Personal letter from A. M. Folger (Las Vegas) to G. F. Ashby, October 11, 1948

Las Vegas - October 11, 1948 Mr. a. F. Ashby: In private conversation with Mayor Cragin this morning, regarding the letter he wrote you under date of October 8th, he stated the proposed water dis-trict had been discussed by himself and the City Com-missioners and they were very much worried that there were some motives behind this propoesal that would re-sult in consequent harm to the City. I asked him if he had any suggestions as to how we might assist him to insure the water produced here would be confined to use within the city limits, in accord with our past policy, and he stated the City would not agree to transfer of our existing Permit to Serve, from the LVL&W Co. to the new Water District, if and when the new District is authorized, unless it was agreed in such transfer that the water from our wells would be used only within the city limits. He asked that we give him assurance that in case the Water Company decides to dispose of its distribution system, that the City of Las Vegas would be given the first option to purchase, an option which the City would not exercise except to prevent the facilities from falling into the wrong hands. He stated his policy in the past, whenever the question of municipal ownership of water or power facilities arose, had been to discourage it because while it might work alright at first, it eventually became a political football, to the detriment of the community. He also said at the last meeting of the Colorado River Commission it was stated that because of prior commitments to potential industries at BMI, no large amount of water could be allocated to the proposed water district for use in Las Vegas. And because of this, it was the understanding of the City Commissioners and the Mayor that the water district intended to take five million gallons per day from the City supply to take care of the resort hotels south of the City limits and the Army airport eight miles north of the City. 1 - Personal: In fact he felt so strongly about it that he said he intended, with the approval of the City Commissioners, to tie the matter up in the courts with a prior con-demnation suit by the City, if the water district attempted to take over the distribution system. After conferring with Mr. Reinhardt, we feel that we should avoid taking sides in the controversy, as nothing can be gained by making enemies of either the County or City officials. However, in replying to Mayor Cragin you may wish to advise him that we concur in his thought that water produced in the city should be used in the City, and in fact that has been the policy of the Water Company. A. M. Folder ( cc - Mr. Wm. Reinhardt) - 2 -