Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Six candidates seeking open City Council seat

And then there were six.

By the end of the day Tuesday six candidates were vying for a one-year term on the Las Vegas City Council.

Attorney Martin M. Manke and John Hambrick, an investigator for a state medical board, filed Tuesday to run in the June 22 special election. Richard Truesdell, a member of the city's Planning Commission, filed late Monday.

So far they face attorney Steve Wolfson, Citibank officer Steve Greco and Firouzeh Forouzmand, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District's Performing Arts Center coordinator, for the empty Ward 2 seat.

The three-day filing period ends at 5 p.m. today. The candidates will then face off in a special election in about five weeks.

Manke, 30, a native of Las Vegas, said he wants to ensure Summerlin continues to follow the master plan as it grows and bring attention to maintaining and improving the older city's neighborhoods.

It marks the first run for public office for Manke, who in his private practice specializes in defending contractors and subcontractors in construction-defect lawsuits.

Hambrick, 58, said he thinks his status as a relative "outsider" makes him a good fit for the City Council because he will bring a different perspective to the council than other candidates.

Hambrick moved to Las Vegas in March 2000 after a career in federal law enforcement and has been the chief investigator for the Nevada Board of Osteopathic Medicine since March 2003. He is also a member of the state Juvenile Justice Commission and the Metro Police Citizen Review Board.

Hambrick said if elected he would pay special attention to traffic issues, city parks, and economic development, with an eye toward attracting businesses to the area, particularly of the type that is not depend upon tourists or gaming.

Truesdell, 49, in addition to his position on the planning commission, is president and principal broker for the Cornerstone Co., a Las Vegas commercial development company.

Truesdell said through the planning commission and has dealt with issues in each of the city's wards and worked with neighborhood groups.

Truesdell is a founding board member and current vice president on the board of trustees for the Meadows School, a private school co-founded by Mayor Oscar Goodman's wife, Carolyn Goodman. He is also a former member of the board of trustees for the Lied Discovery Museum and was involved in developing the museum's downtown facility.

He also said he is active in professional organizations, such as the International Council of Shopping Centers and is a past member of the National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives, National Association of Industrial and Office Parks and the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

The Ward 2 seat was left open by former City Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald, who resigned when the governor appointed her to fill a seat on the Clark County Commission left empty when Mark James resigned from the commission.

Council members are paid $41,884 annually.

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