A look at candidates for Boulder City Council: Sherri Jorgensen

Sherri Jorgensen, 56

Occupation: Boulder City Councilwoman

27 years in Boulder City

What single issue most influenced your decision to run for council or seek re-election?

The initial reason I ran in 2021 was as a voice for change and an ear that listens to the community. I’m seeking re-election because I feel like I’m still able to be their ear and voice in the community at this level. While serving I’ve answered emails, phone calls and met individually with many in our city and have loved this opportunity.

Why do you feel you are the best person for the position?

I feel I’m best for this position because of the knowledge I’ve gained these past three years. It allows me to make well-informed decisions. We are a small city, but we have many complicated processes that need to be learned about. We have utilities, code, solar fields, land management processes, budgets and more. There is definitely a learning curve and I’ve paid the price by putting in hours to understand how the city functions.

What’s the biggest issue facing Boulder City today?

There are some big decisions coming up, such as what to do with our wastewater and how to manage our water resources. As far as the city we need to hire a city manager. This is crucial to how smoothly our city processes run.

At potentially $42 million, the proposed replacement for the pool comes out to about $2,800 per resident. Do you feel this is the best use of Capital Improvement funds?

The pool is a hot topic right now and understanding all the particulars is vital. The pool created by our ad hoc pool committee a few years ago is now assessed to cost almost $37 million. This has increased substantially from the original $27 million assessment due to inflation. If we want a pool, the time is now, it will only get more expensive as time goes on. We do have some monies already earmarked for the pool and future monies also set aside for it. We currently have a generous donation of $1,463,697, $7,000,000 from the last voter-approved question and budget augmentations from previous budgets totaling $5,540,903. This gives a total of $14,004,600. This is a great start since we are a pay-as-you-go city. With the upcoming sale of the land called Tract 350 we will receive an additional $18,995,400 which will bring us to $33,000,000 available for the pool. We are asking the community if they would like to use the funds that already exist in the voter-approved capital improvement fund. Using these funds will not raise taxes or cost the taxpayer any out-of-pocket cost. In fact, this is exactly what this fund is for – a capital improvement in our community. The ballot question asks for up to $9 million from this fund to cover the remaining needed amount. We will only spend what is needed. This fund replenishes at a rate of $3M per year from the solar/land sales. So, within 3 years we will recoup the funds and have a pool. The pool crosses all generations, thus benefiting the community. This is why I feel like this is a great use of these funds.

Many, especially in the business community, would like to see Boulder City become more than just a day trip, with visitors spending multiple days here. But some recent decisions, such as banning short-term rentals, would seem to discourage multi-day visits. How does the city balance the needs of its residents with that of encouraging tourism?

I feel optimistic about the opportunity for visitors to come to Boulder City to play and stay. We have many hotels in the area available for tourists. The decision to continue to not allow short-term rentals in the area should not keep people from coming to stay. The more important piece is making sure that we are able to advertise and communicate the wide variety of things tourists can do in Boulder City, so they want to do an extended stay. The Chamber of Commerce has many plans on the horizon that I believe will do just that. It comes down to marketing our wide variety of activities and great businesses to visit. We have the railroad to visit, Lake Mead, Bootleg Canyon, our historic district and much more. As we get the word out that we have multiple days of things available to do I believe it will naturally evolve in that direction.