It was during a short meeting at the Virgin Valley Water District that District Manager Kevin Brown stated if all goes well, the repairs on the Mesa Boulevard Project will be finished by Aug. 21. Paving should be done the week of Aug. 10 and then painting and striping during the week of Aug. 17.

The project is part of a working list of areas that need the piping redesigned. When initially placed in 1990, there was no design built, the pipe was simply just placed, causing problems later. The Mesa Boulevard area is just the first of 16 projects slated between now and 2025. For a full list, view this article on our website under “Local News.”

The Mesa Boulevard Project didn’t stay within budget, however, as Bulloch Brothers Engineering experienced an overrun of $16,931 with the project. Consequentially, Bulloch Brothers requested an additional payment from VVWD for $12,100. The other $4,831 was absorbed by Bulloch Brothers due to “inefficiencies” within their office, said Daniel Bulloch.

The VVWD board approved the payment, although they strenuously noted that Bulloch Brothers should have notified them prior to incurring the costs. “I’m a firm believer that people should be paid what they’re owed, but we need to stick by the contract,” said Rich Bowler.

Vice President Barbara Ellestad agreed and cautioned that Bulloch Brothers should have notified the district when the amount of the contract was looking to go beyond the agreed amount.

“We don’t want to set a precedence of going over our contracts and having other developers [taking advantage of the district] knowing that the district would pay,” said Board President Nephi Julien. The final motion on the item was to keep the contract as it was and have BBE submit a separate invoice for the extra costs and agreed to pay BBE when it came in, instead of waiting for another board meeting to do so.

In other discussions, Mesquite resident Mike McGreer stated during public comment that it would be unethical for Ellestad to remain on the VVWD Board after assuming the role of editor of Mesquite Local News, as she would have inside information that other media wouldn’t have access to. VVWD Attorney Bo Bingham addressed the issue during staff comment stating everyone has the right to run for any office, as long as they’re qualified. Each one of those elected, regardless of their outside life, is expected to maintain a high level of confidentiality in regards to the items that are exempt from public record. Since Ellestad will have no involvement with any VVWD or water-related stories with the newspaper, Bingham maintained that her status with the board is non-conflicting.