Former Councilor Gary Medvigy weighs in on recent actions by current members of the Clark County Council
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
Gary Medvigy, former Clark County councilor
for Clark County Today
Each county councilor has a dozen or more boards they are assigned to. There are many votes per committee meeting that the full council may never be aware of – a bylaw change may be impossible to accomplish to start with but is an awful idea from the outset.
Each councilor should vote THEIR independent vote as a representative and in the best interests of the board they are on, like C-TRAN – not a separate city, county or partisan position. To change the county bylaws to require block voting weakens democratic processes. Diversity of viewpoint on each board increases the quality of the decision. Requiring groupthink degrades the decision.
What the county council did probably violated their own charter but was also an example of big- boss Tammany Hall bullying.
There could be a rare issue where a city or county has an overwhelming interest in a separate board vote in an outside agency. The county doesn’t have a current procedure or authority to handle this. A county rule of procedure, with public participation would need to occur. The council acted without a process to follow.
If they amend the bylaws in the future, then procedurally, at a minimum there should be a noticed agenda item, public hearing and after public comment a public vote by the council. The council didn’t do this and blatantly excluded public participation on this issue and then removed Councilor Belkot from C-Tran prohibiting her from exercising her lawful vote. Her term on C-TRAN doesn’t expire until January 2026.
There was no lawful basis to remove her from her assignment. This action was an affront to her constituents, violated her right to vote on her assigned board and her 1A rights to express an opinion.
Former County Councilor Gary Medvigy has worked 33 years in the government sector. He is a retired California Superior Court judge and served as major general in the U.S. Army. He has a master’s degree in strategic studies in national studies from the United States Army War College, a law degree from Vermont Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Vermont.
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