MISSION STATEMENT

Seeking a County commission office is not a step that is taken lightly. Rather it is a step that is taken by someone who feels passionately about the community and sees the alternative as unacceptable if we are to achieve a unified vision for the future of Douglas County. I have given some very serious thought to what is important not only to me but also to the community as a whole. I believe that, given my 20 years of experience working with and within County government I have learned how to objectively evaluate issues on their merits, rather than from a set of preconceptions, and I’ve certainly learned how to do the homework. That said….

I have established three main priorities for my candidacy.

WATER RESOURCES

 First, work toward regional consolidation of our water resource. The recent agreement between the Town of Minden and the County to extend a water line down Heybourne Road to the airport represents a major step toward regional co-operation on the management of our water. To those who say that more availability of water will lead inevitably to more development, I would answer that preservation and stewardship of our water resource is the most important issue for our future. This is a desert, after all.

FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT

Second, develop a fair and rational floodplain management ordinance that protects the residential and commercial development currently in place and at the same time protects property rights by allowing for well-planned and controlled development in the future. This is a bigger challenge than meets the eye, since the floodplain mapping data is incomplete and in many cases outdated. I have spent the last six months working with the Carson Water Subconservancy District in an attempt to find a path through the conflicting landscape of FEMA regulations, legal obstacles, development interests and property rights that will need to be reconciled. I won’t be the least bit surprised if the County is still wrestling with this ordinance after I am elected. I’m actively involved with groups attempting to corral this issue and anyone is invited to call me for a more comprehensive overview.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Third, promote and execute a different vision for the economic development of our County. Rather than continuing the committment to a strategy of encouraging big-box retail expansion, more casinos, and residential rooftops to support these endeavors, we will need to wean ourselves from this cycle in the long run.We face the ever-present possibility that any of our big boxes could pull up stakes and leave town in a prolonged downturn. Does anybody remember Montgomery-Ward? Or Sears?

I reject utterly the notion that Douglas County is best off turning itself into a retirement enclave supported by tourism. Anyone who does the rudimentary math will quickly see that such a scenario is simply not tied to reality. This is not to deny the importance of tourism as one of the legs of our economic table. We will always be a tourist draw as long as we have Lake Tahoe. We also have other tools in the box to enhance our tourist potential, such as returning Minden to its former status as glider capitol of the world and the proposed Nevada Horse Park. Nonetheless, for the near term we are faced with falling gaming revenues, falling Transient Occupancy Taxes, rising gas prices, just to name the first of a list of factors militating against a tourist based economy.

We have the room and the infrastructure to accommodate a variety of different business interests, from manufacturing to mom and pop entrepreneurs. We also have the potential to diversify our agricultural sector, probably the surest way to preserve the rural character of the Valley. This is how I believe we can promote a stable and prosperous economy and minimize the pressure to raise taxes.

We will face intense competition from other communities in attracting clean, well-paying businesses and industries. I would establish a dedicated County function, above and beyond those already in place, to pursue these potentials. They’re out there.

Those are my marquee priorities, but that doesn’t mean that they are the only priorities.

SENIORS

With a rising senior population we will need to devote more resources to senior services. This falls into the “High Cost Avoidance” category, in which we can spend a dollar now in order to avoid spending ten dollars later.

LAW ENFORCEMENT

The same holds true for the Sheriff’s Department. We managed to balance this year’s budget by not hiring a range of Full Time Employee positions, including ten Sheriff’s deputies. Given that hard times always translate into higher crime rates, and given our proximity to a rising gang problem in Carson City, we as a community will be faced with some hard choices. Additional deputies cost money; are we willing to tax ourselves to pay for them or do we make cuts elsewhere? I see this as a choice that the community must make, remembering that this is another High Cost Avoidance category.

AIRPORT

What is to be done at the airport? After studying the reports of the Airport Master Plan Working Group and talking with some folks close to the issue, a few seemingly sensible solutions presented themselves. First, do what is necessary to move glider operations to the east side of the field and work toward restoring Douglas County to its former status as the Mecca of soaring. Second, maintain the ability to receive continued FAA funding for improvements. The folks that don’t want this to happen don’t mention that, should we be cut off from this funding, we as taxpayers are responsible for maintaining current FAA improvements for their lifespan. We must also remember that our airport contributes some $50 million to the local economy yearly. Finally, the body of knowledge required to manage an airport is well established. We will need to apply this knowledge even if it is over the objections of the herd of cats that seems to constitute the conflicting interests at our airport.  

BUDGET

In the next few years we will face challenges in balancing our budget (see the section on Law Enforcement). I will be strongly opposed to inflicting new taxes on a community already stressed by an economic downturn. Traditionally our budget process has been an April-May-June affair and little thought is given to the budget otherwise. Tedious though it may be, I would institute a year-round budgetary review process whereby we can track our revenues relative to expenditures. I would require variance reports, detailing revenues and expenses that vary from projections, to keep budgetary surprises to a minimum. We will likely face some painful choices in the near future and I would rather the Board be prepared when departments submit their budget requests in March.

GROWTH

I would certainly be remiss if I didn’t touch on the growth issue, although, given the current downturn it seems that the problem of too much growth too fast will be off the plate for the foreseeable future. As one the authors of the Building Permit Allocation ordinance I support the concept of placing some control on our growth rate. It is plain for all to see that the outcome of uncontrolled growth in our community has led to a bubble which at the moment is bursting very painfully. I believe that we are at a tipping point with regards to our transportation and floodplain infrastructure and that the next wave of building will put unacceptable stresses on these resources. We will eventually have another growth spike in our community; we will be better off if we are prepared, which is why I put a high priority on water and floodplain management.

I should mention an issue not specifically addressed by the growth management ordinance: what happens to the permit cap when higher densities are allowed through the Master Plan amendment process than were contemplated during the crafting of the ordinance? We will be wrestling with this very soon when the Park Cattle co. specific Plan comes before the Board. Water use, or sale, impacts on the transportation plan, and the fundamental issue of property rights will be at stake. I feel that the worst possible use of the Park property would be to break it up into 20 acre ranchettes with a well and septic tank on each parcel. On the other hand, busting the ordinance by extending the cap horizon at this point and, after years of effort, strikes me as risky. I’d like to come down solidly on this one, but that will have to wait until the full submittal is available on June 19.

TAXES AND REGULATION

I never paid a new or higher tax that I liked, and the ever-growing flood of regulation is gradually crushing our initiative and prosperity ( anybody ever hear of OSHA?). We as Americans live in what is arguably the most over-taxed, over-regulated society on Earth. County governments are constantly forced to respond to unfunded mandates from Washington, or Carson City, and, given a political wrong turn in November, things could get worse (taxes and regulation to combat “global warming” come to mind). County commissioners are largely powerless to stem this tide, but they can push, and I’ll push hard, for common sense management at the local level and budget policies that keep our taxes among the lowest in the state. Government simply cannot be all things to all people and I will resist every pressure to create a nanny state in Douglas County.

UNITY

And, last but not least, this community deserves some element of unity from its elected leaders. The current Board of Commissioners is a reflection of the divisiveness that has plagued us over the growth issue. I read a lot of blather about “no more secret deals” and “no more Master Plan amendments that benefit greedy developers”. This sort of rhetoric implies that the County leadership and senior management are corrupt and that staff is in collusion with this corruption. I reject this premise without reservation. We have a new County Manager and an opportunity to establish a new direction, bring personnel costs under control, and maximize the productivity of the excellent staff that we have in place. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity