a day to fly over the northwest valley when they take off from McCarran beginning in March. Las Vegas and residents in that area have protested the change, which will increase efficiency and reduce delays, according to the FAA.
"I think it is time for a regional board like the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority," Porter said.
But Valentine said she has concerns about private interests - like gaming interests - deciding what's best at the public airport.
"When you are talking about a very public facility, I think the people making decisions should be elected," she said.
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