Future of city subject of retreat

Mathis Winkler

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.

Las Vegas did it. Henderson did it. Now, North Las Vegas officials will meet on Saturday for a daylong retreat to discuss the city's future.

The public meeting, which will begin at 9 a.m. at Texas Station, includes a morning session to set priorities for the city. In the afternoon, department directors will give presentations about what's going on in North Las Vegas.

Mayor Michael Montandon said the retreat will give City Council members a chance to talk at length about their visions for North Las Vegas.

Since state law prohibits a majority of council members from discussing city business outside public meetings, the city's five elected leaders rarely see each other unless they are gathering for council meetings, Montandon said.

"We're so hypersensitive about (the law) that if two council members are talking and a third one walks in the room, one leaves," he said.

Though a proposed master-planned community on 1,900 acres in the city will likely be discussed, city officials probably won't spend much time during the retreat talking about it, Montandon said.

Last week officials for the developers raised concerns over the project's future because they hadn't come to an agreement with the city over development plans.

By Nov. 5 American Nevada Corp. and Del Webb Corp., partnering as North Valley Enterprises, have to pay $37.8 million for the land to the Bureau of Land Management. The companies already paid $9.4 million as a down payment in May, when they won the bid for the land.

Montandon said that discussions between city and company officials were going "extremely well."

"Virtually all of the issues have been resolved," he said, adding that several meetings to negotiate the agreement had gone on well into the night last week.

But Frank Pankratz, who oversees Del Webb's Nevada operations as a regional president, said some significant work remained before the Nov. 5 deadline.

"Last week, we knocked items off the list, and we'll knock more off this week," he said, adding that he was optimistic about reaching an agreement.

The City Council's last retreat took place two years ago, when city leaders adopted North Las Vegas' slogan, "Your Community of Choice," and established five goals -- planned and quality growth; expanded parks, recreational and leisure opportunities for all citizens; financially sound city government providing high quality, responsive services; attractive and vibrant greater downtown area; and safe community for people.