Duncan McCoy, Boulder City Council candidate

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | midnight

Name: Duncan McCoy

Age: 61

Campaign Web site: mccoyforbccouncil.blogspot.com

Party: Democrat but have supported Republicans, including Mayor Roger Tobler

Occupation: Retired director of the Boulder City Library

Education: Master’s of library science, Indiana University; bachelor’s degree in history, UNLV; Western High School, Las Vegas.

Time in Nevada: More than 30 years.

Time in Boulder City: 19 years

Most important issues: Mayor Tobler must retain a working majority on the City Council. With two open seats, the majority could pass to council members Travis Chandler and Linda Strickland with the election of just one allied candidate. Should the majority on the council change, I believe the city will witness the departure of its top management, resulting in an extended period of expensive search processes, time-consuming new-management orientation, and no guarantees of positive results.

I support Mayor Tobler and city management and feel strongly that he needs to retain the working majority and we need to retain our city management in order to effectively continue to move city business forward.

Also vitally important is the issue of mounting city debt and the growing annual debt service that goes along with it. Current debt service payments are about $2.1 million. They will rise to $2.8 million in the next couple of years and do not include additional debt yet to be contracted for the “third straw” water system improvements. The higher the annual debt service costs, the less flexibility the city has to cover costs of the other things it needs to be doing. I favor dedication of new energy lease revenues to pay annual principal and interest payments in the short-term and a combination of future energy and commercial lease revenues and land sales proceeds to pay-down or pay off debt in the long-term.

Mayor Tobler’s retention of a working majority is a prerequisite to getting anything else productive done over the next couple of years.

Qualifications for job: I bring 30 years of experience as a local government administrator (library director), working with the public, with city and county officials and with legislators. I have functioned as not only director, but as chief financial officer for four library systems in Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Nevada. I am familiar with governmental financial regulations, fiscal management, audits, personnel management, service to the public, working with boards and committees, legislative processes, managing in difficult economic times, public construction projects, and (finally) the personal rewards and just plain fun of doing community service. I have spent the bulk of my career in service to small towns and rural areas, managing tight budgets and juggling limited resources to meet high public expectations. In Boulder City, I have been deeply involved in the community through Rotary, the Boulder City/Hoover Dam Historical Association Board, Juvenile Conference Committee and many events and activities over the years.

What sets candidate apart: I believe that I am the only candidate who has enjoyed an entire working career in public service. Having been the top executive in four library systems for nearly 30 years, I know with great precision exactly what it’s like to be responsible for everything that happens within the organization. When we talk about “accountability,” I think about ultimate responsibility and what it means to shoulder it. I certainly know more than any of my opponents about working as an “at-will” manager for a public governing board. I expect that I know more about public finance in Nevada than most of my opponents do. On the personal side, I differ in that I do not have a local business to protect, nor do I possess extensive real estate investment portfolios, which could conflict with objectivity in decision-making on the City Council. I have no political ambition beyond this race and have no axes to grind. I am simply, and deeply, committed to helping move Boulder City in healthy directions.