Council approves $13 million on widening project

Sito Negron

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 9:33 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council approved spending $13 million given to the city by the Regional Transportation Coalition to expand the Summerlin Parkway by two lanes in either direction.

One lane in each direction would be for high-occupancy vehicles only, director of Public Works Richard Goecke told council members. The project is to begin with a study of the highway, which could be approved this summer and take up to a year. Construction might not begin for another three years, Goecke said.

Councilman Michael Mack asked whether the project would include sound walls, and whether those would be aesthetically pleasing. Goecke replied that it was up to the city to make sure of that.

He also referred to a twist in the project, which is that the Nevada Department of Transportation owns less than a half mile of the highway starting at the interchange with U.S. 95. That means the state must be involved in the project, and if the state uses federal funds, Goecke said that might lengthen the project's time frame because it adds another layer of review.

The council also took several other actions Wednesday:

Redistricting

The council approved a $30,000 contract with retired judge Fred Kessler to draw up a redistricting map. The city charter allows redistricting in non-election years if the difference in population among wards is more than 5 percent.

Councilman Michael Mack first pushed for redistricting in the fall, saying that his district, with more than 100,000 residents, was too far out of line with the mature wards 1, 3, and 5, all with populations of about 80,000.

However, the sticking point was four precincts wedged just north and east of Rainbow Boulevard and U.S. 95 and south of Washington Avenue. They had last voted in the 1999 elections when they were part of Ward 1, and now are part of Ward 2. If they were moved back to Ward 1, those residents would have had to wait until the 2007 election, leaving them without a vote for eight years.

That was solved with June's special Ward 2 election, which gave those residents a chance to vote and removed a barrier to redistricting.

Westcare triage

The council approved two months worth of its annual share for the WestCare Community Triage Center Wednesday, following a similar action by Clark County on Tuesday.

The city's $72,316 is meant to help prevent the center's closure after the state failed to fund its full share of the program, which is supposed to be paid for through a $1.27 million each contribution from the state, local governments, and local hospitals.

The center treats people with mental illness and substance abuse problems. It treats about 750 patients a month, and has 56 beds.

Appointments

Mayor Oscar Goodman reappointed Ric Truesdell, a losing Ward 2 council candidate, to the Planning Commission. He was chairman until its last meeting a week ago. Truesdell had sent in a letter of resignation when he ran in the special election, but it was not effective until after the June 22 election. His last Planning Commission meeting was June 24.

Another Ward 2 candidate, Steve Greco, was not reappointed to his spot on the Child Care Licensing Board. The new Ward 2 council member, Steve Wolfson, said that he wanted to hold the item for another two weeks and see who was interested in applying for the position.

Muni court raises

The council gave 10 percent pay raises to the city's Municipal Court judges.

Salaries for the six judges went from $116,985 to $128,098, an increase to the city of $71,064 that was already in the budget for fiscal year 2004-2005, which began last week.

"We're the only major jurisdiction in the state to not ask for additional positions in the past 12 years," court coordinator Jim Carmany told council. He said that in that time, the courts have seen a 75 percent increase in the number of traffic tickets.

For fiscal year 2003-2004, he said, the elected judges averaged 6,818 cases each, the highest caseload in the state.

Carmany said that the court shifted non-contested traffic tickets to the front counter, in effect freeing up an entire courtroom. Despite that, he said, the average wait at the front counter two years ago was 26 minutes, and this year it's down to 16 minutes.

West Las Vegas

Refused to intervene to stop city staff from beginning a process to take over the struggling Edmond Town Center project, which received several extensions on city deadlines.

Developer John Edmond is attempting to build a $55 million retail center in the heart of West Las Vegas, an economically stagnant area that has not seen much new construction over the years.

The deal involved the donation of city land, but included deadlines by which he was to begin construction. The last deadline was at midnight Wednesday.

The developer has requested that the issue be placed on the July 21 City Council agenda, city staff members said. However, they will begin the process to take back the land.

"I don't know if there are construction trucks rolling down the street as I speak," Councilman Lawrence Weekly said during the council meeting. But, he said, too much time has elapsed and "as of today, my support has been withdrawn."

The land is at the southwest corner H Street and Owens Avenue. On the other side of Owens is the Nucleus Plaza.