Name: Steve McClung
Age: 57
Education: High School Graduate
Political experience: None
Please write a short biography of yourself (you might include such things as birthplace, career, community involvement, family, etc.): I have been a Carson City resident for the past 10 years. I was born in West Virginia 57 years ago, moved to Southern California when I was 10 years old, after high school graduation I joined the U.S. Army and served our country for 6 years including 1 year in Vietnam. I lived in Wisconsin for over 15 years before moving to Carson City and currently own Alpine Lock. I have been married for almost 30 years and have 3 grown children.
I have 20 years as a business owner and previous managerial positions at times in charge of an excess of 100 employees. I am not a politician and will listen to what the people of our community want.
Have you ever been arrested? If so, when and for what offense? This question should be asked at the time of filing for office. We certainly do not want to elect criminals into public office, even though some become corrupt after elected. We do background checks on Casino workers, Locksmiths, Pawn Shop workers and Police Officers, why not on candidates for city and state government. Makes sense to me.
Describe your vision for the Carson City of the future: I would like to see more Retail and Manufacturing businesses. I would like Carson City to be a community where people want to live and raise their families, shop and eventually retire.
List the three most important issues Carson City will face in the next few years:
1. Growth
2. Drug and Gang Activity
3. The Economy
Do you think Carson City has a healthy number of casinos? Would you support more casinos? Casinos are a mixed blessing. They bring revenue and jobs to the city, however, I do not believe they are tourist attractions for Carson City. Their employees are not paid well and have substandard healthcare.
If the city continues to face budgetary problems, would you consider layoffs as part of the solution? Layoffs would be the very last recourse. I would first look at reduction of hours and/or pay cuts.
How would you characterize the level of crime in Carson City, including gang-related crime? Do you believe the city needs more law enforcement officers? See the next answer for number 8 as I address those issues.
How will you vote on the public safety ballot question that asks voters if they want to increase their property taxes to add more firefighters, paramedics and law enforcement officers? I am in favor of this initiative - with our current level of gang and drug activity, we need the funding to harness the threat that we face. I heard it stated we should have kept the money used to build the new Sheriffs Facility as a solution to meet our current and future needs and to offset the proposed Tax increase. But, those funds were originally allocated to build a new fire station. However, through debt management, they were not needed and were used for Capital Development, not only for the Sheriff's Dept, but, also a Detox and Rehabilitation Centers.
How will you vote on the V&T tax ballot question, which proposes using sales tax to provide $10 million for the railroad in return for a share of the profits. I am opposed to raising taxes or using any additional tax payer money to complete the V&T Project. While I would like to see the V&T completed, I do not believe it will be the tourist attraction nor a profitable enterprise as some people have projected.
What impression do you think Carson City makes upon visitors? What things can be done to improve Carson's "first impression?" How can a person who calls Carson City home possibly see through the eyes of a visitor?
Do you agree with one supervisor candidate's statement that Carson City has wasted assets and resources by poor planning in its projects? I form my own opinions and cannot agree or disagree with someone's statement without specific details. I do believe not enough research was done in certain matters. As Mayor, I will be privileged to information which will allow me to make intelligent and well thought out decisions. I will always vote in the best interest for the citizens of Carson City.
Carson City has a detailed plan to make the downtown more inviting to walking traffic, which includes a reduction in lanes. Do you support the plan? What are your ideas for improving downtown? I feel closing the downtown to all traffic and setting up tables and having music like some kind of Mardi Gras, as one of my opponents has suggested, would kill the downtown area. I also believe parallel parking would create gridlock. Diagonal parking could be looked at as the answer, however, I have not heard what the Downtown Business Owners want?
The city has recently attracted retailers by offering monetary incentives. Do you support this policy? If not, what strategy do you believe the city should use to attract businesses to locate here rather than in nearby communities? I don't like the term redevelopment. The phrase should be development. Like most people, I don't like to see buildings sitting empty, however, spending large amounts of taxpayers dollars to entice businesses to locate here and giving other incentives is like buying someone's love. Not all problems can be solved by throwing money at it. We need to support (and I don't mean monetarily) organizations like the Northern Nevada Development Authority and Nevada Business Connections who are trying to bring more manufacturing businesses to the Northern Nevada Region.
Do you believe Carson City's library is adequate? Why? I have not used the Library recently, so we need to address this question to the citizens who utilize the library and ask for their thoughts and ideas.
Do you believe Carson City has an adequate number of parks and similar facilities? Why? During past planning and development, we've forgotten a large segment of our population and that's the young people in our community. We need to include them in our future plans and become more family oriented.
Some candidates have made comments about some residents being subjected to treatment less fair than others. Do you agree? If so, in what areas has this occurred? Give me specific incidents so I can respond with some sort of intelligence.
What else would you like to say to voters about your qualifications and ideas? It might be a better idea for the voters to attend the Forum being held on August 6th at 6:30PM at the Plaza Hotel and actually meet the candidates and hear their comments on the issues instead of relying on a survey which questions were not well thought out or by the number of yard signs displayed in order to select the individual who will represent them for the next 4 years.