Political in-fighting must end, consultant tells North Las Vegas
If the cash-strapped city of North Las Vegas wants to survive, its leaders are going to have to mend fences.
That was one of the messages delivered to City Council members during a special workshop Thursday held to discuss city priorities and planning.
"The election is over," said Lyle Sumek, a consultant who specializes in strategic planning for local governments. "We need to move on from past actions that took place during a political campaign."
The city's recent municipal election for the council's Ward 4 -- between incumbent Councilman Richard Cherchio and challenger Wade Wagner -- was particularly ugly. Public safety unions in the city went door to door and distributed ads against Cherchio saying he did not support the city's police and firefighters. Other council members publicly supported their favored candidate.
Wagner went on to win the election by a single vote. Cherchio is challenging those results in court.
At the same time, the city was engaged in contentious contract talks with its employee unions, some of which wound up in court. And the city had a difficult time balancing its 2012 budget, leading to worries about potential state takeover of the municipality. The council, with two new members, also seems deeply divided, expressing vehement disagreement and splitting their votes on important issues.
Sumek, brought in to help the newly constituted council and just-hired city manager align city priorities, said the in-fighting won't help the struggling city.
"Developers and investors walk away," he said. "As city leaders we all have a choice to move on and provide true leadership or allow chaos to grow and destroy" the city.
North Las Vegas has gone through several rounds of budget cuts and layoffs since late 2008 and eliminated or frozen about 1,000 positions.
But Sumek said it's important to focus on the positive. For example, the employee layoffs were "done with dignity," he said. Several new industries located to the city. Parks were completed. And a new veterans hospital was constructed.
The city also has managed to reduce greatly the cost of local government, he said.
"We get so wrapped up in the crisis that we fail to see the successes our staff has accomplished," Mayor Shari Buck said.
Timothy Hacker, the new city manager, said staffers "have to become future-oriented."
"We have to acknowledge there is a past so we don't repeat it," he said. "But we have to turn our heads and look forward."
Council members said their most important goal is to achieve long-term financial stability for the city, which has experienced plummeting revenue during the recession. Other goals included finding a way to increase revenue and marketing the city better.
Hacker said city staffers are concerned that self-interest and politics have become more important than what's best for the city. They also worry about skills lost through layoffs and that the city lacks money to pay for infrastructure to support development.
But staffers also believe that with the right focus the city still can have a great future, Hacker said.
"Tear down the silos," he said. "We can only win as one."
Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.
