Newcomers introduce suburb to dissent

Monday, Aug. 27, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

In most of Clark County, a new 140-room hotel would barely be noticed amid a never-ending construction cycle churning out generally much bigger projects.

In Boulder City, however, a Hawthorn Suites hotel has ignited controversy and dominated chat at the local diners.

The debut of two new City Council members, a pair of lawyers intent on changing how the city does business, has kept the hotel in the public eye weeks after the old council approved it .

It's the issue that has defined the first two months in office for Travis Chandler and Linda Strickland, a period in which the duo has taken other steps toward shaking up the small city 's politics.

"There's now someone who questions the actions of the council," said longtime resident Bart Hoppe, a regular at the twice-monthly meetings. "Before , they were always 5-0 votes. Nobody investigated or questioned what was going on."

At the last meeting before they took office - but after they had been elected - the council approved a 50-year lease for a hotel to be built at the city-operated Boulder Creek Golf Course. It would earn the city $173,000 annually for the 2-acre site.

The council hoped the hotel would draw golfers to the financially unstable course. Since 2004 the city has had to transfer $4 million from other funds to cover costs at the course, which is still $662,000 in the red.

At her first meeting Strickland questioned the lease's legality, claiming such an agreement requires two appraisals of the land. City Manager Vicki Mayes, though, said the deal is a joint development agreement requiring only one appraisal. The state attorney general is reviewing the deal.

In the meantime, any changes to the lease require four council votes, and the new members are not budging, putting the current deal at a standstill until the attorney general gives an opinion, expected in the next two months.

"I think the Hawthorn issue set a tone for council," Strickland said. "I think we need to take a close look at the business of the city and the contracts we have entered into."

Strickland and Chandler also have been vocal about the future of the city's landfill, a topic that has been debated for months but was seemingly put to rest when the city decided to expand the current one.

And Chandler has taken a public comments issue to heart. At a recent meeting he called for eliminating the need for residents to fill out cards before speaking to council about agenda items. It's a way of opening up government, Chandler said. The issue will be voted on this week.

On the Hawthorn issue, Chandler has called for putting the lease to a public vote. Boulder City requires the sale of city land to be approved by voters, but leases do not require such action.

That's not all Chandler thinks his constituents should decide.

"I think the community needs to make a decision if we want to keep the golf course itself," he said. "If we do, I'd be in favor of something like Hawthorn Suites or residential development. But if we don't, I wouldn't."

A referendum could not be placed on the ballot until the November 2008 election.

Mayor Roger Tobler said even without Chandler and Strickland on the council, the Hawthorn issue still would get attention.

"I think some people in the community would still bring it up," Tobler said.

Those people undoubtably would include Sherman Rattner, the outspoken founder of the Coalition to Protect the Future of Boulder City, who said having the new folks at the council table has allowed different viewpoints to get heard.

"This would not have happened if it wasn't for Linda and Travis," he said of the questions about the Hawthorn deal. "It's two people demanding more information. They ask difficult questions. They are obviously prepared in ways the other council members have never been. In the past a lot of stuff has been rubber stamped."

Matt Di Teresa, a resident who sometimes discusses Boulder City politics on his blog, offers a similar perspective.

"Before these two were on council it just seemed like a dog and pony show," Di Teresa said. "They're asking the right questions. Now we have some accountability."