By Vernon robison

Moapa Valley Progress

The question of who should select members of a Town Advisory Board (TAB) has been a point of sharp debate in the Moapa Valley in recent years. The law currently gives County Commissioners the power to appoint TAB members. Feedback from the people in the community, including straw polls, are considered advisory only and are non-binding under current law. The difficulty has arisen when TAB appointments, made by the county commission, did not match the will of the people as stated in a straw poll of voters.

A bill before the State Legislature has been presented to address this situation. Assembly Bill 400, which has been presented by Assemblyman Cresent Hardy and co-sponsored by Senator Joe Hardy, would bring the power to select TAB members back to the people.

Under existing Nevada law, the board of county commissioners in a county with a population of 400,000 or more (read here Clark County only) may choose to either appoint the members of TABs or allow the registered voters to elect them. Historically, this has always resulted in Commissioners appointing TAB members. In the best of circumstances, this was done under close advisement from the people in the community….but not necessarily.

A.B. 400 removes from the law most references to the county commission having the power to appoint TAB members. Instead an election by the registered voters of the unincorporated town would be required to select members to serve on the TAB for their two year terms.

Only if a vacancy should occur on the TAB would the board of county commissioners step in and appoint a new member to serve out the remainder of the unexpired term.

Contact Info for State Legislators:

Senator Joe Hardy jhardy@sen.state.nv.us

Assemblyman Cresent Hardy chardy@asm.state.nv.us