Boulder City Council briefs for Dec. 11, 2002

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

Low-cost power deal is approved

A deal five years in the making was sealed Tuesday, giving Boulder City a backup supply of cheap energy for the next 20 years.

The deal, approved unanimously by the Boulder City Council, should help preserve city electric rates, which are already about half those paid in the Las Vegas Valley.

The agreement allows the city to buy up to 10 megawatts of electrical power each month from Eldorado Energy, a natural gas-fired plant located on land leased from the city in the El Dorado Valley. The energy buy was left open-ended when the city in May 1997 approved a lease of 105 acres for $800,000 annually.

City officials said the energy will serve as a reserve supply that can be tapped in the hot summer months when peak usage at times forces the city to buy energy on the open market, where prices are higher than in long-term contracts. It will be priced at about 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Water features to be upgraded

Boulder City will spend $900,000 in the coming months to bring water features to three recreational facilities.

In three separate votes Tuesday the Boulder City Council approved money to fix a leaky fishing pond, rebuild a lake at the municipal golf course and install landscaping toward a future splash park within Veterans Memorial Park.

McComb Contracting of Henderson won two of the contracts.

For $138,200 from the city golf course surcharge account, McComb will rebuild a pond originally built at the municipal golf course in 1994 in part to raise endangered razorback suckerfish.

For another $563,100 from the city building budget, McComb will also extend utilities and install irrigation systems for landscaping around a planned splash park at the 25-acre Veterans Memorial Park.

P.R. Burke Corp. of Las Vegas won a $198,500 contract to patch holes in the lining of a 3-acre pond that opened in February at the memorial park, stocked with trout and catfish.

Mayor's son will lobby for city

Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro's son will serve as Boulder City's first lobbyist in Carson City during the 2003 Legislature, according to a contract approved by the City Council Tuesday.

Greg Ferraro will lobby for the city free of charge. The city will reimburse the younger Ferraro, however, for up to $1,000 for expenses incurred during the legislative session. City officials described the deal as a bargain. Mayor Ferraro abstained from the unanimous vote.

The junior Ferraro is president of the northern division of R&R Partners, one of the most influential lobbying firms in the state.