News Briefs, Aug. 8

Utility group holds first meeting

Boulder City’s Utility Advisory Committee recently held its first meeting and appointed officers.

The seven-member committee, established in April, advises the City Council, utilities director and city manager on the operation of the city’s utilities: water, wastewater, electric and waste management. Its members are Howard Analla, Keith Bacon, Larry Karr, George Rhee, Ned Shamo, Greg Todd and Eileen Wilkinson.

At its first meeting July 31, the members were sworn in and then appointed Karr as chairman and Rhee as vice chairman.

“It was a good start. … Everybody’s trying to figure out the best way to move forward in a faster time frame,” Karr said.

Karr also said that at this point, he and the other members are trying to learn from the city and help with the items that come before them on the agenda.

The group did not set a meeting schedule; the city is finalizing when the next one will be.

Ex-candidate appeals charge

Former City Council candidate Brent Foutz is appealing his Boulder City Municipal Court charges, stemming from an incident last year.

On July 29, Foutz filed his appeal in the Nevada’s Eighth District Court after Judge Pro-Tem Margaret Whitaker found him guilty of trespassing, not amounting to burglary, and resisting a public officer for a December incident in which he refused to leave the Nevada State Veterans Home, 100 Veterans Memorial Drive, after being told he had trespassed and must leave.

Whitaker fined him $500 for each charge and sentenced him to seven days in jail with credit for time served.

Foutz’s next hearing is 9 a.m. Sept. 5 in Department 2 at the Regional Justice Center, 200 Lewis Ave. Judge Richard Scotti will preside over the hearing. Foutz is representing himself.

The criminal complaint, filed by the city attorney’s office Dec. 10, alleged that Foutz lunged toward one of the officers in a “violent manner” and became more aggressive when they were trying to restrain him.

The Boulder City Municipal Court is not a court of record, and all appeals are handled by District Court.

Republicans announce intentions to challenge Lee for district seat

Two Republicans have announced their intentions to challenge Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., for the 3rd Congressional District seat in 2020.

On Monday, Aug. 5, businessman and community volunteer Tiger Helgelien said he intended to run for the seat, joining former state Treasurer Dan Schwartz, who announced his intentions July 9, in the Republican primary.

Schwartz served as treasurer from 2015-19 before mounting an unsuccessful primary challenge to then-Attorney General Adam Laxalt in the 2018 gubernatorial primary. He ran for Congress in the 4th Congressional District in 2012, and he finished fourth in a Republican primary.

He owns a digital media company that operates in Asia, Europe and the United States. Schwartz is a U.S. Army veteran.

Helgelien, who moved to Las Vegas in 2003, joined the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors in December 2006 and is a member of the national association and the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals, Las Vegas chapter.

He moved to his native Alaska in 2012 and returned to Las Vegas in 2015 after the grandmother who raised him died.

For the past three years, he has served as a member of the school organizational team for Palo Verde High School in Summerlin.