Mayor discusses past and future ahead of State of the City

Growing up in Carson City, Mayor Lori Bagwell remembers driving up and down Carson Street for fun.

“That was a big Friday night – we’re all going to cruise Main,” she said.

The 1980 Carson High graduate noted how the main drag has changed over the decades. As mayor, she now cruises Carson Street in a different capacity. As the city continues to grow “slow and steady,” improvements are important, she said. At the same time, “there are still those little fabrics and kernels that make Carson City.”

“I’m always so proud of our history, but I want to be confident that history is going to remain for the next 20 years, that everybody is making good memories, each generation. To me, that’s what it’s about,” she said. “What does it mean to be from Carson City?”

Now 60, Bagwell sat down with the Appeal in the Starbucks across from Mills Park on Jan. 13 to talk about her tenure as mayor, her intention to run for reelection in 2024, both challenges and successes in the community, and her upcoming State of the City speech, which is scheduled for Jan. 31 at Gold Dust West.

Open to the public, the event costs $25 per person. Tickets can be purchased online: http://www.carsoncitychamber.com/spotlight/details/leadership_institute_2023

Elected in 2020, Bagwell is the capital city’s first female mayor, and she talked candidly about her experiences.

“I feel a huge weight because I want to lead the way for all the future women,” she said. “I think times are changing. It’s not as difficult for women – to have to keep proving themselves – but I admit for me, I feel the weight. Because what I don’t want people to say is she wasn’t a good mayor because she was a woman.”

While Bagwell acknowledges she’s an example for other women in the community, she wants to be recognized for being a problem solver. She wants to be known for being the right person for the job. And the hardest part of that job, she said, is knowing each decision the Board of Supervisors makes will leave some constituents happy and some unhappy.

“The hardest thing for me is to look at the crowd there to testify,” she said of public hearings, which can be contentious. “I know at the end of the day, I disappointed half the room. No matter the decision, I disappointed half of them.”

Bagwell discussed the proposed slaughterhouse on Highway 50 as an example of a tough choice. She voted to uphold approval of the project in February 2022. She also talked about the Andersen Ranch West subdivision proposed on a historic ranch in west Carson. At a Nov. 3 hearing, she agreed the project should return to the planning commission. Approval for the slaughterhouse was overturned by other supervisors, and Andersen Ranch West is expected to return to planning commissioners sometime this year for further review. Despite these and other controversial projects, Bagwell expressed faith in the board as a whole.

“We really like each other. We trust each other. We don’t all agree 100 percent on anything, but I think we all know none of us would purposely do something to harm Carson City,” Bagwell said.

That kinship is rooted in younger days. Bagwell graduated from Carson High with Supervisor Stacey Giomi. The board’s newest supervisor, Curtis Horton, graduated a year earlier, and Supervisor Lisa Schuette graduated a year later. Supervisor Maurice White was Bagwell’s neighbor growing up.

“I rely upon the other four members of the board that I know, with all my heart, care about this community as much as I do,” she said. “I think when we get done with every decision that’s tough, that even if I’m not on the prevailing side, it’s a good result.”

Fellow board members will be with Bagwell at the State of the City speech. Although she didn’t reveal too much about the address, Bagwell highlighted successes from last year across several departments. One thing she’s proud of is the Sierra Flats affordable housing development off Butti Way. The first phase of Sierra Flats, 80 units, is under construction.

“I spearheaded that project,” Bagwell said.

She said she was proud to work with Supervisor Brad Bonkowski on the housing project. The former supervisor died in November.

“As with everything Brad did publicly and privately, he wanted it to be the best it could be,” Bagwell said in a previous statement.

Looking forward to the new year, Bagwell anticipates more than 400 apartments and condos will be constructed in the city, which she hopes will offer more affordable housing. She talked about the growth management program, implemented in 1978, the Master Plan – which will be updated by 2025 – and infill projects versus sprawl. She said apartment projects can be difficult because people believe they bring down property values.

“I think it’s difficult to do apartments, but they’re absolutely mandatory. You have to have housing,” she said. “Which leads you to the people who say, ‘Well, then, just quit growing, so we don’t get that element, and we don’t have to have that type of housing.’ I’ll be super honest. I answer back that I don’t understand. Are you telling me that the people that work as your busboys and your hotel maids and your gas station attendants and your baggers at the grocery stores don’t have a right to live in the community in which they work? Because of course they do.”

Bagwell said the trick to planning is balance, finding the right locations for projects and making sure every work group in the community is respected.

“I think we all want the same thing. I want safety for my children. I want to come home at night to a safe place. Right?” Bagwell said. “That’s what we all want. I don’t think it matters what strata you come from. I think that’s the same for everyone, and so I think planning has that job.”

Planning will be the focus of a retreat scheduled March 3 at Western Nevada College. The meeting will include both the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors. Bagwell said they’ll be reviewing city zoning laws of Title 18 that have been updated by the District Attorney’s Office. They’ll also be looking at Title 17, which includes rules for common open space developments.

“That’s really a huge opportunity for the public and the board to just really sit down and talk,” Bagwell said.

Besides revisions to code, city officials are planning major updates to city facilities, including a new fire station and emergency operations center off Butti Way, a remodel of the Carson City Courthouse and a remodel of the senior center, among other projects.

“Unless I have all the money for construction, I won’t issue design documents. I’m probably unique about that,” Bagwell said.

She’s also not shy about reaching out to the state for funding. The Nevada legislative session begins in February, and Bagwell said she would love Carson to receive any one-shot federal funding the state has to share. She pointed to a new terminal at the airport and a parking garage downtown as projects that could qualify for such funding.

“Things that we can’t get funded. You know, those things you really need, but they’re hard,” she said.

Bagwell said she loves being mayor and will seek reelection in 2024.

“You can’t work on all this exciting stuff and not see it to its fruition,” she said.

The last thing she told the Appeal is how proud she is of city employees.

“They work so hard for the public they serve,” she said.