Shirk, Bonkowski win Board of Supervisor seats

Jim Shirk pulled off a nail-biter of a victory over incumbent Molly Walt in the Carson City Board of Supervisors Ward 4 race on Tuesday.When the Carson City clerk’s office released final totals, Shirk defeated Walt by just 25 votes — 10,335-10,310 votes. That is a margin of just about a tenth of one percent.Shirk said now that the library project has been overwhelmingly defeated by the voters — one of the causes that drove him into the race — he intends to focus efforts on redevelopment and helping businesses recover and expand.He said he would like to meet not only with business owners to see what they think should be done but also with the Carson City employees associations.“I know they’re under a lot of pressure with cutting jobs,” Shirk said. “I’d like to see what we can do there.”Other issues, he said, include resolving the financial problems of the Eagle Valley Golf Course complex and strengthening the visitor’s bureau.Walt asked to reserve comment on the outcome until she looks at the results.In Ward 2, commercial Realtor Brad Bonkowski claimed a solid eight-percentage point victory over Dennis Johnson, one of the key opponents to the library project. The final vote was 10,781 for Bonkowski to 9,221 for Johnson — 54-46 percent.Bonkowski said the city has a “whole laundry list” of things that need to be worked on.“We continue to struggle with the budget,” he said. “And we’ve got to work very closely with other counties to get the state to stop passing down unfunded mandates.”He said the city is also looking at several million dollars worth of upgrades that will be needed at the sewage treatment plant as well as the ongoing work to develop the V&T Railroad project.“I don’t think I’ll be wanting for work,” he said.Shirk and Bonkowski will join Mayor Bob Crowell, Karen Abowd and John McKenna on the board in January.The vote totals were higher than most years, reflecting a strong 89.9 percent turnout among the 25,747 registered Carson City voters.