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Thursday, May 13, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Boulder City
Sun archives
Boulder City Council members are looking at the financial repercussions of a ballot initiative submitted last week asking voters if the city attorney should be elected instead of appointed.
At the City Council meeting Tuesday night, Councilman Cam Walker said an elected city attorney might try to sue the council if he or she disagrees with their actions.
He argued that the financial impact would be significant if council members were forced to hire outside attorneys to protect them from a politically motivated city attorney.
“A liability is created by an elected city attorney,” Walker said. “How are we (the council) covered as a public body?”
Councilman Travis Chandler, who helped obtain signatures on a petition for the initiative, said, “In the end, we have to trust the voters.”
Walker said electing a city attorney could place the city in the same position Gov. Jim Gibbons is in with Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto over the federal health care reform bill.
Gibbons hired outside attorneys to fight the bill while Cortez Masto is considering taking legal action against Gibbons, he said.
Councilman Duncan McCoy said he has disagreed with City Attorney Dave Olsen before and hired his own attorney. “We always can hire counsel and get a second opinion,” McCoy said.
Mayor Roger Tobler said hiring an outside counsel could result in having two attorneys on one issue. He asked staff to look at these special situations and bring back information about the hiring process.
Tobler said staff should also generate a report on the negative and positive financial impacts the initiative could have on the city.
The city attorney initiative was validated last week and will be placed on the Nov. 2 general election ballot. Because it is a charter amendment, it would have to be passed in two consecutive general elections before it would take effect.
Olsen has served as Boulder City’s attorney for 11 years. He said all of the city councils in Southern Nevada appoint city attorneys. The only two cities in Nevada that don’t are Reno and Sparks, he said.
My God that town is a joke, elected attorneys?. this is what happens when Mormons take over the politics in a small town, and it's just going to get worse now that they have thier foot in the door. Before long the whole council will be Mormon and they'll fire all the city staff and replace them with thier Mormon buddies just like Henderson does.
hey fedup2here--are you serious? i agree with you that electing the city attorney is a bad idea--but then you start ripping on mormons? are you out of your feeble little mind? have you ever thought about getting involved yourself? maybe if you'd get off your lame and worthless butt and go run for office/contribute to the society you live in, you'd have to deal with 1 less mormon trying to have a say in the community. do you seriously contend that mormons are going to start firing everybody in the city staff? that never happened in henderson. henderson's officials have been ELECTED by mormons and non-mormons alike. you should be ashamed of your pitiful self. i guarantee that if you're from so nev, you have at least 1 GOOD friend who is mormon who you admire and like to be around. what if they knew you were truly a biggot moron? take your mask off you fool, let's find out who you really are. oh--never mind, you're an idiot who's not worth knowing.
I moved to BC in 1964 and it WAS just like fedup2here states and much worse. Now BC is run by people so clueless they dont even relise everyone with a brain is laughing at them. HEY CAM HOW ABOUT GETTING BC A MONORAIL
An Elected Attorney might be just what's needed. I don't hear or read any issues about the situation in Reno or Sparks. Might be a nice checks and balances opportunity. City Council and the Police Department will be less able to push hidden legal agendas through an "appointed legal puppet".
And as far as the comments on Henderson are concerned, maybe there was some "religious favoritism" in the distant past (10+ years), but it is absolutely not the case at this time.
fedup2here has an excellent point. I live in a tourism town called Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ where the Mormons are killing off the local businesses between the Town Manager, the Mayor and Vice-Mayor. They even hired a Mormon Town Planner who has multiple DUIs on his record, a conviction of assault on a minor last year and now TWO counts of aggravated DUI and assaulting cops and fleeing the scene and they still won't fire him. (He's taken plea bargains from Mormon judges.) The Town Manager was given a RAISE as the town is $70,000 in the hole. With the "Sun's" permission, www.pinetoplakeside.blog.com is a non-profit blog site about what's happening here. Don't think this can't happen anywhere.
Nothing really dangerous about electing the attorney. Under the Nevada Constitution, we do that for all county District Attorneys, and the state Attorney General as well. Once in a while a campaign gets attention, but most of the time the elected attorneys quietly do a good job, and like the elected judges most of whom quietly do a good job, are retained by the voters.
Boulder City, although small, has a larger population than many Nevada counties.
That Olsen needs to be replaced!! I sat in BC Court one day on a traffic ticket and watched a bunch of Domestic Violence cases get dropped because he did not want to do his job!!!
Mr Jigga,
You don't know anything about my political experience,so be careful with your comments it only makes you look like a fool. I was raised in that mess of a church and yes I have Mormon friends. I've been around the block a few times in this valley I know what I'm talking about. Boulder City will be staffed by at least 80% Mormon before its all over with just like Henderson, it comes and goes in cycles , its true that history repeats itself. Just take a close look at who the staffs are at all entity levels in this valley, trust me it's not by coincidence. The people in Boulder City need to wake up and nip it in the bud and get rid of Tobler and Walker before it gets too big.
Fedup is right. I left there a few years ago. Dave Olson is the worst City Atty ever!!!Anything to get that corrupted pos out of office would have got my vote! If everyone knew what was REALLY going on behind closed doors in BC they would be shocked. "Clean green Boulder City" that motto is a joke and a clue to how that fair town is run too. My niece was beaten, BFs Daddy has connections. So everyone looked the other way, no one helped her. Happens all the time. Thats what they do. Those people make me sick. A bunch of Jack-Mormons running a joke of a town. Angels on the outside, devils inside. Its all who you know. I knew both sides and chose to leave. Vegas is much safer and less sinful! They have more Meth heads in that town than N LV, The Strip and Downtown combined. Fair warning Folks, BC isn't a small town oasis. It is hell on earth.
It is truly amazing the amount of mudslinging that occurs through these comments. As a very recent and former city employee, I am appalled at the people commenting on this story and others. You lose all credibility when you feel the need to sling insults in your rhetoric. I expect that I am a younger citizen than most on this site(which I'm sure you will all feel makes me inferior), but that also means that I am glad I am the future of this town and those who feel Boulder City is drug-ridden, Mormon-fanatic, conspiracy forming town will soon realize the youth will be in charge. Quit hiding behind your veils; get into public gov't as I have. It is far easier to state an opinion than to work to change reality. Devoid of any opinion, thank you to Nancy Nolette and others who collected signatures in attempts to change your home into what you wish it to be.