Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009 | 6:34 p.m.
The Henderson City Council accepted a $1,500 grant Tuesday from the Southern Nevada Chapter of the International Code Council that will fund swim lessons for toddlers.
Chapter representative Chris Knight said the Code Council is a body of builders, designers and city planners dedicated to finding the best building practices. One of their areas of focus is swimming pool codes, Knight said.
After the local chapter led an unsuccessful effort in the Nevada Legislature to require all Nevada homes with swimming pools to have a fence around them, Knight said chapter members decided helping young children learn to swim was the next best way to reduce child drownings in swimming pools, and it has been giving the grants to municipalities in Southern Nevada.
“We think that one (drowning) is way too many, so if we can do something by helping to provide swimming lessons to toddlers … then that’s our part,” Knight said.
Henderson will use the money to provide scholarships for children 4 years old and below to take swim lessons at city pools.
Henderson Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Kim Becker said the city would use existing swim instructors to teach the courses “so that we can stretch the dollars even further, as opposed to hiring an outside instructor to come in and teach.”
Trail projects put out for design bids
The City Council approved for design bids for trail projects that will be funded by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which allows local municipalities to use a portion of the funds raised from federal land auctions for parks and trails projects.
The projects authorized for design bids are: Phase three of the Union Pacific Railroad Trail (which will run alongside the railroad line from U.S. 95 to Pecos Road), a trail in the Pittman Wash at the Arroyo Grand Sports Complex, a connector trail from Lake Mead Parkway to Desert Wetlands Park and a trail along Lake Mead Parkway from Boulder Highway to the Lake Mead National Recreational Area.
Police grants accepted
The City Council also accepted two grants on behalf of the Police Department that will help fund anti-gang activities and the city’s National Night Out Against Crime program.
The first grant was a Criminal Organization Reduction and Elimination (CORE) grant from the Nevada Department of Public Safety worth $54,640. Of that, $44,640 will be used for personnel expenses, and the remaining $10,000 will be used for gang enforcement training.
The second grant, from Target, is a $2,000 grant to help sponsor Henderson Police’s National Night Out Against Crime community event.
Bureau of Reclamation gives grants to city’s park system
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has given $38,000 to support conservation programs at the city’s demonstration garden at Acacia Park and other facilities.
The City Council accepted the grants Tuesday night.
The money came in two grants; one of $20,000 to fund additions of plant material, signs and a water-efficient irrigation demonstration system at the Acacia Demonstration Gardens.
The second grant, for $18,000, will pay for new fertilizer/irrigation systems at Acacia Park, the Henderson Multigenerational Center, Mission Hills Park and Cactus Wren Park. The new system, called fertigation, uses a fertilizer product that reduces the need for watering. In a pilot program at Acacia Park over the past two years, the city has seen its water use there decrease by more than 10 percent.
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