Mayor & Council
Mayor James B. Gibson presents the State of the City 2008
GREEN VALLEY RANCH RESORT
GRAND EVENTS CENTER
2300 PASEO VERDE PARKWAY
FEBRUARY 7, 2008
MAYOR GIBSON: Good afternoon. It’s good to be in Henderson, isn’t it? And thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to join us today as we talk about the state of our city.
We welcome you and we want you to know that the state of our city is strong. Much of the reason for that strength lies with each of you, and we appreciate all you do to make Henderson such an incredible place to live and to do business.
Seeing this sea of faces makes me think back to previous state of the city addresses, and it reminds me of just how far we’ve come in this city in a very short time.
We’ve changed and expanded to accommodate the growing needs of our community as our environment has changed, to the point where we find ourselves today in one of the premier cities in the nation to live, work and play. I believe that continuously re-evaluating and fine tuning what we are and what we want to become is crucial if we are to succeed in the future to make life better for our businesses and our families.
Nothing is ever accomplished by remaining static. I’ve heard it said that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Well, that has never been our way of doing things in Henderson, and it never will be.
We’ve defined ourselves from the beginning as a city that is willing to take risks and to innovate. Now more than ever, those qualities are essential for the survival and vitality of any local government. Our City of Henderson Vision Statement proclaims that “We envision our City as a fully integrated, progressive and engaged community of citizens and neighbors enjoying premier amenities, services and opportunities.” None of that implies that we are finished, or that we will ever be finished looking for the best, most innovative ways to operate. In fact, it implies just the opposite.
We’ve set priorities to help guide our city as we navigate the changing course ahead of us. Those priorities include expanding the City’s economic and employment opportunities, and fulfilling our financial stewardship, while maximizing the use of our current resources. We’ve been especially pleased with the way we’ve continued to diversify and attract new and exciting business opportunities to our city.
At our recent economic development awards event we recognized 21 exceptional Henderson businesses. Those companies alone created more than 1,400 new jobs in our city last year, and occupy nearly 720,000 square feet of new office and retail space.
In addition to that, in 2007 we had 10 major new office and industrial buildings completed totaling over one million square feet. These new buildings are ready for occupancy, and the city is working with the owners to help them secure quality companies and new jobs for our Henderson residents.
We have a commitment to diversify our economy and to provide the best possible climate for businesses to relocate, to expand, and to thrive once they’re here. All across our city we are discovering new ways to do this.
One of the best ways we’ve discovered is through wise land use planning that considers a comprehensive approach to how our business corridors are developed, and how they integrate into our community.
We are taking an in-depth look to discover new ways to do this in areas like Boulder Highway, with our Boulder Highway Investment Strategy; and in west Henderson with our Limited Transition Area, or the LTA. The LTA will set aside a 500-acre buffer around Henderson Executive Airport that will provide an excellent environment for business and industrial development. Federal legislation is making its way through Congress as we speak to enable this project.
We’re also in the process of conducting a comprehensive audit of all of the available land within the city to determine its highest and best use. By looking at what is available and laying out a framework for the best way to pursue development of that land, we are continuing our commitment to our business community to work with them to ensure they achieve their potential for success. Part of that commitment is to ensure that the city is fiscally responsible, and that we maximize the wise use of the resources available to us. We believe that we’ve been successful in that regard.
For more than 18 years we have held our property taxes at the same levels while maintaining our traditional valley-low employee-to-citizen ratio.
We were recently awarded the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting by the Government Finance Officers Association for the 25th consecutive year.
You know, our bond rating has long been the best of any municipality in the state, and this year we were pleased to be upgraded yet again by Standard and Poors from AA to AA+, equal to the State of Nevada and Clark County in our bond rating.
We’ve been good financial stewards of the taxpayer dollars entrusted to us, and, in fact, have been recognized this year again. The Performance Institute and Council for Excellence in Government with the process of analyzing what happens in governments awarded us the 2007 Transparent Budget Award. In a press release from The Institute’s president, Carl DeMaio, he said “The City of Henderson should be a model for other local governments in utilizing innovation and transparency in the budget process and the reporting of budget information.”
I want to recognize Steve Hanson and Richard Derrick, our finance and budget directors, and their outstanding staff. It is their hard work that has helped make us examples of good government and good financial stewards of our taxpayer dollars.
