Henderson City Council in brief

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 | midnight

Whitney Mesa trails to be designed

The Henderson City Council unanimously voted Sept. 2 to hire a consultant to plan a proposed trail system through Whitney Mesa.

Utah-based EDA Land Planning will receive $118,100 to plan the trail system, which will wind through 100 acres of city-owned, undeveloped desert terrain on and around the Whitney Mesa.

The trail project has a $14.1 million budget. It is being funded through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which allows Henderson and other local jurisdictions to nominate federal land for public auction, then use the proceeds on parks and trails projects that are approved by the Bureau of Land Management.

General guidelines for the Whitney Mesa Trail call for most of the area to remain undeveloped to preserve the geological formations and the desert wildlife that inhabit the area. The trail system is also to have informational signs throughout.

Infrastructure work to start at Heritage

A little more than a month after crews broke ground on the senior center and the aquatics facility that will be the centerpiece of Henderson's 160-acre Heritage Park, the next phase of the project is about to begin.

The City Council unanimously awarded a $3.5 million infrastructure contract to Rafael Construction, the firm that is also building the senior center and aquatics facility.

The infrastructure contract includes street improvements to Burkholder Boulevard and Racetrack Road, which border the park to the north and east, respectively. It also tasks Rafael Construction with building the water and sewer lines to serve the two buildings.

Police supervisors, city agree to deal

The City Council unanimously accepted a new, three-year labor agreement with the Henderson Police Supervisors Association, which represents sergeants, lieutenants and other supervisors within the Henderson Police Department.

The new agreement calls for a 4 percent wage increase retroactive to July 1 and ties wage increases in 2009 and 2010 to the increases negotiated by the Henderson Police Officers Association, which represents the department's officers.

It also creates a new pay scale that guarantees that sergeants will make 25 percent more than officers and that lieutenants will make 20 percent more than sergeants and creates an additional step in the pay scales for each.

The deal also increases the uniform allowance for supervisors by $15 each year over the course of the agreement, from its previous level of $135 per month and makes minor changes in a number of other areas.

Compiled by Jeremy Twitchell