The North Las Vegas City Council and Redevelopment Agency welcomes you to its meetings.

There are four public comments set aside for public comment at one at the beginning and the end of the redevelopment agency meeting, one at the beginning and one at the end of the city council meeting.

If you wish to speak, please complete one of the blue cards that are located outside the chambers here or at the podium rail.

When completed, please give your card to the city clerk who's just raising her hand.

And when we call on you to speak, we request that you limit your comments to no more than two minutes.

Madam City Clerk, are we in compliance with the Nevada Open Meeting Law?

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Today we have the opportunity to have the invitation given by Father Fred Wendell of St.

James Catholic Church.

Following that will be the Pledge of Allegiance as led by Mayor Pro Tem Scott Black.

Please rise.

So let us pray.

Well, God of Justice's mercy.

Thank you for the gifts of life and the opportunity to serve the people of North Las Vegas.

Thank you for our leaders for their commitment for their willingness always to act with character or conviction.

May all listen with understanding and goodwill.

May all speak with charity and restraint.

Bestow always a spirit of service.

May we be mindful that we are stewards of your authority.

May all be leads the leaders people need.

In these very challenging times, help us all to see the humanity and those who disagree.

And to treat all persons, no matter how weak or poor, with the reverence your creation deserves.

Finally, renew all with the strength of your presence and the joy of your helping hand to continue to build a community worthy of the human person.

We lift up to you this community of North Las Vegas, especially any who live in this city who are struggling in body, mind, or spirit.

Confident of your goodness and love, we are mindful today that it is you in your holy name that we pray.

Amen.

Okay, before we move forward, um, we are wearing our rebel red, in case you have been noticed, and we are celebrating U and L V today here at the City of North Las Vegas.

And so we're gonna have something special for them a little bit later, but I want to welcome everyone here from UNLV and thank you for being here.

We also have a special day today.

Someone has taken another circle around the sun.

Councilman Isaac Barone, we want to wish you a very, very happy birthday today.

Okay, we have to sing.

Who's gonna start the song?

Go ahead, MPT.

Happy birthday.

Birthday to you.

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday, dear councilman Baron.

Happy birthday to you.

You see, now I was thinking you guys can break into Sapo Verde, eres tu verde, eres to you see, you'd have to be the you'd have to be kind of like Mexican to understand that one.

So I'll forgive you guys on that.

Thank you very much, though.

Okay, you're still a baby.

We're you're good.

Still a baby.

Uh Mayor, it's not the years, it's the miles.

Thank you so much, though.

Enjoy.

All right, we have two presentations this afternoon, and one will be the certificate of recognition for the business of the month, and then the certificate of recognition to the city of North Las Vegas from just serve.org.

Let's go ahead and go down front, council.

Hello, I'm Councilwoman Ruth Garcia Anderson, and I'm honored to represent Ward II here in the city of North Las Vegas.

Each month we shine a light on the local business or organization that truly represents the heart of our community.

This month I'm excited to recognize Left of Center Art Gallery as our November 2025 Business of the Month.

Located at 2207 West Gowan Road.

Left of Center has been a creative hub in North Las Vegas for decades.

It was founded back in 1987 by Vicky Richardson, an incredible artist and visionary who wanted to give overlooked artists a space to share their talent and connect with others.

Well started as a for-profit gallery, grew into a nonprofit in 1997.

And since then it's become an incredible cultural center for our city.

The gallery showcases a wide variety of artists, styles, and media, and it's supported by a team of artists and educators who believe in making art accessible to everyone.

But their work goes beyond displaying our work.

Left of Center brings people together through exhibits.

Workshops and community programs that inspire creativity and conversation.

One of the most special things about Left of Center is its extraordinary collection of African art, one of the largest public displays in Nevada.

This bridge between cultures reminding us how art can connect people from all walks of life.

To vacate and have everyone a left of center.

Thank you for the beauty.

Passion and inspiration you bring Las Vegas.

Congratulations on being on November 2025 Business of the Month.

All right, let's give them a round of applause.

Council, can you guys join me?

And if I can have the team of Left of Center come up as well.

I will read the certificate of recognition.

It says presented on November 5th, 2025 to Left of Center Art Gallery for your outstanding contributions to the cultural and artistic enrichment of the North Las Vegas community.

Your commitment to creativity, education, and community service exemplifies the spirit of North Las Vegas.

Thank you for making the arts accessible and inclusive for all.

Thank you so much, Mr.

I'm from Eli Jacobs.

I'm actually the librarian at Left of Center, and we are just so honored to have this presentation today.

Come visit our artist studio, come see our exhibits, and definitely visit the library.

Thank you so much.

And I'll turn the microphone over to you, Leah.

Thank you.

We've been um able to partner with the city of J of North Las Vegas on multiple different um volunteer opportunities in your city.

And um, what Just Serve is is it's a website where people who um have volunteer opportunities will post them on the website and then anybody in the in the community can go to that website, find different opportunities to volunteer and sign up and do them.

And some of the opportunities that have um had been on just serve are a lot of your tree planting opportunities, so we've had volunteers help with that.

Umthony also helped with the back to school um giveaway that you had.

He's one of our just our specialists in the area.

Um and what we are presenting today is a Jeff Service City Award, and the Just Serve City Award recognizes those cities, towns, villages that have a culture of volunteerism that like to help their community to be bonded together through service um towards one another.

And we definitely feel like the city of North Las Vegas has that culture and that um that mindset.

Um just kind of a few little facts about just serve, just serve is actually um throughout the whole world.

Throughout the whole world, we're in 17 different countries and six different languages.

And we currently have 104 just serve cities.

And you are one of our newest ones just in October.

So we're very honored to be able to present this to you.

And to become a just serve city, one of the main things was to submit a volunteerism proclamation.

And in that proclamation, it just states how volunteerism is important, building the community is important, helping to lift those who live here is important.

And we're just very grateful to be able to partner and be with you guys in this.

So you presented it to me.

There you go.

Thank you.

Okay.

All righty guys.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Thanks so much.

Thank you so very hard.

And I appreciate this.

We get asked quite often about volunteer opportunities in the city.

And so this is a resource that we can proudly share for those who are interested in in serving the community.

So thank you very much.

Right.

Did you always say we uncovered it?

Awesome.

Thank you.

All right, we are going to move on to council items.

Councilman Baron, we'll start with you today.

Yeah, uh, hey, the first thing I wanted to say is, boy, our team is really getting good.

That's like the best uh business of the month video that I've seen produced so far.

Um the team is doing a really good job.

So um kudos to them.

Uh also um I'm I'm really uh happy to have that last award uh sent our way.

Um as uh the former mayor used to say, you know, our our city is about building bridges to uh to our community, to our communities, and to our friends abroad.

We don't build fences around here, we build bridges.

So um thank you so very much.

Um mayor, I I don't recall, but I I know Mayor Pratin was with me, but were you also uh with us with Dr.

Klippenstein when uh uh when we went to CSN and and uh uh celebrated his 100 days conductor event?

Mary, you you were there too, weren't you?

I will have to forgive me.

I I um I'm getting old, you know.

Um so sometimes these events, you know, they they they get past me.

But um yeah, uh I we uh definitely wanted to salute uh Dr.

Klippenstein, and you couldn't find a more animated college president than Dr.

Klippenstein.

So uh of course, you know, we uh we salute him, and of course, uh we're really uh happy to have him a part of Ward One here in the city of North Las Vegas.

Um I do know that you went with me to a Lincoln elementary school uh on October 22nd, where we were there to uh visit with our friends from girls on the run, who of course, you know, I I thought it was something different.

I I thought it was just like a track thing, and I was totally wrong.

It's actually a leadership building uh program uh with uh with with young people.

That's actually uh, and that's the name of the the group that comes in, girls on the run, and it was fantastic to visit with them and seeing how they build up uh young uh young women, and in this case, um elementary age uh uh uh women um and build uh build up a leadership uh potential in them.

That was fantastic.

Um Arbor Day, the second annual Arbor Day.

Um is our forester uh in the in the in the house here somewhere.

I I don't see him.

He he seems to like just come and go uh uh with like the wind.

But um I was really honored that we had uh that we celebrated a second annual Arbor Day with the tree planting, October uh 22nd.

We had the student from Civica.

Uh there they were here to uh to celebrate it with us.

And of course, you know, um the number one way to combat um well, one of the ways to combat uh global climate change is to plant trees.

And here, of course, we have a uh a city um meta uh a uh a target to plant 30,000 trees by the end of this uh by the end of this decade.

And I think we're we're we are well on our way.

Um that is the that is the the target, right?

30,000 by the end of the the decade.

Anyone?

How me out here?

I am right, okay, good.

I see I'm alright about a few things here.

Hero's journey.

Uh there's a a program to uh instill uh uh leadership there and and uh in our high school students, and I was able to attend the Heroes Journey at Sunrise House High School on October 23rd and uh had a chance to interact with the students over there.

It was good being in the classroom.

Um it's kind of weird not being the actual teacher in there, but um it was uh interesting being in the high school in the classroom again.

Um speaking of school, of course, um if you if you don't know, I'm also an appointed trustee to the CCSD uh board of trustees.

And so I participated in a community engagement with uh my fellow trustees Johnson and Henry at Cheyenne High School on October 24th.

And there are more of these community engagement events around the valley.

We answered a few questions um about uh about things like our strategic plan, and we uh we wound up going into uh some specific questions at this at the high school.

But be sure uh when you see that there are other uh conversations like this coming to a neighborhood new year near you.

You should um maybe encourage your neighbors, uh, your friends, your neighbors, anyone who has a stake to be a part of this conversation.

And finally, um Mayor, I was so proud to uh um about uh NRC's Harvest Fence, Harvest Fest and Trunk Retreat.

Um the NRC team, they did a fantastic job putting together this community celebration.

Uh that also, you know, we had kind of like a harvest Halloween party and trunk retreat.

And I'm very proud that my truck won most scariest.

That's what it says on the thing there.

Uh I I was wearing my um what's the name of the guy for Squid Games?

He's the big boss, wears all black.

I wore that.

Okay.

And I I I guess I spooked the uh the kids with that.

So I should have more, I should have worn that more as a teacher, I think.

Oh my goodness.

Without the mask.

That's even scarier.

Yes.

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I appreciate uh your indulgence.

Thank you, Councilman.

Counselor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um this year we had our sixth year of pause in the park at Nature Discovery Park in Aliante.

Uh, and uh I could tell you that uh this year was uh without a doubt uh the best of all of them.

It's grown by leaps and bounds.

This year we had a uh a Halloween theme uh that uh I have to say I have to give the credit to our staff upstairs, Claudia, Kantasha, Raiselle, Maryam, for you know, putting this whole thing together.

It's not easy uh bringing uh all of these different departments together.

And of course, I want to thank the departments, uh, particularly public works, putting up uh, you know, what's needed out there in the parks department, putting up the tents and everything and taking down the stage and putting it up and back and forth.

Um but the most important part about that pause in the park wasn't just a party in the park.

Uh it really had to do about bringing awareness to our animals here and uh their needs and being a voice for them.

Uh we had uh uh Christy Stevens from Hearts Alive Village.

Uh again, the sixth year, she volunteers her time with her staff to come in and uh vaccinate and microchip uh well over a hundred dogs.

Uh and uh we're looking to uh continue this to go forward.

This year, um I was able to gather uh uh enough of sponsors to carry us forward up until the next year, and uh we're looking to make this uh a bigger and better event every year for our animals.

Thus, we're their voice, they don't have a voice.

Um secondly, Mayor, the Las Vegas safe Halloween event at Liberty Park was amazing as well.

Uh I filled up my pockets with candy as usual.

You know, and uh matter of fact, I think I made uh two rounds.

So uh but don't tell my wife.

Um and of course, you you're looking at one, two, three, four.

You're looking at five of the best looking pirates for our Halloween contest over here.

Uh what are you smile for?

Oh, we okay.

Yeah, uh our our makeup was pirates.

And I could tell you that uh when we stood over there at the front rail, and I thought we were good, but after we we saw the people that from the different departments the way they were dressed and all, no, we would we were just uh kind of the low bar, not really low, but we weren't up as high as we thought we were.

So I want to thank all of the uh the participants, all of our employees for really going out of their way.

It that's getting bigger and better every year to stop on those different floors and look how they they take the time, a lot of their personal time and their personal funds to put uh those designs together for all of us to enjoy and see.

Uh again, uh I wanted to uh say once again our happy Halloween to everybody here, but I also want to finish Mayor.

Uh our veterans resource center was uh was a blessing to our community a number of years ago.

And uh this uh excuse me, on November 1st, we had our again annual barbecue.

And I want to give a shout out, so to speak, to uh to Walter and Helena for taking that uh that resource center from the very very beginning from the foundation of that that modulo out there to what it is today.

Uh they're an amazing asset to our our team over here, and they bring all of the information that is available to uh to them to our veterans uh during the week and during the month.

And uh if you had an opportunity uh and you were out there, but I suggest that if you didn't, you come by next year.

And uh we're adding so much stuff to including car show and all of the different vendors.

So um uh I think it's something that we should applaud those people about.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you.

Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you, Mayor.

I have several items, but I'll talk quickly.

On October 18th at the Silver Mesa Rec Center, our parks and uh recreation team did a tremendous job with the Harvest Fest.

It was a great turnout from the community.

There were fun games inside the Rec Center, lots of activities and trunk retreating outside.

I all the people that go, uh I see people there each year that come back because it's such a fun community event.

So thank you to uh Doug and the team for uh great event out at in Ward 3.

Also, uh Quantum McCall is an elementary school that's just a short distance from where we're at here at City Hall.

They have an attendance incentive program where they give away bicycles.

Um, I love bicycles, so I donated to really nice new BMX bikes to help with uh the incentive to get kids at school.

You can't learn if you're not at school, and uh hopefully the kids that win those bikes will will enjoy them.

Also, another uh kudo to Parks and Rec on October the 25th was a Make a Difference Day tree planting event at Cheyenne Ridge Park.

We uh planted a lot of trees, we moved a lot of mulch.

I'd like to thank our Parks Erect team as well as Pastor Leo and his awesome group of volunteers from Victory Outreach, North Las Vegas, uh, for coming out and really uh truly making a difference that day at that park.

Um also uh I participated in two other trunk retreats.

One was at the Aliante Master Association.

Um my wife and I gave out uh a pounds and pounds and pounds of candy there.

It was a really great turnout and community event, and then at the um Army National Guard location out on Range Road off of 215 and I-15, the Armed Forces Chamber hosted an awesome community trunk retreat for military families and guard families, and that was also uh an awesome event.

And if you were outside that night, it was probably the best sunset of the entire year.

It was uh my wife would call it spicy sunset.

It was really awesome.

Uh just this um earlier this week on the third, I had the privilege of participating over at our Dolores Huerta Resource Center in partnership with the Just One Project.

There was a food distribution, they were giving away uh distributing food to families in need in our community uh as a result of the um the stoppage of this the snap benefits and it was just awesome.

The really the neatest thing about it is some people that came through to receive the food benefit asked if we needed help and they parked their car or and they stayed behind and helped distribute the food.

They were recipients and also making a difference and helping others in need.

So that was really great.

Those distributions will be going on at four sites throughout the city from now until the um uh the the benefits are reinstated.

So you can learn on the city's website where those locations are.

Um like to announce that uh on November 15th from 10 a.m.

to 2 p.m.

will be Silver Mesa Rec Center's Feast of Gratitude.

It's an awesome community event.

Uh the seniors that go to the senior uh center at Silver Mesa all come out and enjoy it.

It's a great event for families.

Uh invite anyone who'd like to participate in that to do so.

And then I'm adding this one to my list.

This morning I was uh on a walk with my wife.

If you're not familiar with our city contact North Las Vegas app and our amazing graffiti abatement team, there was some very any graffiti is it's problematic in my opinion, but this particular graffiti on Tropical and Simmons was very offensive at 6.50 this morning.

I reported it on the app.

By 8 40, I received an email that the uh graffiti had been remediated.

And so hopefully not too many eyeballs had to see that offensive graffiti.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Councilwoman.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

On October 18th, I had um the opportunity to be invited by Russell Rowe, who's actually here.

Hi, Russell, and represent uh North Las Vegas at Carvana Fest at their vending machine in Las Vegas.

So if you've if you're on the freeway heading you know south to towards the strip, you're gonna see the Carvana vending machine.

So I was I was there, I took my family, and this was meaningful because Carvana owns Odessa, which is something that I learned thanks to to Russell.

Um they have their um Carvana has their major vehicle restoration and auction center, which is located in my ward, ward two here in North Las Vegas.

Um and then this event brought many families together, and it was just so great to see this great business connect uh with the community that they they serve.

So thank you, Russell.

And then on October 27th and 28th, I had the privilege of attending the annual um Nevada League of Cities in Henderson with a few uh of my colleagues, including um Mayor Patem and Mayor.

And I had the opportunity to connect and learn um from other municipalities from across our state.

I connected with other council members from um other other cities, and it was just a great experience to be able to uh collaborate, um, hear about some of the issues that they're experiencing and how they're tackling those issues.

Um we also received great information from different presentations throughout the day, uh which um gave us tools and resources so that we can better serve our community.

So thank you to the city of Henderson for hosting.

And then the following day, our entire city council, we had the opportunity to tour the Aerojet facility, which I must say it has the coolest name.

And so at first I'm like, oh my goodness, we're gonna go see jets, and then I learn more about it, but it was still really, really cool.

And then I learned that Aerojet is actually the street, Aerojet Way, right, Michaela.

And then it just has a really cool um name, and I'm glad that it has a name, and it's located in my ward as well, ward two.

And it was just like eye-opening to uh you just to see the extensive range of supplies and systems that uh in place that are helping uh keep our community safe.

Um, this is a new facility that the city just acquired, and it's going to um serve fire department, a public works crew, so they can have the space that they need, the tools and the resources so they continue, they can continue serving our community and protecting.

Um, and then October 31st, Halloween was packed with action.

Um, I don't know if you guys had an opportunity to attend any of the events throughout our community.

I stopped by Craig Ranch, which I sits in the heart of my ward, and it was just amazing to see so many people coming to this beautiful park, and we had several events taking place at the same time.

The parking lot was was full, but there was plenty of parking for everyone.

Um, I think I mentioned to Valerie Derek's um that most of the our city was at the park that night because there were very few trick or treaters in our neighborhoods.

I I could barely see any of them.

Um so thank you to our parks and our rec team for for your efforts, our police, our fire department, everyone that helped make um and keep you know may make this event possible and keep everyone safe.

And then last but not least, this coming Saturday, November 8th, from 8 in the morning to 10 a.m., I'm gonna be at Cheyenne Ridge Park in Ward 2 at a at a tree planting event.

We uh have partnered with a local uh church and they're going to be helping us plant trees.

But if anyone that's in this room in this room would like to come and join, um, you're welcome to join us.

That is Cheyenne Ridge Park, and that's all for me.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

And one more thing.

Um, I had a really cool tour this morning.

I toured a manufacturing plant right here in North Las Vegas called Parker Plastics.

So I'm sure you've all seen that the clover honey that's in the little teddy bear container.

Um they manufacture that here, other with or your mustard or your five-gallon water bottles or these kind of water bottles, but they're made right here in our backyard in North Las Vegas, and so I just want to thank them for hosting me today along with our economic development team just to show the various industries that we have here right in our own city.

So thank you again for that opportunity this morning.

So, with that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and adjourn this meeting of the city council and turn the gavel over to the redevelopment agency with council councilwoman um chair Ugarcia Henderson.

Okay, thank you, Mayor.

Today I know I think I need water.

Okay, moving on to the redevelopment agency agenda.

Sorry, moving on to the redevelopment agency first public forum.

This time it's set aside to comment on posted agenda items.

So if you want to speak on any items on today's agenda, now is the time.

Let's go ahead and open that public forum.

Mana City Clerk, do we have any blue cards or written comments?

No, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Let's go ahead and close that public forum.

Now moving on to the redevelopment agency agenda.

Item one redevelopment agency regular meeting agenda of November 5, 2025.

Agency members, staff recommends approval of the redevelopment agency agenda as published.

Thank you.

Do we have a motion to approve that redevelopment agency regular meeting agenda as published?

Move to approve.

Thank you.

Okay.

Motion passed.

Let's move on to the consent agenda.

The consent agenda consists of one item.

Staff recommends approval of the consent agenda.

Okay, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Move to approve consent.

Thank you.

Okay, and the motion passed.

Now moving on to the second public forum.

Let's go ahead and open that up.

Madam City Clerk, do we have any blue cards or written comments?

No, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Let's go ahead and close that public forum.

And now I'm adjourning this meeting of the redevelopment agency back to the city council meeting and back to you, Mayor.

Thank you, Chairwoman.

Moving on to the city council's first public forum.

This is the time set aside to comment on posted agenda items.

So if you wish to speak on any items on today's agenda, now is the time.

Madam City Clerk, do we have any blue cards for posted agenda items?

Yes, ma'am.

We have blue cards as well as I've received some written correspondence that I'll cover first.

Okay.

We have a correspondence from attorney Brian Scott expressing his support for judicial applicant canon.

And he expresses that uh the applicant has exemplary knowledge of the law.

And with that, we have a request to speak from Jet Allen.

Welcome.

Good evening, uh, esteemed mayor and city council members.

Nice to see you all.

My name is Jeff Allen.

I am uh general counsel for the North Las Vegas Police Officers Association and outside counsel for uh IFF 1607, your your police officers and firefighters.

I am here on agenda item uh 25 and 26, and it is my privilege to uh offer my support and endorsement of Chris Cannon for municipal court judge.

Um I have been practicing law for 27 years, um almost 20 here in Nevada.

Um I came here in 06 and started working at a law firm that uh Mr.

Cannon was working at.

And uh he was a brand new attorney.

I had practiced law in Los Angeles for about seven, eight years.

And um, our goal was to work uh longer hours than the partners.

Um, one of the partners is here, Pete uh Peter Angelo, and uh we used to, if if we left before Pete, we would sneak past his office.

Um, but we definitely worked our butts off, and I was super impressed with uh with Chris.

He uh knew so much more than your typical beginning attorney.

In my experience, and at least for me, I didn't know anything for about three years, and I was probably a walking legal malpractice lawsuit waiting to happen.

Um, it takes a while before you figure out what the heck you're doing.

Chris, maybe because he grew up the son of a very prominent Nevada attorney, he knew what he was doing right from the beginning.

Um, and so I definitely can say that Chris is a solid candidate.

Um, I've I've worked with him, as I said.

Um, I've worked alongside him.

Um, I've actually relied on him for uh information.

He started practicing in family law.

Unfortunately, I've gone through uh needing a family law attorney, um, as have my friends, and uh he helped us figure a bunch of things out and is that my time to get out of here.

All right, thank you.

He's a great candidate.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mayor.

We have also uh Peter Angelo.

Welcome.

Good morning, members of the city or afternoon, members of the city council.

I'll make sure I get done before that beeping starts.

My name's Peter Angulo.

I'm an attorney in this community, have been for 36 years.

I've known Chris for 37 years.

I clerked at his father's firm, later became a partner there.

I've seen him growing up from a teenager to be a young man to be an attorney, uh, police officer.

Um I've had a number of times, uh, opportunities to discuss matters with him, both about the law and about his own personal life and matters of ethics.

I will tell you that I find him to be a person of great integrity.

I also serve this community as a short trial judge and have been an arbitrator since that program.

Both programs began.

So whatever that is, 20 years or something like that.

And so I, while I'm not a practicing judge full-time, I do think I understand what it takes to have a judicial temperament.

I would endorse Chris strongly in that regard also.

I think he has a strong mind.

Uh, he certainly comes from an excellent family.

Um, and and has the ability to represent this city excellently and to decide and deal justice properly.

And with that, so I don't get beeped.

I thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Mayor Jasmine.

Welcome, Jasmine.

Hello.

Good evening.

My name's Jasmine.

I'm here to speak and ask questions regarding how city money is being given or how this funding will benefit this community, this community.

I want to start by saying the city agenda does not provide enough information for the people or groups who are asking for city funding.

