Council considers hiring mayor’s son as lobbyist

Dan Kulin

Thursday, Dec. 9, 2004 | 9:49 a.m.

The Boulder City Council is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to hire the mayor's son to be the city's lobbyist in Carson City.

If approved, Greg Ferraro, whose father is Mayor Bob Ferraro, would be Boulder City's first paid outside lobbyist, City Manager Vicki Mayes said.

Greg Ferraro, who works as a lobbyist for others too, would be paid $1,000 a month plus expenses to work for the city during the 2005 Legislative session, under the contract to be voted on Tuesday.

During past legislative sessions, Greg Ferraro has helped track legislation for the city for free. Also, Mayes said that while she was the city clerk she went to Carson City several times during legislative sessions to testify on bills.

The city does not have any requests for legislation for the coming session, but Mayes said it will be paying close attention to the expected discussion of a cap on property tax increases caused by increasing property values, and it needs to closely track a proposed bill that would give Boulder City its own seat on the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Currently, the city shares a seat on the board with Mesquite, Mayes said.

"I think it's just important to have someone up there looking out for our interests," Mayes said, adding that Greg Ferraro was picked for the job "because he has done it before."

Mayor Ferraro said he will leave the council meeting while the council discusses and then votes on whether to hire his son.

The mayor said that if his son is hired some people will probably cry nepotism.

"Undoubtedly that will happen," Ferraro said. "But Greg has as done a tremendous job for us in the past. And at that price there's not a lot of choice."

He added that Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, and Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, recommended city officials hire Greg Ferraro as a lobbyist.

Ferraro said ultimately it was Mayes who decided to put the decision before the council.

"I didn't have any say in that," Ferraro said.

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