Mobile billboards roll onto commissioners’ agenda

By Joe Schoenmann

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009 | 2 a.m.

There’s a very real chance that more than a few viewers might tune into Clark County Television, cable Channel 4, this week.

Why? Will it be airing a continuous loop of stripper-mobile footage?

No, but the stripper-mobile was almost part of this Tuesday’s Clark County Commission meeting until its operator decided to shut it down Friday. Commissioners may instead discuss the precursor to the stripper-mobile, the mobile billboard. Commissioners Chris Giunchigliani said she will use the board meeting to discuss geographic restrictions on mobile billboards, which she said are driving into residential neighborhoods.

And even without the wild women on wheels, the meeting agenda has several other potentially good topics. One concerns potentially millions of dollars in what some think are uncollected room taxes; another may be portrayed as a test of the commissioners’ patriotism; and there’s the return of the long-delayed highway project that could affect the livelihoods of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Las Vegas Valley workers.

Oh no, not the highway saga that never ends.

This may finally be the big finish. After many months of legal haggling, commissioners appear ready to decide who is going to win the more than $100 million Las Vegas Beltway expansion job — Fisher Sand & Gravel or Las Vegas Paving.

The fed-up commissioners have been threatening to just chuck the $100 million-plus job and spread the money around to other highway-improvement jobs.

That apparently prompted Fisher and LV Paving to negotiate, and sources say Fisher might be willing to drop its complaint if it can work with LV Paving on the Beltway project.

That likely means that taxpayers will wind up with the LV Paving price for the work, which is $4 million more than what Fisher bid, but the exact outcome remains to be seen.

So what is the patriotism test?

McCarran International Airport is one of the largest airports in the country that doesn’t provide a military lounge to enlistees or officers. But it certainly studied the matter. Commissioner Steve Sisolak said a committee formed two years ago to examine the issue. “And it just seemed to die.” He says unused lounge space once occupied by an airline is available and could be cheaply fitted to provide military personnel a place to relax. He has also talked to veterans who say nothing extravagant is required, just a few couches to sink into. The item is listed for discussion only.

And the big ticket item?

Faced with one estimate that Nevada could recoup $500 million-plus in allegedly unpaid room taxes, commissioners will discuss whether they want to hire attorneys to sue online tourism agencies. Communities across the country are suing with some success. The allegations are that online agencies such as Expedia, Orbitz and locally based operations such as VEGAS.com, which is owned by the Greenspun family, which also owns the Sun, negotiate with hotels to buy rooms at one rate, then sell them to tourists at a higher rate — but pay room taxes, now at 12 percent in Nevada, on the lower rate.

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If I fry my turkey next week, is there something I can do with the leftover gallons of oil? I mean, besides pouring it into the toilet, alongside my curb or over the fence into the neighbor’s yard.

Cooking oil is a big concern in Clark County this time of year, because the oil can coagulate and block drains and sewers. So instead of dumping the stuff, turkey fryers have the chance through Clark County’s Water Reclamation District to recycle the oil into biofuel with its “Don’t be a Pain in the Drain” campaign. For drop-off locations and dates, go to www.paininthedrain.com.

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County Quote of the Week:

“I went from five or six Dr Peppers a day to none, and I went from three steaks a day to maybe one.”

— Commissioner Tom Collins’ explanation of how he lost 35 pounds since the end of July.