In Carson: Mayor Marv to have last meeting

Marv Teixeira said he will stay out of politics when he retires as Carson

City¹s longest-serving mayor, but he's not going away.

"I still have my First Amendment rights," he said.

The three-term mayor will hold the gavel at his last board of supervisors

meeting today before leaving office at the end of the year. The last item on

the last agenda he organized is about action on a city redevelopment program

audit. It is program he has often criticized.

Teixeira, 73, has continued to be outspoken since he announced his

retirement in April. He has lobbied for federal funds to help the city's

economy. He has sworn at developers who wouldn't clean up an abandoned

racetrack. He has encouraged supervisors to increase the sales tax rate to

build a planned city recreation center.

"Come on," he said. "That's who I am. I'm not afraid to go to point. I'm not

afraid to lose."

Teixeira served his first two terms from 1989 to 1996, retired and then beat

two-term Mayor Ray Masayko in 2004. He has named starting the Carson City

freeway, attracting business like the Sierra Gold hotel-casino and helping

found the anti-methamphetamine group Partnership Carson City as efforts he

is proud of.

In his last term, however, Teixeira has received some of his strongest

criticism from the public. He was arrested for drunken driving last year

and, this year, campaigned for a failed November ballot initiative to

increase the sales tax rate to help finish the V&T Railway tourist train.

Rheba Montrose of Carson City led an attempt to have Teixeira recalled after

his arrest in March 2007. She said the misdemeanor drunken driving

conviction overshadows everything he did.

"He knew how to run a meeting," she said, "but what does that have to do

with his record of driving drunk?"

She said the petition would have been more successful if she wasn't injured

that year when a ladder fell on her. It¹s good he is leaving, she said, but

she did enjoy the chance to meet him.

"I found him very personable," she said. "The man is charming. He could

charm a snake."

Sparks Mayor Geno Martini said Teixeira was passionate about his job and

looked out for the best interest of the city.

He said he was glad he got the chance to meet Teixeira, because "he's the

kind of guy you hear a lot of stories about."

The Sparks mayor understood why after sitting through a few meetings with

him.

"You never knew what was going to come out of his mouth," Martini said.

Teixeira, said Mayor-elect Bob Crowell, has always had the city "at heart."

"He¹ll be remembered as the most enthusiastic supporter of Carson City

you'll ever find," Crowell said. "All the way around."

Bob McFadden, former owner of the historic downtown St. Charles Hotel, ran

against Teixeira in 1992 under a promise to clean up the city, Rob McFadden

said of his late father.

The challenger ran an aggressive campaign, his son said, but he came to like

Teixeira.

"A lot of thing he wanted to do, Marv ending up doing," Rob McFadden said.

The Carson City Rotary Club will host a roast for Teixeira on Jan. 9 for a

fundraiser. Club member Larry Messina said it is something that will have

"broad appeal" in the city, whether the attendee loves or hates Teixeira.

Messina said it was not difficult to find people who wanted to roast the

mayor.

"There's definitely controversy that he's generated," Messina said.

Teixeira, a former IBM salesman who moved from California to Carson City 45

years ago, said he has "warm feelings" for the city, but spends too much

time thinking about what he wishes he could have accomplished.

But even with those thoughts and the times the public has seen him arrested,

listened to him announce a divorce and learned he had his car stolen from

his garage, Teixeira said, serving as mayor as Carson City has been an honor.

"Overall, I can look in the mirror in the morning," he said. "The guy I¹m

looking at may be ugly, but I can live with that."