Henderson city council votes to shift senior transportation program
Henderson will turn over operations of its senior transportation program to a nonprofit organization by mid-July.
The City Council approved a $50,000 contract Tuesday to transfer the program to the nonprofit Independent Transportation Network, widely known as ITN Las Vegas Valley. The council also approved donation of two vehicles the city had used for transporting seniors between their residences and the Heritage Park Senior Facility at South Racetrack Road and Burkholder Boulevard.
ITN will continue to charge the program’s 111 current users $1 fee, but may charge new riders more.
Fran Smith, co-executive director and co-founder of ITN Las Vegas, said the organization hopes to receive additional grants from the Regional Transportation Commission and Henderson Community Foundation.
Since March 2010 ITN has operating a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week program that delivers visually impaired people older than 60 at a cost of $3 per ride, $6 round trip.
A Special Budget Ad Hoc Committee in February recommended eliminating the senior transportation program, citing the $236,000 annual cost to taxpayers. City officials have been unwilling to do so without a low-cost alternative.
In other council business:
■ An expected hearing on the appeal of a rejection of a permit to operate a sexually oriented business on North Stephanie Street and Warm Springs Road was cancelled. The Love Store pulled its application a few hours before hearing, said Clyde DeWitt, the attorney representing the business. He said the application needed to be “modified,” and gave no indication if it would be resubmitted.
■ The council approved changes to the city’s Downtown Investment Strategy in a bid to entice developers, create 500 jobs, attract 3,500 new residents, and lure more tourists to the area. The move is an update of the city’s 2002 Downtown Investment Strategy report, which was slowed by the economic downturn in 2009. Part of the update will loosen zoning regulations to include incentives for redevelopment, rework guidelines for residential, commercial and mixed-use development, and give more leeway to site plans for developers while preserving the area’s history, according to the city.
The city would like to continue to see a family-and pedestrian-friendly area centered around Water Street, with more general retail and restaurants, along with mixed-use residential/retail/office space buildings and standalone offices.
■ The council approved a $350,000 budget for repairs and improvements to the city-owned Wildhorse Golf Club on Warm Springs Road east of Green Valley Parkway. The work includes overhauling the 20-year-old air conditioning system, a new acid injection system for irrigating, numerous sprinkler head replacements, water pump replacement for the ponds, shade cover outside the second floor banquet facility, HVAC system repairs, central plant cooling tower replacement along with the a new heat-exchanger and boiler, replacement of multiple air-handlers. The budget also includes a contingency fund.
The 18-hole course was built in 1959, with the 10,000-square-foot clubhouse added in 1995. The city acquired the facility in 2005. Par 4 Golf Management took over operations of the course and clubhouse for the city Jan. 1. The projects would be financed by the city’s Land Fund.
Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3882. Follow him on Twitter: @KnightlyGrind