This is an area we’ve excelled in, but one that also requires a serious re-examination of the way we operate based on the fluid nature of the circumstances we’re facing now and that we’ll face in the future. We believe that any effort to be undertaken by state government to shore up their financial condition should not be done at the expense of local governments.
While we support efforts that lighten the burden on taxpayers, ours and other local governments have long operated within our budgets and have led the way in efficiently providing a service - - a multitude of services to the public.
Entities across this valley are already struggling to deal with the effects of recently imposed limitations on the growth of property taxes generated and available to local governments. While only time will tell the extent to which these limits will curtail the ability of local government to provide services to their residents, we must look at this circumstance as a challenge to yet again redefine the way we manage taxpayer funds.
Right now, for every $100 of assessed valuation on a home, a person in Henderson will pay $2.94 in property taxes. And of that $2.94, the City of Henderson receives 71 cents. Of that 71 cents, the City has discretion to program 14.5 cents. The remainder of the 71 cents comes from voter approved overrides for parks, police, fire, and emergency services. Our citizens told us they wanted to spend that money in that way.
With that understanding, it’s easy to see why the effect on local budgets is significant. Those limitations will provide constraints we’ve not seen in the past; constraints that will limit the funds available to provide transportation solutions, parks, recreation programs, maintenance generally, and other services.
Other factors in our economy are significant in the equation to determine available funds for government services as well. While our commercial building permits remain healthy, the number of residential permits has dropped significantly. And I know that you all are aware of that. There is a slowdown in the housing market nationally and especially here in Southern Nevada.
These and other economic factors impact government at all levels, but provide us an opportunity to re-examine the way we do business to make sure that we’re providing the best services possible at the most efficient levels possible. This is the historical role of local government, and a role that we’ve fulfilled well.
As we move into the future, it’s also incumbent upon us to explore new ways to ensure we’re efficiently managing the natural resources within our city. Long ago, we decided that protecting our natural environment was important to us, and we’ve committed through the years to preserve our natural resources for future generations.
We’re pleased to see other municipalities talking about the importance of these issues, and think it is important for local governments to lead the way. Last year, I talked about some of our efforts in this area as we began the energy retrofits of our justice center and the replacement of traffic signals with energy efficient light emitting diodes, or LED’s. We continue to be concerned about how we manage impacts on the environment and are committed to continuous improvement in that regard.
To that end, representatives from many of our city departments have been charged with examining our current environmental endeavors and to discover how we can better marshal our energy to be wise stewards of our natural resources. We realize that this effort must also include an analysis of how we develop our available land in the future. As part of that analysis, we recently completed an in-depth study of our West Henderson area.
West Henderson is the land generally located to the south and west of Anthem and Seven Hills, along the edges of the McCullough Mountains, running down to the area near Las Vegas Boulevard. In the analysis of that area, we took a hard look at the natural drainages and topography of the land.
And as a result of our findings, we hope to work in cooperation with the BLM to find ways to protect some of those sensitive areas to ensure that those natural drainages are protected.
Not only does that help us protect some of the scenic open spaces, it will also allow us to take land that is naturally difficult to develop out of the auction nomination process. By doing so, we hope to decrease the costs to improve the developable land and drive down the cost of future housing for our residents.
Perhaps more importantly, it will allow generations to come the opportunity to discover the beauty of our Mojave environment, and will preserve those natural habitat corridors for the many indigenous species that call this area home.
The drainage from this land flows from the foothills near Sloan Canyon. In particular, it stems from an area we call the Desert Edge, which is, perhaps, one of the most exciting future development areas for the city.
When we refer to the Desert Edge, we’re referring to roughly 700 acres adjacent to what the Native Americans called Nawghaw Poa (pronounced Naw-GAH POH aw) which means “Mountain Sheep Pass,” located at the entrance to Sloan Canyon. This was an area of great importance to the Anasazi, Patayan, Southern Paiute, and other ancient Native American tribes.
Working with the BLM, we’re in the process of making this important piece of land one of our hallmark developments in the city. We envision this development being built using renewable materials and incorporating solar, wind, geothermal, and other sustainable energy components and environmental controls. It will incorporate natural landscape and design elements in addition to focusing on components like optimal street orientation for solar and wind use, heating and cooling.
The Desert Edge development will become the gateway into our Sloan Canyon. And through collaboration with the BLM, we’re working to create a unique and distinctive visitor center there that will transition the community into the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area in a way that will pay honor to the desert environment and the great historical importance of the ancient art forms to be found there.
