By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The sparks continued to fly in the Mesquite City Council chambers on Tuesday, Nov. 24, as aftershocks from the recent mayoral election continued to be felt.
City Council remarks and comments from the public bubbled over a few times throughout the meeting on the subject of who should be appointed to fill the vacant City Council seat being left by newly-elected Assemblywoman Annie Black.
And City Attorney Bob Sweetin, who lost his election challenge against Mayor Al Litman, made what seemed to be, an impassioned final address to the Council.
How to fill the vacancy
Earlier in the day, a list of 14 applicants for the vacant City Council seat were released to the public. The list was a veritable who’s who of notable personalities in Mesquite including a former city councilman, three city council candidates in this year’s election, a Virgin Valley Water District board member, a Community Education Advisory Board President and a host of other applicants.
The list included: David Ballweg, John Burrows, Karen Dutkowski, Bill Ennis, Karen Fielding, Raquel Gallas, Tilman Hafen, Nathan Harris, Kenneth Lubben, Ronnie Skurrow, Jodi Thornley and Kim Walters.
It is expected that the vacancy will be filled at the Dec. 8 City Council meeting. If so, the first nomination would be made by the most senior person on the Council dais which is currently Mayor Litman.
A foregone conclusion?
But several commenters at last week’s meeting expressed frustration that the die may already have been cast in the appointment, and that the selection had not been an open process at all.
In his final City Council meeting in his role as a councilman, George Rapson claimed that it was clear that the city election had been utterly driven by the Mesquite Police Officers Association (MPOA).
The local policeman’s union was vocally opposed to Sweetin during the election. In October, the MPOA sent out a political mailer to all Mesquite residents which was deeply critical of Sweetin. Elements of the letter had eventually unleashed a firestorm of division and contention in the community.
In his comments, Rapson implied that a majority of the City Council were under the political control of the MPOA. He felt it was likely that they had already made the decision about the appointment, in keeping with the MPOA’s wishes. This statement apparently referred to Litman; Council members George Gault and Sandra Ramaker, who supported Litman in the election; and Wes Boger, who was elected to fill Rapson’s seat.
“Three of you have had Open Meeting Law violations recently; a couple of times at least,” Rapson alleged. “And it begs the question: Is that what is happening here? Is it a backroom deal to appoint a corrections officer’s wife, who clearly supported Wes Boger and Al Litman and the MPOA?”
This was an apparent reference to Jodi Thornley who, sources have said, is Litman’s preferred applicant.
Litman has not yet publicly indicated who his nomination will be to fill the vacant seat.
“This is all just another political hack job,” Rapson continued. “It is another way to load the Council with the MPOA-lovers. The union contracts will get bigger. Salary compression will get bigger. The city is going to go bankrupt, or have to raise taxes to pay for the payback that these guys all have.”
In a statement later in the meeting, Litman firmly disputed that there had been any violations of Open Meeting Law during his time on the council. “There have been no violations with this city council or the prior councils; at least since 2011 when I joined the council,” Litman said.
A plea for healing
Wursten said he wanted to echo some of what Rapson had expressed, cautioning the mayor and council members to not appear too political in the appointment.
“I am hoping that, as you take this week to think about who you are going to put up as the nomination, you will look at something to heal the city rather than making things worse,” Wursten said addressing the mayor.
During the public comment period, local resident Andrea Wahl said that she represented the newly formed local organization: Warriors Against Victim Exploitation and Shaming (WAVES). This group had been formed partly in response to the MPOA letter and its aftermath.
Wahl said that the letter had brought feelings of fear and shame to many in the community who have been past victims of sexual abuse and other violence.
“You have the opportunity and responsibility to appoint someone who will be an advocate for all members of the city,” Wahl said to Litman. “It is very disheartening to hear that Open Meeting Laws may have been violated and that a council-person has already been chosen. If this is a rumor, it is a very strong rumor. I ask you to put aside your feelings and truly search for a person that will be willing to bring the city together again.”
In another public comment, resident Steven Lisk suggested that one way to move toward healing would be to select City Council candidate Karen Fielding to the seat. Fielding lost in the election to Boger. But Lisk pointed out that Fielding had still received a strong base of 4,100 votes in the election.
“Mr. Litman, you have a very important decision to make,” Lisk said. “I would urge you to take into consideration the fact that 4,100 people voted for Karen Fielding. Zero voted for any of the other (applicants). If you actually want to work with both sides, if you actually want to start to bring the city together again, that would be a good first start.”
Sweetin’s final address?
In the time set aside for staff reports, Sweetin rose to speak. He admitted that his words might sound like a farewell speech. He said that this was because he was not certain when he would be able to make a statement like this again.
Sweetin said that he had been somewhat perplexed on the day after the election when Litman had called him to his office to call for his immediate resignation.
“He stated that I needed to provide a written resignation to quell Wes Boger’s concerns, or things could get ugly,” Sweetin said. “I wasn’t sure what that meant at the time, and I’m not sure that I know today.”
In the days immediately following the election, Boger had sent a letter to the Council, calling for the resignation of Sweetin because he had “time and time again (been) shown to put his political campaign ahead of the best interest of the client, the City of Mesquite,” the letter stated.
The letter also asked for an investigation into several circumstances alleged within, and arising from, the MPOA letter.
In his comments, Sweetin said that he had no problem in abiding by the clear results of the election. Furthermore, he acknowledged that his time as City Attorney was drawing to a close. But the time for his resignation was not quite yet, he said.
“I don’t plan to resign solely based on unfounded accusations by Wes Boger,” Sweetin said. “But I also don’t think it is a surprise that my time working for the city will be coming to an end in the near future.”
“My plans through the holiday season will be to continue to conduct the high quality-level work I have performed for the last eight years until a replacement can be found and properly transitioned in,” Sweetin said. “I do not see this process extending beyond January.”
Accomplishments
Sweetin then summed up a list of accomplishments that had been made during his 8 years as City Attorney.
He talked about his work with Mesquite Judge Ryan Toone in establishing the “Break the Cycle” program. This program “has (offered) numerous community members who have become victims of drug addiction an opportunity to reverse course, better their own lives and provide for their families,” Sweetin said.
Sweetin also cited his work in drafting a city charter and moving it through the Nevada legislature, “leading to the first city charter being granted in Nevada in over 30 years,” he said.
Sweetin talked about his work negotiating with collective bargaining units in the city over the years as the city’s chief union negotiator.
“I worked to ensure the city council’s wishes were met, cooperating with our bargaining units to create deals that provided value and benefit to both sides,” Sweetin said. “Those negotiations are not always easy, but they kept the city solvent during difficult economic times.”
Sweetin said that he was most proud of his role in establishing the city’s victim advocacy program and domestic violence shelter. “We set our standards high when it comes to victims’ rights in the city attorney’s office,” he said.
Alleged improprieties?
Sweetin stated that he had worked hard to establish a reputation as an “objective, albeit hard-charging” prosecutor. At many times that has required difficult decisions to be made, he said.
“However, (that has) never put me in a position…ever…where a judge or defense attorney has accused me of malicious, unfair or abusive prosecution,” Sweetin said.
Sweetin pointed out that, of all the cases he had prosecuted in the city, concern had been expressed in the MPOA letter over just one case: the City of Mesquite vs. Broc Smith. Sweetin acknowledged that there had been calls from various Council members for an investigation into his actions in this case.
“Yesterday I learned from City Manager Aaron Baker that, not only had such an investigation been conducted, but the investigation had wholly exonerated my actions,” Sweetin said. “That result was not surprising. I knew the case had been handled according to the high professional standards set for legal counsel and was a proper application of the law, as did the defense attorneys and judges involved.”
But Sweetin expressed disappointment that the findings of the exonerating investigation had been reached but never made public, “even though there was no concern with making the allegations of improper handling of the case extremely public,” he said.
Since this had been the key piece used against him in the MPOA letter, Sweetin interpreted the whole thing as a political smear campaign.
“In eleven years in law enforcement, I have never seen a law enforcement agency actively misrepresent facts to the extent that this department did to win a political contest,” Sweetin said. “It was wrong. Lying is wrong. We should set a higher standard for our community.”
Final dialog
After Sweetin finished, Wursten spoke in his support. “We have an attorney that has been above reproach and has done wonderful things here,” Wursten said.
Wursten added that he would prefer that Sweetin not resign his position immediately. “I would rather have you let these folks, that have already put you on trial, stand up here with you staring at them and try to explain why they have decided that you need to leave,” Wursten said to Sweetin.
Rapson agreed. “The fact is that the MPOA now runs this city,” he said. “Get that straight, citizens of Mesquite. Endorsements don’t come free. The MPOA is now the city council.”
In the final public comment period, Boger said that he had been grossly misrepresented in Sweetin’s earlier comments.
“His comments were extremely unprofessional and only reinforces that it is in the best interest of the city to suspend the contract that Bob Sweetin has,” Boger said.
Boger added that the contract should be suspended until the findings of all investigations requested in his letter had been reached. He also added that there might be more investigations needed after the comments made by Sweetin at the meeting.
“Mr. Sweetin clearly, once again, has shown that he is not acting in the best interest of his client, which is the city of Mesquite,” Boger said.
