By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Moapa Valley Water District has a new member on its Board of Directors. In a meeting held Thursday, Oct. 21, the board appointed Overton resident Kelby Robison to serve as a board member.
Robison will replace former board member Derek Campbell who moved away from the community last month. Campbell, who was elected to the board last November, resigned his position at the previous board meeting.
MVWD Board Chair Randy Tobler said that he had asked Campbell for recommendations of people who might succeed him in the position. The primary recommendation given was Kelby Robison, Tobler said.
“So I had asked the board members to spend some time in considering that,” Tobler said. “And if you had other options to bring them to the table today.”
Board member Lindsey Dalley commented that the reasoning for appointing Robison to the position was good.
“I think it is important to note that Derek’s chief rationale for recommending Kelby was that he was the next highest vote-getter in the last election,” Dalley said. “So I think that rationale is sound.”
“That’s right, he was the people’s next choice,” Tobler added. “And I think that Kelby would do a great job on this board.”
Dalley made the motion to appoint Robison to the position and the motion was approved with a unanimous vote.
Robison, who was in attendance at the meeting, then took his place as a member of the board for the remainder of the meeting.
In a separate agenda item, the board approved a three-year employment agreement with MVWD General Manager Joe Davis.
In the agreement, the district would continue to provide Davis’ existing benefits including health insurance, contributions to PERS, sick leave, vacation time and use of a district truck and gas card.
In addition, the agreement would raise Davis’ annual salary to $132,000, an increase of $17,000.
“In the past, there really hasn’t been a contract out there for the general manager,” Davis told the board.
He added that he had met with MVWD Attorney Byron Mills recently about the need to draft a contract what would clarify the duties and boundaries of the position as well as protect the district. The agreement would also position the district for a time when Davis himself would be retiring, he said.
All of this was particularly important given a number of legal proceedings currently ongoing involving water resources in the region, Davis said.
The contract included a duty of confidentiality which limited Davis from using privileged MVWD information to benefit in a subsequent position of employment. It also put Davis under obligation to report any legal actions against him or the district arising from his professional service.
“I drafted this agreement in such a way that it protects the board and the (district),” Mills said. “That is why there are these other terms in there that don’t necessarily benefit (Joe) but they do protect the district.”
The three year time frame of the contract was also carefully considered, Davis said. Within those three years, several of the current board members are set to reach the end of their term limits. So that allows flexibility in working with a new board, Davis said.
“Of course, this board is happy with the job I am doing,” Davis said. “But there is a potential for a new board in a couple of years and maybe they will decide whether to keep me around or not. So we decided to bring the contract for employment for about that term.”
Before voting on the item, Tobler pointed out that Davis was in a class of state employees, hired before 1986, who had seen some of their benefits voided due to subsequent decisions made by the state.
“Joe has been here for so long and he brings so much expertise to the district,” Tobler said. “But he fell into a time period where they took benefits from him as an employee so he doesn’t enjoy what others do. This contract also makes up for that.”
In the end, board member Jon Blackwell made a motion to approve the agreement. The motion was adopted unanimously.
