Field of candidates for municipal elections grows

The two open seats on the Boulder City Council have drawn a crowd, including three new candidates who joined the fray as filing ended there on Thursday.

Joining the race on the final day were Chris Gatlin, recently retired Boulder City police officer Jim Reed, and former City Councilman Bill Smith.

They will appear on the April 7 primary election ballot along with Tim Clifford, Matt Di Teresa, Duncan McCoy, Anthony Pakula, Joe Roche, John Schleppegrell and Cam Walker.

Unless a candidate wins one of the two seats outright by taking more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary, the top four finishers will advance to the June 2 general election.

Such a large field of City Council candidates is nothing new in Boulder City. “We had 10 in 2007,” said City Clerk Pamella Malmstrom.

Also on Thursday, the field of candidates for North Las Vegas’ City Council Ward 3 stretched to six and a challenger joined the race for Municipal Court judge.

Kimberly McKinney, a native Nevadan who works as a financial counselor for University Medical Center, and Jack Kelso, an architect who has lived in North Las Vegas five years, each filed their candidacy for City Council.

They will face Felix Acevedo Jr., Angelo Carvalho, Michael Little and Anita Wood in the race.

City Councilwoman Stephanie Smith’s third term representing Ward 3 expires this year, and she is prohibited from running again because of term limits.

Smith is running for mayor.

North Las Vegas police officer Christopher Cannon filed his candidacy for Municipal Court judge, challenging the Department 2 incumbent, Sean Hoeffgen. Cannon is a nine-year resident of the city and a member of the State Bar of Nevada.

In Henderson, Richard Charles Sipan joined an already crowded race to replace term-limited Mayor Jim Gibson. Sipan, an attorney and two-time candidate for judge in Southern Nevada, will take on former City Councilwoman Amanda Cyphers and current City Councilmen Andy Hafen and Steve Kirk.

Also filing for office on Thursday was attorney E. Matthew Zobrist, who will challenge incumbent Municipal Court Judge Douglas Hedger for the post he has held in Henderson’s Department 2 since 2003.

No one filed for office in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Today is the final day of the filing period in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas.

Review-Journal writer Lynnette Curtis contributed to this report. Contact reporter Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350.