By now, many of you have likely viewed a photograph taken by Reflector reporter JC Cortez at the Jan. 5 Board of Clark County Councilors (BOCC) meeting. If not, you can view the photo in the A section of this edition of The Reflector or by visiting our website, www.TheReflector.com.
The photo shows our five county councilors in their seats during the spirited Jan. 5 meeting, during which the councilors voted 3-2 to repeal eight policy resolutions passed during the final meeting of 2015.
The photo captures Councilor Jeanne Stewart speaking from her seat on one end of the dais. Councilor Julie Olson is seated next to Stewart and new County Chair Mac Boldt is directly in the middle of the five councilors, which also includes David Madore and Tom Mielke on the opposite side of Boldt.
In the photo, Boldt has swiveled in his chair and is directly facing Stewart’s direction, which leaves his back to Madore and Mielke. The photo has been on The Reflector’s website since Wednesday and has found its way around social media. Many commenters have attempted to dissect the photo, offering their own interpretation.
I believe strongly that no interpretation of the photo is needed and there was no intent on Boldt’s part to turn his back on Madore and Mielke. I wasn’t at the meeting, but I am secure in the belief that Boldt was simply turning in his chair to listen to what Stewart had to say. It’s the reasonable conclusion to reach. However, I did find the photo to be incredibly symbolic, considering what transpired at the meeting.
It was Madore and Mielke who voted in December to approve the eight resolutions at the final meeting of the three-person BOCC. The Jan. 5 meeting was the first of the five-person BOCC, thanks to the additions of the recently elected Boldt and Olson. If this first meeting of the five-person Board is any indication, we’re in for quite a ride over the next couple of years, even though it is my sincere hope that there will be no repeat performances of this first gathering of these five councilors.
Like many Clark County residents, I am deeply troubled by what took place at the Jan. 5 meeting. I’m not up in arms, necessarily, about the decision to repeal the eight resolutions. Like many of you, I was a little troubled by the way they were hurriedly approved at the last meeting before the newly elected councilors joined the fray. I will reserve judgment on the decision to repeal the resolutions to see if this new council does follow up with an earnest reassessment of the resolutions and the issues they represent. If they are not re-visited by this council, then that will be a bad sign. It will indicate to me that the resolutions were repealed, not because of their own merit, but simply because of an agenda to oppose any works of Madore and Mielke.
While I dismiss Boldt’s actions in the photo in question as purely coincidental, I will be watching he, Olson and Stewart closely in the coming months. What I want to know is if they came into this new era of Clark County governance with an agenda to collectively turn their backs to Madore and Mielke. I’m not absolving Madore and Mielke of any past wrongdoings. I acknowledge they’ve made mistakes (more so in form than substance), but I’m not ready to burn them at the stake like so many of you are.
As I visited with Cortez about my amusement over his photo, we also discussed his observations at the Jan. 5 meeting. JC shared with me that during a break in the meeting, there was a much more revealing image that he wasn’t able to capture with his camera. It was of Boldt, Olson and Stewart huddling in one corner of the meeting room while Madore and Mielke conferred in a separate area. That type of an image wreaks of more than symbolism.
There are many early indicators of collusion between Boldt, Olson and Stewart to right what they might perceive as prior wrongs by their fellow councilors. If that’s the case, shame on those three. I like and respect each of the three councilors, so I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and not think anything sinister of them. But, I am usually of the belief that my eyes don’t deceive my brain.
If there has been any collusion on the part of the three councilors, however subtle or otherwise, then I don’t like where we are headed. I don’t want every future vote to have a 3-2 result. If that’s the case, then it will be a betrayal of the trust voters placed in them. They should be true to the will of the voters, weighing each issue independently with their own beliefs and experiences, rather than following a predisposed agenda to form a majority block of votes on the board in opposition of Madore and Mielke.
It will also be interesting to following the actions of the three councilors in question when it comes to the BOCC’s upcoming decision on the county manager position. Will there be an open, transparent process to determine if the interim tag will be removed from Mark McCauley’s title or have these three councilors already made up their mind that McCauley is their guy? I know many observers would like to see the councilors open the position for applications and allow McCauley to compete with the best of the best for the job, which has been elevated in terms of importance by the Home Rule Charter. If he is quickly rubber-stamped for the position by Boldt, Olson and Stewart with little or no process, wouldn’t that be another indication of collusion between the three? And, a sign of McCauley’s involvement?
Like I said, I’m holding out hope and faith in Boldt, Olson and Stewart. The following actions of the three councilors will tell us what we need to know as to what their agenda, collective or otherwise, is moving forward.