Um, to someone like me who I had to do a lot of digging to try to figure out how what exactly the funding is going to be used for.

So I don't think it's very user-friendly for the community.

Are we are you referencing a specific agenda item on the on your comments?

Um, I thought I was allowed to speak on You're gonna if you do that, you can wait to the second public forum because this this public forum is about agenda items only.

So if you want to wait until the second public forum, we'll be happy to hear you.

Uh, isn't it uh well, I'm asking like how this money will benefit the community.

So I'm I think I should be allowed to kind of speak or say what my stopping from speaking just during the second public forum is when this is what when you will welcome your comments.

Yeah, no, I understand.

It's just um I usually don't get an opportunity to ask what the funding is being used for and how this is going to benefit the community.

Um, usually the funding just gets approved, and we do.

Ma'am, I understand that, but however, this section right now, this public forum is for posted agenda items.

And so if you want to wait and come back up during the second public forum, we'll absolutely hear your comments.

Okay, all right.

Like I said, I just I just want to understand how this is gonna be.

Ma'am, I appreciate it.

We'll talk to you in the second public forum.

Heavily Hispanic, and it's ICE is detaining us, ma'am, and ICE is trying to take us.

I just want to understand we have people who are currently on SNAP benefits, government funding, government shutdown.

Shame on all of you for asking for money or your time like this.

Shame on all of you and May, we have a request to speak from Ross Bryant.

Welcome.

Hey, good afternoon.

I happened to accidentally be here for UNLV Day.

So I'm happy about that.

Uh Mayor and City Council, my name is Ross Bryant.

I'm a retired Army major of 25 years.

Uh I was blessed to have my last seven years as the commander of Army ROTC at UNLV when 9-11 happened.

And during that time, I had a hundred cadets, and I'm here for the judicial appointment uh for Lieutenant Colonel Denise Ramos, who is one of those cadets.

She is an Iraq Afghanistan veteran.

And currently I am the executive director of veteran services at UNLV since 2012.

We have helped over 9,000 vets, military family members, and their benefit go to UNLV and graduate and do great things for the community.

Uh, during the last war, the reason she is a great candidate as a judicial appointment and potentially as a veteran treatment court judge is because after this 20-year war of one percent volunteers.

Uh, we have veterans who had five, six, seven deployments.

In World War II, average time of combat about two and a half years.

Vietnam was about a year if you were drafted.

Those veterans who are now coming back to go to school, uh, have all sorts of issues going on currently.

There are cuts to the VA, cuts to VA employees, cuts to programs, and of course, the government shutdown is impacting all of those folks.

That means that there will be more veterans that end up in veteran treatment court, like the treatment court that would be for the city of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas.

And so she would be an exceptional candidate.

I know her values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, personal courage, has great empathy, has great compassion, and she would be a great candidate if so choosing to be a judge for this wonderful city.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Mayor, I have no further requests to speak.

All right, thank you.

Since we have no more requests, I'll go ahead and close this public forum.

Moving on to the agenda.

Item three, City Council regular meeting agenda of November 5, 2025.

Call for a motion to approve the agenda as published.

And that motion passes.

Moving on to consent agenda.

The consent agenda consists of items four through 20.

Staff recommends approval of the consent agenda.

Okay, I'll call for a motion to approve consent agenda.

I'll make the motion to approve the consent agenda.

And that motion passes.

Moving on to business.

Item 21, set future public hearing dates.

Madam City Clerk, I direct you to set hearing dates as necessary.

Yes, Mayor, so noted.

Item 22, presentation from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas regarding various UNLV programs and recent activities and presentation of a proclamation for UNLV Day at North Las Vegas.

Okay, this is a discussion item only, and we are going to go down front council for presentation of a proclamation for UNLV Day at CNLV.

Did she mark just a minute?

If you guys don't mind having the clay.

Okay, there's yeah, it's a jacket of mail slides.

That's his presentation for a little later.

So we'll do the we'll do the proclamation and then yeah, okay, we'll switch around the death.

Microphone, please.

Okay.

So we are extremely flexible.

So I'm going to present a proclamation to you.

But I'm going to read all the whereas is as for.

Whereas UNLV founded in 1957 has conferred more than 176,000 degrees to 140, 154,000 plus graduates.

And whereas UNLV offers more than 375 undergraduate and graduate majors, minors, and certificates, including highly ranked programs in hospitality, law, engineering, business, creative writing, nursing, and the transformational Kirk Kakurian School of Medicine.

And whereas UNLV is one of two public universities in Nevada and among the top 3% of nearly 6,000 institutions nationally to achieve very high research activity or RI status by the Carnegie classification of institutions of higher education, the gold standard for research institutions.

And whereas UNLV is a proud recipient of the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, a national distinction honoring the university for exemplary community engagement practices that contribute to the public good while being benefiting the university and its students.

And whereas UNLB reflects the community of the city of North Las Vegas, which has been which has benefited significantly from the creativity, innovation, and drive displayed by UNLV graduates.

Now, therefore, we, the City Council of the City of North Las Vegas, do hereby proclaim November 5th, 2025 as UNL V Day here in the city of North Las Vegas, and encourage all our citizens to join us in recognizing and celebrating the extraordinary achievements and lasting impact of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on our city and state and beyond.

In witness whereof we have set our hand and cause the seal of the city of North Las Vegas to be a fixed this fifth day of November 2025.

Thank you.

Do we have the rebel fight song cue so we can just stuff this way?

All right.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thanks.

So you had the slides.

If we could show those, we'll just run through these very quickly.

Thank you so much for declaring this UNLV day, honor to be here.

Chris Heve, the UNLV interim president of UNLV.

And although I'm the interim president, I'm proud to have served the university for 33 years and hope to serve it for many more as the permanent president of UNLV, already having a contract running into 2028.

So we call UNLV the Anchor Institution of Southern Nevada because it's the largest institution in the state of Nevada as well as Southern Nevada.

And so the proclamation was very comprehensive, but we'll just run through really quickly some of the highlights.

As the mayor said, we are a Carnegie R1 institution that focuses on transforming our communities through education and engagement, over 150,000 alumni and comprehensive with three professional schools and more than 2 billion dollars in contributions to the local community.

And we serve a community that the city of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas knows well, has experienced explosive growth.

And so this is the slides of the 17 counties in uh Nevada from 1890 actually to today.

And I don't have to tell you which county is which on there, because there's 15 at the bottom that are can't really be distinguished.

There's Washoe County that looks like it's experiencing healthy growth.

And here in Clark County, we're having the explosive growth that we've all experienced for really the last 75 years or more, with North City of North Las Vegas really exploding in growth starting in 1990 and now proudly being the third largest city in Nevada.

And so with those growth comes the many challenges, and we know those well.

And so there's a lot to do to serve this growing population.

And the university is trying to move into these spaces where we need many professionals to serve the growing population of the whole Southern Nevada region, including the city of North Las Vegas.

We founded in 1957.

We're a small university in 1980, and now, as I mentioned, the largest university in the state with almost 34,000 students on the main campus at our medical campus.

And as uh many in this room know, moving north in the near future to a large site in North Las Vegas that we're very excited to develop in partnership with you.

And this just puts it in perspective of all of the great institutions of higher education in the state of Nevada.

We're a third larger than any of the other ones, at least.

And these are the numbers of both head count and uh full-time equivalent students.

So give you a sense of kind of where we are.

And where we are in Southern Nevada is serving everyone in Clark County.

This is the heat map that shows that we serve students from every zip code in Clark County, including those of North Las Vegas in large numbers, including many uh students who come in Pell eligible, and about 25% of our students are actually attending for free because of the aid that we're able to give them and the need that they have.

And so we're uh really providing the workforce, focusing on career readiness, durable skills, and addressing critical community needs, medicine, nursing, mental health, and uh teacher licensure being places where we've really leaned into uh providing a lot of uh professionals to step into those important roles, um, show some of the figures of our growth in these key areas.

We've added recent programs in cybersecurity, insurance and risk management, biomedical engineering, applied health sciences, and we have many high-value micro credentials that we offer as well.

And we're really focused on partnerships because we know that we can't do this work alone.

We're all over the city, including uh exploring this exciting partnership with North Las Vegas of the new children's science park that uh we're looking to develop in partnership and adding key kinds of programs that will serve the future, the artificial intelligence space.

We have a great immersive learning facility that is really cutting edge and working in areas that are really relevant to Southern Nevada, cybersecurity, which we don't have to talk about because everyone knows the challenges we've had in that space.

Obviously, war water resources and these other areas listed here will all be important to improving the lives of Southern Nevada going forward.

So thank you for giving us a moment to talk about what's going on at the university that we love and how we're serving this incredible community and for declaring this UNLV day in the city of North Las Vegas.

Uh happy to answer any questions, but I know you have a busy agenda as well.

All right, thank you very much.

I don't remember if I said R1 or RI when I was reading that.

I probably messed that up.

I'm sorry.

No worries.

We all got the picture.

Okay.

Research university.

Council, any comments or questions?

Councilman Baron.

Um thank you very much, Mr.

President, for that uh for that um presentation.

Uh I know uh myself, uh I was the first person from my family to uh attend UNLV.

Does um I and I know there's a number of people here in this audience who are also first time I know uh first time uh members from their family to attend any um uh institution of uh higher learning.

Um do we have any staff or do you have any stats uh that also speaks to this?

You know, uh what percentage of our students are uh the first in their family to attend?

Yeah, currently about 54 percent of our graduates are the first in their family to earn a college degree.

Wow.

So more than half of our students.

That's amazing.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, very proud of that.

So, with your um as we look toward the future and as we diversify um the economy here in the state of Nevada, and um, how do you decide future degree programs that will benefit this ever-changing world that we're living in today?

Yes, so every new degree program that we consider, we do kind of a workforce analysis, including proofs uh pulling national data as well as local data about the needs and employment opportunities for those graduates because we want to focus on high-value degrees that serve the community.

And so the you know, examples that I put up there, recent degrees that we've added, cybersecurity is one of the top professions that is uh unfilled positions.

We added another program recently, a certified registered nurse anesthesist program, which will qualify advanced practice nurses to serve as anesthesiologists in surgeries, and that's a really critical shortage in southern Nevada that's preventing many surgeries from occurring because they can't get an anesthesiologist.

And so for every degree, we do a careful analysis of that.

Uh healthcare is definitely going to be a space of growth, information technology, computer science, um, and we have both the master's and undergraduate degrees in cybersecurity, biotechnology, and we're working um to try to bring biotech into southern Nevada as well as another area of economic development.

And lastly, I'll add we only have the only four-year film school in the state of Nevada, and we're excited about the possibility of bringing film studios into the southern Nevada region as another area of uh economic development and workforce opportunity.

Okay, awesome.

I just was uh sitting here uh contemplating or thinking about my time at UNLV back in the early and mid-90s, and I had a flashback of sleeping in the back of my Dodge RAM charger because I worked all night and went to school all day.

You know, like that was a I mean I didn't sleep in there all the time, but in the parking lot by the Thomas and Mac Center.

So a little flashback.

Um very uncomfortable, by the way.

Um I'm looking forward to so that was then here.

We are today in 2025.

I'm looking forward to the future as you you mentioned the um the site of land that you have in North Las Vegas for future development and expansion of UNLV and the programs that you can bring to the community to expand your your footprint and research and development.

And uh it's just an exciting time to uh to be on the city council with these awesome individuals and a partner like you and LV to uh really drive us into the future.

So looking forward to that.

Thanks so much for that.

We're excited about it as well.

All right, and glad you don't have to sleep in the back of your truck anymore.

Yeah, too.

Yeah, I'll I also want to add that I'm also excited and looking forward to the future.

Um even though I did not graduate from here in LV.

That's okay.

We love everything.

But I I do want to say this.

Um I love Nevada.

I love both campuses.

Two of my kids, my two uh oldest were born up in Reno, and our two young as we're born here in southern Nevada.

So really my heart is it's in the state.

Um, and then when we first moved, I think I shared this with you when we first moved to North Las Vegas.

Um, I was very, very pregnant with our third child.

