Cyphers balances roles of motherhood, politics

Lisa Snedeker

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 | 10:39 a.m.

Amanda Cyphers is a new mother.

When the first-term Henderson councilwoman talks about her son who is a little more than a month old, her eyes light up and she becomes very animated.

After waiting two long years on state and Catholic Charities adoption lists, it is no wonder why.

She and her husband, Michael, brought their son, Colin Douglas, home earlier this month -- the same day she had to attend a candidates forum.

"After waiting for two years, I knew it was going to happen during the campaign," she said of juggling late-night feedings and diaper changes amid running a campaign for her second term in office.

The lone female on the five-member City Council for the fastest-growing city in America is also the youngest council member, earning her the nickname of the "council kid."

That gives her a different perspective from her colleagues who are middle-aged males, but not any less respect. In November, the other council members voted unanimously for Cyphers to serve a second-term as mayor pro-tem.

At 32, Cyphers said she is the youngest council member ever elected in Henderson, which also gives her a different perspective.

So why would someone, at the age of 28, decide to run for City Council?

Cyphers said it was because she wanted a practice run before running more earnestly this spring. She said no one was more surprised than she when she beat Paul Ruth, a longtime resident who was appointed to the council in 1993. She collected more than 56 percent of the vote on a campaign platform that promised more stringent development standards and a more responsive city government.

"I'm a huge goal-setter," she said. "I ran for the purpose of running a campaign. It was a practice run."

Cyphers cites the completion of the city's management audit and the construction of sound walls between the homes next to U.S. 95 between Lake Mead and Wagon Wheel drives among her accomplishments since taking office.

What led to her interest in the council, Cyphers said, was that when she and her husband purchased their home in Henderson, there was a lot of undeveloped land in the area and unknowns concerning the surrounding zoning.

Cyphers said she sees her civic duty as a responsibility.

"I personally respond to every letter I receive," she said.

She added that while she gets more phone calls at home than at her office in City Hall, she believes that means residents feel she is approachable.

A native of the Las Vegas Valley, she grew up in North Las Vegas and attended Rancho High School before graduating from Calvary Chapel Christian School in Las Vegas in 1985. She has attended the Community College of Southern Nevada and takes continuing education courses when time allows.

Cyphers said she and her husband, who is a chemical engineer, bought a home in Henderson in 1990 because of the affordability factor.

She also started her own business, Accounts Receivable Auditing Services, in 1990, which merged to form Streamline Medical Management Systems. She sold the business in 1995 to make her City Council position her full-time job, something she had promised during her campaign.

She said ever since she and her husband started the process to become adoptive parents, she has looked at issues that deal with family and education and quality of life through different eyes.

She supports a four-year state college for Henderson as well as de-consolidation of Henderson schools from the Clark County School District, but not without a fiscal impact study to determine how taxpayers would be affected.

Other issues topping her priority list are public safety and health and increasing the diversity of Henderson's employment opportunities.

Cyphers says she is hoping to keep her campaign expenses around $100,000.

As part of her council duties, Cyphers represents Henderson on numerous boards including the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Colorado River Commission, Clark County Health Board, Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition and the Southern Nevada Job Training Board.

North Las Vegas City Councilmen William Robinson, Stephanie Smith and Paula Brown all have served on various boards with Cyphers.

Robinson, who serves on two boards with Cyphers, describes her as very intelligent. "We need more Amanda Cyphers," he said.

"She is wonderful to work with," Smith said. "She always reads everything and does her research."

And Brown said, "She has great ideas for her city."

Among her volunteer services, Cyphers has participated in the Las Vegas Wash and Wetlands Cleanup, Reading Week at local elementary schools, the Kids Voting USA program and the Box City program, which is geared to teach children about city development and planning.

Cyphers has learned that you can't please everyone. In addition to phone calls in the middle of the night from residents complaining about barking dogs, she has had her share of run-ins with residents who disagree with the way she has voted on some issues.

"It's not fun and games," she said.

Resident Tonya Hunt, who is supporting the development of Black Mountain Studios, said she was not happy with Cyphers' response to why she recently voted down -- along with the rest of the council -- Doris Keating's development plans for a movie studio complex in the Wagon Wheel Industrial Park.

"She and Andy Hafen both left me with the impression the city has regrets that it gave the land away too cheap," said Hunt, who moved to Henderson from Southern California a decade ago and whose family has ties to the movie industry.

Residents in the Black Hills and Highland Hills area have also criticized Cyphers for her votes on a proposed commercial development on the northwest corner of College and Horizon drives.