City Council Ward 2 William L. Johnson


Nonpartisan

In what areas do you envision Sparks expanding in the future?

Expansion can take shape in many different forms, concepts, and practices. If we tap into the richly diverse and creative minds of our citizens and college students, I believe that the great city of Sparks has the potential of expanding into a community of hope and prosperity that could set a standard for many cities and towns across the country.  

Where do you believe our land use priorities need to be centered?

Priorities of land usage must include wisdom in development and planning. There must be a balance in land use for homes, businesses and recreation. Currently our greatest need is in the area of roadways that will handle both current and future traffic flow with ease while allowing for future growth and recreational needs.

What is your position on the Pyramid/McCarran intersection?  What needs to be done?

The intersection of Pyramid and McCarran is one of the hottest topics of this election. Changes have to be made without the destruction of homes, churches and our citizens’ livelihood. When looking at this intersection, the presence of four traffic lights within such a short distance is as much of the problem as the congestion itself. I have a preliminary plan in the works that could raise Pyramid above McCarran, while at the same time lowering McCarran under Pyramid while retaining the current intersection. This could dissipate a large majority of the congestion without the loss of homes or churches and still allow access to local businesses and neighborhoods.

Do you feel the city’s budget needs to be reformed?  If so, how would you reform it? If not, what about the current budget works well? 

The 2010-2011 budget is pretty much set in stone and not much can be done to reform it at this point. It is more important to look towards the future and the 2011-2012 budget so that the city can be kept clean, green and safe for everyone. One of the reforms that needs to be put in place is the structure of the city entity as a whole. All agencies, departments, services and support structures should be analyzed and restructured so that no services are duplicated or lost. Full accountability for funding will be in place to eliminate wasteful and unnecessary spending. Finally, this would secure the positions of all current employees so that layoffs will be a thing of the past not the future.  

What do you think of the current status of public safety in Sparks?

Public safety is at a minimum for the current population levels that the city of Sparks enjoys. While our citizens hope that no future reductions in staff occur, they know that a broad look at our safety structure is necessary, and a priority in order to keep our children and seniors safe at all times. Many citizens have voiced their concerns over safety and have suggested many times about the creation of Emergency Points of Service. This would bring all agencies including Sparks fire, police, REMSA, Washoe County Sheriff and Nevada Highway Patrol together at strategic points around the area to effectively serve the public, increase access to safety services and help reduce costs without cutting current employees.  

What is the one change that you see necessary for the city of Sparks?

The city of Sparks is facing very difficult times, and in these times it is necessary to return to the basics. Getting back to the basics means people and businesses helping one another. We need to check on the very foundation of this city and remember how it was formed. Cooperation, consideration, and compassion are needed to help get us through these times and get us back on track so Sparks will once again become a city in which people will come to visit and live. I can hear the new catch phase already: “Welcome to Sparks. Here is where you’ll play-Here is where you’ll stay.”

Ed Lawson


Nonpartisan

In what areas do you envision Sparks expanding in the future? Where do you believe our land use priorities need to be centered?

I think the expansion of Sparks is premature. Depending on who you talk to we have between 25 and 50 percent vacancy in our commercial real estate market. It is my idea to loosen the ordinances so we encourage small-business startups again; the way we get out of the recession is by growth.  Growth is not going to happen by government, it’s going to happen one small business at a time. I think the land use priorities need to focus on the downtown area and the Sparks Marina project for the short term. These areas will have the most impact in the shortest amount of time.

What is your position on the Pyramid and McCarran intersection? What needs to be done?

I have attended both meetings held by the Regional Transportation Commission at the Nugget and I believe the Disc Boulevard extension needs to be evaluated in more detail. This idea seems to have the most merit because it takes the traffic from Pyramid and shoots it over to U.S. 395. However, things are not as simple as they seem on the surface.  I have heard from several people in the government with some explanations I don’t really agree with. This process still has a long way to go before it is resolved. I would like to find an answer that doesn’t disrupt 80 homes and cost the tax payers a lot of money. I have been informed that the money is already available for this project; however do we really need to spend it right now?

Do you feel the Sparks City budget needs to be reformed? If so, how would you reform it? If not, what works well?

As it stands now the city labor costs are running at 94 percent of revenue. The normal ratio is 78 to 80 percent of revenue when the city is in better economic times. The real issue concerns “contracted employees” that make up approximately 94 percent of all payroll expenses in Sparks. This means the only way to bring the budget back into line is via layoffs. No one likes layoffs; layoffs just create problems for both sides. Sparks is in a unique position with the labor costs being such a big part of the budget. The challenge is to stay ahead of the curve so the payroll costs don’t get to crisis proportion as they are in other jurisdictions. Sparks has done a pretty good job of anticipating the decline of the market and looking forward.

What do you think of current status of public safety in Sparks?

We are in good shape as far as service. I believe we need to continually re-evaluate the service level and the number of employees needed to retain that level. I would anticipate a negative growth rate for Sparks until the jobs come back. It is very important we stay on top of the economy and keep our services at the level the population can sustain.

What is the one change you see is necessary for the city of Sparks?

Sparks needs to loosen up the permit process so small business can find a way to create jobs. The hoops needed to jump through to get a small business up and running are very onerous on the business owner. I know of at least two businesses who said if they would have known how hard it was to get their businesses open, they would have gone somewhere else. This doesn’t bode well for the city trying to attract new business to our community. I will bring a “find a way to say YES!” to the City Council so we can find ways to help our city grow out of this recession. 

Nicolas Lee

1875 Merchant St
Sparks, NV 89431

(775) 355-9422


Nonpartisan

No response at press time

Robert Lopes

529 18th St.
Sparks, NV 89431

(775) 355-7444


bob@lopes4sparkscouncil.com


www.lopes4sparkscouncil.com


Nonpartisan

In what areas do you envision Sparks expanding in the future?  Where do you believe our land use priorities need to be centered?

Given the current economic climate and reduction of city services, we should focus our growth inwardly first. We should look at infilling vacant, unattended and run down areas already within the city limits that will not require huge and expensive expansion of city services.

Long-delayed attention needs to be paid to the Oddie Boulevard area, which is in my Ward 2.

We should manage growth to balance development and infrastructure with open space to improve our quality of life.

What is your position on the Pyramid/McCarran intersection?  What needs to be done?

The current gridlock has resulted from poor planning and lack of coordination between the Regional Transportation Commission and regional planning entities. The Pyramid/McCarran interchange proposal is just a band-aid on a bigger problem. With the traffic signals remaining from Rock Boulevard to U.S. 395, focusing on this one location will very probably just result in moving the congestion from the Pyramid/McCarran intersection farther west on McCarran and south to Pyramid and Interstate 80.

To address these serious traffic issues, we must aggressively move to enable smooth flow within the entire community. I believe that the Pyramid/U.S. 395 connector road would create far more efficient movement of vehicles.

It will cost less to build now than if we wait 15 years. (Remember the decades-long, very expensive completion of the McCarran loop.) The project will also create much-needed local jobs for our community.

I think that this approach will create a win-win situation for the Spanish Springs residents and the thousands of residents who would be affected by the currently proposed Pyramid/McCarran Interchange project.

Do you feel the city's budget needs to be reformed?  If so, how would you reform it? If not, what about the current budget works well?

Yes. The budget must be continually reviewed so that tax dollars are spent on essential services, with far better long-term planning and far less wishful thinking about where revenues may come from.

Certainly we are working through the worst economic times of our generation. Property taxes and sales taxes have declined leaving the city with limited funds. We must learn from past mistakes and not repeat them.

Sensible economic development should be a major focus. Diversifying our economy is important to create jobs for our community. It will in turn create a stable and consistent tax base for our city. Neither the city's budget nor the local economy will improve until more Sparks people are working at good jobs with good pay.

As a city, we need to create a level playing field for our business community. We should not subsidize any business that is not bringing a new product or service to Sparks. It is unfair to lend assistance to a new business that directly competes with existing businesses already paying their fair share of taxes and employing local people.

What do you think of the current status of public safety in Sparks?

Police and fire departments are both understaffed. As a city government, we have an obligation to protect the safety of our citizens. I will not support any additional budget cuts to public safety.

What is the one change that you see necessary for the City of Sparks?

Leadership that protects the taxpayers and their interests (parks, roads, libraries, police and fire protection) while creating jobs for our community by continuing to diversify our economy.

Randy Mellinger


Nonpartisan

In what areas do you envision Sparks expanding in the future? Where do you believe our land use priorities need to be centered?