Stephanie Garcia-Vause and her team in Community Development are doing a terrific job developing design standards and requirements for Desert Edge and West Henderson. And we want to recognize you for that effort.
Through their efforts, we hope to make that portion of our city unique in Nevada, and a hallmark development for the future of our city.
The city certainly isn’t alone in the effort to preserve our environment and make wise use of renewable energy and natural resources. In the video today you saw examples of some of our progressive Henderson businesses who are taking the initiative to be responsible caretakers of the environment. Companies like the Pro Caps Laboratories, TWC Construction, and Cashman Equipment.
As you drive along Warm Springs near Boulder Highway, you can’t help but notice the expansive shade structures covering the parking at the facility shared by ProCaps and TWC. Those structures not only provide shade, they’re harvesting the abundant solar resources we enjoy in this valley. That two-acre parking array provides about 50 percent of the power needed for those facilities, and complements the 22,000 square feet of solar that already covers their rooftop.
Cashman Equipment is developing an entire campus on St. Rose Parkway that will utilize solar and other remarkable environmental technologies like geothermal energy. Their entire campus will be LEED certified and will incorporate cutting edge, environmental controls that will save water, electricity and gas.
Both those companies are examples of the businesses in Henderson that have taken the initiative to be good stewards of our environment through utilizing sustainable energy and new green building practices. And there are many others in our city that have done this as well.
The Clark County School District recently re-opened Burkholder Middle School incorporating the use of geothermal heating and cooling technologies through drilling hundreds of holes deep beneath the ground to circulate their water.
Individuals like Mr. Steve Rypka have begun to explore ways to make their homes energy efficient and have less of an impact on our environment. Mr. Rypka and others like him are remarkable in our community because of their commitment to demonstrating how simple solar technologies and energy efficient upgrades in our daily lives can decrease the impact we have on our environment. Mr. Rypka is here today; Mr. Rypka, would you stand? Neither he nor his wife has authorized this invitation, but if you’d like to see what it’s like there, we invite you to his home.
Speaking of solar technologies, I am proud to announce that thanks to the hard work of our Utilities Director, Dennis Porter, and his staff, the City of Henderson has completed feasibility studies, and is prepared to move forward with the creation of a 45-acre solar array to be built on city land at our Water Reclamation Facility. We anticipate that this Photovoltaic Solar Array will provide in the neighborhood of three megawatts of power, and will help supply nearly 50 percent of the power requirements for that facility. Additionally, the power produced there will be available to help offset the demands on the power grid during peak demand times.
From a regional perspective, all of these initiatives together will reduce the overall requirements on power loads during the summer, ultimately benefitting the entire valley. To our knowledge, this solar farm will be the first of its kind for a municipal government in Nevada.
I’m also pleased to announce a new energy partnership project that we are exploring in an effort to bring affordable solar power and energy upgrades to our residents. Our staff is working on the details of this program, which is similar to one created in Berkeley, California. Their program is financed through their city’s bonding capacity and allows residents to use city funds to purchase solar systems for their homes and pay back the cost of those systems over a 20-year period through a special low interest, long-term property tax increment on the individual residence.
Our Community Development Department is currently working on the details of this program, which will provide a menu of residential energy upgrades that would be available to our residents, including solar power, right here in Henderson. We hope to be able to roll out the details of that plan this year.
We’re also in the middle of a city-wide energy upgrade program on all our buildings. We anticipate that through these upgrades, we’ll realize a decrease in energy, water and gas consumption from 25 to 50 percent throughout the city. The cost savings will pay for that project itself within an eight-to-ten-year horizon. This is in addition to our efforts to ensure all new city buildings are LEED certified, including our Public Works Maintenance Facility, Senior Facility, and Aquatics Facility at Heritage Park.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the term, “LEED” is an acronym from the United States Green Building Council that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. We think it important to be leaders in this area. And all of these new LEED projects are either under construction or will be breaking ground this year.
As we look at the major projects we have underway, there are several of note I think bear mentioning today. In keeping with another of our city priorities to ensure public safety, we recently broke ground on our new North Police Substation. Located just east of Boulder Highway on Sunset Road, this 35,600-square-foot building will be our first LEED certified building in the city. It will feature photovoltaic covered parking that will provide 20 percent of the total power needed to run the station. This new station will provide an increased presence in the northern part of the city. It will lower response times and let officers focus more on preventing crimes by having a meaningful presence in the community, rather than simply responding to calls for service there.
Our police do a remarkable job, and through their efforts we remain one of the safest cities of our size not only in the valley, but in the nation. They do that through innovative programs like one recently undertaken to partner with the school district to provide additional police presence and security to schools within the city.
I want to recognize Chief Richard Perkins and the men and women of the Henderson Police Department for their efforts to be out in the community, and especially for their commitment not just to respond to crime, but to prevent it. Chief Perkins.
We want to recognize and congratulate the men and women of our Henderson Fire Department, and especially our new Fire Chief, Doug Stevens. Chief Stevens takes over for Jim Cavalieri, who retired just a few weeks ago. While we’ll certainly miss Chief Cavalieri, we’re proud to have Chief Stevens in that role. We have every confidence in his abilities to lead what we believe is one of the finest fire departments anywhere.
Chief Stevens and his department will be part of an innovative new program we are implementing in west Henderson at Fire Station 98 near Horizon and Coronado. As our city expands, the need for building and fire inspections takes us to the edges of our community. In an effort to make us more efficient and capitalize on existing infrastructure, we’ll be expanding Station 98 to include additional offices that will house up to 25 new fire, building and safety inspectors.
Through expanding that facility, we allow our inspectors to work out of locations that are out in the community and closer to the jobs they’re performing. By putting the resources closer to where they are needed, we save time and money, while providing services to the community in a more responsive manner.
I’d ask Chief Stevens to stand, our new Fire Chief. When you see Chief Stevens, I want you to take note of his head of hair, because if precedent is any indication, in a few years, he won’t have as much as he has today.
Our Development Services Center is a prime example of one of our most successful and innovative efforts to provide services quicker and more efficiently to our community. Not only have we been successful in maintaining a 99 percent on-time schedule for all our permits, inspections, and plan checking activities, we’ve now been recognized nationally as one of the top three development service centers in the entire nation. I want to recognize Christine Kidd and her staff for their efforts in making the Henderson Development Services Center a national model for success. Christine.
The creation of the DSC was a groundbreaking effort on the city’s part, and is certainly an effort that has continued to pay dividends for us and our customers. As we continue to grow as a city, the DSC will continue to play a vital role in the degree to which we’re able to see projects through to completion quickly and efficiently. Whether the end user is a city department, a business, or a homeowner, time is money.
Another important area of focus for the future of the City of Henderson is our transportation system. This year we will be breaking ground on a number of aggressive projects designed to ease the flow of traffic in and around the city. One of the most significant of those projects is the Galleria Interchange near the Galleria Mall. We’ve accepted bids and hope to award contracts by the end of this month to begin construction on that project, which will include a four-leg interchange at Galleria Drive, and see the construction of Galleria from Stephanie across the 95 to Boulder Highway.
We recently finished widening Gibson Road from Cornucopia to Boulder Highway from two to four lanes, and we’ll soon begin work on Gibson between Cape Horn all the way to the 215. And by the way…in case you’re wondering, I do not own Gibson road.
That project will also include improving the intersection at Warm Springs and Gibson and adding that portion of our roadways to the Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation – or the FAST System for short. The FAST system is designed to monitor and control traffic flows to make commuting faster and more efficient with fewer delays at red lights and in traffic.
In May, we hope to begin construction on a four-lane roadway between Auto Show Drive and Lake Mead Parkway. That project will include a bridge over the railroad lines running through the Basic Management Inc. property, and will connect to Fiesta Drive on Lake Mead.
In August, we anticipate beginning work on Burkholder from Lake Mead to Racetrack, where we’ll widen Burkholder to four travel lanes and install traffic signals at Major and Center.
Major Avenue, from Van Wagenen to Warm Springs, will begin reconstruction around that same time period. In addition to reconstructing the roadway there, we’ll also see the addition of new street lights along those roads.
Across the city, along Eastern from St. Rose to Reunion, we’ll be repaving and adding dual left- and right-turn lanes to accommodate the large traffic flows in that area. We’ll also be rehabbing the road surface on Eastern from Serene to Sunridge Heights, and between St. Rose Parkway and Anthem Parkway. I mention all of those areas because I know that there are people who are in this room who will be affected by these projects. And when they’re completed they will make a big difference.
We’ll be installing traffic signal improvements and upgrading that portion of our roadways to be included in the FAST system as well. We’ll also be installing new traffic signals at Sunridge Heights and Sandy Ridge, as well as Horizon Ridge and Coronado.
In addition, we’ll soon begin construction of two travel lanes on Serene, from Pecos to Eastern, with traffic calming components to help ease traffic flows through that area.
Of course, none of these projects would be possible without a very effective Public Works Department led by our Public Works Director Bob Murnane and his staff. Bob. They do an outstanding job helping us discover new ways to be more efficient and better built throughout the city.
Especially in areas like our new Heritage Park site where they recommended that we combine the timeline and bidding of our new senior center with the aquatics facility. Through combining the timeline for those two projects, we save more than a million dollars versus bidding them and building them separately. Those cost savings will be reinvested and help us get a better finished product that will include geothermal ground source heating and cooling for both buildings, as well as heating for the water in the aquatic facility…a benefit that over the long term will help us realize a 20-percent energy savings at these facilities.
Heritage Park will be another of our signature recreation areas, and with more than 160 acres, it will provide a home for much more than just our new state-of-the-art senior center or aquatics facility. It will be home to 13 soccer and multi-use fields, as well as five adult and youth baseball diamonds, softball fields, tennis courts, volleyball courts, a dog park, a splash park, a playground, and probably a few things the Mayor doesn’t know about. It will also be the nexus for many of our trails that will tie in to an equestrian, bicycle and pedestrian system unlike anything in the Valley.
We discovered a long time ago that parks and open space are important to our residents. Through the years we’ve partnered with them to create an incredible network of amenities throughout our city. Our talented Parks and Recreation Department does a remarkable job managing our nationally award-winning parks and recreation system; a system that includes more than 470 total acres of neighborhood and community parks and recreation centers.
In addition to that, we’ve built an impressive 384 acres of walking, biking, and equestrian trail corridors that will connect our entire city when they’re ultimately built out. Those amenities add, in a significant way, to the quality of life for all our residents, and we look forward to working with them in the future to discover new ways to continue to build and maintain the level of parks and recreational amenities they’ve come to enjoy.
We’re pleased to be prepared to break ground this spring on our new Satellite Water Reclamation Facility. Now that may not sound all that exciting to you, but if you had to comply with federal guidelines, you’d know how excited we are. Located off of St. Rose Parkway near Eastern, this new facility will employ the latest most innovative water cleaning technologies available, and will ensure that we continue to treat and return the cleanest, safest water possible to our environment.
We broke ground recently on another very important project that sits adjacent to the campus of Nevada State College. Just three weeks ago, I stood with my fellow council members, and members of the Henderson Community Foundation and supporters of the Nathan Adelson Hospice, as we broke ground at the location for the new 9,000-square-foot adult day care and hospice facility. The adult daycare center portion of that project will accommodate up to 70 people a day and is now under construction and is very much needed in this Valley.
When the hospice portion of the facility is eventually funded and built, it will provide more than 28,800 square feet of space for needed services for so many in this valley. This project takes on real significance when considering that when this effort started three years ago, there were only 54 in-patient hospice beds in the valley. Three years, and tens of thousands of residents later, there are still only 54 in-patient hospice beds in this valley.
The hospice and day care were specifically built near Nevada State College to take advantage of the state-of-the-art care technologies that will be developed in conjunction with the college to care for those patients. We appreciate the relationship we have with Nevada State College. They’re an exceptional partner for education in this city, and we’re excited for what the future holds on their campus.
Their first building is under construction as we speak, and we’re currently working with them to begin the master planning process for the entire campus. We appreciate the work of Dr. Fred Maryanski, his staff, and the State Board of Regents. Through our partnership with them, we’re developing a campus that will be a shining example of the benefits a state college system can bring to our community and to our state.
You know, when we think, those of us - - in fact, many of those who worked so hard to establish the state college are present in this room. And I’ll never forget the first meetings that Richard Perkins and I, and Selma Bartlett, and Bob Campbell, and a few others had as we embarked upon what was almost a brain-numbing experience. Today we all can be proud. The Chamber was among the first to step forward and support that effort.
Education at every level is vital to our future, and we’re thrilled with the other partnerships we’ve formed that allow us to explore ways to help support education in a meaningful way. We’re encouraged to hear that North Las Vegas is joining us in implementing the APPLE Partnership. You know that program; you support it. It has yielded important successes for the children in Henderson and throughout the Southeast Region of the school district. We appreciate the opportunity to work with the Clark County School District and the business community in that endeavor, and are excited that others are taking a look at what it can do to help their children as well.
