Council praises pair of public servants

By Cassie Tomlin

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 | 3:14 p.m.

Two Boulder City forefathers were met with accolades and thank yous from current leaders at the Feb. 24 City Council Council meeting.

Jon Porter, a former mayor and U.S. congressman, and Bruce Woodbury, a longtime resident and former County Commissioner, collected plaques of appreciation for their decades of service.

Porter served on the Boulder City Council from 1983 to 1993, the state Senate from 1994 to 2002, and U.S. Congress from 2003 to 2009. He also expects his first grandchild next month.

Mayor Roger Tobler said Porter's work in Washington, D.C., secured the city almost $2 million for the Boulder City Bypass, the Regional Law Enforcement Center and the Southern Nevada Water Authority's third intake to Lake Mead.

Councilman Mike Pacini thanked Porter for his tireless work and dedication.

"I've appreciated and admired you as a great friend and a mentor," he said. "It's not always that you call your congressman and he picks up his own phone. You've been there when we've needed you and I needed you."

Councilman Travis Chandler said in 1986, when he moved to Boulder City, he was immediately impressed by Porter.

"When I first came to the City Council and saw you as mayor, I thought 'Wow, great. What a great town, and a fine man sitting on council with a beard.'"

Porter said he was humbled to be at City Hall almost 25 years after he decided to run for council at the urging of former Mayor Bob Ferraro and Woodbury. He had filed for candidacy just five minutes before the deadline.

He reminded the council then, in 1983, the country was in a recession, as it is now.

"What Boulder City has done successfully all these years is come back stronger, and even with challenges have today, we will weather this," Porter said.

Woodbury has lived in Boulder City since 1978, and served on the County Commission from 1981 to 2009.

He helped found the Regional Transportation Commission and the Clark County Flood Control District, and orchestrated completion of the Interstate 215 beltway.

Pacini credited Woodbury with securing the Boulder City Senior Center's first van, and "many, many other things after that."

"We're all in debt to you," he said.

Councilwoman Andrea Anderson called Woodbury a mentor and a friend.

"All politicians need to look to you for examples of how we should behave, and your ethics that are just exemplary."

Chandler recalled his first contact with Woodbury was when the commissioner e-mailed Chandler to ask his opinion.

"It impressed me that he wanted to know what I thought," he said. "Like Congressman Porter, I'm hoping that we haven't heard the last from you."

Woodbury called it a privilege to be honored by the council with Porter.

"I really can't think of any form of recognition that would mean more to me than something like this, from people of the community where I live," he said.

Woodbury was this month appointed to the Las Vegas Monorail Company's Board of Directors.

The monorail was built in 1995 and runs along The Strip.

"It's public transit without the public subsidy," he said. "It serves mainly tourists but it gets a lot of people out of vehicles in the resort corridor."

He said he hopes to expand the monorail to McCarran International Airport, other hotels, and integrate it with public transit.

Cassie Tomlin can be reached at 948-2073 or [email protected].