And at that time, my husband was transitioned in between jobs, and so we were uninsured for a short time, and we needed dental work, and so we had some friends that said, you know, the the university has a great um program, and they might be able to assist you.

And so we went, and so that was my very first experience as a new resident here in North Las Vegas, going to the UNLV campus and receiving services that really helped our family, saved us a lot of money because really what we needed was um really basic, uh, but very important for for our children.

So thank you for the work that you're doing, and uh once again, we're excited for this collaboration and for all the good things that are coming to our city.

Well, thank you for your comments.

We're glad that we're able to serve you and so many members of the community with the kinds of health care and other resources that we provide.

Proud to be here.

All right, and again, thank you for being here today and allowing us to host you on UNLV Day, and we invite you to visit often.

I'm gonna just appreciate your service to our community, all that you're doing with you and your team for UNLV.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Item 23, presentation by Barry Dunn regarding parks and recreation master plan.

Well, good evening, Mayor Coins Brown, City Council members, Doug Gile, Director of Parks and Recreation.

I'm honored this evening to introduce Barry Dunn Consultants, one of the nation's top park and recreation master plan consultants.

Agencies across the country rely on them to help shape park and rec organizations that are vibrant, forward thinking, and community driven.

Every thriving park and rec agency has a master plan.

And it's time for North Las Vegas to have one also.

This effort adds real credibility to our department and to our city as we continue to grow and serve our community.

We're fortunate to have Barry Dunn guiding this process, and their team brings both national expertise and genuine enthusiasm for listening to our team and our residents.

Tonight, Jason Gank from Barry Dunn, and he's joined by Lisa Wolfe.

Uh Jason will present an overview of the journey ahead.

Now, before Jason takes over, I'd like to show a video that Barry Dunn put together uh showing our parks and rec team, and then following the video, Jason will conclude.

And thank you for the city clerk's office for making this video available.

Thank you.

And um, you know, designing new uh playgrounds for our children, seeing the children happy and just having fun.

And hi, my name is Autumn Navarro, and I'm a crew lead with the parks department.

Um, my favorite thing about North Las Vegas is the wonderful community and the patrons that we were.

Um I've lived here 20 years.

My kids have all grown up in the parks.

And uh I'm really looking forward to the master plan because it gives us a chance to know what we're doing right, what we're doing wrong, um, and to um you know, have a chance to get new facilities and upgrade what we have, um, policy changes, you know, where need be.

And uh yeah, really really excited.

Um, growing up as a kid, especially like when COVID happens, you know, um everybody's trying to come to the wreck on my friends and stuff.

We'll play basketball, you know, instead of usually being out in the streets and stuff.

I just come out here.

I once we stop score or something.

Um, we'll be up here all day, cards on seven, go home, and just do it all over again the next day.

Um without those experience, I would like not have as much friends as we have now.

Not would have I wouldn't have met the people that I've met.

Um, because most of those people are like my close friends today.

And yeah, I've grown to build a relationship with them and stuff, and it's all because of you know the record.

Basketball.

Uh, one of the benefits of our program that we offer is to uh really focus on our young people in our community, bringing our youth together, giving them specific activities that will help them to grow to be successful inside of our community.

Another thing that we do is also to bring in families together so that families can engage with each other, help build our community, make our community stronger, whether it's educational, financial, sports, or any of those natures.

So we are uh we strive every day to make everybody life better here in City of North Las Vegas.

And then tell me what you're looking forward to with the um parks recreation master plan.

What I'm looking forward to Parks Records and Master Plan for the next five years is to see how we're what we can do to grow to be even more successful with the things that we do.

Uh how we can get out to those outsourced communities that we have not reached out to, what's the best way to get out to them, what um uh what kind of plans we can put together in order to get beyond the barriers, how we can draw more of the outside into us and utilize them to see what resources they can also bring to our community to make everything better.

And then what about the facilities?

So facilities, what I'm looking for for the next five years is uh a growth in our facilities.

Um hopefully we can get some new rec centers going on uh because with us only having two rec centers here in the city of North Las Vegas, it's kind of hard to kind of reach out and we'd we run out of space.

So in another sense, to have enough space in order to uh be able to supply the necessary things needed for our community.

Hello, my name is Anthony Jeff Wall.

I am the lead production technician for the city of North Las Vegas at Craig Ranch Regional Park.

And I have been here now for a year, uh just recently promoted, and over the next five years, I love our parks and wrecks department because we do have plenty of events, a lot of this that we do at Craig Ranch Regional.

And at Craig Ranch we have concerts and we have our splash pad and we have a lot of things going on and I enjoy it.

And in the next five years, I would love to see growth and people to keep coming out and enjoying the festivities that we do have.

And then so you're at Craig Ranch, right?

Yes.

Okay.

So tell me um like what Craig Ranch is all about here.

So just tell me like what Craig Ranch is about and what you think that provides to the community.

Uh Craig Ranch is a very big park and it's one of the largest parks on the West Coast.

And uh it provides a huge atmosphere with multiple playgrounds for children to come out and have a great time.

We have a splash pad that the kids come out and enjoy.

We also just recently opened up uh multi-purpose uh field where we have soccer, football, and lacrosse, and it is growing tremendously.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council.

Thank you so much for this opportunity to give just a very brief update on the planning process.

My name is Jason Genk, and I lead our practice at Barrie Dunn, but most importantly, I serve as your project manager.

And I thought, what a great way to kind of kick off the introduction of this planning process to uh show you the faces of your staff and their stories and seeing their passion firsthand.

That was very informal of that video.

Uh just want to say that, but it was you know purposefully done that way at the kickoff.

So what you saw is staff's initial inspiration of what they see in the future for North Las Vegas.

And so we thought, what a great opportunity to showcase that tonight.

So uh hopefully you enjoyed that.

Uh but we are kicking off the planning process.

Yes, we've started a couple of months ago, and it's a year-long process.

We're updating your last planning effort, I believe, was in 2003 for parks and recreation for a master plan, uh, if I'm not mistaken.

And certainly you want to take every opportunity to do uh the very best uh and to update uh in align with current and future needs.

Some of the things that we've already done just in this past week, uh, many of the events that you highlighted, and I appreciate that.

Thank you for your great service.

We were at uh we've already had hundreds of conversations with your community.

Uh, next week we'll be kicking off more of the formal uh comprehensive engagement process and strategy, and we'll be going all over your community.

Everything and one thing I wanted to plug is an online portal uh that'll have the opportunity uh for anyone to interact.

There's even a map of the community where you can place a pin and say, hey, I'd like to see a trail here.

Hey, I'd like to see this basketball court repaired, you name it, and also see what your neighbors might be interested in.

Uh the statistically valid survey component of the outreach also launched.

I think you may already be aware of that.

We have already been receiving those returns.

So things are looking very good from an engagement standpoint, and we're really excited to learn from your community how they want to plan the uh and what they vision for the next 10 to 15 years.

Kudos to your staff, your leadership team, city management team, uh, certainly parks and rec staff uh and your community.

Everyone has been so welcoming and warm and open and excited about this process.

Uh, and that's always a good sign.

It's also a good sign to be here at the front end of the kickoff in front of council, just making sure you have that awareness too and connecting to the community.

A couple other areas of service, I'll just highlight.

I talked about the engagement process a little bit.

Engagement largely be taking place over the next 90 days.

Of course, we'll be doing more than that, but we really want to focus the next 90 days on engaging the community, and we can use your help.

And some of you uh have already met with us, thank you.

And I know we'll be following up with others.

Ideas you have and your networks getting that information out to make sure we hear every voice of the community, we'd really appreciate your help, especially over the next 90 days.

But we're not done there.

We're doing things like evaluating the conditions of your facilities, evaluating your level of service from a connectivity and usage and walkability standpoint.

You're uh today we we we launched a uh half day session with your programming staff to take a real close look at your um uh programming and and how it relates to the services and the needs of of your communities.

There's there's a lot underway, and you're gonna hear a lot more.

But tonight, uh and today I just wanted to hopefully instill some excitement and make sure that you knew that, especially right now, we really want to hear the voices of the community.

And uh I again uh process would be largely over the next 10 months with the engagement largely focusing on the next 90 days.

Next week, a lot of the uh collateral from promotions and uh and media and information will be uh with staff.

And so certainly if you'd like to have access to that, we can make sure that that happens.

But to get the word out, we would really appreciate it.

So it is an absolute honor to be selected as Barry Dunn for our firm to support you and to help lead your team.

Like I said, uh that was probably no, it was that kickoff and some of the videos you saw in my five years at Barry Dunn has been was the coolest kickoff.

Your staff were dancing, okay, uh, with excitement.

And so that's always a good sign when staff is dancing uh with excitement about their future in parks and rec.

So uh that's again, my goal for tonight was just to give you an overview, introduce it to you and publicly for the community and make sure that you do that uh definitely want to hear as much as we can from the community from partners in planning your future in parks and recreation.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And I thought the video was awesome.

Perfect.

And it's great to hear from you know our team members on on their um their perception as well over the next five years, and just you know, for me, parks just signify community um public spaces where people can meet each other and have a good time.

And so we have to offer those things to our community, and you know, to bring the community out to our parks and and our recreation facilities.

And as we continue to grow as a city, we're going to need more and more and more and more amenities to keep people active and give people um to know who their neighbors are.

Um I love that we are promoting the survey, you know, across our social media and our and and our um website, but I like that you guys are meeting people where they are.

You're going to the community, and so every voice is respected, and I think it's extremely important that we put hands and you know, eyes on as many people in the community because we want to hear their voice as well.

So I appreciate that part of it.

Thank you.

Okay.

Questions or comments, counsel.

Yeah, um, thank you very much.

Um I appreciated your presentation.

And uh, of course, um, as we talked uh in in our uh one on one or actually two on two uh meeting, right?

I I expressed that uh, of course, um uh half my wardward one, of course, encompasses uh the more the more mature the the classic uh downtown area here in North of Vegas that was built to a much how should I say um well a design standard that just doesn't fit with what what today's reality is and what we expect.

Um I I'm uh when we had uh a national organization that met here in Las Vegas, a national park uh equipment uh organization, I actually told them that you could tell when you're flying over uh and the valley you can tell where North Las Vegas is because it's the place where you don't see that many green uh spaces, you know, especially in the downtown.

There's not that many pools, right?

So uh for me, this uh this plan uh will be extremely extremely important as to what we do to uh retrofit what we do to bolster, I think, um the more mature parts of North Las Vegas that were again built to a different design standard, different and uh um uh just um differently, you know.

We then again, you know, it was a different society.

We played out in the street, um jumping ramps on our bicycles, um, street football, street baseball, street basketball until lights came on.

So, you know, again, well, we we just we had a different way of doing things, but now that's that's that's done and gone, you know.

And so we're looking for a transformation.

So um maybe you can uh speak.

Will it be anything in particular to be looking for in the more mature parts of North Las Vegas to bring us more into what we would consider a more uh modern quality of life?

Sure.

And thank you.

And I I love that example of playing in the streets, and I did the same thing, you know, where I grew up in.

So uh love that.

And and and we understand and we respect that and the type of work we do all over the country.

It it these challenges and opportunities are fairly common.

Uh that doesn't mean certainly uh the uniqueness and the vibrance of your community is certainly special.

Our team, for example, this week uh was boots on the ground and is still through this week, uh, through your parks, through your connectivity, through all of your parks.

So we are very interested in seeing not just the shiny new parks, um, but we want to see every park and every example and your amenities and really take a close look at those challenges and opportunities.

It is hard to go to, let's say, design standards or even your comprehensive plan, which I believe is the city's kicking off here in a few months, if I'm not mistaken, having standards that may be somewhat outdated and try to explain those to developers or how you're reimagining your parks, your constituents.

And I I fully respect that.

Our goal is to provide uh in alignment with the voices of the community with the organization.

By the way, cross-department staff have also been outstanding.

We've already been meeting cross-department staff outside of parks and rec and uh helping with that vision and and and for us to come back with an actionable plan and aligned with your available resources, because we know you know, we don't want to just come and say, hey, you know, do all these great things and say, well, time out.

You know, Jason Hunt and Barry done how we can do these things.

