Local Elections:

Henderson City Council Ward 3 candidates

Thursday, March 28, 2013 | 2 a.m.

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Bruce Cutler

Age: 68

Occupation: Delivery specialist at O'Reilly's Auto Parts; retired from Prudential Insurance

Other experience: Volunteered more than seven years with the City of Henderson by serving as treasurer on the HOA for Whitney Ranch, which is one of largest HOAs in Henderson.

Questions:

1.) As the city continues to struggle with budget deficits, what are your best one or two ideas to help balance the budget?

With my past experience as treasurer on the Whitney Ranch HOA for seven years, we need to go line by line on the budget and see what is feasible to reduce the spending. We have to see what we can cut back on. I have looked at the budget and it has increased over the past years because of the increase in costs, but we have all had to cut back on our own budgets and we have to get into it. I am willing to do this because I love Henderson and work with the other people on the council to come to a working agreement.

2.) What are one or two specific issues or projects in your ward you'd address as a City Council member?

My ward is one of the older wards in Henderson. There is one issue that was approved but not done and I would like to see what happened. There was to be a walking bridge put in at Galleria and Stephanie for the residents of Whitney Ranch to walk to the Galleria Mall. I know that we need to cut spending, but it was, I thought, approved two years ago. Also, there is land on Sunset Road that is for sale and we need to see if we can get a business in there that is not a detriment to the community.

3.) The City Council has recently supported several large development projects including a proposed stadium complex and Union Village health care complex to mixed results. What do you think the council's role should be in supporting large developments in the city?

I do not believe that the proposed stadium complex should have been voted and approved. Now look where we are at. Now Milam is selling the property for single-family homes. The city never should have gotten involved with this person or his promises. All of them are broken now, and the city does not look good because of the approval that was given this man. I am so in favor of the Union Village health care complex. We have people out of work. This would so help our growth. It will help our seniors, too. This is a good thing.

4.) Have you differed with any positions or votes taken by the City Council in the past several years? If so, please give specific examples.

I have differed with the voting on the arena and the mess with Milam. I also differed with the Space and Science Museum that is now on hold.
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Milt Doyle

Age: 63

Occupation: Real estate and insurance agent

Other experience: None

Questions:

1.) As the city continues to struggle with budget deficits, what are your best one or two ideas to help balance the budget?

Live within the current revenue budget. Prioritize the spending to provide essential services first and eliminate things that do not work for our community.

2.) What are one or two specific issues or projects in your ward you’d address as a City Council member?

Schedule local town halls so that constituents can identify concerns and work on potential solutions to their local issues. I want to be a representative for my constituents because that is what a councilman is supposed to do for his community.

Encourage neighborhood cleanups by including neighbors and HOAs to identify and repair our community. We must have buy-in from those of us who live in the second-largest city in Nevada. It is my understanding that 80 percent of Henderson homeowners are in HOAs, so we must work hand in hand with HOAs and our city resources to maximize our effect.

3.) The City Council has recently supported several large development projects including a proposed stadium complex and Union Village health care complex to mixed results. What do you think the council’s role should be in supporting large developments in the city?

Examining the impact of zoning.

Tax incentives for developments that will bring economic growth to our city. Jobs, products and manufacturing are needed to bring prosperity to Henderson constituents.

4.) Have you differed with any positions or votes taken by the City Council in the past several years? If so, please give specific examples.

Yes, currently there is a land development deal that was not investigated properly by the council members. It appears that they jumped in feet first without due diligence. It is a lose-lose for our community because now it will cost us to waste city funds in litigation. Use of our Henderson funds for litigation means less funds to cover essential services, less money for economic development and inability to provide cost-of-living adjustments.
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Erin Lale

Age: 44

Occupation: Author and acquisitions editor

Other experience: Founding chairman of City Lights Artists' Co-op, member 1998-2001 SNAMH Advisory Board

Questions:

1.) As the city continues to struggle with budget deficits, what are your best one or two ideas to help balance the budget?

Create a formal system to empower city workers to identify ways to save money and increase efficiency. Lead to encourage a culture that rewards suggesting improvements and start by designing this system with real input from the workers who will use it.

2.) What are one or two specific issues or projects in your ward you'd address as a City Council member?

We need to get the local economy rolling, get unemployment down and get property values back up (which will also increase city revenues, in addition to helping our citizens). I have a three-point plan to improve the local economy:

1. Seed nonprofits into abandoned commercial districts, the same way City Lights worked with the Henderson Redevelopment Agency to start a nonprofit gallery in a city-owned building abandoned since the '70s to draw businesses back to north Water Street.

2. Eliminate the obsolete Mob-era work card system, or at least reform it the same way Las Vegas is reforming theirs.

3. No taxes or fees on new startup businesses in their first three years.

3.) The City Council has recently supported several large development projects including a proposed stadium complex and Union Village health care complex to mixed results. What do you think the council's role should be in supporting large developments in the city?

Although of course we do need economic development and transferring land from the federal government to private developers can result in that, we need to scrutinize projects like the stadium deal more thoroughly, due to the long history of the failure of similar projects. Local press reports the stadium deal as a case of cronyism. I'm not an insider, and I have taken no campaign funds from anyone with business before the planning commission. Henderson citizens can count on me to apply logic and common sense to all such future decisions.

4.) Have you differed with any positions or votes taken by the City Council in the past several years? If so, please give specific examples.

Yes, I think the council has relied on empty promises that were not fulfilled on at least two occasions: Milam said he could get a sports team, and he instead advertised the stadium property to investors for residential development before he even took possession of the land, and so the sports stadium deal became the fiasco it is today; and John Marz promised the council he absolutely would not run as the incumbent if they appointed him to the council, and thus he won the job over the other applicants, and now, one year later, he is running as the incumbent. Also, the city council chose to pass up well-qualified applicants for city attorney and scrap the standards so that they could appoint the son of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. That is another case of insiderism.
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John Marz

Age: 66

Occupation: Henderson City Councilman; president of Marz and Company

Other experience:

• Worked for Donrey Media Group at the Las Vegas Review-Journal and then at KOLO-TV in Reno, Nev.

• Started DRGM Advertising in Reno in 1975

• Moved to Las Vegas in 1985 to manage the Las Vegas office of DRGM, which had grown to become one of the state’s largest firms

• While president and chief operating officer of DRGM Advertising, managed the Nevada Commission on Tourism, the Reno/Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, the MGM Grand, Summerlin, Valley Bank, University Medical Center accounts

• In 1999, became senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Mandalay Resort Group, overseeing advertising and marketing for all 12 properties

• Founded Marz & Company in 2005 and continue to serve a nationwide client base as a marketing consultancy

Questions:

1.) As the city continues to struggle with budget deficits, what are your best one or two ideas to help balance the budget?

Henderson must rein in the expenses that have crippled other cities. I am the only candidate for Ward III with a private-sector track record of fiscal restraint. I will strive to make our city more like a business in the new economy. And, as revenue grows, I will remain just as conscientious about allocating any new revenue.

2.) What are one or two specific issues or projects in your ward you’d address as a City Council member?

I have made maintaining the quality of life for all Henderson neighborhoods, especially those falling into disrepair, one of my top priorities and will continue my efforts to direct much-needed resources toward rehabilitation projects and volunteer beautification efforts in these often-overlooked parts of town.

3.) The City Council has recently supported several large development projects including a proposed stadium complex and Union Village health care complex to mixed results. What do you think the council’s role should be in supporting large developments in the city?

I support the development of a medical campus generally and the Union Village concept specifically. Henderson has earned a reputation as the perfect city in which to retire. But, with a growing population of Baby Boomers, demand for medical services will increase exponentially in the coming years. The city must be prepared, and Union Village will allow us to serve the needs of Henderson’s residents for years to come.

4.) Have you differed with any positions or votes taken by the City Council in the past several years? If so, please give specific examples.

We must do more to streamline the licensing process for small businesses. Economic development is one of the primary means through which the city can recover economically, and we have to strive to make the process of opening or relocating a business to Henderson simpler and quicker. I will support efforts to tie the city’s licensing system into the new Nevada Business Portal to create, for the first time, a true “one-stop-shop” for all local and state licensing.