Two Wendovers delay possible merger vote

From staff and wire

WEST WENDOVER -- The possible merger of the two Wendovers has been delayed because West Wendover City Council wants more time to study the plan before it is put on the ballot.

The West Wendover City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday night not to proceed with a draft of the ballot question until a comprehensive study of the proposed merger is finished in September, which means it won't be on this November's ballot as expected.

Nevada law requires ballot questions be set by mid-July, so the vote will have to wait until at least the June 2003 city election.

A vote on the Utah side also will have to wait because both cities must go to the polls at the same time with similar ballots.

The proposal calls for the cities to merge and the state border to shift slightly eastward so all residents would be in Nevada.

"You delay this and the issue will go away," Chris Melville, West Wendover's economic development director, told the council. "The longer this issue drags on, the less likely this is ever going to happen."

Councilwoman Lore Cook, who voted to pass the ballot question, said residents were promised they would have a vote in November. "I do not want to see this postponed. Everything has been started along these lines."

In Utah, Wendover Councilwoman Gertrude Tripp said she was pleased the vote was delayed. "People down here in Wendover and in West Wendover don't want this to happen," Tripp said, noting a poll should have been taken before money was even spent on the issue.

"To me, they got the cart before the horse," she said.

Councilman Brett Shelton said before the meeting that he was unsure if the Utah side could even get the issue on the ballot this year.

A U.S. House bill introduced by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, allowing the boundary-changing vote, specified that the issue be this November's ballot. Similar legislation has not yet been introduced into the U.S. Senate.

Gibbons' press secretary, Amy Spanbauer, said today that the congressman heard about Tuesday night's vote.

"He's always said it is up to the local community to decide this," she said, adding that Gibbons will support whatever the community decides, although he was under the impression there would be a vote in November.

"It will be more difficult to meet the four-year time frame," Spanbauer said.

The House passed the annexation bill last month to clear the way for the two cities to merge, if they choose to do so and the legislatures or voters of both states agree. The Nevada Constitution requires two votes by the legislature or two votes by the people or one each.

Tom Clark, a spokesman for the Peppermill Hotel and Casino, told the council there was no reason to rush into a vote, especially since all the information was not concrete. "Let's not try and shove it down anybody's throats," he said.

Councilman Alan Rowley, who voted to delay the vote, agreed. "I want a speedy resolution, but not so speedy we screw it up," he said.

If the vote does take place next year, some Utah-side residents may oppose the ballot's language if it includes a clause that no casinos could be built on what is now the Utah side, a provision added partly out of concern from established casinos.

Shelton said, "I'm sure there are certain individuals and certain parties who would like to see the Utah side zoned just as fairly as the West Wendover side."