Mayor says Henderson’s best days still ahead

By Paul Takahashi

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011 | 4:49 p.m.

Henderson has successfully weathered the Great Recession and its best days are yet to come, Mayor Andy Hafen said during his State of the City address Thursday afternoon.

During the 30-minute speech to hundreds of Las Vegas Valley notables gathered at the M Resort and residents watching online and on television, Hafen quoted two World War II icons — Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill.

Henderson, born from that war’s military industrial complex, has a “rendezvous with destiny” and the city should “see the opportunity in every difficulty,” Hafen said.

“Our city was formed during the uncertainty of World War II. There were risks and dangers, but there was also great opportunity,” Hafen said. “And there is great opportunity now.”

Through compromises with unions and internal cuts, the city has slashed $90 million from its budget since 2008 and maintained essential services and public safety, Hafen said, thanking city employees for their concessions.

Despite the economic downturn, the “state of the city is strong” and still lives up to its motto of being “America’s premiere community,” Hafen said.

“It’s a lofty vision for sure, but that’s what a vision is,” he said. “We want to make sure that Henderson continues to be one of the greatest cities in America to live, work, play and raise a family,” he said.

To support his point, the mayor unveiled preliminary results from the latest community survey completed in December that found a 96 percent satisfaction rate among about 1,000 residents surveyed.

The city contracted Kansas City-based market research firm ETC Institute to compare the survey results with 300 other cities around the country.

ETC found that Henderson exceeded regional and national benchmarks in public safety, street maintenance, water quality, public communication and parks and recreation programming, Hafen said.

The city has also maintained its Standard and Poors AA bond rating, the highest of any city in the state, which will allow it to seek lower interest rates on construction projects such as a new detention center that opens next week.

The speech at times felt like an Apple product unveiling, with the mayor lauding Henderson’s green technology retrofits to 45 city buildings and announcing a new hydroelectric turbine to power the new Southwest Water Reclamation Center that will treat 8 million gallons of waste water.

Hafen briefly took on the role of Henderson’s Steve Jobs when he announced a new iPhone application to complement “Contact Henderson,” an online, 24-hour system that lets residents report potholes and graffiti to city departments.

With the new mobile application, residents can take a photo using their cell phone, geocode its location and track the city’s progress fixing the problem.

Instituted a little more than a year ago, the “Contact Henderson” system has handled 52,000 cases with an average response time from report to repair of 1.5 days, Hafen said.

“It’s exciting for me to see these innovations,” Hafen said. “I am more committed than ever to pursue initiatives, programs and policies that will foster good opportunities for our children, our families and our businesses.”

Looking forward, Hafen outlined two ways to rebound from the recession: economic diversification and improvements to education. The proposed Henderson Space and Science Center is one way the city can marry those goals and “build for our future,” he said.

“This project will inspire and educate our children and teach them about math and science,” Hafen said, echoing President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. “It will provide jobs for the people of this community.

“If we’re going to be serious about our future, we have to be serious about education. We have to be serious about economic development,” he said. “We have to be serious about doing things that establish a foundation for future success.”

To measure the city’s progress toward that success, Hafen plans to implement a new Strategic Plan, which originated from Hafen’s first State of the City last year.

With input from residents and employees, the two-year plan calls for greater accountability and performance measures in achieving broad goals of a vibrant and safe community, strong and diverse local economy, sustainable practices, and development and organizational excellence.

“In the last 10 years, we were ranked as one of the fastest-growing cities in America,” Hafen said. “In that same 10 year period, we have been singled out and remain one of the hardest impacted by the Great Recession.

Now, he said, “we have a plan and we have a vision to guide us in our progress.”