NLV community meeting leaves some residents unsatisfied

By Brian Nordli

Thursday, July 12, 2012 | 2 a.m.

Resident Dee Taylor heard a lot of positive things at the North Las Vegas community meeting on Wednesday at Aliante Station, but it’s what she didn’t hear that’s left her uncertain.

Taylor joined more than 150 North Las Vegans to hear Mayor Shari Buck address the city’s financial situation and efforts to accomplish its five-year strategic plan. For 30 minutes she listened to Buck discuss how the city plans to bring in new business, provide public safety and return a high quality of life to the city.

It all sounded good to Taylor, but she wanted to know how.

“(I would’ve liked) a little more detail about how they plan to implement the ideas they have,” said Taylor, a resident of North Las Vegas for 20 years. “They all sound like great ideas, but you have to have a plan to put them into action.”

Buck said the goal of the meeting was more to inform residents and reassure them. In the past two months the city has declared a financial emergency to close a budget gap surpassing $30 million, and enforced those cuts limiting several city services. Her speech focused on the present and the future.

“The goal was to inform the public on the goals they set for us and give an accountability ... to let them know they are safe and that the community is doing well and that we know what their concerns are and we want to listen to them,” Buck said.

Buck focused on the city’s five-year goals that include improving the economy, safety, facilities, image and financial sustainability of government services. She spoke about a "buy local" campaign and the effort to make a more streamlined business licensing process to encourage more local businesses, as well as a plan to improve the parks and upgrade communities.

But she also addressed concerns with fire station closures due to low personnel levels and the closing of a jail. She said that the jail closure will save the city $26 million in two years and that the fire station closures would only occur on rare occasions when staff levels are too low.

“I want you to know you're safe,” Buck said in the meeting. “We’re making sure you're safe and the fire chief is making sure you're safe.”

Buck’s remarks were met with a mixture of applause, nods and scoffs. She closed the meeting without fielding questions, but many did approach her to speak one on one. Buck said most responses have been positive.

City Manager Tim Hacker said the goal of the meeting was to be informative, and recommended that residents attend the next city council meeting on July 18 as a better forum for residents to speak out.

The lack of dialog, however, frustrated resident Hayes Latin. He said he has written more than 100 emails to the city expressing his frustration with poor response and wanted to hear what others had to say.

“I actually was hoping we’d have a two-way conversation tonight,” Latin said. “Obviously tonight all (Buck) wanted to do was give her statement and leave. I guess we can go to the council halls, but that is inconvenient. This was convenient tonight.”

Latin said the meeting disappointed him and that he felt Buck was living in a “fantasy land.”

“We didn’t hear anything about pensions tonight and the truth about the firefighters,” Latin said. “These are the questions I wanted answered. All I got was some gobbledygook.”

Other residents like Louis Berry, however, felt more hopeful after the meeting.

It all left Taylor with a mixed bag of emotions. She was pleased to hear the city plans to fight the recession woes it faces, but she still is waiting to hear specifics.

“There can’t be a pretty outcome. It’s just going to have to get tougher before it gets better,” Taylor said. “I’m still a little pessimistic that they’ve figured out how to fix things and that they can be fixed.”