North Las Vegas candidates engage residents at forum

By Jeff Pope

Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | 10:13 p.m.

Wayne Headrick wavered between two candidates running to become the next mayor of North Las Vegas.

After speaking with candidates Shari Buck and Stephanie Smith at the Sun City Aliante Candidates Forum Tuesday night, Headrick was still undecided because, he said, both said all the right things.

“They were both equally good. That’s my problem -- neither one of them hit me negatively,” said Headrick, who attended the forum at the Sun City Aliante Community Center, 7390 Aliante Parkway, in North Las Vegas.

With no formal debates among the candidates planned, the forum was an opportunity for the 3,500 residents of Sun City Aliante to meet the candidates vying to replace Mayor Michael Montandon, who is being forced out of office in June by term limits.

Rather than giving speeches or answering questions from the crowd, candidates for mayor, the Ward 3 City Council seat and municipal judge talked face to face with residents.

The primary election is April 7 and the general is June 2. Early voting begins March 18.

Along with Buck and Smith, the mayoral candidates are Mayor Pro Tem William Robinson, Ned Thomas and John "3:16" Cook, a pastor to the homeless. Robinson and Cook were not at the forum.

Candidates for the Ward 3 seat are Felix Acevedo Jr., Angelo Carvalho, John Kelso, Michael Little, Kimberly McKinney and Anita Wood.

Sean Hoeffgen is running to retain his seat as municipal judge for department 2. He’s challenged by Christopher Cannon and Marsha Kimble-Simms.

Jim and Renee Snodgrass wanted to meet the mayoral candidates and were impressed most with Thomas, a planner with the City of Henderson.

Crime topped their list of concerns because the couple’s car was stolen recently from their driveway in Sun City Aliante.

“He talked a lot about how he thought he could be effective in getting neighborhood watch programs to cut down on crime,” Renee Snodgrass said.

Buck, serving her second four-year council term representing Ward 4, said residents asked for her help on personal issues. One man wanted a school speed zone extended a few blocks while another man, who lived on the golf course, wanted to know what could be done to stop errant golf balls from striking his house and hitting him.

“Those are the problems I can solve,” Buck said. “The overall economy, I can’t solve that. But protecting the man from getting hit by golf balls, I can do something about that.”

A life-long resident, Buck has made bringing in new jobs and eco-friendly businesses the priority of her campaign platform.

“I’m going to be very aggressive in going after companies to invest in North Las Vegas,” she said.

Smith, who is running for mayor, is vacating her Ward 3 council seat because of term limits. Residents gave her an array of concerns from education to the economy and public safety. Mostly, they just want some assurance that elected officials are working on the problems, she said.

“I think people are very worried and they want to feel confident about the people making the decisions,” she said.

Thomas, also running for mayor, was asked about the proposed Sheep Mountain Parkway, a 22-mile suggested highway that would connect U.S. 95 and Interstate 15 and run through federal land that contains thousands of prehistoric fossils some residents want preserved.

Thomas said he supports preserving the fossil sites in the Tule Springs area but didn’t rule out the need for the parkway in the distant future.

“I’m a long-range planner by profession, so I understand the need to do planning for some future beltway that’s needed, but we haven’t even finished the beltway we have,” he said. “Exploration of that parkway can only go so far. I think it’s about at the end of where it needs to be at this point.”

Jeff Pope can be reached at 990-2688 or [email protected]