Monday, Dec. 15, 2008 | 2 a.m.
The City Council is set to approve Chris Knight as the city’s new building and safety director when it convenes for its last 2008 meeting on Wednesday.
Knight has served as interim director of the department since June, but has been with the city for 10 years.
The city’s staff has recommended that he be approved for the $154,839 post.
When Knight was appointed interim director, he had not been certified by the International Code Council, as is usually required for that post.
Knight was able to keep the job because state law says a noncertified official can keep the post for up to one year if he is supervised by someone who is certified.
According to the council meeting’s agenda, Knight has since passed the Certified Building Official exam.
The Building and Safety Department has come under scrutiny in the past couple of years after several accidents at the parking garages of the Golden Nugget and Stratosphere.
The accidents, one of which was fatal, prompted questions about whether safety codes for the concrete barriers in such garages were adequate.
In 1998, Knight started with the city as a manager in the planning and development office. Three years later, he was promoted to deputy director of that office.
In 2003, Knight became director of the office of administrative services.
Before joining the city, Knight was planning director for Green Bay, Wis.
•••
It likely will be the first time the City Council has ever honored a wheelchair athlete — especially one being recognized for performing skateboard stunts.
Aaron Fotheringham, a 16-year-old who lives in northwest Las Vegas, will be recognized Wednesday for having been entered into the Guinness World Records book recently for being the first person ever to complete a wheelchair back flip.
Fotheringham, who suffers from spina bifida and has used a wheelchair since he was 13, performed the stunt before a Guinness recorder on Oct. 25 at Doc Romeo skate park.
To do the trick, Fotheringham, who was wearing a helmet, rolled down a ramp and then climbed another ramp with some speed, and flipped, according to a Sun account of the event. He landed on flat ground.
According to a YouTube video, Fotheringham first performed the stunt in mid-2006, but he had yet to make it official before being recorded by Guinness in October.
•••
The city taketh away, the city giveth.
Frank Wright, the longtime, well-regarded Southern Nevada historian, had been recognized by the city when, after he died in 2003, city officials named the small park just west of City Hall Frank Wright Plaza.
But that park recently was closed to make way for construction surrounding the old post office, which will be become the mob museum.
City officials didn’t want to forget Wright, the former curator of education for the Nevada Historical Society, however. So they found another appropriate spot to honor him.
On Thursday, the fountain courtyard of the newly renovated Historic Fifth Street School was dedicated to Wright who, in fact, was a driving force behind placing the school on the National Register of Historic Places.
Formerly known as the Las Vegas Grammar School, the building now houses a number of arts-related groups, including a UNLV fine arts program and the Las Vegas chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
Wright’s widow, Dorothy Wright, the Centennial Program Administrator for Clark County’s Parks and Recreation department, was on hand for the dedication.
“This was a good and fitting way to honor him,” she said.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy