Carson City Mayor approaches 2017 with optimism in State of City speech

Following his re-election for a third and final term, Carson City Mayor Robert Crowell is optimistic about what's ahead for the Nevada state capital in 2017.

He delivered his State of the City speech Monday night to dozens inside the Bob Boldrick Theater at the Carson City Community Center, reviewing the city's successes and challenges from 2016 while also reassuring residents about the future.

"Carson City is not merely a collection of neighborhoods," Crowell opened his speech. "We are one community, indeed one community working together. The state of our city is strong, the state of our community is even stronger."

The new year, he said, began with a significant challenge from recent flooding in parts of Carson City. The combination of heavy snowfall in the mountains and foothills followed by a warm atmospheric river full of rain brought excessive run-off into the Eagle Valley.

Citing proactive efforts by the city to prepare for the flood event, the mayor said widespread flooding was avoided and damage kept at bay, limited primarily to parks and recreation trails along the Carson River.

"We have every reason to be proud of the city’s proactive response to this extreme weather event," Crowell said. "You won’t find a better example of our community and our state coming together to minimize injury to people and damage to property."

The city's public works department not only identified problem areas prone to flooding, he said, but crews put in a lot of hours working to prevent significant flood events from occurring.

More than 35,000 sandbags were deployed throughout Carson City, he said, and barriers were placed in flood-prone parts of the city.

"Their preparation and response are major reasons why the flooding damage wasn’t as severe as in our neighboring counties," said Crowell, who also praised the city's Emergency Operations Center for addressing problem areas quickly and keeping the public informed.

The mayor saved his greatest praise, though, for Carson City residents, who he said went out of their way to help one another in preparation for the flood event.

"Before and during the event one would see our residents filling sandbags with many taking the time to help others," he said. "You could see our residents cleaning gutters and drains in front of not only their own property but that of their neighbors as well, in other words doing what they could to help everyone."

In discussing the successes of 2016, Mayor Crowell detailed key capital improvement projects completed during the last fiscal year.

Featured were the Multi-Purpose Athletic Center (MAC) on Russell Way, a partnership between the city and the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada; the Carson City Animal Shelter on Airport Road, a no-kill facility managed in partnership by the Nevada Humane Society; and the downtown Carson Street corridor improvement project, which reconstructed North Carson Street between William and Fifth streets.

Other firsts for Carson City in 2016 included TRAFFC, a citizen's advisory committee providing guidance on city road repair, as well as the Carson City Veterans Community Council, organized under the State of Nevada's Green Zone Initiative to put resource access for area veterans all in one place.

"As a retired naval officer and Vietnam veteran, I am particularly proud of the city website that lists all the organizations in our community that are available to assist our veterans," Crowell said. "Nevada is a veteran-friendly state. Likewise, our community lives up to that designation at the local level."

Carson City, he said, inaugurated its first Epic Rides mountain bike racing series in June 2016, during which the downtown corridor of North Carson Street was undergoing major construction to replace outdated utility pipes and transform the downtown core into a three-lane (including center turn lane) by-way designed to be more pedestrian and bicycle-friendly.

"Our community holds the distinction of being a bicycle-friendly community and the redesign of our downtown makes bike travel safe and attractive in that area," Crowell said.

Epic Rides returns to the Nevada state capital in June again this year for its second Carson City Off-Road mountain bike racing circuit, an event the mayor expects will only improve upon the success of 2016.

"The Carson City Off-Road Race was named the nation’s top mountain bike race," Crowell said. "Residents of other cities may think that it would be hard to improve on that ranking, but they don’t know the people of Carson City. The 2017 Carson City Off-Road will raise the bar even higher."

As for the new downtown corridor, Crowell said he remains optimistic that the changes to streetscape will lead to a better experience in Carson City's downtown business and historic districts.

"Many cities in America have seen their downtowns decline as tastes in transportation, retail and lifestyles change," he said. "Many have taken proactive measures to restore the draw of their downtowns and Carson City now joins that list."

The Bob McFadden Plaza — replacing Third Street between Carson and Curry — was also constructed last year in conjunction with the downtown corridor improvement project.

"The McFadden Plaza is a wonderful addition to our city, a true gathering spot with something for all ages," Crowell said. "On behalf of our community, let me thank the McFadden family for their generous donation that made the Bob McFadden Plaza a reality."

Citing contributions from Muscle Powered — a local non-profit organization that advocates for a walkable and bikeable community — and the Carson City Chamber of Commerce, the mayor made note of public and private partnerships that were key to downtown renewal projects like the Carson Street corridor.

"Muscle Powered contributed over $16,000 for functional and artistic bike racks," he said. "Not to be outdone, the Chamber led the effort to sell benches and raise money for public art."

Public art, he said, looks to be the next big push for improvements in the downtown area.

"I look forward to working with our new arts and culture director (Mark Salinas, Carson City Visitors Bureau) and the arts community in the design and procurement of public art for our city," Crowell said.

The new year, he said, will also see the completion of the Interstate 580 bypass — the last section of which between Fairview Drive and Spooner Junction at South Carson Street and U.S. Highway 50 West — and the start of street design work for Curry and South Carson streets.

Both future projects, he said, will be partly funded by the one-eighth percent sales tax increase passed by the Carson City Board of Supervisors in 2014, and also in part by $5 million received from the state of Nevada.

"Both projects are important, in different ways, to the economic well-being of the city," Crowell said. "South Carson, in particular, is the center of gravity for retail in Carson City. It is imperative that we do everything we can to help our retailers."

Crowell said although the I-580 freeway bypass may pose some challenges to downtown businesses due to reduced traffic on Carson Street, he is hopeful the city will attract regional consumers from neighboring counties.

"With the increase in Washoe County sales tax to 8.265 percent, Carson City retailers have almost a full percentage point advantage in sales tax and a $0.27 per gallon advantage in fuel taxes," he said. "We should maximize those advantages."

The mayor said the city is also currently working on improvements to problems it has faced with deferred maintenance costs.

"In an effort to ensure that in the future we avoid the deferred maintenance issues we are currently experiencing, city staff has been preparing an asset management plan to address deferred maintenance and the recapitalization of existing assets," he said. "During the lean years, we continued to kick the can down the road. That road has come to an end and we need to plan for the future."

Part of the plan, he said, is to ensure the city's rainy day fund stays robust.

"I am pleased to report that at the end of last fiscal year, that fund was at 10.75 percent, or $8.1 million," said Crowell, who added that the fund was nearly depleted at around the statutory minimum of five percent when he first took office. "Our finance folks expect that we may well end this fiscal year with a similar amount. That gives us some options as we look at recapitalizing city assets from buildings and grounds to the sheriff’s office and fire department."

The growth rate of sales tax revenue, he said, is projected to be close to double what the city had budgeted for 2017.

"This current fiscal year, we based our budget on a growth rate of four percent in sales tax revenue," he said. "That number looks to be about eight percent for this year, or about a surplus of $900,000."

Carson City's unemployment rate currently stands at 5.3 percent, the mayor said, approaching pre-recession levels. But there is still a considerable number of unskilled wage earners in the Nevada state capital, along with a lack of skilled workers.

"We are working hard to improve that employment picture," he said. "The city has partnered with our development partner, the Northern Nevada Development Authority, to attract employers and good-paying jobs to our city."

Finally, the mayor detailed the city's continued efforts to improve water resources, including the $30 million renovation and upgrade of the city's water reclamation facility off East Fifth Street, and an East-West Transmission line that connects the water systems from each side of town.

"We have also worked hard to be a leader in reducing our energy usage," said Crowell, citing solar energy systems in place for the municipality and the school district, as well as a new Energy Savings Performance Contract being implemented.

"Once completed, it will reduce the city’s electricity consumption by over 2 million kilowatt hours each year," he said. "Natural gas savings will exceed 65,000 therms annually. Energy cost savings are projected to exceed $200,000 per year."