Senior group gets face time with North Las Vegas leaders

City of North Las Vegas employees competed in a game of Wii bowling with the Silver Mesa Recreation Center’s senior club on a recent Wednesday.

City Councilman Scott Black, Fire Chief Joseph Calhoun and Portland Preston, who works in the Police Department’s community engagement division, were spread among three four-person teams with seniors. Wii bowling is one of the many activities at the center. The city employees lost badly, Black joked, and were challenged to a game against one another.

Black visits the recreation center the third Tuesday of every month. The bowling tournament, which he said will take place annually, marked his fourth visit.

The purpose of the monthly meetings is to have fun, as well as to receive feedback from seniors, Black said.

“What it boils down to is just supporting the seniors and really harnessing what they bring to the community because they have experience, wisdom, time and they care, and they’re not afraid to speak up,” he said.

Black invites a guest, such as a representative of the Fire Department or the Police Department’s traffic team, each time he visits. At past meetings, Preston has given a presentation about home-security assessments and Calhoun has spoken about smoke detectors. After the presentations, they held question-and-answer sessions.

Geraldine Kemp, who has been the senior group’s coordinator since it started about five years ago, said the group has been meeting with city leaders for several years. The club has about 90 members who pay an annual fee of $3 to use the center, she said.

The seniors appreciate the officials stopping by because they “have a lot of questions” about their properties and street construction, Kemp said.

Al Kemp of North Las Vegas, a member of the senior group, said the meetings have been productive.

“(Black) listens to your requests and problems, and he comes back with an answer,” he said. “It’s easy to listen to problems. And they might not necessarily come back with a solution, but he says, ‘This is what we can do.’ He’s very good about that.”

Contact Kailyn Brown at kbrown@viewnews.com or 702-387-5233. Follow @kailynhype on Twitter.