NLV mayor vision expands, scores big one for the city

Last year, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee’s first priority was putting the city on a stable financial footing and keeping the city out of state receivership. He still has to find ways to reduce the city’s long-term deficit, but he’s about half way there, and no one is talking about the state taking over the city’s financial operations.

Score a big one for the Lee administration.

This year, Lee has expanded his vision. He wants to develop Apex as a new economic diversification district. But to do that, water and power need to be extended to Apex. A privately funded $150,000 feasibility study marks the first baby step to determine how much an 18-mile water pipeline would cost.

Lee hopes to persuade private industry to finance a water line to Apex by offering tax abatements if business people build on a new 700-acre economic diversification district. If that happens under a Lee administration, he will and should count that as another biggie.

“North Las Vegas is now a turnaround town evolving into a state leader,” Lee said Tuesday at his second State of the City speech.

Although that seemed like a bit of hyperbole, when elected in 2013, Lee was horrified by a seven-year budget deficit projection of $152 million. His administration has cut that by $74 million and needs to find a way to come up with another $78 million to balance the long-term budgets. He wants to do it through growth, not cutting.

Lee didn’t emulate his Las Vegas counterpart by taking subtle shots at his council members in his State of the City speech Tuesday. But that didn’t mean he didn’t take shots.

His jovial and upbeat speech chided regents who haven’t as yet embraced his proposal to rename the Cheyenne campus of the College of Southern Nevada. He wants it renamed the College of Southern Nevada North Las Vegas Campus.

In another dig, he referred to the previous administration, blaming it for the financial mess he inherited when he was elected in 2013, calling those financial challenges “the debris and ruin of bygone legacies.”

Almost as an aside, he noted that it will take him seven years to bring the city to the financial stability he wants.

That’s a declaration he will need a second term to do the job.

In her Jan. 8 State of the City speech, Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said people who didn’t support a downtown stadium lacked vision — a dig at three Las Vegas council members who oppose tax dollars being spent on a soccer stadium. One of the three — Stavros Anthony — has filed against Goodman, hoping to block her from a second term and end the Goodman dynasty.

Some smart person made sure to seat Goodman and Anthony at different tables at Lee’s luncheon speech, which drew nearly 700 people at $40 a pop to Texas Station. That showed sensitivity to what is destined to be a race with a sharp edge.

Last year, I wrote about Lee’s first State of the City speech, saying that it was too early to judge his accomplishments but he had set a high bar.

Would the North Las Vegas police and fire unions compromise to help reduce the long-term deficit? Well they did, marking another biggie.

A few other things came to fruition. There is progress with renting out part of city hall. Park Highlands master-planned community is moving forward.

He shared credit for one of the city’s major accomplishment, one that wasn’t even mentioned or considered likely in 2014 — the designation of Tule Springs National Monument.

He didn’t finish everything on his wish list then, nor was he expected to.

However, last year he predicted there would be results in a cost-savings plan to create shared services between Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Although it was rolled out with hoopla, the proposal hasn’t created any changes so far as each city defends its turf and its jobs.

For now, Lee is plugging away at hopes that a new medical school will be located in land-rich North Las Vegas, where half the land within city limits is vacant.

If he pulls that off, and there will be fierce competition among the cities to house the medical school, mark that as another victory for Lee.

You can’t say Lee doesn’t have a vision. After all, his written speech was delivered to him onstage by a drone, which didn’t embarrass him by crashing.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Thursdays. Email her at jmorrison@reviewjournal.com or leave a message at 702-383-0275. Find her on Twitter @janeannmorrison.