And so mindful of uh actionable planning and a capital plan for improvement uh and consideration of things like level of service, meaning finding that appropriate level service that you desire that is right from North Las Vegas and doing our best job to make sure all areas, all wards, all parts of your communities have that opportunity.

And happy birthday.

Yeah, I think uh uh I do appreciate that.

And and uh I just like to just throw out one more example.

Sure.

When um at uh JD Smith Middle School slash Hartkey Park, when uh we had a chance to uh when we had a deal there with the Clark County School District where you know uh we did it over to um our Harkey Park, where they built a new JD Smith, and then they flipped over and and then built us our our new Harkey Park.

Uh instead of putting in um with all respect to our our good friend, uh a certain commissioner who was now uh chief of staff over there at CSN, we didn't put in uh a set of uh uh the at the tennis courts because not that many people in this part of town play tennis.

You know, I'm just saying, but we did put in a skate park, and that skate park, I'm really happy that right after it got put in, uh people um they they put graffiti in the good kind of tasteful graffiti to make it their own, and it has been there ever since.

And it's used, you know, uh in the morning.

I I see people, young people, well to me they're young, they they look like they're under 40, but they'll actually show up and their workout is they'll actually go and use the park.

I I know because I talked to them before they go to work.

They'll actually show up there and do uh all their ollies and scraping and uh and are else you can think of, right?

And then they get ready and they they go to work.

And and and some of them, you know, are our professional chefs.

Some of them, you know, they have you know, IT guys and stuff, but they grew up skating, and that's us adapting, I think, to our uh to our uh well to our constituency, I I think.

So I I think that's the kind no that's a little microcosm of what we're what we're looking for for.

Thank you, Councilman.

That graffiti, it's actually pretty good.

Thank you, Councilman.

That's a really good point.

You mentioned the skate park.

One of the goals, and we're hoping to identify through the master plan is for the is for this community to prioritize what they'd like to see.

We want modern, updated facilities.

You mentioned it that you know, 30, 40 years ago that the standards were different.

Well, they are different.

Um in the past, it was a fitness circuit where the fitness equipment went around the park.

Now it's a fitness court, you know, updated splash pads, update new dog parks, the modern amenities.

So we're hoping that as a result of getting the results from this master plan, we'll uh prioritize what's needed in the downtown park.

We're already starting it with the Sparkle, which will start in January.

So we're uh but all of the downtown parks really need modern new amenities in the parks.

Uh thank you.

And of course, the the I guess the last thing, I please indulge me, Mayor.

The the last thing is, you know, that also all uh that also helps with public safety.

Um the good thing about having the skate parks is we don't have to have the police being bothered to go and chase kids out of uh out of shopping centers because instead the police they know where the where the young people are at, uh, you know, uh threatening their lives uh and and their uh and their joints and all that at skate parks.

That's where we want them to be.

Well, maybe not all that, but you know what I mean.

Councilwoman.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um I was just thinking, you know, for anyone that is hearing about this for the very very first time.

Can we um could you just explain in very basic terms exactly what areas of the city this master plan is going to cover and why we're doing this?

And then the second question how are we reaching those communities that normally don't participate?

I love hearing that you were boots on the ground, but I would like to hear about specific.

Yeah, this this is for the whole all of North Las Vegas community.

Um, and like I said in my introduction, um, all highly ranked top-rated parking rec agencies have have a master plan.

And it it's time we have a professional high-level master plan, and that's why we're so excited with Barry Dunn.

And I think um Jason can talk to it, but I think the surveys, you know, like the mayor mentioned, it's not just paper surveys going out, but they're actually going out to uh locations and meeting with the public.

And I really appreciate that question.

It kind of sets up an opportunity to explain a little bit more about our engagement strategies, but we do take a lot of pride in having really unique engagement efforts.

Uh, for example, um, Bluegraville, Texas, uh, we put 152 miles on a mobile chalkboard to go into every single neighborhood in the community to learn about their interests and their future.

And that, you know, really helped set a foundation along with some other things for um actionable planning that really was aligned with the priorities of the communities and really cool things happen there.

So we're not afraid to really try anything, and we're very thoughtful about um who's facilitating who's coming into the communities from language barriers from language opportunities.

We have it all in our team to bring forward and diversify our approaches to make the most out of it.

So we'll strategically be going to every ward, every area of the city because this plan is to be representing the entire city.

And we're very interested in what regional partners are doing too and how we interact in that regard as well.

So this planning effort is meant for the entire city, and we want to hear the voices.

I think you said it really well.

We meet people where they are.

And that's, you know, I think we may have seen, I know some of our team saw some of you at some of the events and and hopefully had the opportunity to talk with them.

But yeah, I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

And I guess my last question is have you are you guys working with schools at all?

I mean, this is where we can gather so many important little voices, which are actually very, very important.

Yeah, I I appreciate that question.

And absolutely, schools, we we go through through our comprehensive engagement strategy and plan that we execute in communities, and I want to reassure you, uh, important you know, organizations like schools absolutely are there for conversations.

And uh and you learn how it's not just having the conversations, but also learn what is the school planning that may or may not have anything to do with parks and record or city opportunities.

We can have some sort of goal or mission alignment, right, to help move those because I know funding is so critical and such a challenge for everyone.

And so, how do we how do we how can we build off each other's successes?

So, yes, the schools and many, many other partners are part of that comprehensive engagement.

It's it's pretty common for us to identify, for example, 16 different facets of of uh discovery sessions and focus groups like schools, like nonprofits, and and group them and have great conversations.

So, and we're gonna be thrilled to report those back to you further in the planning process.

Okay, thank you so much.

I just have uh comment.

Uh, I'm really thrilled about the master plan for parks, and I'm excited to hear what the public thinks, what the public desires.

Uh, I think that um, you know, the parks that we have currently are are utilized very well in their places of meeting their community, they bring community together, they uh improve health outcomes, uh, mental health.

I mean, there's so many valuable uh benefits from the parks that we currently have.

So to take that as the baseline inventory, what we currently have, look at how we can enhance what we have and build from there, um, I think is great.

And I really appreciate one thing that you said is that you're not just helping us with a bunch of grand ideas, but you're helping the plan includes the fiscal aspect of how do we what are funding strategies, how do we uh prioritize our finite resources to make these strategic investments and how to prioritize them to get maybe uh the most value out of the dollars that we have and how many lives that we can impact through the parks of rec.

So I'm excited about not only the the feedback from the community, what is possible, but also how we can truly deliver it in terms of uh the fiscal side of it.

So looking forward to that part of it.

I love it.

And our team members are all former public servants.

I was 27 years retired public service.

Uh, and you know, the importance of making sure actual planning from a standpoint of really understanding the true cost and opportunities and flexibilities is so important.

So we definitely bring that to your organization too.

And I appreciate that, and I get it.

Yeah, thank you.

I want to say thank you for taking the opportunity recently to uh to sit with us and uh meeting both of you and kind of giving us an opportunity to uh to speak on uh what we believe would be something uh amazing for the future.

Um, you know, listening to my colleagues over here, um, you know, we we all come from different parts of the city, so to speak, and it's almost the tale of uh two cities.

You know, we have the more mature part of town, um, the urban area, uh, and the concerns and the vision is somewhat different for them.

We're uh, you know, Mayor Pro Tem Black and I uh we take in the more northern part of our city.

Um, so I'm I'm just curious.

Um, and I know you're up to the challenge, and it's gonna be a challenge too to kind of uh you know improve upon our parks department right now because they're an amazing team of people out there, as you saw.

Uh, but you know, how are you gonna deal with the areas uh that are uh not even developed yet?

How are you gonna focus in on that and try to you know project what's gonna be in there in the future?

Because that's gonna be very important.

Okay.

Thank you for that question.

Uh part of that for the new areas that can be developed in the future.

I think you had mentioned there towards the end of that uh was making sure that our standards and our baselines for what the experiences that your uh constituents really should have is that just a baseline uh throughout the community.

It doesn't mean that the same exact park component or program necessarily is in one part of the city like the other, but how are people gathering and how are they relating and and connecting?

And you're we've heard a lot about that by the way, from your community, up more opportunities for connect in in park.

So having an updated standard, because I think you know, we your standards and your goals granted, staff has is working very hard and doing a great job, yet they're from 2003, and a lot has changed since then.

So simply having updated standards that are supported by the voices of the community, certainly councils, representatives and electeds and staff is really important to make sure we we do that.

And at the same time, we we appreciate that this plan is meant citywide.

So we want to make sure that every area of the city does get that attention.

And yeah, there's gonna be different challenges in different areas, but we're up for the challenge.

We we're pretty used to this, and we're thrilled to have that opportunity with you.

Thank you.

All right, Jason, Doug, thank you very much for your presentation.

Thank you.

And this was just a discussion item only, so now no action will be required for this one.

So moving on to ordinances for final action.

Item 24, ordinance number 3257, an ordinance repealing and replacing chapter 2.32 of the North Las Vegas Municipal Code in order to clarify the role of director of emergency management to provide for the creation of the emergency management council to include provisions pertaining to the operational emergency management organization and providing for other matters properly related there too.

Welcome.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

Uh, for the record, I'm Deputy Fire Chief Ben Erickson, and I also have the privilege to serve as the emergency manager for the city of North Las Vegas.

Tonight, I'd like to give you a quick overview of the recommended updates to City Ordinance 3257, which guides how we prepare and respond to large scale emergencies here in City of North Las Vegas.

To give you a little context, the last major update to this ordinance was back in 1995 with a small change in 2023 post COVID-19.

These revisions help bring our ordinance up to date and better align it with state and federal standards.

There are four notable changes I would like to highlight.

Number one, we have updated the definition of emergency management.

This now matches the language in NRS 414.020, keeping us consistent with county, state, and federal agencies.

Number two, we have clarified the role of emergency management director.

This this change adds an oath of office to the director, myself, and my team in the emergency management department, reinforcing accountability, just like we do for other public safety roles.

The third change, we have updated the succession and continuity plan as our city has grown.

Job titles and roles have changed.

This update makes sure our emergency succession plan reflects current key positions within our organization.

And the fourth change, we have added language for the creation of the emergency management council.

This is the biggest change.

The council, comprised of key members of our organization, will help build a stronger culture and preparedness and coordination across departments and community partners.

This council will provide policy advice, assess our readiness, and guide in long-term planning efforts.

This is a quick summary of the proposed updates to city ordinance 2.32.

I'd be happy to answer any questions, and I appreciate your consideration in adopting these changes tonight.

Thank you for that.

With that being said, is that do we have to do updated training just for let's say for us with this with these new language adaptations?

Uh there is no updated added language on that.

Really, what we're trying to do, and that the key significant thing, what we're trying to do is get that emergency management council.

We've actually had our first meeting or really unofficial meeting here in August.

And we want to get those what we call our emergency support functions.

So every one of those roles that we would activate our EOC.

So there is no added uh education for anyone that's in the council at all.

We would just like everyone's engagement in it.

So the reason we wanted to have that meeting prior to getting this ordinance actually off the ground was we wanted to make sure those key roles.

We never know when that emergency is going to strike.

Hopefully, it never does here in North Las Vegas, but we want to just make sure those key people were in our EOC staff positions to make sure.

So that is where that training component was, so we can identify those members and make sure they have the proper ICS classes to be in those positions.

All right, thank you so much.

Council, any other comments or questions?

Okay, if not, we will go ahead and entertain the motion to pass and adopt ordinance number 3257.

Move to approve that motion passes.

Thank you, Deputy Chair.

Thank you.

Moving on to appointments.

Item 25, presentations by applicants Christopher Cannon and Denise Y Ramos to serve as municipal judge for department number one of the North Las Vegas Municipal Court.

Okay, so at this time, we're gonna have presentations by both judicial applicants.

So each one of you will have two to three minutes for your respective presentation.

And so we will start first with a presentation by applicant Christopher Cannon.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

First, I would like to thank the city council for taking the time to know both of the candidates before any decisions were made about this appointment.

In applying for this position, I feel that I have the most diversified experience that makes me the most qualified candidate.

As this council knows, I work for the city for over 25 years in the police department.

And that time I have worked hand in hand with the members of this council, meeting strategic strategy and responding to the concerns of our citizens.

