Boulder City election brings out educators

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Feb. 2, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

Educators dominate a field of five challengers and one incumbent running for two four-year seats on the Boulder City Council.

In phone interviews, none aired complaints about the current council. All voiced a desire to maintain the status quo.

The incumbent, freshman Councilman Mike Pacini, is the sole candidate to have held public office in Nevada.

Filing for municipal elections closed Thursday, a day ahead of the rest of the valley. Candidates have 60 days to separate themselves from the pack before primary elections on April 3.

From there, the four top vote-getters will continue on to the general election June 5.

Councilman Bill Smith chose not to file for re-election after serving one, four-year term.

Pacini, 33, married and the father of two kids, is one of just two candidates who have not chosen work in the classroom. Instead, Pacini has worked a 17-year stint locally as a grocery clerk. He graduated from Boulder City High School in 1985.

Pacini serves on several area boards, including the Southern Nevada Workforce Investment Board and the Regional Jail Commission. The boards work to help displaced workers and crime victims, Pacini said.

Water issues remain a top priority for Pacini. He voted to bring a second water pipeline to the city at a cost of $36 million. That water line will help the chances for a second proposed municipal golf course, another project Pacini supports.

He also wants to expand affordable senior housing and assisted-living facilities.

Pacini raised $11,270 for his 1997 campaign.

Ned Morang, 60, a retired city electrician, ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 1999. Backed by a pair of local labor groups, Morang raised $1,400 and took 10 percent of the primary vote, finishing fourth of seven. But he lost in the general election.

Morang plans to run another no-nonsense campaign this spring, but with added experience from the 1999 campaign. He spent $3,900 on that race.

"What money I can collect I will. What money I can't, I won't," he said.

Morang and his wife have four children who graduated from Boulder City High School. He has lived in Boulder City since 1962.

Of the four educators, Wallace Best, 74, is the only candidate to seek public office in Nevada. The other three are political newcomers.

In 2000, Best ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the state Board of Regents. Running with less than $500 in his campaign fund, Best took 2,840 votes, not enough to make the cut for the general election.

Best, semi-retired and a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, is married and has raised three adopted children. He moved to Boulder City in 1991 after a long career as a university teacher.

Best said he hopes to "make absolutely certain" that the proposed Hoover Dam bypass crosses the Colorado River far from the city.

Richard Wyman, 73, a UNLV professor of civil engineering for 23 years, declined to discuss issues just yet.

"Before I attack anything I want to make sure I'm going to win," Wyman said, declining to "tip his hand" before campaigning gets under way.

Wyman, married with one grown son and two grandsons, settled in Boulder City in 1965 after living in Peru, Prescott, Ariz., and St. George, Utah. He also worked eight years at the Nevada Test Site in the 1960s.

Andrea Anderson, 56, another educator and political newcomer, spoke generally about issues of concern to her.

She hopes to help support small businesses, to maintain public safety and to maintain water resources. Her main priority, she said, would be preserving the quality of life.

"You can walk the streets at night and feel safe. Your kids can ride their bicycles to school. You can write a check without signing your life away and having your picture taken. That's so important," Anderson said.

Anderson moved to Boulder City in 1972 after a childhood spent in Arizona. She is married and has three sons. She earned a doctorate in education at UNLV, sells real estate and is an administrator for the Boulder campus of the Community College of Southern Nevada.

She serves as the chairwoman of the local library and hospital boards.

John Barlow, 37, is the lone native of Boulder City in the race and yet another political newcomer. He is married, a graduate of Brigham Young University and the father of five. He helped open Foothill High School as vice principal in 1999.

Barlow hopes to maintain the city's growth ordinance and to use the city's allotted water in order to avoid losing it. He said he would support public safety and add new plantings around town. He would also work to "embellish the arts programs" in schools and to create a national reputation for the city's golf courses.