Capital projects vote Thursday

The plate to be set before Carson City’s Board of Supervisors on Thursday will be full, but it only appears at first glance to be overflowing.

Three items set for review and action beginning at 2 p.m. deal with an expenditure plan for several capital improvement projects and their funding. Included is a one-eighth-of-one-cent increase in the city sales tax to underpin bonds for the projects. The agenda also contains an item earlier in the day providing an update on the search for a new city manager and related matters, though it is just a progress report.

“Heather Renschler will provide a general update on the recruitment process,” according to the agenda, which refers to the headhunter from California’s Ralph Andersen & Associates retained by the board earlier. Her report will cover an overview of the candidate pool being screened for consideration as Larry Werner’s replacement. Werner retired in December. Deputy City Manager Marena Works is the interim manager.

The headhunter’s report also will cover composition of an advisory committee to help in the search process, the date and location of advisory panel interviews, and the date and location of a planned community reception for the candidates. That item is during the morning in a meeting that begins at 8:30 a.m. in the Community Center Sierra Room.

But it will be overshadowed by the afternoon fireworks expected over the tax hike and projects.

Projects include an athletic center, an animal shelter and streetscape upgrades in business corridors.

The downtown core’s corridor is the main one. Current city staff plans envision two rather than four lanes of traffic in a proposal backed by Downtown 20/20, a business group, but opposed by some other residents and businesspeople. Additional streetscape upgrades are on East William Street and along North and South Carson streets but outside the business core.

City staffers have said the city sales-tax boost would cost a consumer an additional $12.50 for each $10,000 in taxable goods purchased.

Other items set for action during the board’s morning session involve the next steps in sewer and water bond issues, action now seen as routine in the aftermath of sewer and water rate hike decisions the board approved earlier.