Letter: Position on consolidation was misconstrued

Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2002 | 8:40 a.m.

It is quite unfortunate that you have misconstrued comments offered by me at the Jan. 2 City Council meeting regarding the interlocal agreement between the City of Las Vegas and Clark County as it relates to the Northwest Masterplan Agreement. Your portrayal of my comments fly contrary to my public statements as well as my position on consolidation.

In fact, it was my suggestion offered at the city's planning retreat of Dec. 3, 2001, that a "sunset provision" be added to the language offered by Clark County that aimed to prevent members of the Las Vegas City Council -- present and future -- from ever pursuing consolidation of services. At our recent City Council meeting, Mayor Oscar Goodman expressed concerns that by supporting the interlocal agreement it would prevent consolidation from ever being considered in the next five years (the time associated with the sunset provision). I responded that if a group of citizens or a third party chose to bring the matter forward tomorrow through an initiative petition, they could. In no way were my comments offered as "spin" to reject consolidation. They were offered as a matter of statute.

I challenge you to acquire a copy of the verbatim transcript as you will see that I, in fact, share the mayor's position that we should pursue consolidation of services. I stated so on the record. As a former assistant city manager, this has been my position since moving to Las Vegas 11 years ago. However, in the spirit of consensus building, I was willing to support the provisions of the agreement so that closure could be brought to the agreement.

I hope that in the future your "spin" will more accurately reflect the public record of our City Council meetings.

LYNETTE BOGGS MC DONALD City Councilwoman