Lori BagwellLori Bagwell
Record of service
In addition to my service as mayor since 2021, my commitment to Carson City and the region includes:
• Nevada League of Cities – President, Past President and Board of Directors
• Rotary of Carson City - Rotarian
• AYSO and Carson City Little League – Team Mom (1990 – 1998)
• Nevada State Society, NSDAR – Organizing secretary, treasurer, historian (2000-present) State Regent
• Daughters of the American Revolution, Battle Born Chapter – Regent, treasurer (2004-present)
• Friends in Service Helping (FISH) – President, treasurer (2011 -2017)
• Carson City Redevelopment Authority Citizens Committee Chairman, Member (2012-2013)
• Carson City Board of Equalization – Vice-Chairman (2012-2013)
• Carson City Chamber of Commerce – Board Member, Member (2012 – 2014)
• Children of the American Revolution, Ft. Churchill – Senior Treasurer (2013 – present)
• Carson City Audit Committee – Member (2014 – 2021)
• Liquor Board – Member (2014 – present)
• Health Board – Member (2014 – present)
• Carson City Parks and Recreation Commission – Commissioner (2015-2021)
• Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary – President (2016-present)
• Regional Transportation Commission – Member (2017-present)
• Workforce Housing Committee – Member (2017-present)
• One of Carson City’s Women of Achievement – 2023 Chamber of Commerce
Education
Carson High – 1980
Western Nevada Community College -1985
Liberty University (degree in Business Administration) - 1992
Briefly describe the core duties of the position you are running for
Being Mayor means trying to be a good steward and presiding over Board meetings, it’s about trying to facilitate a streamlined, efficient process so that everyone has an opportunity to have their opinions heard while at the same time getting the work that needs to be done, done. It’s about being the best advocate for our city to state and federal officials, bringing attention and resources to our needs.
A brief statement about your platform
I was pleased to work with my fellow members on the Board of Supervisors to develop the City’s strategic plan, and the six strategic goals identified in that plan are my guiding principles in making decisions and developing issues to address:
Economic Development – Cultivate a vibrant, diverse and dynamic economy that attracts and retains businesses and a skilled workforce.
Efficient Government – Provide our community with efficient services in a transparent and financially responsible manner.
Organizational Culture – Foster innovation, productivity and professional growth through a cohesive, ethical and positive work environment.
Quality of Life and Community – Promote educational, cultural and recreational opportunities that contribute to the health and well-being of our community.
Safety – Ensure a safe community through proactive and responsive protection of life and property.
Sustainable Infrastructure – Develop and maintain a sustainable public infrastructure to meet the current and future needs of our community.
What are the 3 biggest issues facing Carson City and what are possible solutions?
Every city needs infrastructure that connects people and places; a resilient local economy; and amenities that make for a high quality of life for residents. Carson City has work to do on all three fronts.
Infrastructure
Carson City’s roads need work. It’s a problem decades in the making with no easy solutions; it’s our city’s biggest challenge.
Some suggest magic-wand thinking: Find waste and stamp it out. Get a small group of people to foot most of the bill. Get the state or the federal government to take care of it.
I wish those things were the solution. But they’re not. There’s no magic pool of money.
We’ll find a way to fund our roads or, like cities across the U.S., pursue band-aid solutions to the highest priority problems while the overall system deteriorates. I hope it doesn’t come to that, which is why I’m glad voters have a chance to look at funding solutions on the November ballot.
The best solution to Carson City’s roads is the solution we all decide on, together.
A resilient economic base
An economically resilient Carson City is a place where residents can live, work and play – all within our city’s borders – and a business base broad and strong enough to withstand occasional downturns. We’ve done a good job in the past four years, but there’s still work to do.
Some challenges are common to all U.S. cities, like the decline of retail in an online-shopping world. Others are unique: Being the capital means much of our office space is owned by the state and isn’t taxed. Some of our vacant retail spaces are older. And we could be better at finding new businesses, making the case for Carson City, and getting them up and running quickly.
This isn’t an area where one big idea fixes everything; creating a resilient local economy is the hard work of advancing dozens of policy procedure changes, pitching hundreds of businesses to put down roots in our community and ensuring our thousands of Carson City families have options right here in town, without driving to Reno or Douglas County.
Doing all that requires someone who knows both business and government, which is why I’m right for the task.
Quality of life
A city isn’t just buildings, roads and houses – it’s parks, trails, protected areas, local events and all the other things that make living here wonderful. Carson City has done a terrific job of maintaining its small-town feel and world-class collection of trails and outdoor activities; our challenge, as a community, is maintaining that momentum for years or even decades to come.
From working with the Bureau of Land Management to acquire additional land for trails to winning state and federal grants and improving the parks and facilities we already have, your city government (and your mayor) should always have an eye to the future, making the city a better place to live and work for us, and for our grandchildren.
If road funding is one of the biggest issues, please answer this question: If funding for roads doesn’t earn voter approval, how does Carson City fund roads?
No realistic solution will satisfy those who think, mistakenly, that a small group of people can foot the bill for this. Everyone in the city uses our roads, and generally speaking the broadest funding will be both the most sustainable and least costly for individual residents and businesses.
If voters don’t approve additional funding, Carson City residents and their elected officials can choose from two paths:
• We can figure out a partial or complete funding solution that’s more acceptable; or
• We can work with current levels of funding, prioritizing repairs and improvements related to safety.
The second path sounds tempting, but it leads to an endless cycle of band-aid solutions and borrowed money. Only the most-needed repairs are made – often with the help of borrowed money via bonds – which means less-severe problems are untouched and eventually become the next cycle of bond-driven fixes. It’s no way to run a railroad and ends up being far more expensive (not just in terms of the city budget, but in terms of what taxpayers pay) in the long run.
I’ve got a lot of faith in Carson City residents and think we’ll either pass the funding measures in November or come to some other partial or complete funding solution. Whatever we come up with, it’s big enough and important enough that it should be deeply community driven, not just a one-off vote from the Board of Supervisors. I have been – and continue to be – committed to that kind of solution.
What makes you the most qualified candidate for this position
I love calling Carson City home. Getting and keeping a city that works for everyone comes down to three skills: Listening, convening and leading.
Listening: Being mayor of Carson City, like being mayor most places, isn’t a matter of having a magic wand or the power to do things unilaterally; the real job is knowing the community, listening to input from residents, businesses and everyone else with a stake in our future, and then helping all of us – together – to forge a path ahead. What’s true anywhere else is true here in Carson City as well: You can’t get much done until you start listening to others.
Convening: Pick any big issue in Carson City – our economy, our roads, our natural environment – and you can find dozens (or even hundreds!) of views on what we should or shouldn’t do. People love their community, and love makes for strong opinions. Sit on the sidelines or in office thinking, “I know what’s right, my opinion is the one that matters most!” has never been my way. As mayor, one of the most important jobs I can do is bring as many voices to the table as possible on all our critical issues. We’re a smarter, stronger community when we solve things together.
Leading: Ultimately, my job is to get things done on your behalf, making a better city for all of us. I’m proud of my record:
• Clean, sustainable water for our community — today and tomorrow.
• A new fire station for faster response times and safer communities.
• Affordable housing for seniors and families.
• Posted the city’s spending details online for taxpayers.
• Funded award-winning parks, trails and recreational facilities.
• Initiated an annual community service day.
• Created a plan to address homelessness.
• Protecting and preserving our strong, safe and resilient community — today and tomorrow.
Jim Shirk Jim Shirk
Occupation: Retired
Age: 73
Contact: Jim@shirk4mayor.org; www.shirk4mayor.org
Record of service:
• United States Navy, 1969 to 1972, Vietnam Veteran
• Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), 1999 to 2000
• Church mission trip to Africa 2005
• Carson City Ward 4 Board of Supervisors 2012 to 2016
Education
Community college while in the US Navy and following an honorable discharge. Academics interrupted after buying a first home and becoming a father early in my career, which led to the start of my first business venture.
My education came from on-the-job learning to manage a successful business and support a family. It meant being proactive to solve problems, asking questions and offering help as needed. These qualities brought results and added to my accomplishments as a businessman.
Briefly describe the core duties of the position you are running for
The office of Mayor requires experience, integrity and leadership. By collaborating with our citizens, board members and city staff, we will establish priorities and action plans to solve our city’s toughest problems, including providing quality essential services within our current resources.
A brief statement about your platform
I am committed to a transparent and fiscally responsible city government.
This does not mean overwhelming constituents with every little detail. It means giving citizens an overview of city operations and finances. It means providing small amounts of manageable, easily understood information at regular intervals – similar to stockholder meetings. If we all understand the “why” of major decisions, we can all be on the same page.