Our Henderson District Public Libraries have been a great partner in APPLE, and they’ve had some tremendous success with a program that was kicked off this fall called “Live Homework Help." This program allows students to login online and receive live tutoring on their homework. Don’t you all wish we had that when we were students? The program is available in English and Spanish, and is available to any student from fourth grade to their first year in college. Now I don’t know if college students are signing on. Someone told me they were. They probably just aren’t quite accurate in their year of college, or their year of schooling, that they have to log in under.
Since September, thousands of students have logged in and taken advantage of this free service and the program is growing every month. One student told us what she thought of the program when she e-mailed this: “I love this, please keep this forever…or at least until I finish 7th grade.” Innovative programs like these are part of the imaginative portfolio of opportunities that have always made living in Henderson so special.
Long ago we discovered it was much more than simply putting in street lights, locking up criminals, and letting others bear the load for educating our young people. We’ve always looked for ways to make this community something unique, and we feel we’re discovering how to do just that. But we choose not to rest in that effort. We’re always searching to discover new ways to make the Henderson experience more productive, more meaningful and more enjoyable for our residents and our businesses.
To that end, I’m pleased to announce that we’re unveiling a new City Web site that will make navigating our city resources even easier than in the past. In fact, rather than tell you about the new Web site, why don’t I show you. Excuse me for just a moment….
(Whereupon, a short website video was shown)
The Mayor’s got to be a quick change-artist, too.
This new Web site will make it easier for residents to make utility payments online, track crime through our Police Department’s new Crime Search database, or sign up for parks and recreation classes online. They can register for youth sports programs, purchase Pavilion events tickets online, or look up information on events in the city, like the DaVinci Experience at the downtown Events Plaza. Everything about the Web site has been redesigned to make it easier for our residents to find the information they want, when they want it.
I want to recognize our Web Development Team and all the other departments and staff who had a hand in the creation of our new site.
We have a talented team of people at the City, and I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of them for the work they do on a daily basis. They make us look so good. Of course, at the head of that staff is our new City Manager, Mary Kay Peck. We’re incredibly fortunate to have Mary Kay guiding the day-to-day operations in the city. She does a tremendous job, and we want to thank her and her staff for the great work they’re doing. Thank you, Mary Kay.
I also want to recognize Shauna Hughes, our City Attorney - - you know, when I was thinking about this speech, I almost wrote in here something about her being the oldest serving member of the city. She’s been serving longest, but she’s one of the youngest - - for the service that she provides in this city. As an attorney myself, I recognize the quality of the legal work that they provide in that department, and the valuable resource she and her staff provide to this city. Shauna.
We appreciate the contributions of Monica Simmons and her staff in the City Clerk’s office. Through innovative programs they’ve undertaken like passport services - - yes, you can get your passport at City Hall - - youth voter outreach, and the relocation of county services such as marriage licensing, they continue to go above and beyond in their service to the city and its residents. Thank you, Monica, and your staff.
We want to thank Cindy Herman and the Public Information Office, and the Mayor and Council staff, as well as our City staff in the red coats you saw when you entered today. They’ve done a tremendous job arranging this event, and we appreciate their hard work making this event so successful.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the Chamber of Commerce. The State of the City has always been a benefit that the Chamber has provided, and we thank them for being great ambassadors and partners in this city. Thank you, Chamber of Commerce.
Finally, I want to take a moment and recognize a group of people who really are at the heart of everything that makes Henderson so great. Jack Clark, Andy Hafen, Steve Kirk, and Gerri Schroder are some of the finest individuals I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. Just like many of you, they’ve chosen to live and work and raise their families here. They do an extraordinary job setting the policy and making the decisions that have - - that make us what we are today.
I wish you could all see the long hours they dedicate to fulfilling their commitment to the people of this community. It is a true pleasure to work with each of them and I thank them for their support and the way that they discharge their duty and set a worthy example to all of us who care anything about this city and public service.
And it’s a pleasure to associate with each of you. Together we’re discovering how to build much more than a city here in Henderson. We’re discovering how to build responsibly. We’re discovering how to build quality. And we’re discovering how to build opportunity.
But above all, we’re discovering how to continue to ensure the promise of a bright, successful future for the businesses, the children, families and seniors making their lives here with us in Henderson, this place we call home.
Thank you, very much.