Thomas reports on strategic plan at council meeting

The new city manager’s first public presentation in a city council meeting was about kind of old news — an update on the five-year strategic plan that was approved by the council in October of last year. The plan covers the years 2025 through 2030.

“Progress is already being made over the past six months and we will be giving the council quarterly updates on the our progress,” Ned Thomas began.

The first area identified in the plan was, “Providing high-quality recreation and tourism offerings for residents and visitors.”

Thomas told the council that progress had already been made in this area.

“We are in the planning stages of the turf reduction project at the municipal golf course that was a subject of much discussion last year,” he said.

Last year, the city had settled on a plan that would have removed more than 30% of the turf at the course but then backed off under pressure from homeowners and in at least temporary defiance of Southern Nevada Water Authority water budgets for golf courses and a state law saying that Colorado River water can’t be used to irrigate “non-functional” turf after this year.

“We’re also in construction already on the pickleball courts at Veterans Memorial Park as well as playground renovations,” Thomas reported.

The big recreation project is the new city pool. According to Thomas, it is currently at the 30% design stage, which is a preliminary step needed before a second consultant can come in and do the 100% design. That is a 12-18 month process, which is starting this summer.

“We are still on target for completion date in 2028,” Thomas said. “I did attend the ‘bubble down’ this year and people are quite excited. There may be one more bubble down next year but we look forward to having the new pool when that will no longer be necessary.”

Councilwoman Sherri Jorgensen also picked up on the “one more” theme in terms of putting up and taking down the temporary bubble structure over the current pool. However, with a goal of completion in 2028, there will be at least two more such events and very possibly three.

Parks and Recreation Director Julie Calloway confirmed it will be more than one, saying in an email, “It totally depends and is an estimate at this point. Estimated one or two bubble ‘downs’ remaining, spring of ‘26 and spring of ‘27. The spring of ‘27 overlaps with the beginning of pool construction so it just depends on progress along the way. We may be ahead of schedule and already a few months into the construction.”

The next category was the one that generated the most controversy when it was first introduced. The consultant hired by the city had initially called for a category of encouraging development of affordable housing types, which met with strong and immediate pushback from council members. It was changed in the final document to “Maintaining community character through the growth control ordinance.” But the noted lack of newer affordable housing options in Boulder City is still being discussed with Thomas reporting that the city has hired a consulting group to review the city’s zoning ordinances and he referenced “diverse housing types.”

Councilwoman Denise Ashurst asked, “I have a question on the diverse housing types. What does that mean? Is that how much houses cost? Would it be what type of building?”

“I would say all of the above,” Thomas replied. “It’s single family as well as multi-family and that often is used as a yardstick for affordability. We would also say a variety of housing types, both executive level as well as starter homes and then also for small families as well as large families and different types of living arrangements that people may have. So you want to be able to provide all of those different types in the community, so that there’s balance.”

Thomas also discussed historic preservation and utility upgrades before addressing public safety, reporting that he had conducted a first round of interviews with candidates seeking to replace former chief Will Gray to head up the fire department.

He initially misspoke and said he was interviewing for police chief to which Councilwoman Sherri Jorgensen replied, “Just in case the police chief thinks he’s getting supplanted, fire chief. New fire chief.”

Thomas answered with a laugh saying, “Oh excuse me. I missed that and added some excitement for him. I always want to keep Tim on his toes. The process is well underway but thank you for the correction. Just seeing if you were listening.”