These are difficult economic times. Spending needs to match our available resources. Funds for street maintenance could be acquired by reducing other departments’ budgets. These reductions need to be developed by city staff and be within the “best practices” of budgeting. City government must demonstrate that it has done everything possible before imposing additional taxes on citizens.
• Engage with citizens consistently
• Work with public safety authorities to ensure adequate safety is top priority
• Streamline regulations to support small businesses
• Coordinate with neighboring communities, nonprofits and the State of Nevada to alleviate the homeless problem
• Keep the best interests of the entire community at the forefront of all decisions made by the Board of Supervisors and by city staff
What are the 3 biggest issues facing Carson City and what are possible solutions?
1. Aligning the city budget to ensure essential services
2. Revising the Master Plan to maintain the small-town feeling and appearance of Carson City
3. Making local road maintenance the #1 priority in deferred maintenance
The city budget is the way we enable city services. As a small town, our tax revenue will always lag behind satisfying everyone’s needs so we must prioritize the most important services first. What are the city’s essential services? That is the discussion we need to have with citizens to determine the scope of services that our limited budget can provide. I think everyone may agree that public safety and infrastructure are vital to the community.
In virtually all listening tours regarding Master Plan revisions, the community has requested we maintain our small-town feeling and appearance in Carson City. Building 8 to 10 story block-like buildings around downtown and surrounding corridors does not correlate with community wishes. The look and feel of our community must be consistent with the citizens’ viewpoints. The design of our town should not reflect what other cities or states have done or some anticipated designs of developers whose objectives do not match with the people who live here.
People are attracted to Carson City for its current appearance, not a projected idea of high-rise buildings like south Reno. We can enjoy quiet small-town values without congested neighborhoods and roads and still have easy access to larger town amenities.
If the city would study the potential impact the 2025 budget would have if we could increase the road maintenance budget by a few percentages. Or increasing the ending fund balance, to create a reserve for local road maintenance. Just a 2% increase in each would provide much needed funding. This would be a good start until a more sustainable solution is found instead of just putting two new taxes on the 2024 November ballot. Yes, it will increase taxes and NO it will not solve the problem.
If funding for roads does not earn voter approval, how does Carson City fund roads?
Local roads have been poorly maintained over the last 10 to 15 years and have deteriorated to poor or very poor condition mainly due to lack of funding. This is attributed to lack of leadership preventing this shortage of funding accumulating year after year.
Carson City collects road funding from a combination of revenue sources (from a city link) it shows that street maintenance staff received $2.6 Million dollars for salary/wages. Should city employees be paid with taxes that are collected for road maintenance?
Point of view
• Asphalt road maintenance cost $2 million dollars per mile. This needs to be a budget line item discussed in depth at Board meetings routinely.
• We have spent close to 2 years on road funding options with a paid consultant with little advancement in funding solutions for road repair, other than creating two new taxes that are on the November ballot. Remember, there will still be a shortage of funding available for road maintenance as these new taxes will not cover the funding shortage, not even close. Additionally - these two new taxes will never go away.
• Create a reserve for local road maintenance. Even a 2% reserve per year would possibly create $20M to $30M in the next 15 or so years. Doing this today will help ease the burden of finding funding for roads.
• Examine the trade-offs between setting aside funds for local roads and decreasing the ending fund balance.
• If the City could study the entire budget and its potential impact over the next 5 years in the 2025 budget discussions for finding additional funds for roads. We need to be creative in budgeting to help with our local road maintenance.
What makes you the most qualified for this position?
My vision is that our local government should be responsive to the people we serve. I would proactively seek public feedback in developing the city’s priorities and procedures.
As a resident of Carson City for more than 20 years and being involved in local politics I understand the issues our community is dealing with.
I started my first business venture 40 years ago. I learned to execute a business plan and sustain profitability to provide for my family and employees. Those were hard lessons that have stayed with me throughout my life.
In 2012, I was elected Supervisor for Ward 4. Some of the challenging issues ahead of us are the same ones that have been with us for the past decade. We need long-term solutions. Asking for additional revenue from our taxpayers must be a last resort, not the first resort.
As your Mayor
• help to protect citizens tax dollars from needless waste
• growth needs to occur at a slower pace so our small-town charm will prevail
• ensure every decision made is in the best interest of our citizens
• represent our city’s diverse population and not that of special interest or the influential elite
I will be accessible, listening to everyone and being beholden to no one. My motto is openness, transparency and accountability, which I will bring to the office of Mayor.
To accomplish these goals, please vote Jim Shirk for Mayor in early voting or on November 5th.