Wood, Carvalho to meet in general election for Ward 3 City Council seat

By Jeff Pope (contact)

Published Tuesday, April 7, 2009 | 9:20 p.m.

Updated Wednesday, April 8, 2009 | 1:28 a.m.

Robert Eliason

Anita Wood

Angelo Carvalho

Anita Wood and Angelo Carvalho will face each other in the general election for the Ward 3 seat on the North Las Vegas City Council, while Ward 1 candidate Robert Eliason captured the seat outright in Tuesday’s primary.

With all the votes counted in the Ward 3 race, the top two vote-getters were Wood with 589 votes, or 24.19 percent, and Carvalho, who captured 561 votes for 23.04 percent. Because no candidate captured more than 50 percent of the vote, Wood and Carvalho will meet in the general election runoff on June 2.

The other Ward 3 candidates were Felix Acevedo Jr. with 507 votes, 20.82 percent; Kimberly McKinney with 467 votes, 19.18 percent; Jack Kelso with 184 votes, 7.56 percent; and Mike Little with 127 votes, 5.22 percent.

In Ward 1, Eliason received more than half the votes — 796 votes or 53.93 percent. Rolando Cruz finished with 428 votes for 29 percent and Jeffrey Eggeman captured 252 votes or 17.07 percent of the total.

Newly elected council members will take office on July 1 and serve a four-year term.

With six relatively unknown newcomers in the Ward 3 race, Carvalho said, the race could have gone in many directions. He said he believes his no-nonsense answers to voters he met resonated with them.

“I think people are looking for more of a straight-forward person. I’m not politically correct. I speak what I feel,” he said.

Carvalho, 41, ran unsuccessfully for the state Assembly in 2006 and is the chairman of the city Planning Commission. He’s also an active member of the Army Reserve.

“I’m willing to serve and continue to serve” in the Reserve, Carvalho, a staff sergeant, said. “I have longevity and I plan on sticking it out, and that’s how I feel about my city.”

Wood, a stay-at-home mother and former construction manager, has been active in North Las Vegas politics since the mid-1990s.

She lost a bid for the City Council in 2001 but since has served on numerous boards relating to libraries, utilities, police academy alumni and affordable housing.

Wood, 45, also served four years on the city Planning Commission and said her background gives her a wealth of knowledge.

“I’ve been working for North Las Vegas for a very long time and doing it as a community volunteer,” she said.

Because Councilwoman Stephanie Smith opted to run for mayor, there is no incumbent in the Ward 3 race.

Eliason, 46, will return for his third term representing the northeast section of the city. He could not be reached for comment.

Eliason, a construction manager at Juliet Land Company, also serves as a board member for Neighborhood Housing Services of Southern Nevada and as a member of the Clark County Steering Committee.

He is a member of the Southern Nevada Regional Transportation Commission and the Southern Nevada Regional Flood Control District. He is also chairman of the Southern Nevada Board of Health and chairman of the North Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency.