Henderson city clerk explains reason for canceled candidate forum

Henderson City Hall (Mark Credico)Melissa Woodbury (courtesy Melissa Woodbury)Tim Cox (photo courtesy Tim Cox)Nicholas Vaskov (Screengrab/www. nshe.nevada.edu).
Henderson City Clerk Jose Luis Valdez on Tuesday took duty for canceling last week's prospect forum.

After the City Council conference Tuesday evening, Valdez met 5 of the 7 candidates running for Henderson's uninhabited Ward 1 city board seat. Candidates Melissa Woodbury and Tim Cox might not attend, however Valdez said he talked to both of them prior to the meeting.

Valdez's conference with the candidates was held to clarify why a prospect online forum arranged by the River Mountain Ranch Estates property owners association was canceled an hour prior to it was arranged to start last week.

Valdez began the meeting by clarifying that the cancellation was his call.

" I want to make that very clear. Nobody called telling me or asking me or buying me to do anything associated to that particular scenario," Valdez stated. "It was on my request that the Parks and Recreation Department canceled that occasion.".

The city clerk stated he made the decision to cancel after discovering that it was a political occasion at Henderson's Heritage Park Senior Facility. He cited ethical issues that a political candidate occasion would be held in a publicly owned building, particularly considering that the facility that would have held the event is likewise the city's backup ballot place if City Hall could not be used.

City Attorney Nicholas Vaskov explained that any political event is permitted to be held within a city area as long as the organizers pay to rent the space. The event being held can not be political in nature if city funds are paying for a space.

Under these standards, recently's canceled online forum is morally enabled, but Valdez and Vaskov said they didn't know all the facts at the time of the cancellation.

" Renting the facility is okay, you're paying the freight. Once again, at the time we were making that choice, we didn't know that. Parks and Rec may have understood that, but we didn't know that," Vaskov said.

Because he didn't have all of the information, Valdez stated he found out about the event's political nature hours prior to its set up start and canceled it out of caution. He called the cancellation "the very best possible decision" for that scenario "with the info offered" at the time.

At the request of several candidates at the meeting, the city authorities accepted release an information of the rules to avoid future confusion on the concern.

The candidates' responses to the conference were mainly positive, though numerous were still disappointed that the forum was canceled.

Alex Kleytman commended Valdez for making the "hard call" in canceling the occasion, noting that the special election is getting a lot of attention in the state. Aaron Johnson also commended Valdez for taking the impact of this issue, however also stated he wanted the city officials would have dug deeper into the realities of the event prior to canceling it out of care.

Jim Seebock said he's still disappointed that the general public missed their possibility to participate in the forum, but is confident another can be held. Ali Nilson said she was grateful for the conference's explanation and likewise anticipates future candidate occasions.

Tim Cox said he talked to Valdez on Thursday. While delighted that Valdez put in the time to explain why he decided, Cox was still disappointed by the cancellation and called for clearer city policy relating to political events.

The only prospect completely unhappy with the conference was Eddie Hamilton, who said the cancellation originated from "political fear" and infringed on totally free speech. Melissa Woodbury could not be grabbed remark.

Agents from River Mountain Ranch Estates say they plan to hold another occasion with all seven candidates prior to the unique election on April 3.

The unique election is being held to fill the vacant council seat after Michelle Romero's election to mayor. An early ballot period also will be held from March 28 to March 30.

Just Ward 1 homeowners will be qualified to vote in the election.

Contact Mark Credico at mcredico@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarkCredicoII.