Five Questions for Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell

For this week's installment of Carson Now's Five Questions, Carson City's very own Mayor Bob Crowell sat down to discuss why he wanted to become Mayor, what he plans to do after, and everything in between.

1) Why did you want to become Mayor of Carson City?

First, a short story. I was born in the mining town of Tonopah and from the fourth grade on grew up in Carson City and attended its public schools. For me, the education I received in both Tonopah and Carson City was first class—so much so that I was fortunate to be able to continue my secondary education in institutions of my choice. Through that experience I came to appreciate the value of education, in whatever form, not only for individual advancement but indeed as a pillar of democracy.

With that background in 1996 I became involved in the potential passage of a bond to finance a second high school in our community as I considered our single high school overcrowded.

One morning I went to a service club to talk about the need for a second high school. During that meeting the question was posed to me “what are you going to do with the building in ten or fifteen years?” A little stunned, I replied that the school would be populated by students to which the statement was made that we didn’t need more education facilities in our community because Carson City was a “retirement community”.

That very day I went home and told my wife that I needed to get more involved in our community affairs because while retirement and retirees are definitely important, successful and sustainable communities require among other things a sound education system as well as a balanced portfolio of age groups.

The bond issue failed and I applied to be appointed to the school board and was successful. I stayed on the school board for 11 years with express purpose of promoting the value of education in our community and its importance to the success our democracy.

At the end of 11 years Mayor Marv was retiring and folks started asking me if I would consider a run for Mayor. I thought about it at length and in the end it was my sense that from the position of Mayor I could continue to give back to the community I grew up in as well as continue to promote excellence in education and its importance for our quality of life and long term community sustainability. Hence, I filed.

2) What do you think of us as your greatest achievement while being Mayor?

I don’t look at things in terms of what “I” may have done but what “we” as a community have done. In that regard, there isn’t one thing in particular that stands out but rather a number of things that have improved our quality of life such as the upgrading of our wastewater treatment plant which was on the verge of suffering a cataclysmic failure, our ability to deliver safe drinking water where we were seriously out of federal and state compliance, the revitalization of our urban core area, our open space acquisitions and trail development to name but a few.

3) What do you think is the biggest issue Carson City is facing currently?

Road maintenance funding. Roads are funded through a tax on fuel where there is a nexus between the tax and the wear and tear on our roads. With the advent of electric and hybrid vehicles together with more fuel efficient cars, fuel sales have declined with a commensurate effect on the fuel taxes we collect at the state and local levels. We have been able to make major road improvements in our urban core area through leveraging the last available 1/8 percent sales tax increase authorized under state law for infrastructure improvements of that type. That tax increase will also help fund the South Carson Street project along with the $7.5M TIGER grant we received last year from the Federal Department of Transportation for exclusive use on this project.

4) What advice do you have for the next mayor?

Here are my two cents: Do your best to focus on the words “Listen”, “Respect”, “Community” and to the extent possible remove the “I” word from your vocabulary. Yes, politicians are leaders and decision makers, but never forget that successful communities are created by people not politicians.

5) What are your plans once you’re finished with your term?

My best friend and wife of 48 years, Susan, and I intend to take a some road trips to explore the nooks and crannies in Nevada that are part of our State’s history, but which time has precluded us from enjoying.