59°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Council to correct alleged open meeting law violation

City Council members will soon have the opportunity to correct what City Attorney Steve Morris believes is an open meeting law violation that occurred Oct. 8.

During their regularly scheduled meeting, council members approved having staff solicit a request for proposal to attempt to sell a nearly 45-acre parcel near Boulder Creek Golf Club. The motion made by council included an amendment to remove a center median and roundabout option along Bristlecone and Clubhouse drives.

Both of those items are included in the city’s minimum development requirements for that parcel of land.

The motion amending the city’s minimum development requirement was approved 4-1, with Councilman James Howard Adams voting against it.

According to the staff report included in the agenda packet for the Oct. 22 meeting, Morris said it is his opinion that the council violated the open meeting law with that action because “the agenda item did not give sufficient notice to the public that council would deliberate and amend the minimum development standards and design” by removing those two elements.

The Oct. 8 agenda item was for possible action and to review the draft of the request for proposal to sell Tract 350.

“During the course of the deliberation, there were many ideas being presented about the RFP,” said Morris in an email. “The next day, a resident pointed out that one component of the conversation may have violated the open meeting law. Upon further review, I determined that the item was a violation of the OML and suggested corrective action during the next council meeting.”

Nevada Revised Statutes allows a public body to take corrective action when open meeting law violations occur or are alleged. If the action is taken within 30 days after posting notice of the intent to make the correction on its agenda, the attorney general may forego prosecution of the alleged violation if it appears that is in the best interest of the public.

Council will have that opportunity at its Oct. 22 meeting.

Because of the alleged violation, the action taken by council members regarding the amendment is void and will be reconsidered at the next meeting.

During the Oct. 8 meeting, no mention was made about a possible violation of the open meeting law during council’s deliberation, discussion or vote on the agenda item.

During the discussion, Councilwoman Tracy Folda said she would be a fan of removing the center median and option for a roundabout.

“If the City Council doesn’t want roundabouts, we can remove it,” said City Contracts/Real Estate Manager Brok Armantrout.

Folda also requested adding a green space requirement to the proposal.

Mayor Kiernan McManus agreed with Folda. “I agree, too, that the length of Bristlecone and the amount of housing, I don’t know that warrants a median down Bristlecone and roundabouts,” he said. “They just don’t seem to sell well.”

Councilwoman Claudia Bridges asked whether these items could be determined once a request for proposal was received or did they need to be considered before.

Armantrout said items like the median should be included in the request for proposal so potential developers would be able to better estimate the cost to see if they could make the project work. Elements like green space and lane alignment would be worked out in an engineering study once the project began.

Adams said he thought the medians were a good idea.

“I think medians, when we’re talking about lane safety … . I’m not opposed to it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I don’t see how it necessarily hurts the plan of having that. Certainly it does add benefits to the area.”

Judge Victor Miller was the only person to speak during public comment on the agenda item. He lives near Tract 350 and said he was speaking as resident not as the city’s municipal court judge.

He told council members the median had been in the master plan before the golf course was built and that residents were expecting the one on Bristlecone and Clubhouse drives to match those on other streets.

“I would certainly request that you be open to that idea, keeping it the way it was originally designed and how, when we built our properties, that’s how we anticipated it would be,” he said.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST
BC repaint: Countdown is on

It’s almost time to don that old pair of jeans, the ratty tennis shoes in the back of your closet and a shirt you’re not worried about ruining.

Management of veterans’ home sparks controversy

Documents provided to the Boulder City Review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) appear to back up many of the accusations leveled at the Nevada Department of Veterans Services (NDVS) and leadership of the Southern Nevada State Veterans Home which is located in Boulder City by current and former employees over the past year. Many of the same issues were also noted by CMS surveyors in an inspection of the home that occurred in January.

Spending for proposed pool to be on Nov. ballot

During Tuesday’s Boulder City Council meeting, City Manager Taylour Tedder may have summed things up best.

Historic preservation event set for May

It’s a couple of months away, but scheduling for events tied to Historic Preservation Day — slated for May 11 —are pretty set and revolve around the theme of Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

Slow and steady

For Nevadans at the forefront of the West’s water crisis, snowpack in the Rocky Mountains that eventually trickles down to Lake Mead is always front of mind.

Hunt expected to draw hundreds

For the second year in a row, the city of Boulder City is sponsoring the annual Community Easter Egg Hunt with a little extra help from a friend – the Easter Bunny.

Longtime judge/justice of the peace to retire

If you get arrested in or around Boulder City and have to appear before a judge, that may mean — depending on the offense, the arresting agency and exactly where the arrest happened —that you are in front of the Boulder City municipal judge or the justice of the peace for the Boulder Township of Clark County.

And… We have a primary

It’s official. As of Tuesday evening, five people had filed paperwork to run for city council.

Wait. The museum has WHAT in it’s collection?

It was a presentation about the activities and impact of the Boulder City Museum with lots of info and plans and numbers. But most people who saw it will remember it most for the discussion of some of the museum’s more, hmmm, unusual items that are part of the collection.