Carson City board holds off on rejoining cities league

Carson City rejoining Nevada’s League of Cities and Municipalities appears to remain a possibility, but the city’s governing board won’t decide until next year’s budget cycle.

The Board of Supervisors spoke basically with one voice Thursday when members indicated they may consider the staff proposal, but only after City Manager Nick Marano puts together an overview of all city lobbying and advocacy expenditures, as well as approaches and how it would work, to determine what the city gets and how it fits into the Fiscal Year 2016-17 budget.

“I just don’t see a reason, now, to join,” said Supervisor Lori Bagwell. She said she wanted information on coordination of league efforts with the Nevada Association of Counties (NACO), along with the city’s shared lobby firm and other advocacy approaches, before deciding. She called her idea a holistic look at how city government handles such lobbying chores.

“I think I kind of agree with Lori on this one,” said Supervisor Brad Bonkowski. Mayor Robert Crowell said he had no problem with waiting and making such a review of how it would work from a holistic perspective, but he advocated the NACO and league pairing as smart because Carson City is more urban than it used to be and has more than 50,000 in population.

The board voted 5-0 for a motion directing staff to investigate and bring information back next spring during budget deliberations. Rejoining immediately would have cost $3,580 for the rest of this year and $9,198 in 2016.

The board also adopted an ordinance adding a fee of $295 per transfer for non-emergency basic life support ambulance service, which is much less than the emergency cost; gave preliminary approval to cutting from nine to seven the number of the Parks and Recreation Commission members and holding just six, rather than 12, meetings a year; and approved changes in zoning of property for an east side multi-use path and west side open space near C-Hill.

In addition, the board reworked policy related to people who volunteer to serve on advisory and other city panels, such as those for planning, historic preservation and redevelopment issues.