(KTNV) — Nevada's state Senate is set to hear a bill that would revise the charter for the City of North Las Vegas.
Senate Bill 184 passed out of committee on Friday.
The bill would increase the number of existing wards from four to six (adding two city council seats), require the city manager to live in the City of North Las Vegas, and require the city to prepare an annual diversity study of its employees.
In a previous hearing, Rev. Robert Bush, president of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Action Network, said change is overdue for one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.
"The outdated districts and city council size — each covering, according to the Census, 101.4 square miles — is a key reason why the government of North Las Vegas has gone tone deaf and just doesn't seem to function at maximum capacity," Bush told lawmakers.
"It is simply not possible for four people to represent that wide of an area, and that many people, and still provide the localized attention that residents deserve from their city council members," Bush added. "Residents have all seen their voices silenced and quality of life change because of an inept city council that doesn't listen to or have time to listen to its residents."
As of the 2020 Census, 274,000 people live in North Las Vegas. Bush cited statistics that show the city is one of the fastest-growing in Nevada, and the fifth-fastest growing city in the U.S.
State Sen. Pat Spearman, who is one of the bill's sponsors and ran in the city's last mayoral election, claimed the city also lacks diverse representation.
"By adding two members to the city council, we will have more voices and diverse perspectives to help build a foundation for future success," Spearman said at the hearing.
Mayor Pamela Goynes-Brown told lawmakers they need to trust city leadership to make the right decisions for their constituents.
"Voters in Southern Nevada just elected three new mayors during the last election, yet this bill singles out only our city and allows other mayors to start running their city at a local level without proposing significant and surprise changes to their charters," Goynes-Brown said.
Several lawmakers on the committee said the matter should be addressed at the local level instead of the state level. But members of the Charter Committee testified they weren't receiving direction from the city.
"On June 27, 2022, the North Las Vegas Charter Committee was convened. At the meeting, the only agenda item was 'discuss possible charter changes and staff-recommended changes and affirm recommendations to city council regarding revisions to the North Las Vegas city charter,'" said Sophia Romero, the vice chair of the charter committee. "That is an extremely broad and kind of vague agenda item."
She said several members have asked to hold multiple meetings and it hasn't happened.
"After the committee adjourned, several members of the committee have asked to call a new meeting. Unfortunately, only the city council or the chair can reconvene a meeting," Romero said. "That has kind of been denied. There was no opportunity for any of this to come before the committee, because we were never allowed to reconvene."
Goynes-Brown said the committee is new and city leaders are trying their best.
"We're getting our feet wet as we continue through this process," Goynes-Brown said. "It is a process that is in motion. The charter committee can choose to meet or ask the council and request more meetings."
The other issue brought up was cost. Goynes-Brown said adding two city council seats would leave less money for other projects.
"Finding the money to cover the costs of this bill would impact our community. We would be forced to cut new projects just announced, like the Dolores Huerta Resource Center," Goynes-Brown said. "I'm sorry, but our community needs these resources more than it needs to pay for more politicians."
However, others argued the city could cut costs from within, using the city manager's salary as an example.
Leilani Hinyard, chair of the North Las Vegas Democratic Club, questioned why North Las Vegas' city manager made more money than his counterpart in the City of Las Vegas.
"Our city manager is paid $397,000, including base pay and other pay. When you consider benefits, the total compensation package is an astounding $563,000 of taxpayer money," Hinyard told lawmakers. "North Las Vegas has a median household salary of $61,000 — and again, he (the city manager) doesn't live in the city."
By comparison, Hinyard said the city manager of Las Vegas made $190,000 less than North Las Vegas' city manager in 2021.
The bill passed out of committee and now heads to the Senate floor.
