City true winner from elections

After months of campaigning, the 2022 election is complete. Ballots have been counted and congratulations are in order for those who were elected.

In Boulder City, all eyes were focused on the remaining seat for City Council, which was won by Cokie Booth.

It was a very close race against incumbent Councilman James Howard Adams. In the end, only 142 votes separated the two.

Unfortunately, elections will always have winners and losers and people will be pleased or disappointed with the outcome. It’s just the nature of the process.

In addition to those whose names were on the ballot, there are teams of people who worked diligently to help get the word out about the platforms, ideals and qualifications of their chosen candidate.

The same principle applies to those favoring or opposing ballot questions.

Just because the election is finished doesn’t mean folks should no longer be involved in working to make the community a better place. There are ample opportunities to serve. There are committees, commissions and plenty of events and activities that need help from volunteers.

But for those elected, now the real work begins.

Booth will be sworn into office along with Mayor-elect Joe Hardy and Councilman Steve Walton, who were elected during the June primary, at a special meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 29.

Fortunately for the community, there will be a much smaller learning curve for the newly elected members of the Boulder City Council. All of the newly elected representatives have experience working in municipal government.

Hardy previously served on the City Council, as well as spent many years in the state Assembly and Senate.

Booth and Walton have served on the city’s Planning Commission. Additionally, Walton worked as a firefighter in Henderson, retiring as a fire division chief and served as interim fire chief in Boulder City.

And lest we forget, it is important that we thank those who are leaving office — Mayor Kiernan McManus, Councilwoman Claudia Bridges and Adams — for all of their hard work on behalf of the community’s citizens. Serving as a city official is quite often a thankless job and their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

They have spent countless hours working for what they believed to be in the best interest of local residents, whether it was at an actual council meeting, doing their homework before a meeting, attending community events or representing the city on other boards.

Bridges is moving out of the community to be closer to family and we wish her well.

Odds are Adams and McManus will continue to be involved in the community — just as past city leaders have done — and that’s a good thing. Even as election “losers,” the city still wins from their knowledge and love for the town and its people.

Hali Bernstein Saylor is editor of the Boulder City Review. She can be reached at hsaylor@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9523. Follow @HalisComment on Twitter.