We have significant long-term economic development opportunities in the East Truckee Canyon and our sphere of influence was amended a number of years ago with a regional plan revision to include this area.  There is an area plan that has been in the works for quite some time which calls for primarily industrial and business park uses.  Renewable energy uses such as solar farms (one of which was approved) are great possibilities. More intensive land uses need to be promoted in the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) corridors with mixed use projects that will reduce commuting and take advantage of transit, pedestrian facilities and bikeways.  Traffic has always been a major issue in the west and TOD can be a long-term program to address traffic.  The TOD areas are essentially focused along the north side of Interstate 80. The most immediate land use priority is the development of business parks. We worked very hard to establish hundreds of acres of business parks designations in Copper Canyon, Kiley Ranch, Stonebrook, Pioneer Meadows and the East Truckee Canyon to provide substantial areas for high-end manufacturing and corporate centers. Business parks are readily incorporated into these planned developments to import jobs for our residents to address unemployment, the Nevada tax structure which is based upon spending and an improved land-use pattern that reduces traffic congestion.  Working with EDAWN (the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada) to implement Target 2010 which identified specific industries best suited for our area, Sparks, landowners and developers can make this vision become a reality.

What is your position on the Pyramid/McCarran intersection? What needs to be done?

This intersection has been studied for years and improvements are obviously necessary when peak hour traffic is experienced both mornings and afternoons.  The key questions now are funding and how many homes are to be displaced.  This is a Nevada Department of Transportation and Regional Transportation Commission project.  Funding limitations may only allow for interim improvements.  The least impact on existing homes should be a priority. Another  traffic  reduction approach is to promote the job-generation in north Sparks as discussed earlier so that a substantial amount of traffic does not even go through Pyramid and McCarran during peak hours.  With most of our regional jobs in south Reno, we have pursued the traditional method to addressing traffic congestion through expensive road improvements.  The land-use policies we have adopted will help alleviate the need for millions of dollars in road improvements. Another approach is the planned connection from Pyramid Highway near Disc Drive to U.S. 395 near Truckee Meadows Community College. These are not either/or approaches but comprehensive planning to address short-term and long-term traffic issues.

Do you feel the city’s budget needs to be reformed? If so, how would you reform it? If not, what about the current budget works well?

The city's budget has drastically been reformed due to extreme revenue declines.  It is highly unlikely that the Legislature will provide local governments with more revenue and probable that further transfers of local revenue to state coffers will occur.  Therefore, it is crucial to use the tools in existence to maximize the revenue picture under the current tax structure.  We must actively pursue the importation of jobs and tourists. Otherwise, revenues will continue to tumble and even more cuts will be made.  I do not support layoffs as they immediately reduce levels of service to the community.  Temporary across-the-board pay cuts make more sense.  They should be temporary until revenues recover and then there should be a statement by the City Council that the highest priority would be the recovery of compensation to employees based upon salary surveys.  We need to be very active in economic development and that would be a reformation for Sparks.  We pursued more retail along Pyramid and at the Legends but the regional plan policy of promoting emerging employment centers with staff resources has been limited.  The city manager instituted business planning a long time ago and strategic planning in recent years.  These tools identify service goals and objectives as well as resources needed to accomplish them.  This has worked well in the budget process but the severe revenue reductions have only allowed these tools to show what we cannot get done.

What do you think of the current status of public safety in Sparks?

Despite the economic downturn, our police, fire and public works departments have constantly pursued effective ways to address public safety to keep Sparks a safe community.  However, the cuts that have been made certainly affect our safety negatively.  Response times are affected with fewer officers on active patrol and there are limitations on fighting structure fires with three-man crews.  During emergencies, public works staff reductions will impact drainage, transportation routes and general response.  Having been with the city for more than 14 years, I have seen the dedication of the public safety personnel and I am confident that we have the best that any city can hope for.

What is the one change that you see necessary for the city of Sparks?

I believe we need to be very active in working with EDAWN, the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority and other economic development entities to allow us to recover from the recession and get our employees (the most important resource any community has) up to full strength.  We have had a plan in place to transform Sparks from a bedroom community to a balanced with a mix of commercial, industry, residential and business park which will rapidly improve our fiscal health and the community.  But we must apply more resources to realize economic vitality.

Jarrod Williams

1780 Byrd Dr.


Sparks, NV 89431

(775) 622-5474

ironmanticore@live.com


Nonpartisan

No response at press time

Sparks City Council Ward 4 Mike Carrigan (incumbent)

3393 Alpland Lane


Sparks, NV 89434

(775) 626-6509


Nonpartisan