Contender attacks city hall plan

The controversial Las Vegas city hall project brought a challenger Tuesday to this year's City Council elections, while an open seat on the council attracted two candidates.

Ward 6 incumbent Steve Ross will have a challenger in Scott Anderson, a real estate agent who said that it's "too much of a stretch" for Las Vegas to pursue building a new city hall right now.

In the open Ward 4 seat, two people have signed up to run: Stavros Anthony, a Las Vegas police captain and university system regent, and Gary Hosea, a Clark County employee who ran for county commissioner last year.

Glenn Trowbridge, a former Clark County administrator who sits on the Las Vegas Planning Commission, has said he also plans to seek the seat.

Steve Wolfson, the incumbent in Ward 2, also signed up for re-election.

Meanwhile, mayoral races in North Las Vegas and Henderson attracted two candidates each, and two people put their names forward for Boulder City's council.

Filing for municipal elections opened Tuesday and closes Feb. 6.

Ross has voted in favor of the proposed new city hall, and the union he heads -- the Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council -- has come out in favor of the project, and others, as a means of stimulating the economy.

"Now is the absolute right time for a project like this," Ross said. "This is right in line with what President Obama is calling for right now. This is about jobs and is exactly what the economy needs."

Another union -- Culinary Local 226, which represents hotel and casino workers -- is stridently against the new city hall, and Anderson said he has been in touch with the union about its support.

"That's just too much of a stretch for the city to do at this point," he said. "If we were in economic upgrowth, that would be a different story.

"Revenues are going to go down. The best plan that I can see is just to cut spending."

In the Ward 4 race, Anthony also wondered about the timing of the new city hall project.

"I agree that we need a new city hall. I think it would be good for redevelopment," he said. "I don't think it's a good time right now. ... We've got people losing jobs, taking pay cuts, losing their homes."

Trowbridge said that there is room for improvement on the council.

"I think we need to do a better job communicating with people who are on the receiving end of the things we want to do," he said.

Communication is a factor in the controversy over the proposed new city hall: "The public needs to be sold on that before it's announced," Trowbridge said.

Hosea criticized Anthony, whom, he said, "lacks leadership." He said Trowbridge "is part of the good ol' boys system."

"It's not what you know. It's who you know," Hosea said, describing what he felt is a problem in local governments. "Government should be transparent and accessible to the people you serve."

Wolfson joined the council in June 2004 after a special election and was re-elected without opposition in 2005.

He said the city has its work cut out for it as foreclosures and a slow economy eat into tax revenues, threatening services that residents have come to expect.

"The thing that I'm focused on most is preserving the quality of life," he said.

Three seats on the Las Vegas Municipal Court are on the ballot. Incumbents Cynthia Leung, Bert Brown and Marty Hastings all filed for re-election.

NORTH LAS VEGAS

In North Las Vegas, City Council members Shari Buck and William Robinson filed their candidacies for mayor on Tuesday, each hoping to win term-limited Mayor Michael Montandon's seat.

Buck is a native North Las Vegan who is in the middle of her third term representing Ward 4.

Robinson is the city's mayor pro tem and has served on the City Council since 1983. The Ward 2 representative is prohibited from running for an eighth term because of term limits adopted in the late 1990s.

Also filing in North Las Vegas on Tuesday were Municipal Court Judge Sean Hoeffgen, the Department 2 incumbent seeking re-election, and Angelo Carvalho, who is running for City Council Ward 3, a seat held by Stephanie Smith. Smith cannot run for the council seat again because of term limits. She has said she plans to run for mayor of North Las Vegas.

HENDERSON

In Henderson, City Council member Andy Hafen and former Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers filed as candidates to replace term-limited Mayor Jim Gibson.

Hafen is in his sixth term on the City Council, which he joined in 1987. Cyphers served on the council from 1995 to 2007, when she opted not to seek re-election.

Gibson has been mayor since 1999.

Also filing for office was incumbent Municipal Court Judge Douglas Hedger, who has presided over Henderson's Department 2 since 2003.

Rounding out the first-day filings was Bruce Cutler, who seeks to replace five-term City Councilman Jack Clark, forced out of his Ward 3 seat by term limits.

BOULDER CITY

Boulder City saw two City Council candidates emerge on Tuesday: John Schleppegrell, a planning commission member, and Duncan McCoy, the city's longtime library director.

There are two open seats on the Boulder City Council. Term limits prevent Mike Pacini from seeking a fifth term, and Andrea Anderson has opted not to run for what would be her third term.

Review-Journal writers Lynnette Curtis and Henry Brean contributed to this report. Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.