Field grows for open spot on LV City Council

Sito Negron

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 9:12 a.m.

Another candidate formally has asked to be considered for the soon-to-be vacant Ward 2 council seat now held by Lynette Boggs McDonald, putting the number of people who have applied or whose names have been mentioned into double digits.

Terry Garcia-Cahlan wrote letters Wednesday to Mayor Oscar Goodman and other council members expressing her interest in the position.

Garcia-Cahlan said she was ready to dedicate herself full-time, and to meet one of Goodman's stated criteria for a new council member -- "I'm ready to start running (for election)."

Others who have said they were interested, or people whose names have been mentioned as possible candidates, include: Margarita Rebollal, executive director of the Las Vegas Community Development Corporation; and Steve Greco, a member of multiple board and commissions in Summerlin who was appointed by Boggs McDonald to the Child Care Licensing board.

Also, architect and former Las Vegas Planning Commission member Craig Galati; developer and planning commissioner Todd Nigro; planning commissioner Richard Truesdell; lawyer Steven Wolfson; John Hambrick; Geoffry VanderPal, president of the Southern Nevada chapter of the Financial Planning Association; and city Planning Director Bob Genzer.

Genzer, who has worked for the city 30 years and is eligible for retirement, said in a previous Sun article that "long before I dreamed about being a planning director I dreamed of being a city council member, and this potentially an opportunity to fulfill that dream."

Galati is supported by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, whose president, Kara Kelley, wrote in a letter to the council that Galati's background as an architect and former planning commissioner makes him ideal for understanding one of the city's top issues, which is how to handle rapid growth.

Wolfson wrote to the council that he's been through the rigors of a campaign, having helped his wife, Jackie Glass, win election as a District Court judge.

Boggs McDonald's last official day as a council member is April 20. City rules give council 30 days to vote on a replacement. If the appointee wanted to stay in the office, he or she would have to run for it during the next municipal general election, in 2005.

Councilman Gary Reese, who lobbied for an appointment himself in the 1990s but didn't get it, said he hoped that the other candidates are prepared to run for the office regardless of whether they're appointed.

"If they really want it, they ought to be setting their sights, whether they get it or not, on running for it, and getting their campaign team together," said Reese, a council member since 1995. "That's what I did. I didn't get the appointment, but I told them right then that I was going to run for the position."

Tony Sanchez, immediate past president of the Latino Chamber of Commerce and a supporter of Garcia-Cahlan, said her experience -- from serving as an elected member of the state Board of Education from 1992 to 1996 to working for the city as a management analyst from 1986 to 1991 -- makes her more than qualified.

"Mayor Goodman has said he wants someone who can run and get elected and we feel that with her past she's that person," Sanchez said. "She can get ramped up and run a very good campaign should she get appointed.

"There are a lot of qualified people out there. We (her supporters) like to think she brings a little more to the table."

Garcia-Cahlan said one of her top qualities is "cooperation."

"I can build coalitions. That's my strong suit," she said.

She would be the first Hispanic in recent memory -- and perhaps ever -- to serve on the City Council. She said that's part of the equation, but not a defining factor.

"I'm a qualified candidate and I'm Mexican. It's not vice versa," she said. "That's just one of my characteristics, just like being a woman."