Mayor candidates to wind up campaigning at jamboree

Jace Radke

Friday, April 30, 1999 | 11:38 a.m.

Boulder City's three candidates for mayor are ready to let the voters decide their political fates on Tuesday.

Mayor Bob Ferraro and Councilmen Bill Smith and Robert Kenneston will all be at this weekend's annual Boulder City Spring Jamboree but are finished with active campaigning.

"My wife and I just finished walking the entire town, and I think we got to every registered voter," Ferraro said. "We'll be at the Spring Jamboree shaking some hands, but we're ready for Tuesday."

Kenneston, who has also put in road work walking Boulder City, will be at the jamboree too, and Smith will be pulling double duty helping the Chamber of Commerce host the event.

Kenneston and Ferraro both took part in Wednesday's candidates debate put on by the Boulder City High School forensics team. Six of the seven City Council candidates also participated, with Smith and council candidate Tim Harness missing the debate for previous engagements.

Two of the city's four ballot questions became the two issues that dominated the forum. The first ballot question would give the city's blessing to the state to construct a bypass freeway to route traffic around the south end of Boulder City.

The second question would make a vote of the people a requirement to allow the lease of any city land greater than an acre. The initiative would also require that any revenue generated by future leases be placed in the city's capital improvement fund.

Although those two issues were the most discussed, the format of the debate didn't allow every candidate to speak on every issue. Instead all the candidates were able to respond to any four of 10 questions about the city's future.

Kenneston, 60, left the bypass and lease issues to the other speakers but did comment that he was for working to bring a solar power plant to the Eldorado Valley.

He also spoke on the MGM golf courses, which have led to questions about gaming coming to Boulder City.

"There has been some nervousness about the council leasing land to the MGM," Kenneston said. "Some think that the MGM will steamroll this town into doing what they want it to do, but I think that Boulder City can stand up to that challenge."

Ferraro, 63, was for the bypass, saying that it would benefit the city.

"We have 20,000 vehicles coming through the city every day and 70 percent of those vehicles don't stop in Boulder City," Ferraro said. "The bypass would allow those vehicles to go around Boulder City, while still letting the 30 percent that are going to patronize our businesses come through the city."

Councilman Bryan Nix, 45, weighed in on both the bypass and the land-lease questions and urged residents to vote against them.

Nix said that by voting for the bypass question and giving the state the OK to build the freeway, Boulder City would also be giving away any control it would have over how and where the future freeway would be built.

Joe Hardy, a 49-year-old Boulder City doctor, got the most laughs at the debate as he pulled out golf clubs, a scale, a piggybank and tongue depressors to get his points across.

Hardy pointed to the golf courses as an excellent industry for Boulder City and was against the land-lease question. He said if passed the lease question would provide money for capital improvements such as new police cars but would leave the city short in having enough money to meet the payrolls of the new officers to fill the cars.

Tom Whelan, 37, agreed with Nix that the city should keep its leverage on the Nevada Department of Transportation by not passing the bypass ballot question. Whelan said that he feels that traffic can be rerouted at Laughlin and avoid Hoover Dam and Boulder City altogether.

Whelan, a communications professor and small-business owner, also would like to see Eldorado Valley continue to be development free.

Ned Morang, a 58-year-old retired city electrician, came out against the bypass, saying that it may end up hurting local businesses that count on the traffic. Morang also said that he wants to keep Eldorado Valley as open space and not clutter it with development.

Melodee Thurston, a 51-year-old English teacher at Boulder City High School, was also in favor of keeping Eldorado Valley as a place for solar energy development, open space and recreational areas. She would also like to see the city's senior citizen center moved into the library building if the people vote to pass a bond to build a new library.

Jim LaBarber, a 75-year-old businessman, said he is against the land-lease ballot question because it made no business sense and would raise insurance rates because of the drop in firefighters and police officers that it would cause.

He also said that if the library bond ballot question is passed the old library building should be used to house the police department.