Firefighter who posted fantasy of shooting official still on the job

By Joe Schoenmann

Sunday, June 20, 2010 | 2 a.m.

Whatever happened to that firefighter who wrote on a Facebook site that she wanted to shoot Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak in the groin?

Well, you left out an expletive she used, and she was more specific about exactly what part of the commissioner’s groin she wanted to put a bullet or two into. But no doubt you are referring to Joy Sager.

It has been two months since the Sun broke the story about the violent daydream she posted on the Internet. It followed another Sun story in which Sisolak expressed frustration that county firefighters collect money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association while on duty. Sager still works for the Las Vegas Fire Department, a city spokesman said.

Sager lives in Henderson, so the matter was turned over to Henderson City Attorney Elizabeth Quillin, who could not be reached for comment. Sager’s attorney, Richard Wright, said no charges were filed against Sager. She did, though, take an anger impulse control class, which Wright said satisfied Sisolak and all involved. Sisolak said he believed Sager was truly sorry, and the matter was over as far as he was concerned.

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Paperwork is a necessary part of any bureaucracy, and not just to give office workers something to push fussily across a desk to look busy. Paperwork and signatures assign accountability and responsibility for jobs funded by taxpayers.

But as anyone who has ever pored through government documentation knows, sometimes the amount of paperwork is inversely proportional to the documents’ importance.

With that in mind, guess how many pages it takes to correctly approve placement of a tiny camera atop the Clark County Detention Center so construction of Las Vegas’ new city hall can be filmed and put online?

Is it a lot?

Fifteen pages seems like a lot for this. Whiting-Turner, the project’s builder, will deposit $100 a year into county coffers to pay for electricity and other costs associated with the security camera on the jail roof. At some point, people will be able to watch construction online. No one reached at Whiting-Turner was able to say when viewing would begin.

The contract is fairly standard and reads in some places like it was never intended to deal with placement of a security camera.

For instance:

“Licensee shall not dump hazardous waste on the Site. Licensee shall control and minimize dust in and around License Area and shall maintain the License Area and Site in a clean and safe condition.”

It goes on to talk about ensuring that no “threat to the public’s health, safety or welfare” may be caused by the Construction Overview Project, er, camera.

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The Clean Water Coalition is suing the state to prevent it from taking millions of dollars the coalition banked from fees attached to local sewer bills. The state went for the money because the coalition mothballed plans for an $800 million pipeline that would have returned treated wastewater deep into Lake Mead.

Does this mean the coalition is going belly up?

Not yet. Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown is chairman of the coalition’s board, which includes representatives of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson. Brown recently said the coalition’s staff is down to four people from six. All contracts relating to the pipeline have been nullified and the board will soon “decide if the (coalition) will remain an agency.”

If it doesn’t, what would happen to its staff?

Brown said former Clark County Commissioner Chip Maxfield, who was hired to head the coalition about a year ago, could continue similar work with the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Or, Brown said, the board could dissolve the coalition and let each wastewater plant work independently.

Why would the Water Authority add the expense of another executive-level position if the Clean Water Coalition’s board decides there is no need for a coalition? Would ratepayers also still be forced to hand over the $8 a year or so now charged on their sewer bills for the Clean Water Coalition, even though that fee was supposed to pay for the pipeline?

That depends largely upon whether the pipeline is dead or just mothballed. Brown said local governments need to re-examine whether a pipeline is needed, because the plan was developed more than 10 years ago — a time when the county’s economic situation was much different.