SUMMARY--Amends charter of City of Las Vegas to increase number of wards. (BDR S-146)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: No.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to the charter of the City of Las Vegas; increasing the number of wards in the city; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
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Section 1 Section 1.130 of the charter of the City of Las Vegas, being chapter 517, Statutes of Nevada 1983, at page 1393, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1.130 Wards: Creation; boundaries.
1. The city must be divided into [four] six wards, which must be as nearly equal in population as can conveniently be provided, and the territory which compromises each ward must be contiguous.
2. The boundaries of the wards must be established and changed by ordinance. The [boundary] boundaries of the wards must be changed whenever the population, as determined by the last preceding national census of the Bureau of the Census of the United States Department of Commerce, in any ward exceeds the population in any other ward by more than 5 percent. The boundaries of the wards may be changed to include territory which has been annexed and whenever the population in any ward exceeds the population in any other ward by more than 5 percent by any measure which is found reliable by the city council.
Sec. 2. Section 1.140 of the charter of the City of Las Vegas, being chapter 517, Statutes of Nevada 1983, at page 1393, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1.140 Elective offices.
1. The elective officers of the city consist of:
(a) A mayor.
(b) [Four councilmen.] One councilman from each ward.
(c) Municipal judges.
2. The terms of office of the mayor, councilmen and, except as is otherwise provided in subsection 3 of section 4.010 of this charter, municipal judges are 4 years.
Sec. 3. Section 5.010 of the charter of the City of Las Vegas, being chapter 517, Statutes of Nevada 1983, as amended by chapter 193, Statutes of Nevada 1991, at page 363, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 5.010 Primary municipal elections.
1. [On the Tuesday after the 1st Monday in May 1985, and at each successive interval of 4 years, a primary municipal election must be held in the city at which time candidates for two offices of councilman and for municipal judge, department 2, must be nominated.
2.] On the Tuesday after the [1st] first Monday in May [1987,] 1999, and at each successive interval of 4 years, a primary municipal election must be held in the city at which time candidates for mayor, for [two] three offices of councilman and for municipal judge, department 1, must be nominated.
2. On the Tuesday after the first Monday in May 2001, and at each successive interval of 4 years, a primary municipal election must be held in the city at which time candidates for three offices of councilman and for municipal judge, department 2, must be nominated.
3. The candidates for councilman who are to be nominated as provided in subsections 1 and 2 must be nominated and voted for separately according to the respective wards. The candidates from wards [2 and 4] 1, 3 and 5 must be nominated as provided in subsection 1, and the candidates from wards [1 and 3] 2, 4 and 6 must be nominated as provided in subsection 2.
4. If the city council has established an additional department or departments of the municipal court pursuant to section 4.010 of this charter, and, as a result, more than one office of municipal judge is to be filled at any election, the candidates for those offices must be nominated and voted upon separately according to the respective departments.
5. Each candidate for the municipal offices which are provided for in subsections 1, 2 and 4 must file a declaration of candidacy with the city clerk not less than 30 days nor more than 40 days before the day of the primary election. If the last day for filing a declaration of candidacy falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the period for filing expires on the preceding business day at 5 p.m. The city clerk shall collect from each candidate, at the time of filing that candidate's declaration of candidacy, the filing fee which is prescribed by ordinance for that office. All of the filing fees which are collected by the city clerk must be paid into the city treasury.
6. If, at 5 p.m. on the last day for filing a declaration of candidacy, there is only one candidate for nomination for any office, that candidate must be declared elected for the term which commences on the day of the first regular meeting of the city council next succeeding the meeting at which the canvass of the returns is made, and no primary or general election need be held for that office.
7. If, in the primary election, regardless of the number of candidates for an office, one candidate receives a majority of votes which are cast in that election for the office for which he is a candidate, he must be declared elected for the term which commences on the day of the first regular meeting of the city council next succeeding the meeting at which the canvass of the returns is made, and no general election need be held for that office. If, in the primary election, no candidate receives a majority of votes which are cast in that election for the office for which he is a candidate, the names of the two candidates who receive the highest number of votes must be placed on the ballot for the general election.
Sec. 4. On or before January 1, 1998, the city council shall:
1. Establish the boundaries of the two wards added pursuant to the amendatory provisions of section 1 of this act and designate these wards as wards 5 and 6.
2. Appoint two persons to the two offices of councilman added pursuant to the amendatory provisions of section 1 of this act. The successor to the office of councilman from ward 5 who is elected at the municipal election in 1999 serves for a term of 4 years. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2 of section 1.140 of the charter of the City of Las Vegas, the successor to the office of councilman from ward 6 who is elected at the municipal election in 1999 serves for a term of 2 years. His successor who is elected at the municipal election in 2001 and each subsequent successor to that office serves for a term of 4 years.
Sec. 5. This act becomes effective on July 1, 1997.