103°F
weather icon Cloudy

News Briefs, Jan. 17

Lake Mead restarts basic visitor services

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is resuming routine custodial services and trash pickup with money generated by past paid recreation fees.

According to Christie Vanover, the park’s public affairs officer, National Park Service officials determined that by using Federal Land and Recreation Enhancement funds to immediately bring back maintenance crews, the park will be able to clean restrooms and remove trash for health and safety.

Even with these services resuming, no fees will be charged for entrance.

Since the federal government shutdown started in December, Lake Mead National Recreation Areas has remained as accessible as possible while still following all applicable laws and procedures. Some lodging, restaurants and other services are available when provided by concessionaires or other entities.

“We appreciate that our park partners have continued to provide first-rate services, and we are grateful for the outpouring of support we have seen from our community,” said Todd Suess, acting park superintendent.

Volunteers sought to write about ballot questions

Boulder City is seeking volunteers to write opinions for and against the four questions that will appear on the June 2019 municipal election.

Those who are interested should complete a volunteer data sheet and submit it to the city clerk’s office no later than Feb. 5.

To learn more about the ballot questions, visit www.bcnv.org/193/Current-Ballot-Questions.

Lakeview Terrace earns accolade for its care

Lakeview Terrace of Boulder City has been recognized for its care being named a 2019 Best of Senior Living award winner on SeniorAdvisor.com, a ratings and review site for senior care and services in North America and Canada.

SeniorAdvisor.com’s Best of 2019 Award winners represent the best of in-home care, assisted living and other senior living providers based on the online reviews written by seniors and their families. The designation honors the top 2-3 percent of senior care providers across the United States and Canada.

The awards program tabulates more than 150,000 family-created reviews. Of the nearly 45,000 communities listed on SeniorAdvisor.com, just over 1,600 were recognized with this award. Lakeview Terrace of Boulder City is the only Boulder City facility that was recognized.

“As SeniorAdvisor.com’s ‘Best of Senior Living’ awards enters its fifth year of honoring the top family-rated communities and care providers, we are proud to say that the bar has been raised,” said Eric Seifert, president and chief operating officer of Senioradvisor.com. “In order to ensure only the best communities and care providers win, we decided to make the criteria harder than ever and we saw over 1,600 winners rise to the occasion.”

To qualify for inclusion in the Best of 2019 Awards, care providers must have maintained an average overall rating of at least 4.5 stars while receiving four or more new reviews in 2018.

City changes ambulance billing process

Ambulance bills will look different in the near future in Boulder City as Iris Medical Inc. has been contracted to handle billing and billing questions for the Boulder City Fire Department.

The change was made to provide a better customer experience, according to Lisa LaPlante, communications manager.

“By utilizing a company that specializes in ambulance billing, we can be confident that we are collecting EMS (emergency medical services) transport revenue in an efficient manner and, more importantly,we are complying with all regulations set forth by the CMS (Center for Medicare and Medical Services),” said Boulder City Fire Chief Kevin Nicholson. “I believe that this will increase efficiency, assure compliance and help us provide the best possible customer service.”

Iris Medical has been in the medical billing business for 35 years and provides medical billing for more than 60 agencies. The company maintains a toll-free number where clients can speak to a billing expert to answer questions about ambulance bills.

In addition, the city has established a lockbox with Wells Fargo bank to accept patient co-pays, which can no longer be sent or brought to the fire department. Invoices also will include preaddressed return envelopes to make payment as convenient as possible, LaPlante said.

MOST READ
THE LATEST
Toll Brothers gets split decision

The development of the area near Boulder Creek Golf Course known as Tract 350 (the sale of which is slated to pay for the majority of the planned replacement for the aging municipal pool) may have hit a snag last week as the planning commission voted 5-1 to deny the developers’ request to build houses closer to the street than is allowed under current law.

Council gives nod to 185 new hangars

There is at least one part of Boulder City that is set to see growth in the coming years. A lot of growth.

Boulder City ready to celebrate America

Boulder City resident James Cracolici may have put it best when he called the annual July 4 Damboree, “The crown jewel of all events held in Boulder City.”

BC can ban backyard breeders

Although there is nothing on any city agenda yet, the resolution of the issue of whether pet breeding will be allowed in Boulder City took a huge step forward last week as Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford released an official opinion on the intent and limitations of state law that had been requested by city staff last year.

Completion dates for two road projects pushed back

Mayor Joe Hardy tacitly acknowledged that Boulder City gets, perhaps, more than its fair share of funding from the Regional Transportation Commission, given the city’s size.

Businesses recognized at Chamber awards night

The Boulder City Chamber of Commerce’s annual installation and awards night featured many business owners in town and even had an appearance, albeit an A.I.-generated one, by Audrey Hepburn.

Parallel parking approved

Like so many other things in the world of Boulder City government, the issue of reconfiguring parking in the historic downtown area along Nevada Way, which generated enough heat to cause council members to delay a decision up until the last possible moment, ended with more of a whimper than a bang.

Ways to reduce summer power bills

Now that the thermometer is on the rise outdoors, the cost to cool homes and businesses on the inside is doing the same.