Term limits ending councilman’s long reign

The grand old man of North Las Vegas' City Council soon will be leaving the seat he has held for almost three decades.

After seven terms in office, Mayor Pro Tem William Robinson, 70, must surrender his Ward 2 seat next year because of term limits adopted by the city in the late 1990s.

Robinson, often called the grandfather or "grand old man" of the council, said he has been too busy dealing with the cash-strapped city's problems to reflect on how he will feel after the city's upcoming municipal elections.

"Every time you look around there's a problem," he said. "I haven't had time to see it as bitter, bittersweet, or just glad to get the hell out."

Robinson intends to do everything he can to keep the seat in the family. His son, William Robinson II, last week confirmed his intention to run for it, a plan years in the making.

The elder Robinson said in 2006 he was grooming his son, now 31, for the non­partisan council seat.

"He's smarter than I am," he said of his son. "He's been around campaigns since he was a toddler."

The younger Robinson, who works as a customer service and sales specialist for Bank of America, often sat at his father's side during council meetings as a child.

"The whole political aspect of his life has been a major influence on my life," Robinson II said. "The city of North Las Vegas has been good to me and my family, and I'd like to give back."

John Stephens, a 44-year-old library reference assistant, also announced plans to run for the seat. Stephens ran an unsuccessful campaign against the elder Robinson on a shoestring budget in 2007.

Other challengers are likely to emerge in coming weeks. Candidate filing begins Jan. 25 and runs through Feb. 4. The city's primary election is April 5, with the general election scheduled for June 7.

The Ward 4 council seat, currently held by Richard Cherchio, also is up next year. Cherchio, who was appointed to the seat last year after his predecessor, Shari Buck, was elected mayor, is campaigning to keep the seat.

The 64-year-old retired letter carrier, originally from the Brooklyn borough of New York, has lived in North Las Vegas since 2001. He compared his time on the council so far to "basic training."

"It gave me a year and a half to get my sea legs," he said.

Since taking office, Cherchio has sometimes butted heads with police and firefighters union leaders during contentious contract concession talks. He admits he may have made an enemy or two, but said he doesn't worry much about the political ramifications.

"I would hope they don't consider my being concerned with the economy and people being out of work as being an enemy of theirs," he said.

Cherchio pointed out that the city was able to come to an agreement on concessions with firefighters in June that saved the jobs of 16 firefighters.

The city's Police Officers Association is still in talks with the city to save 11 police officer jobs.

"We have been working on the issues, and I'm really confident we're on the right track," Cherchio said.

North Las Vegas dentist Wade Wagner, 48, confirmed last week that he plans to challenge Cherchio for the seat.

Wagner grew up in Southern Nevada and has long been interested in politics.

Public safety would be Wagner's No. 1 priority if elected, and he would not support cuts to the city's police and fire departments, he said.

"I think my stance on public safety and making sure we keep our citizens safe might be one of our differences," he said about himself and Cherchio.

Wagner's position on the issue falls in line with that of Mayor Buck, who has voted against budget cuts that would include the loss of public safety jobs.

Residents also will choose a successor for the Municipal Court judgeship held by Warren VanLandschoot, who is retiring in June.

Those elected to the council will take the helm at a difficult time for the city, which is dealing with a $35 million shortfall through fiscal year 2011-12. The city, which has been struggling with plummeting revenues, has undergone layoffs and several rounds of budget cuts in recent years.

Earlier this decade, North Las Vegas was among the nation's fastest-growing large cities. City leaders had struggled to provide the basic infrastructure necessary to support that growth, from overseeing the development of countless new roads, schools, businesses and parks to the hiring of scores of new police, firefighters and other staffers.

Robinson, who first took office in 1983, said he long watched the city's extra­ordinary growth with amazement. In more recent years, since the economy tanked, the amazement has been replaced by worry.

The latter is something he won't miss.

"I'm so glad my stress is coming to an end," he said.

But Robinson said he won't retire.

"I'm going to get a job. I can't sit around. I don't play golf. I've done enough volunteer stuff over the years."

Robinson, who also is a retired high school counselor, doesn't yet know what that next job will be.

"My son was kidding with me, 'Dad, maybe you could be a greeter' " at Walmart, he said.

Robinson ran unsuccessfully for mayor against Buck last year. Buck had made political hay of controversy over a 15-year-old FBI corruption investigation into Robinson that was unearthed shortly before the election. No charges were ever filed in the case.

Robinson hopes he is remembered as a representative who "listened to the citizens and tried to help those that felt they didn't have a voice," he said.

"After all of this, so many years of my life, sitting right here, it's just amazing how much of myself I've given up to try to make a difference."

Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0285.