upr000267 227

LAS VEGAS REV I£)fif dpUBJlAL P u b l i s h e d S c r 1 6 Water System Company, City Officidls in M o o d for Sale Possibility that the city of Las Vegas may negotiate for the pur­chase of the water system owned by the Las Vegas Land and Water company since the town was founded in 1905, loomed today as a re­sult of a conference between the city commission and representatives of the local utility. Leo A. McNamee, attorney for the-water company, told the mayor and four commissioners he felt the plan could be worked out and that, if the city was in a position to assume the finan­cial burden involved, the water : company would be willing to make, the sale. Book value of the utility at the present time was placed at $1,125,000 by McNamee. Three members of the city commission expressed them-selves( as being in favor of the proposal, stating that if the com­pany ia-to be sold it should go to.the city. The plan is ,to name a special committee from the commis­sion’s advisory group ifor the purpose of making a complete investigation of the feasibility of the project and report back to the board at an early date. Indications were, members of the city commission said, that due to continued growth of the city and the demand for expansion of facilities at considerable additional capital investment^ officials of the utility were in a mood to work out details of a sale. McNamee'advised the board that the company was prepared to send representatives to any future • meeting called to explore the matter further. Water District* \ Officials Speed Lake Mead Survey The Las Vegas valley water district directors are speeding plans for the' completion of the preliminary survey of the feasi­bility j of bringing Lake Mead watejr into the valley, and report that, tremendojis progress has been made in the past few weeks.:.-.’ Kenneth Hill, engineer for the Greeley and Hanson engineering firm hired by the district to make a ^.feasibility report, met with the 'directors last night and presented a. report in which he said the. feasibility report will be completed by October 15 and issued to tjie public. According to the. directors, the report Hill made was the most comprehensive possible- and all of the directors were highly im­pressed with the statistics in­cluded and the thoroughness, with which the company had gone into the details of the pro­ject- L T h e report cannot be com­pleted, however, until the dis­trict gets some indication of how much the Las Vegas Land and Water company’s distribution system in the city of Las Vegas will cost, if purchased, because the e n t i r e financial picture hinges on this detail. The second step necessary be­fore the report can.be completed is the securing of a positive com­mitment from the Colorado ri­ver commission regarding the {amount of water that can be {delivered at the Basic plant and [the approximate cost of the wa­ter. A preliminary conference al­ready has been set up by the directors with the- officials of the land and water company, in an effort to probe the possibility of reaching a figure for the distri­bution system as rapidly as pos­sible. - It is hoped that the eptire pro-j gram will be irr shape. to pre­sent to the public service hear­ing on water which is scheduled for Las Vegas on October 11. 4t.