Citizens panel supports City Council expansion

Erin Neff

Friday, Dec. 18, 1998 | 11:15 a.m.

A citizen's committee will recommend that Las Vegas City Council increase from four to six representatives, and ask city voters whether that's a good idea.

The Council Review Committee reached its final of three recommendations Thursday by agreeing that the City Council should have more members to address the growing population citywide. Committee members also stated, however, that they felt more comfortable putting the issue to the public to decide.

The citizen's vote, which could come during the general municipal election in June if approved by City Council, would serve only to advise, not mandate, the council to enact the recommendation.

City Council, which will vote on the committee's recommendation Jan. 11, can implement the advice or choose to ignore or amend it.

"I think there are things (adding two seats) will accomplish," said committee member Leonard Goodall, a professor of public administration at UNLV.

The committee, however, said it was not sure whether adding seats would improve the chances of a member of an ethnic minority being elected to City Council, an issue that had been the subject of state Legislature debate during the last session.

With six wards, the number of citizens each councilman represents will drop from 110,000 to about 70,000.

"I'd feel much better being represented as one of 75,000 than one of 110,000," said Committee Chairman Ron Portaro.

Deputy City Manager Steve Houchens warned the committee that city funds are not unlimited.

At the committee's last meeting, members recommended that each city councilmen be paid roughly 90 percent of the $54,000 that Clark County Commissioners earn. That would increase council salaries from $36,900 to $48,600.

The committee also agreed to keep the salary differential between city councilmen and the mayor at roughly the same percentage it is now. The mayor's position thus would increase from $48,527 to $63,163 -- or roughly $9,100 more than the county commissioners earn.

Adding two seats -- with the recommended salary increase included -- would cost $573,240 annually. The addition of two seats would also lead to $170,000 in one-time costs related to the renovation of offices.

"An additional two wards will provide increased representation, but probably won't provide increased services," Houchens said.

That money would have to be taken from existing city budgets. Wards would therefore be in more competition for project funding and a greater sense of parochialism could develop.

If City Council approves the committee's recommendations, the new wards could not be drawn in time for the March 6, 1999, filing deadline for the next municipal elections, according to City Manager Virginia Valentine.

Instead, two council representatives would be appointed in the new wards and would then have to run for election in 2001.

City Councilmen, who have spoken out about the cost of adding two new seats, have also stated it should be up to the voters to decide.

"That's all I've said all along," City Councilman Gary Reese said Thursday when informed of the committee's recommendation. "The voters pay the bills. The voters know when they're getting good representation."

Councilman Arnie Adamsen said he was happy to learn the committee wanted citizen input about the expansion.

"I think we should put the salaries out for the voters to decide, too," he said.

The committee, which was created in October, will also pass along a recommendation that City Council positions should not be full-time in the sense that they prohibit a person from holding another job.

If City Council accepts the committee's recommendation regarding salaries, the pay raises would not take effect until after the next election.

Thursday's committee vote was 6-1, with member Fernando Romero voting in opposition.

Romero has expressed numerous concerns about the committee's role and the effect any decision it makes will have on ward boundaries and therefore minority representation.

The committee's entire recommendation may be moot if the state Legislature revisits the issue of Las Vegas City Council representation.

State Sen. Joe Neal (D-North Las Vegas) has said he will introduce legislation in the next session mandating City Council to expand - and thus increase the likelihood of minority representation on the board.

In the city's history, just two blacks have been elected to City Council. An Hispanic has never been elected.