Three announce plans to seek council seat

Candidate filing for Boulder City’s 2021 municipal election starts in less than two weeks and three residents have already announced their intention to run for city office.

Cokie Booth, Christian Clinton and Sherri Jorgensen have all said they plan to run for one of two City Council seats up for election.

Booth, 75, has lived in Boulder City for more than 30 years and served on the city’s Planning Commission from 2006 through 2019. She said she is running for City Council because she wants to listen to residents and give back to the community.

“I believe in giving back to my community,” she said. “I always have. It’s in my DNA. … Whether I agree with someone or not, I want to listen to both sides. As a City Council member, I believe I will have to shelf my individual opinion and have one that reflects the people in Boulder City. If am representing the city, I am representing everyone. … I want to be a voice of reason to people and listen to people.”

Booth owns B.C. Real Estate and said she is also running to represent small businesses.

“It’s hard to open a small business in a small town. … Sometimes there isn’t enough business to go around,” she said.

In addition to having served on the Planning Commission, Booth is active in various community organizations and is currently president of the Boulder City Community Club.

Clinton, 32, was born in California and moved to Las Vegas when he was a child. He and his wife moved to Boulder City two years ago. He said he wants to run for council to preserve the community and help it recover from the pandemic.

“I’m passionate about restaurants and it’s sad to see businesses shutting down,” he said.

Clinton works in the food and hospitality industry and lost his job after everything shut down during the pandemic. He said as he was watching the closures unfold he decided to do something to give back and chose to run for council.

“COVID hit everyone hard; I worked at a very successful company for four years and I was laid off and not brought back on,” he said. “I saw the impact that it had on me and our community. My goal is to help our small town recover from this terrible disaster and work toward a brighter future. Running restaurants, bars and huge event spaces along with teaching at a local college, I think my past experiences could lead to a great opportunity to help our community. I will do what I have to do for our town.”

Clinton also said he is running to help Boulder City prosper and preserve its small town charm.

He currently works as the general manager of Art Houz in Las Vegas. He has a bachelor of science degree in food and beverage management and earned an expert of Italian cuisine first level certification by the region of Umbria.

Jorgensen, 53, has lived in Boulder City for 24 years. Throughout that time she has served on different committees for the local schools as well as the Nevada state committee to determine intervention services for children from birth through age 3 who have developmental delays. She has also served on the board for the Down Syndrome Organization of Southern Nevada and is its board-appointed treasurer.

Currently, she is the chair of the city’s allotment committee, where she has served for three years.

“As a young girl, I watched my grandfather’s example of service and knew it was important to always give back,” she said. “He served his country in the Philippines during World War II, showing me how important our freedom truly is. Freedom comes at a cost, and what we do with that freedom matters. My grandfather then came home and served his community as mayor, showing me that the most important thing we can do is to put that freedom to work. So, with this in mind, I have always tried to serve wherever I am planted.”

Jorgensen graduated from Southern Utah University in 1989 with a degree in education and taught second grade for five years. She and her husband, Mark, raised their four children in Boulder City.

Candidates can file to run for office from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4. Those elected will serve a term of three years and five months after the council approved changing its cycle to align with state and federal elections.

To run for City Council, a candidate must be a qualified elector of Boulder City and have been a resident for at least two years immediately prior to the election. Candidates can hold no other elected office, and city employees are not eligible unless they resign from their position first.

Councilman Judy Hoskins already announced her intention to run to keep her seat; Councilwoman Tracy Folda has yet to say whether she is running.

The primary election is scheduled for April 6 and the general election will be held June 15.

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