Steve Neighbors encouraged by Governor's Office response

Nugget President Steve Neighbors said Tuesday he is hopeful about the direction of the City Center Project after meeting with Gov. Jim Gibbons and his staff earlier this month and subsequent correspondence he has received.

"I am encouraged by the letter from the governor," Neighbors said. "It takes courage to be open to a course of action."

Project proponents were taken aback last month when a July 21 letter from Deputy Chief of Staff Lynn Hettrick of the governor's office was sent to project consultant Mark Lewis. It was copied to the board of supervisors as well as the chamber of commerce.

In the letter, Hettrick said they were "disappointed that the state's support for and participation in this project appears to have been overstated." He said concerns remain regarding adequate parking and measurable cost savings of consolidating the Public Utilities Commission, the Gaming Control Board and the Department of Health and Human Services in office space within the project.

An Aug. 2 reply from Neighbors, who is trustee for the Mae B. Adams Trust and the Hop & Mae Adams Foundation, pointed out that the three state agencies in question had worked with the independent consulting firm hired by Neighbors on a study, the Meridian Report, which showed that "the state's participation in the downtown project would result in substantial financial savings" to the state.

In the letter, Neighbors says:

"I know others have misrepresented to you that we have suggested that the Governor's Office is in support of this project. What we have represented was that the governor's office was interested in getting information on whether an office consolidation in downtown Carson City was cost effective. We have never represented to anyone that the governor's office was in support of this project at this point. They also suggest the project has received its final approval by Carson City supervisors, which it has not. What we have been doing is our due diligence and data collection in order to give the board of supervisors enough information to make a final decision."

But Neighbors, Mayor Bob Crowell and Library Director Sara Jones met for 90 minutes Aug. 6 with Gibbons, Chief of Staff Robin Reedy and Hettrick to discuss the merits of the project for both the state and Carson City.

Neighbors sent a followup letter to the governor Aug. 12 outlining the benefits of proceeding with the project at this time, including low construction costs and low interest rates.

Key points Neighbors emphasizes are:

• The developer P3 has committed to fully finance the project, without the city signing on any of the debt, simply a lease to purchase the library building.

• The developer has committed to utilize local workforce and contractors.

• The Nugget and the Trust have committed to donate the land to the Hop & Mae Adams Foundation so the proceeds of its rents will go back to Carson City.

Reedy sent a reply Friday from the Governor's Office reaffirming that the governor would be requesting additional details "in order to fully evaluate the project and determine whether it makes sense from the perspective of the state."

Hettrick said Tuesday that the same concerns remain today.

"We initially had a problem with the report because they cut DHHS space and the agency said it could not work with that. We also have parking concerns. They've assured us they will address parking, but until we can see something on paper, we can't evaluate it," Hettrick said.

"We don't want to leave the impression that we're against this project. It's a wonderful project and we'd love to see jobs. We definitely have agencies that would benefit by being closer to downtown, but we've got to know we've got adequate parking and that it is cost-effective," he said.

Meanwhile, Carson City Manager Larry Werner said the project workgroup met this week and hammered out three tentative options involving costs, timing and revenue sources.

"We're trying to get it all to match. Today we were looking at funding from redevelopment and the 1/8-cent tax, and how to fill any dollar gap that could occur. We'll be meeting next week to come up with definitive options for P3 that they can write into a plan to bring to the Citizens Advisory Committee Sept. 27," Werner said.

"State participation, which was once thought to be critical, turns out to be not so critical. If they don't come in, it changes what we'd do with certain streets, infrastructure and parking," he said.

"The idea is to get options and costs to the CAC and get public comment, then kick it back to P3, then to the board of supervisors," he said.