This includes dealing with issues with drag racing, DUIs, school safety, vehicle thefts, or any kind of issue of public nuisance.

While some feel that my prior experience with the police department makes me beholden to them and would skew any unbiased or fair view of any cases that are before me, I would respond by saying that my prior experience gives me a more diversified view of the people in our city.

During my tenure, I have seen our citizens in their worst times and have been there to help them.

I've learned the diverse culture and backgrounds that our city has to offer.

I've learned the varying reasons people have turned to crime, and I've learned of the ways to help people so they do not re-offend.

Outside of my work with the police department, I was also highly involved with the police unions.

Here I responded and represented officers accused of policy violations.

I met with command staff, city leadership, and the officers to ensure fairness in the internal investigation process while holding the officers accountable for their actions.

I also worked with city administration to negotiate new collect embargaining agreements for officers.

I met with representatives of the city to advocate for pay and benefits for these employees.

These city leaders will tell you that I was aware and informed of budget restrictions city coffers and balancing the need of the employees versus the duty that we have to our citizens.

Also during this time, as you know, I attended UNLV law school.

I attended there with a concentration in criminal law, criminal procedure, and evidence.

Through that training and experience at UNLV, I was able to secure the most, I would say, apropos experience that I had for this position.

I was able to secure an internship with the city of Henderson in the criminal division.

I was also able to secure an internship with the public defender for the county.

I served both of these positions, one with the prosecution and one in the defense to give me a very balanced view of what was happening in the criminal justice system.

I was a track attorney.

I was the attorney that would appear in Department One or Department or two or three in Henderson.

And I think that gave me value, invaluable experience, arguing before judges, presenting evidence, and holding motions before the court.

In the year since I passed the bar, I have concentrated in three areas of law criminal defense, family law, and employment law.

I've handled criminal defense matters in justice courts, district courts, and municipal courts throughout Clark County and Nye County, and I've even appeared up north in beautiful places like Mineral County and Lyon County.

I've represented those charged with misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors, and felonies, and ensure that their rights were protected and they received a fair trial.

In summary, and I wanted to keep it short, so I didn't hear a ring.

In summary, I believe that these experiences inside and outside of the courtroom have provided me with a layered view of criminal law, which will help me be a very fair, unbiased, and ethical judge for North Las Vegas.

My dedication and commitment to the city, its leadership team, and the citizens is unmatched.

And if selected, this commitment will only continue.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Um I'm gonna open it up to questions.

I have just a couple for you.

So we're gonna put you on the hot seat right now.

Um so as you're aware, Department One presides over our care court, our community approach to rehabilitation and engagement.

Yes, sir.

Um and so with that court, the court aims to lessen or reduce recidivism and promote a rehabilitation of those lower level offenders.

So can you just talk to me about your understanding of the purpose of our care court?

Yes, ma'am.

Uh, the care court, from my understanding, was created, as you stated, for low-level offenders, obviously misdemeanors because it's gonna be in municipal court, but it is trying not to incarcerate or punish first.

Instead, it is a diversionary court in which you're trying to address the underlying problem that caused the person to be before you.

So using the resources with care court, the court, the judge, and this and the care staff look to address the underlying issues.

For example, if someone is arrested, detained, or cited for a drinking and public violation, and they come in before the care court, instead of looking directly at punishment, such as a fine or incarceration, the care court evaluates whether or not that person is a violent offender, a repeat offender, and if not, that makes them able to be in the care court, then the care staff, along with the court staff, will address the underlying issues.

Perhaps this person has a drinking issue that they can address through rehabilitation.

And it's placed upon the judge to administer that court and ensure that all the uh boxes are checked in order to make sure that person will not re-offend.

And I like to say for the care court, I kind of look at it as a three-pronged thing.

First, when somebody's assigned to the care court, um, the first thing that's addressed is the issue that why they're there.

What offense did they commit that placed them there?

That's issue one that needs to be addressed.

Issue two is using it as diversion, you have to address the underlying issue, so they will not re-offend.

And then issue three is why they're under the supervision of the care court.

That they will not be out there reoffending, hopefully, because there'll be there'll be formal probation placed on them that they have to qualify for, or they will then uh see more extreme punishment going forward.

Okay, thank you for that.

Um, and just I'm sure you're aware of this that this is a full-time position, and so you're required to devote your full-time duties to this municipal judge position.

And so, are you able to fulfill that?

Yes, ma'am.

And I'm asking that because the Nevada Code of Judicial Rule number 310 prohibits a judge from practicing law.

And so if you have a current job, are you prepared to give that up because of this full-time position?

Um, and then if that's the case, if you need to do that, how long do you think that would take if you were happening to resume your dish if you were appointed as the judge?

Um currently I work as general counsel for NAPSO, which is a conglomeration of unions, uh, which includes the North Las Vegas Supervisors, Henderson, um, and a lot of other local unions that are seen here and also up in the north.

I've spoken to the executive director when I applied for this position, and I told him that if appointed by this counsel, that I would be immediately tendering my resignation with NAPSO to take this on full time.

I've made sure that I have updated him the entire time, he even knows I'm here today, and if I'd receive the uh appointment, I could begin immediately upon swearing in.

Uh, the only concern I have, and this is more on a personal note, uh my wife and I have an adversary trip, so I'll probably be gone for about a week or so.

But then I'll be ready to go if if I'm selected.

All right, thank you.

We're gonna start with councilwoman if you have any questions.

Opposite way this time.

Thank you.

Yeah, you're changing things up on me, man.

Um thank you.

Um thank you, Chris.

Um you mentioned that you've argued before, uh judges.

Can you tell me a little bit more about your experience trying a case before a jury?

Sure.

Um I handled uh defense in prior life, in fact in civil uh cases, I did insurance defense.

And part of that you would try at some of those before juries.

So I, in the beginning of my career, I handled a few of those where I actually had a jury.

But with family law, as I mentioned, and I know Ms.

Ramos will mention as well, because she also practices in that area, there is no jury, so you're just arguing to a judge.

And most of the time when you're in uh criminal court, especially if you're in uh obviously if you're gonna be in uh misdemeanor court or munimissile court, then you would just be arguing to the judge.

But I have taken um trials to verdict in criminal cases uh involving, I believe one was an elder abuse case that was in Nye County, one was a child abuse case.

So cases like that I have taken through the entire process.

Okay, thank you.

Um, and then my last question, um, I don't know if you are aware of any challenges currently in our within our municipal court.

Are there any changes that would you would like to see made there?

Um, I understand.

Um the I guess I can answer that twofold.

The the challenge that I see is that as the this council knows and city staff know, as our city continues to get larger, it is going to place a bigger or bigger burden on our courts to process those cases.

And the issue that happens there is you end up having backlogs, and this happens family court, criminal court, everywhere.

But specifically with North Las Vegas municipal courts, we're addressing that directly.

Um, some of the cases that that end up in that court are taking between one and two years to process through.

And the way I look at it is justice delay is justice denied for both the prosecution and your defendant.

No one wants to wait two years to find out what happened with a DUI or a domestic or anything like that.

Because any kind of charge that's brought in the municipal court will have an impact on that defendant's life.

So if that person's charged with uh a domestic battery, that could have an impact in family court in regards to custody and child care and divorce.

So you don't want to have criminal cases hanging out there for two to three years.

So I would just say the the one change that I would like to see or I would advocate for is to try to process that that caseload quicker.

And I know that's an extremely high bar to set, but I think it is working with the other department, working with staff, you can find out areas that we can accelerate the cases so they can get to trial if they need to.

As the second part of your question, what if anything I would change?

There's two parts.

Um I don't know all the council knew this, but at one time I had run for municipal court back in 2009.

At that time, one of the biggest things that I'd always advocated for a change was I wanted to see a night court program.

And maybe we can just do it as a pilot program to see if it has any legs and it would be successful.

But knowing that most people in our community work, and most people have child care issues, and most people worry that I'm if I have to go to court, I could get fired.

If I have to go to court, I might not be able to pick up my child from school.

So they prioritize their family first above themselves.

And I think the court should be responsive to that.

I'm not saying that we have night court every night, but I think as a pilot program, we could try that maybe once a month.

We could try it with traffic court, we could try it with criminal court.

I know that that would be a huge changes that I'd be bringing before this council to consider, but I think it would have a very good effect for our community.

The second part is I'd like to have what's called open court, almost like an open house.

And everybody I've talked to, most people do not know what happens in a courtroom unless they watch, you know, law and order or you know, yeah, our court TV, something like that, but they don't know the process from beginning to end.

They don't know what the court clerks do, they don't know what the bailiff does, they don't know how what the judge does, what the prosecution does, what's the process if they were arrested all the way through sentencing?

Most people don't know.

And I think it's incumbent upon the court to open its doors and welcome citizens in and say, don't be afraid of this court.

Come see what we do.

Come see how we operate.

Come see where your tax dollars go.

If when you get that ticket, or if you end up getting in trouble, this will be the process that you'll see.

We have diversionary courts, we have a veterans court.

I know Judge Ketter just started the children's court.

So I mean, I think there's a lot there for people to see.

And I think opening those doors up to those courtrooms would really benefit the community.

Thank you.

I do, yes, thank you.

Hi, Mr.

Cannon.

Um, councilman.

So this is an incredibly important decision that we have before us this evening, and one that um, you know, I appreciate chatting with uh both candidates that are here for consideration, and uh you know, we have to you know get this right for our community.

Um unique thing about this uh appointment is it's for a finite and relatively short period of time.

If uh if you were appointed, it would be until November 30, 2026.

And the unique aspect of that is if you were interested in continuing to serve beyond that time, you would be required to run for office to retain your seat next year.

And the filing for that is I believe is in February, so it's not too far away from now.

So interesting, um filing is in January.

Oh wow, even sooner.

So um the interesting thing is you you would be the person appointed would be doing the job and then having another job to keep your job, and that's uh a very labor-intensive thing.

Is that something that you're uh willing to do if you were appointed to run for uh to retain your office?

Yes, councilman, it would be.

I and I understand running a campaign before, although I wasn't uh appointed on the bench at the time.

I was working for our police department full-time, so I kind of understand having a full-time job and also trying to run a campaign.

So I'd be willing to commit for that, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Let me first say thank you for your service.

Uh uh, you know, I I was just thinking uh uh a moment ago, uh, how could we make the interview process even more difficult and stressful than leaving it to the last item on the agenda?

Uh how could we make the interview process even more difficult and stressful than leaving it to the last item on the agenda?

And no, that's the way it goes, but I apologize for that.

No problem, councilman.

Um I guess uh, you know, we deal with a lot of different issues over here, and I think timeliness, as you mentioned, uh is uh it's extremely important.

Um what specific experience do you have with criminal law and the criminal law procedure, make you uh a candidate for this this particular position here for us.

Um thank you for that question.

As I stated, and I probably spoke very quickly because I wanted to stay within that uh three minutes.

Um I worked in the City of Henderson City Attorney's Office in the criminal division.

I also worked for the public defender's office in uh for the county, and both of those I would handle track cases, which basically are first appearances, representations.

I could meet with criminal defendants or meet with police officers when I worked for the prosecutor's office.

Um, present evidence, argue before the judge, things like that.

So that gave me my really good beginning basis.

And I've been an attorney for 19 years now, and in the last 10, I have represented uh criminal defendants in all as I said before, almost all um factions of this county and of the state.

So it didn't matter if they're if they are charged with a misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor, felony, they're on probation, looking at probation revocations.

I've made appearances for people for that, and I've gained a lot of experience with that as well.

So, and as I and as I uh also expressed, I've taken cases where they've begun either in criminal or civil and taking them to verdict.

So I think that's an invaluable experience to have.

Um, additionally, when you're in there, you obviously are bound by the rules of the court and rules of evidence and criminal procedure, and I think I have uh vast experience in that as well.

Thank you, sir.

Yeah, I I uh thank you very much, uh mayor.

I I I appreciate it.

Uh yes, um Mr.

Kenna, I I, you know, I of course I read your um your your application, your uh qualifications.

Um they're they're good, you know.

Um you most definitely are are are qualified.

Um I always uh think to myself, you know, um what are things that you want to see?

Uh what are changes that you put at gears to uh become the judge to uh to um I guess bone up where you might be still um unclear or how what's the right way to say this?

What do you plan to prepare prepare yourself uh to be the judge from day one?

Very good question, councilman.

Thank you.

Um I would definitely reach out and speak with uh the city attorney's office, especially in the criminal division, find out the issues that they're having, find out is there any problems that are been happening in that court.

I think the the biggest thing that a judge needs to do is run that courtroom, and you have to run that courtroom fairly and impartially.

You have to you have to be patient with everybody in the courtroom.

You have and you have to uh basically deliver a level of justice that is expected by your citizens.

So if there's any issues with the procedure of how that court is administered, I know that we have a court administrator being Aaron Tellis, that I can sit down and meet with her, find out if there's any issues, anything specific that runs in this court that didn't happen in Las Vegas municipal court or wouldn't happen in Henderson Court or in Justice Court, because I know each court runs a different way, but I don't think it's truly you know, relearning the wheel or reinventing the wheel, as it said, it's more just adjusting to the nuances of each court, and I think that would be I agree with you, it can be a challenge, but I've always been one that when I face a challenge, I try to dive head in.

And I and I can promise you that I know we've had judges in the past, my old former opponent a long time ago, uh, that looked at it as uh a seven, a seven to five job.

I don't look at a position, especially one with trust and integrity as our court as a seven to five job.

That job, you begin at probably like six in the morning, and you're there until all your staff is gone, everything's settled, and you're ready to go the next day.

So if that means eight o'clock, nine o'clock, no problem.

And that's how I I worked at the police department.

That's how I ran my law practice.

That's how I now handle it with uh NAPSO.

I look at it as if you're a dedicated professional, you're in there until your job is done.

Thank you much.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Thank you, Chris.

Thank you, ma'am.

Right.

Next, we'll hear from Denise Ramos.

Welcome, Denise.

All right, Mayor, Mayor Pro Temp, and City Council members, good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to allow me to speak here.

Um, now I might not have the inn the way Chris has.

I might not have been here for the past 25 years, um, but I think I am the best candidate for this position.

Um, if you guys recall in 2021, you five put me in here as the veterans commissioner for the city of North Las Vegas.

You then in 2022 appointed me as the uh pro temp for department two, and I have really appreciate that.

Uh I'm now here asking you to have that same faith in me and appoint me for department one.

Now, I know you have my resume in front of you, so I won't bore you with listing my accomplishments and how great I am.

Um, I'm here to explain how I got here and what is it that motivates me and why is it that I am the best candidate.

So my path to this moment has been defined by my philosophy, and it's been a philosophy I have been driven by called servant leadership.

This philosophy is something that I learned when I was very at a very young age, and it's something that I carry with myself as my moral compass to be able to do the right thing at all times.

Now, as Judge Pro Temp um in North Las Vegas Municipal Court Department uh two, uh also Department One, whenever Judge Lee needed my assistance for it.

Um, I presided and had the privilege to preside over uh arraignments, trials, pre-trial matters, and I was able to see how the courtroom is working.

I was able to work with the great staff from Judge Ketter.

I was able to work with the great staff from Judge Lee.

So for the past two years, that is what I've been doing.

Also, as my managing attorney, I've been serving families in the city of North Las Vegas.

Everyone here could agree with me that family is the core foundation of anyone here.

If your family is threatened at any time, you will need, you know, a way to get back out of it.

So being a family attorney, um, I focus on managing crowded dockets with family law cases.

Um, those same skills of listening, clarity, understanding, along with making sure that we're changing lives and building the community is is what we strive to do.

Now, as Judge Pro Temp, I had the opportunity to sit there, give clear rulings, give clear cases, and have that interaction one-on-one with individuals as they came in because everybody gets their day in court in municipal court.

Finally, I know as most of you know, I'm a true American patriot.

So I've been in the Nevada Army National Guard for the past 25 years.

I joined when I was 17.

Now I've heard it all.

They call me G.I.

Jane, Lieutenant Dan, El Comandante, and it's just hilarious to me.

Um, but one thing doesn't change.

I do this for service to my community.

I don't do this out of I need a title.

I don't do this out of I want to get ahead on some type of agenda.

I don't do this for any of that.

I do this for my people.

In the military, we have a term that's called of the troops for the troops.

So I apply this in my personal philosophy, that is of the people for the people.

Now, Department One has a responsibility of our veterans court, and I am deeply committed to those treatment programs because I myself am a veteran and I have a deep understanding, understanding of what is needed in order to get out of that black hole.

And one thing that we say a lot in the military and veterans, and it's something that Mayor Pro Temp Black reminded me yesterday is that you meet people where they're at.

You meet them where they're at, and you try to help them from there.

Okay, we are not in a business of just putting people in jail.

We're in the business of accountability and making sure that everybody deserves that second chance.

Now, so what does our municipal court need right now?

It needs a judge who will move dockets but not move past people.

Open the doors to a fair and impartial courtroom, which I've seen because I've sat there for the past two years.

Well, I've seen a great staff, great programs that we can continue to improve as we move forward.

If appointed, I will maintain an efficiency, respectful courtroom, provide understandable advisements, and leverage my training and leadership to improve these partnerships, such as the veterans seeking stability and support.

But overall, if appointed, I will continue to foster that deep, deep sense of pride in the city of North Las Vegas.

I've been in North Las Vegas for 15 years when I bought my first home here when it was at the end of like it was in the Aliante area, but that's my house ended.

And now, 15 years later, you see how all that has grown.

Now I could be all over the world doing military service, but if you look at my military records, it says home a record North Las Vegas.

This world for me, like I said, it's not about titles, it's about service.

And I'm asking you to appoint me as municipal court judge so I could continue to serve the city of North Las Vegas faithfully, impartially, and with humility to listen and have that courage to continue to have that for our city.

Thank you.

Thank you, Denise, for your presentation, and thank you for your service.

I just thought I would ask you basically the same questions as I asked the other applicant.

And so you touched on that you know about our care court and the purpose of that care court, but can you just expand a little bit on your understanding of the purpose of the court?

So it's also just to how would you ensure that the mission of this court is achieved?

Yes.

So as far as far as care court, um, I do have an understanding on care court and uh veterans court um to provide an alternative to, like I said, we're not in the business of putting people just hollering them jail.

We're in the business of making sure we identify what is it that's going on, um, what treatments are available.

Um, we do know that there's a lot of individuals that suffer from mental health, and jail is not gonna be the answer.

There's low-level misdemeanor crimes that could be addressed through these treatment programs.

So I am all for being part of these treatment programs to continue to push forward with them, develop them, um, enhance them.

Um, and I know it was something already mentioned, but the after hours, the weekend courts, um access to justice.

Um, because now after uh after the 2020 uh pandemic, uh we went to Zoom a lot in family court.

Family court determined that because we went to Zoom, um it allowed for more justice.

So even after the pandemic, they decided that they weren't gonna take the Zoom links out because it did offer people to not having to find transportation to the courthouse, um, finding someone to represent in the last minute.

Um, it actually allowed them to be in their home, be in their schools, be in their jobs, and log in for a requirement that's needed for through the judicial program.

Thank you.

And then the same question.

So, you know, this is a full-time position versus you know, as a judge pro tem.

And so, are you able to devote your full time by being a miss a miss a municipal judge if appointed?

Yes, mayor.

So uh, like I said, for 25 years I've been putting on and off the uniform.

I go like this, because you know, when I have the government saying, hey, you gotta put that uniform on, you all of a sudden you're a lieutenant colonel Ramos.

I Roger that and I move forward.

Um, so I do not have any issues with you moving forward at any time.

But just like Chris mentioned, I also have a vacation here uh at the end of this month.

So, yes, that would be my only uh request if appointed.

I need a vacation at the end of the month too, I tell you.

Um, and again with the Nevada Nevada Code of Judicial Conduct Rule 3.1 over 10.

So it predict okay, let me start over.

I cannot talk today.

I'm so sorry.

Um, so are you prepared if you're in a current position to um resign basically from that position to be able to be sworn in to assure that your duties of the municipal judge are carried out?

Uh yes, mayor.

So I have a uh associate counsel um with my firm.

He's actually was my mentor who uh helped me out when I was solo.

Um so he already understands the concept.

My staff is actually here, so they know.

Um, so uh you know it it's it's something that we're prepared to do if appointed, yes.

Okay, thank you, and welcome to your staff.

Thank you for being here.

All right, councilwoman question.

Oh, yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Um, thank you, Ms.

Ramos.

Um, I too am grateful that we had an opportunity to sit down and get to know one another, just as I did with Chris.

Um I guess I'll I'll ask the same the same question.

Um what are some changes that we would like to that you would like to see made at the municipal court?

I know that you've been there and you've seen and have an experience, so what can you tell us?

So it wouldn't necessarily be uh changes but improvements, right?

So um similar to what Chris already mentioned is uh more availability for access to justice.

Um like I said, there's there's different ways that we could figure out how to be creative and have that access to justice for our community to feel heard.

Um so it's not so cookie cutter eight to five.

It could be more, hey, let's get a judge in once a and and maybe I'm you know I'm saying it out there, it's get a judge in once every Saturday um to be the judge on on the on the docket, you know.

Um there's so many ways that we could do this, uh, but access to just uh justice is the ultimate the the what we're trying to achieve.

Great.

Um and then the second part of that I made it really confusing when I asked it before.

But what challenges do you believe face our municipal court right now?

So the challenges that I municipal court is always gonna have challenges, right?

Um, but I think something that when I've sit there and I I um pretty much observe, preside, get rulings.

It's more of an understanding of um rights.

And I say that because I'm I've been on both sides.

Um I've been on the sides where I have clients taking pleas and not understand the implications of that plea on family court and immigration court.

And no one advises of those implications.

It's like we have three courts that did not talk to each other, or individuals not are not well informed about those three.

So sometimes I sit here and talk to immigration lawyers and explain that, um, family law lawyers and explain that, and then criminal lawyers and explain that.

Um so that is a huge challenge.

I know when I sit there, you know, I talk to the staff, they all understand.

Um, and then I also canvas um individuals on on, you know, during my hearings about it and and explain, hey, you know that this plea could, you know, if you have a immigration status pending, this plea is gonna affect it.

Do you understand that blah blah blah?

You know, so these are the things that uh I don't think we have enough education for the general public um prior to taking uh those pleas criminally.

Yes.

Thank you.

Mayor Tim.

Thank you.

Hi, Miss Ramos.

Thank you so much for your time uh the on the phone.

We had a really great conversation and uh appreciate the the time that you dedicated to that and uh your interest in this position.

I'd also like to ask you the same question.

This is unique in that it's a one one-year appointment term in order to continue to serve in in the capacity as municipal court judge that would require you to uh run for office next year.

And so my question is is that something that you're uh willing and able to do?

Uh yes, I'm definitely willing and able to do it.

I've never done it, so full disclosure, never done it, but I will put my full effort into it.

Um and I'm up for the challenge.

Okay, thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for coming in, Ms.

Ramos.

And uh thank you for your service.

Uh my granddaughter's in the National Guard for over 26 years herself, and you know, she just loves it.

And I love the fact that she's willing to be um a public servant.

And thank you for being Mayor Pro Tem.

Not not Mayor Pro Tem, but Judge Pro Tem.

But I'm gonna do the same thing.

I'm gonna ask the same question.

Um what specific experience?

And you may have answered this in some form of another already.

What specific experience do you have with criminal law and criminal procedures, knowing that you'll be dealing with that over here?

Um so specifically as an attorney, um, I deal specifically with family law.

However, when I do have clients that are during the proceeding, uh got a DUI, received a domestic uh violence, um misdemeanor um items.

I've had to go to court with them, assist them with their pleas, assist them with their case, um, and uh pretty much try their case to ensure I'm saving family, I'm saving immigration status.

You know, so that's where on that level, as a judge, will I sit there and I preside over trials.

I preside over arraignments, uh, I preside through the whole criminal court process.

Um aside from that, uh it's just my experience when I went to law school.

I did work for Maricopa County, DA's office um for uh two semesters.

So uh it was great.

It's just Maricopa County was a little rough.

So thank you again.

Councilman.

Uh thank you very much, Mayor.

And um, in case anyone um in case anyone would bring it up later, uh actually um I know the applicant, I've known her since she was uh 14-year-old tomboy.

Um over at uh over at Westwood High School.

Those are your words, you know, uh not mine.

Uh over at Westwood High School, and when she was doing things in the community uh in conjunction with um my the group of students that I had at Rancho High School.

And so uh I've been able to follow her career um from I I guess uh what you would call her um uh a person scooped up there and um deposited into a very trying situation to professional uh uh uh to professional uh Pentagon uh military officer.

And so thank you for your service.

Um and by the way, I think it was very interesting uh how you identified it was a uh a defendant's lack of knowledge.

Um I thought that was a very interesting answer as a challenge.

But uh, I guess my actual question though is gonna be this one.

Um if you get appointed, what do you uh as I as I asked um Mr.

Cannon, what are you gonna do to get um to to hit the uh to hit the ground running on day one to be the municipal court judge?

So initially I would get with my staff.

Um I'll give my with my staff make sure that I uh I'm on track with what's already going on um in the department.

Um after that I will start getting with um the rest of the city and ensure that we're all on the same page regarding procedures.

We're on the same page uh as far as where we want to see the city of North Las Vegas access to justice and how our doors are gonna be that first line of defense for justice.

So I would definitely give my staff, see where we're at, see what I have going on on the docket, um, and then I will start um implementing those meetings to meet with the rest of the city um in order to see where we start looking at these changes, these improvements, and and slowly start making those adjustments as we move forward.

All right, Denise, thank you.

Thank you for your presentation.

Item 26 appointment in a vap of an applicant to serve as municipal judge for department number one of North Las Vegas Municipal Court.

So we will call for a motion.

I would like to make a motion.

Uh may I may I'm say something?

Sure.

Uh this is uh a challenging thing.

Um we have two fantastic candidates.

There are some commonalities that I've drawn between the two of these 25 years of a police officer, 25 years in the guard.

Both individuals help people at their worst times in family court and uh in under the circumstances of a law enforcement.

Um the the differential for me is uh the ability to um make a clean break from their current commitments, time availability to do the job and to run and to be ready on day one.

And so with that, I'd like to say something.

Oh, okay.

Um yeah, I I just wanted to share also my thoughts.

I've been just similar to what MPT said.

Um I'm grateful for the opportunity to have met both both candidates.

Um you both have impressive resumes, you really do.

And and I I love that.

And you're both North Las Vegas residents, and I love that this is hard because you're both amazing, doing great things in our community.

Um, and regardless of you know who gets appointed today, I know that uh you're both gonna continue serving our community.

And so for me, you know, this decision comes down um to the fact that you know, Miss Ramos, um, you've already had an opportunity to demonstrate your abilities and your skills in our municipal court.

Um you are an immigration attorney, I believe, practicing family law, something that is so important in our community, and I'm so grateful to you for that.

Um I will add, I will say that your bilingual skills.

Um, I heard you speak Spanish, I think are a strength.

Um, however, I have been down to the municipal court.

I met the interpreters, and they're excellent.

I myself worked as an interpreter myself, and I'm familiar with that process.

So that's not a major concern for me at this time.

Um, and so I believe that for me it would be fair to allow Mr.

Cannon an opportunity to to prove himself.

I think he'll only have he would only have a few more more months, and then we we take it to the residents so they can they can choose for themselves.

So um those are my thoughts, Mayor.

Thank you.

Well, we'll enter real quick.

Yeah, no, uh thank you, Mayor.

Uh yeah, this this will be quick.

Um the way I see things, you know, uh again.

I think we uh this board did a pretty good job in appointing a uh mayor pro tem um a while back.

Uh the mayor pro tem is already uh, I mean, please forgive me.

The Judge Pro Tem uh there for uh court uh for uh for department number two has been in place and has uh already served.

And uh therefore uh I don't think I'd go against uh our own recommendation.

What we already we made the recommendation made the appointment.

So uh for uh for me and uh seeing uh again uh something transformational that uh that Ms.

uh that um uh council Ramos said that um she sees that our our major weakness is again uh the defense's lack of knowledge into what happens when they accept please that demonstrates to me a transformational knowledge, uh transformational um understanding of what actually happens to people who very much come from our experience.

Um I just now uh I took a phone call from someone who uh uh had their child at one of our uh schools here uh close by and when I asked, well, did you ask uh did you ask that principal before they want to suspend your child?

Did you ask what the uh what the the process was before they wanted to expel your child?

And she said, No, they just said I should uh remove my child from the school to save uh the opportunity to save the uh the embarrassment of having my child expelled from the school.

Right there, you see that someone has taken advantage of the public trust and actually used a uh uh someone that they're supposed to be looking out for, used their lack of knowledge of what is uh of what their rights are to use against them.

And this happens on a regular basis.

So the way I see this, right?

For me, this uh uh I I again uh I I know how I'll be voting on this one.

And I I think uh where we need to go with what this uh council has uh proven itself to do is to be at a transformation when we look at the criminal justice and how it's applied to the residents of the city.

Thank you.

At this time, we will call for a motion.

Uh I would like to make the motion to appoint uh Mr.

Christopher Cannon to be a municipal court judge, department one.

Okay, we have a motion.

And that motion passes to appoint Christopher Cannon as municipal judge for department number one.

Thank you and congratulations, Chris.

Okay, moving on to the city manager's report.

All right.

Well, I think most of our PD, unfortunately, has gone to Citizens Academy, but I think I see Captain Brookin up there.

All right, Captain Brooken.

Um do want to recognize that our police department was recently named the jointing forces agency of the year by the Nevada Department of Public Safety's Office of Traffic Safety.

This award recognizes our police department's outstanding efforts in statewide campaigns to reduce impaired and distracted driving, curb speeding, and improve pedestrian safety.

So congratulations to our officers on this well-deserved achievement.

Um I do want to highlight some other amazing achievements by our uh by our team.

Um our director of communications, Greg Bortman was recently named Nevada PRSA Senior PR Practitioner of the Year at the 2025 Pinnacle Awards.

Greg was recognized for his outstanding leadership, mentorship, and lifelong commitment to advancing ethical and effective public communications.

So we're super proud to have Greg on our team and congratulations on this great honor.

And way to go, Monica.

Um we'll get it fixed.

There we go.

Thank you.

All right, our own Monica Flores was recently awarded the 2025 Fall On Delay Scholarship from the Andalade Foundation.

And I think our city attorneys have also left.

I was gonna plug Marissa Rodriguez, who spearheaded that back in the day at um, I can't remember what year it is in, it's probably year eight.

And so fortunately Monica was able to win this award, and she's going to have her LSAT prep courses paid for uh as she prepares to go to law school.

Um and also congratulations to Javier, our parking services manager was honored as Donovan Durban parking leader of the year at the Southwest Parking and Transportation Association conference.

Um we're proud of Javier and our parking services team for the continued excellence and commitment to serving North Las Vegas.

And finally, I want to give a big shout out to Janet Nevis and our risk management team for hosting a wonderful third annual forklift rodeo competition a few weeks ago, um, highlighting the skill precision teamwork while promoting workplace safety.

Um we had our friends over at City of Henderson in Las Vegas Valley Water District there.

But I also really want to give kudos to the team members that you see here.

We had two teams that represented the city.

One was our seasoned professionals, and then as you guys always hear, our city is full of talent.

We have some people who don't do this as part of the regular day job, but I have to say I'm really proud of them.

And that includes myself, our CFO, Assistant City Manager Will Hardy, Kantasha Orr, our council, special counsel liaison, uh Chief Hyde and Captain Wantoffel.

And we came in second place and got this fancy trophy.

So with your indulgence, I know, I know I was hoping Chief Hyde was here, but maybe Captain Bruckin, I promised PD I would share this award with them.

So it's their turn to have the award in their offices because they really uh helped out with uh their two ringers and on on their team on our team.

So, anyways, I'm just really proud of all of our team members because uh it goes to show that you know what we're capable of when we all work together.

Awesome.

And I understand the Las Vegas Valley Water District wants to host it next year.

And um we'll have to kind of talk about that.

So I was like, oh no.

So mayor, we were work on that.

We were thinking about maybe we might have some fun in games internally because what was nice about um our participation here at this event was I think it drew a lot more of our own team members to be interested in um the forklift activities, and some of them now are interested in also being certified and maybe participating in the game.

So maybe we'll have our own internal, you know, City of North Las Vegas events on this.

Yeah, we can talk about that.

All right, thank you so much.

All righty, we're gonna move on to the second public forum.

Now is the time for the public to speak on issues that were not on the agenda tonight, but that are within the jurisdiction or control of the city council.

Speakers are limited to two minutes.

Remember, no items raised during the second public forum may be deliberated or acted upon by the city council.

However, the items discussed may be referred to the city manager or other city staff for action by the city council at a later date.

Madam City Clerk, do we have any blue cards or written comments for the second public forum?

Yes, ma'am, we do.

Speaker Elaine Jefferson.

Welcome, Miss Jefferson.

Good evening, and thank you for this opportunity to speak.

I am here to request on behalf of most of the dog walkers that I've got.

Could you just please?

I'm sorry, state your name and address for the record.

Yes, Elaine Jefferson 7440 Lint White Street, North Las Vegas.

I'm here to request on behalf of most of the dog walkers of Aliante who use with permission the soccer fields to walk our beloved pets.

The fields have allowed us certain during certain hours, which do not conflict with any organized games or sports to walk our dogs.

We currently have been involved in a ball of confusion where while we are walking our dogs after a period of two to three years, the animal control has stated that we cannot.

The dogs need to be tethered.

I get that, but we don't have a dog park unless we go to Craig Regional, and as you know, there was a dog that was killed there, or we go to Galaxy Park, and that park is about as big as this area here.

So we're asking that we use the soccer fields to walk our dogs untethered until the dog park is built.

Aliante, specifically Sun City Alleante, senior citizens.

Most of us are recovering from hip, knee, heart, valve replacements.

When we get out there to the soccer fields, we are walking with our comrades, our neighbors who are helping us along.

We are socializing with the same amount of people who have gone through the same issues that we have gone through with our pets.

Our pets run a soccer field, they get exhausted, we're exhausted, we go home, everybody's content.

Can we just release that ball of confusion where we're persisted with dog fees from the animal control until the dog park is built?

Thank you.

Thank you.

And Miss Jefferson, if you'll just hang until we um adjourn the meeting, we'll have staff talk with you afterwards.

Thank you very much.

There's another speaker named Dutch.

Welcome, Dutch.

Hello, my name is Dutch Harbor.

I live at Carriage Park, uh, Las Vegas, Nevada.

I am here today to do my duty as a citizen and hold leaders accountable.

I know that each and every one of you received a personal invitation to attend multiple protests that took place on October 18th.

This was an opportunity for all of you to inspire hope and resiliency in the face of tyranny and massive government overreach.

A chance to stand on business to be strong, admirable leaders.

A chance to stand with your community, a chance to show us why we elected you.

But each of you made a choice to ignore that invitation.

Why?

Why does the community matter so little to you?

Why wouldn't you stand proudly with us in the fight against authoritarianism?

I don't understand.

It's hard for me to understand because when I was 17, I raised my right hand and I swore to defend this country and its constitution no matter the cost, even if it meant my life.

And as a veteran today, I still believe it is my duty to defend democracy and my country from enemies foreign and domestic.

As local officials, it is your job to represent us and to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves, to be brave and selfless, to defend democracy and preserve civil rights and freedom for the people that live here.

We need fighters right now.

Zoran Mandami is the epitome of local leadership and is a true patriot.

He is an example that all of you should need to follow.

When I spoke with you the first time that I came here, Mayor, you insisted that there was nothing that you could do about ICE since it's federal.

That sounds like passing the buck to me.

We've seen other officials and governors participate in protests and stand up to Trump's fascist regime.

So honestly, what's your excuse?

If you're not a fighter, then get out of the way and let someone else fight.

Thank you.

Mayor, I have no further requests to speak.

All right, thank you.

With that, I'll go ahead and close the second public forum, and this meeting is adjourned.