Changing times at City Hall

Erin Neff

Tuesday, June 29, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

Although local historians may someday mark June 28, 1999, as the start of the Oscar Goodman era, the date will likely have a greater lasting legacy due to the beginning Monday of another political career.

Lynette Boggs McDonald, 35, was unanimously appointed to the Ward 2 council seat vacated by Arnie Adamsen's resignation. Boggs McDonald becomes the first councilwoman in the city's history. Although Jan Laverty Jones served on the City Council for eight years, she served as mayor, not as a councilwoman.

Boggs McDonald, who is not related to Councilman Michael McDonald, will be sworn in July 12 and take office at that time. Adamsen's seat remained vacant at Monday's meeting.

Goodman called the appointment of Boggs McDonald, who is black, important because of his vow to have people of "all backgrounds, all persuasions and all genders" serving the residents, and jokingly corrected Boggs McDonald when she referred to herself as "Councilwoman McDonald."

"According to 'Robert's Rules of Order' you're Madame Councilman," Goodman said, referencing the widely used book of meeting protocol he has been studying.

Boggs McDonald thanked Goodman and the councilmen for the appointment, singling out McDonald for first "planting the seed" in her mind to become a council member four years ago when she was an assistant city manager.

Now the marketing director at UNLV, Boggs McDonald also thanked Councilmen Larry Brown and Gary Reese -- both Democrats -- for standing their ground on her appointment despite pressure from the local Democratic party to select someone else. Boggs McDonald previously ran for the District 2 state Assembly seat as a Democrat, but switched her party registration to Republican shortly after losing that race, saying that party was more in line with her personal political ideology.

"Partisan politics has no place in local government," Boggs McDonald said.

Her appointment was one of several major changes ushered in with Goodman.

Goodman appointed himself to replace former Mayor Jan Laverty Jones on the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, the city's Audit Oversight Committee, the Nevada Development Authority, the Regional Flood Control District, the Regional Transportation Commission, the Southern Nevada Enterprise Consortium and the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository Committee.

He will replace Adamsen on the Metropolitan Police Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition.

Reese was appointed to take Adamsen's place as chair of the Real Estate Committee and as primary representative to the Regional Jail Commission. McDonald was appointed to replace Adamsen on the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition and Brown replaced Adamsen on the Greater Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce board.

The changing nature of city politics won't end anytime soon.

The council on Monday approved a $25,000 contract with consultant Frederick P. Kessler to prepare a redistricting map and conduct public hearings about the pending two-person expansion of the City Council.

On June 8, voters approved a ballot question to expand the size of the council -- and thus the number of city wards -- by two. The board will be comprised of six council members and the mayor by the end of 1999.

Names are already being tossed about in City Hall for potential appointments to the future seats, despite uncertainty over how the new wards will be carved out.

Among those said to be interested in the new seats are Reese's ward liaison Lawrence Weekly, former professional baseball player Marty Barrett, community activist Ron Current, developer Mark Fine, community college professor Harvey Munford and Nevada Stupak, who fell 139 votes shy of Reese in the June 8 council election.

Voters have no say in the appointments.