We generally expect our leaders to be educated, smart, and well-informed. More often than not, we support, elect, and follow those who appear to have an answer for everything. But good leaders don’t know everything. And the very best ones know that they don’t know everything.
Boulder City residents occasionally ask how the city is able to have one of the lowest property tax rates in the state, and still provide needed functions such as police, fire, and public parks. In addition to land leases that provide 35% of our general fund budget, we also look at ways to keep costs down. As the city’s Purchasing, Grants and Risk manager for the last eight years, I have seen the city make decisions that keep us lean.
I have a lot on my heart these days. The good news is that my heart is in great health. So… allow me to start with that.
Living in Southern Nevada, we know there comes a point each summer when opening the front door feels more like opening up the oven.
Where does the time go?
The blaring headline, the denigrating letters to the editor, the smoke thrown into our already hazy skies. All these false efforts result in the editor of this newspaper calling for the end of chaos at City Hall. Dire statements are cast forward that any action by the current City Council to govern this city are not worth our while.
City Council’s action Tuesday night to require the Boulder City Police Department to maintain a mounted unit is wrong.
Dear Antifa members and Black Lives Matter enthusiasts, I would like to take a moment to say we are “sorry” to both of your groups and the many followers who embrace your misguided messages and ideologies. I understand that you may be feeling somewhat frustrated with all of your recent rioting activities that you haven’t really made any consequential and/or significant progress toward changing the society you reside in.
I write regarding the current effort to terminate the city manager and city attorney. The City Council’s present activity really comes as no surprise, as shortly after the last municipal election newly elected council members talked around town about firing the city clerk, city manager and city attorney.
Nevada and Utah share more than borders. We share the coveted and much-fought-over Colorado River.
What makes people look at facts and ignore or deny them? How come people don’t listen to solutions to problems? We could analyze why people do or don’t do something, but that could go on ad infinitum and there’s work to do.
To say things are a mess at City Hall might be an understatement. And things are likely to get a lot messier as the city is embroiled in several lawsuits, including the most recent one with the city attorney and city manager.
Boulder City is no stranger to lawsuits that it should have no business being involved in. In 2010, the city made the decision to sue residents who had worked to put three initiatives on the ballot. It was a long, drawn-out suit and countersuit that ultimately ended in the Nevada Supreme Court where our city, us the taxpayers, had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to those they had sued and their attorneys. We don’t know the total cost to our city, including staff time, but it may well have approached a million dollars.
One of my first Army leadership classes taught me that “all feedback is positive, even when it is negative.” It took a few moments to grasp that concept, but I realized that if no criticism is made (constructive or otherwise), how does one improve?
Life here on Earth hasn’t gotten much better in the past few months as COVID-19 continues to ravage communities and limit some of our activities.
Talk about perfect timing.
When walking into the Boulder City High School cafeteria last Wednesday, it was almost like stepping back in time nearly 100 years.
Featuring a roster full of key returnees, Boulder City High School girls volleyball is looking to make an extended postseason run this season.
Coming off a state championship, Boulder City High School girls tennis is coming into the season with some question marks.
