Council tables ordinance that could cut short parks commission terms

The North Las Vegas City Council has backed away from an ordinance allowing for the reappointment of three advisory board positions, tabling the effort to drop two Parks and Recreation appointees and a Library District trustee until after municipal general election results are tallied June 4.

Unanimous council agreement to shelve the item comes only after Mayor Shari Buck and Ward 2 City Councilwoman Pamela Goynes-Brown reversed course on the ordinance, which would have cut short terms being served by Library District Trustee Vernie Borgersen and Parks and Recreation Commission appointees Ken Kraft and Jim Olive, all board veterans who supported former state Sen. John Lee’s successful bid to unseat Buck this month.

For Kraft, who butted heads with city attorneys over a press release issued to advertise an “emergency” parks commission budget meeting within weeks of the April 2 primary, the ordinance counted as political grandstanding.

“I can only speculate that (city officials) didn’t like that the meeting made some waves, that the media was there,” Kraft said. “That wasn’t the point. Craig Ranch Park is slated to operate at a $1.7 million deficit. That money’s got to come from somewhere, and we just wanted to make sure it didn’t come from other parks.”

Olive, too, blamed politics for the ordinance’s arrival.

He credited public pressure for its departure.

“It’s stuff like this (the ordinance’s failure) that shows the city’s matured,” the longtime board member said. “When the people speak, that’s what happens. ... It’s progress.”

Longtime council hawk and fellow Lee supporter Bob Borgersen also jumped in feet first, calling the proposal a “punishment” for those appointees who supported Buck’s primary opponent.

Borgersen’s wife Vernie, an eight-year board veteran, stands to lose her seat should the ordinance pass on its return to City Hall in July.

“Vernie’s never had a problem with anyone on the library board,” Borgersen told council members. “She’s never been told she did or said anything wrong and missed only one meeting when I had cancer surgery.

“Was this her reward, being possibly kicked off the library board?” he asked. “I think this was political.”

Buck, who took a 17-point defeat at the April 2 primary polls, denied any political motivation behind her initial support for the ordinance but said she supported bringing the proposal back for a return appearance this summer.

“Appointees serve at the pleasure of the board,” Buck explained. “Council members make appointments to the boards, and we also have the right to make changes anytime we want.”

She declined to comment further, citing unspecified “legal issues” surrounding the move.

Goynes-Brown, who supported the effort before spearheading a vote to delay the ordinance, also chalked up her change of heart to personal, not political, motivations.

“I make decisions based on what I think is the right thing to do,” the first-term councilwoman explained. “It’s just my personal opinion that we need to hold off on it for a while.

“It will come back again at a later time.”

City Council members are set to reconvene for a regularly scheduled meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the City Council chambers at 2250 Las Vegas Blvd. North.

Contact Centennial and North Las Vegas View reporter James DeHaven at jdehaven@viewnews.com or 702-477-3839.