Timing for new wards under fire

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2002 | 9:29 a.m.

Months after North Las Vegas and Las Vegas finished drawing new boundaries for City Council wards based on the latest census, Henderson officials on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to six possible ward maps.

On Oct. 15 the Henderson City Council plans to pick one ward map for the election, to be used in next spring's elections.

Three council members are running for re-election: Andy Hafen is running for his fifth four-year term, Amanda Cyphers for her third term and Steve Kirk for his second.

Once ward maps are redrawn, challengers will probably announce campaigns. But until a final map is approved, a potential challenger could be drawn out of a ward and forced to move in the months leading up to the filing deadline of Feb. 7.

"I think they're waiting to see where the wards are going to be," said Ann Adam, a former president of the homeowner association at Sunridge MacDonald Ranch. "They can't say they're going to run against Andy Hafen then have City Hall draw them out."

Adam and other critics say Henderson officials have waited until the last minute to draw new wards to limit the time a challenger has to campaign.

Henderson City Clerk Monica Simmons counters that by state law she has to create districts that will have populations within 5 percent of each other by spring elections, as required by state law. The districts must be drawn before the end of the year.

Political consultants say that few challengers will be able to mount effective campaigns before the state general election is held Nov. 5. By that time the Henderson ward map should be nearly three weeks old.

Since 2000, the last time wards were redrawn, the population increased from 195,000 to 211,000. Hafen's ward, which includes much of southwest Henderson, now has 10 percent more residents than the other wards because of rapid growth, Simmons said.

North Las Vegas and Las Vegas, two cities that also have areas of disproportionate growth, redrew ward maps in March and June respectively. City clerks in both cities said they are confident the wards will meet state law come spring.