Andrew "Andy" Alberti Jr. Lewis Beaver Alan Bigelow Andrew "Butch" Borasky Mike Maher Advertisement

Growth was a major topic addressed by candidates for the Nye County Commission District Four race.

Early voting began this week for the Aug. 15 primary.

Six candidates are running to succeed Candice Trummell, who decided not to run for re-election after serving one term.

Five of the six candidates are Republicans. The sole Democrat, Charlie Anzalone, won't have to run in the primary, but will proceed directly to the Nov. 7 election.

Andy Alberti Jr.

Alberti is a licensed real estate broker in California and Nevada. He moved to Pahrump four years ago.

Alberti, 66, is a native of New York and was elected twice to the William Floyd School Board on Mastic Beach, on New York's Long Island. He moved to California in 1971 where he was a member of the California State Central Committee for the Republican Party and elected four times to the Orange County Republican Central Committee's 70th assembly district.

His previous work history in California includes serving as a U.S. Air Force crew chief from 1958-62; aircraft mechanic for Grumman Aircraft, 1962-67; hydraulic and pneumatic sales for Louis H. Hein Co. 1967-71; salesman for Paul Munroe Hydraulics, 1971-78; and a real estate broker since 1986.

Alberti has a talk show on Channels 30 and 62. He belongs to the Nye County Republican Party Central Committee and said he drew up the local Republican Party Web site.

Alberti would like to televise county meetings, have an annual state of the county address, conduct a monthly TV show about the commissioners and in general improve communication among county, town and private utilities.

"I moved here not to do politics any more," Alberti said. "I moved here for what I saw in Pahrump: clean air, blue skies, lack of traffic. In the last year I've started to see commissioners create a new Las Vegas, and I didn't move here for that. I think commissioners should think of the people who live here first."

Referring to proposed large developments like that planned by The Focus Group, he said, "I just feel like they're giving the store away, and having 6,000-square-foot properties is going to be like a sea of roofs.

When he worked with former County Commissioner Henry Neth in his office at Provenza Real Estate, Alberti said Neth told him, "It's their land <!-- 2013(unknown) --> I can't tell them what to do."

To that, Alberti said, "It's your land, but if you want to build here we have standards."

Water is also another concern, he said. "Arizona has what they call an assured water supply law, which makes you show when you're going to build a development in town, you have to show us where the water is going to come from for the next 100 years," Alberti said.

He would like to see a bill draft request for the next session of the Nevada legislature, making water rights more closely reflect what water is available in the basin.

Some builders say home owners can't afford to buy larger lots, Alberti said but many of these developers are making 25 to 30 percent profit margins on their projects.

Nye County needs an organizational chart, he said. "When you have 450 employees you need to know how to relate to each other."

While the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service keeps asking for more personnel, Alberti said he'd like to see the fire chief come up with a fire prevention program first.

Alberti emphasizes a more pro-active policy. "What can we do to prevent things rather than reacting to things?" he asked.

Alberti would also like to see some long-range planning for county facilities.

"We have buildings scattered around town. It would be nice to have everything in one location," he said.

While Nye County receives about $11 million per year from the U.S. Department of Energy in payment equal to taxes for the land value of Yucca Mountain, Alberti thinks the county could receive more. That money divided by the 45 states that will deposit their nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain amounts to only $250,000 per state, he said.

Lewis Beaver

Lewis Beaver, 72, is president of the Fifth Judicial District CASA, or Court-Appointed Special Advocate program, in which citizens are appointed to represent the rights of children in court. He's also a member of the Knights for Molested Children.

Beaver owns his own constructing business, Beaver Contracting, but plans to retire if he wins election. He has lived in the Pahrump Valley for 13 years.

Beaver said he ran unsuccessfully for city council in his native town of Westland, Mich., in his only other bid for election. He was the campaign manager for Del Haas, who ran twice unsuccessfully against Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Roy Neighbors, D-Tonopah, in the 1990s. He also organizes an annual golf tournament to raise funds for the Knights for Molested Children.

"I want to see the community get a lot more industrial businesses coming in. I think I have the knowledge and background to persuade people to do that," Beaver said. He served on the Nye County Economic Development Board in the late 1990s and belongs to the Nye County Coalition.

"What I'm more concerned about is the way we spend the money on consultants and studies after studies, and we don't get a complete answer. They come back and say they need more money for this," Beaver said. "I'm a firm believer in being very, very economical. I believe we can hire retired people from our community that are consultants."

Beaver said he'd like to see a water and sewer system throughout Pahrump Valley, financed by selling bonds. It would be a community-owned operation.

The Yucca Mountain facility could house a couple of power plants to generate money from the recycled waste, Beaver said.

"If that would happen, we could cut the property taxes in our community tremendously," he said.

Alan Bigelow

Alan Bigelow, 44, is a firefighter and emergency medical technician with the Pahrump Valley Fire and Rescue Service.

Bigelow retired as a sergeant first class after 24 years in the Nevada National Guard two years ago; he began his military career with six years of active duty in the U.S. Army after graduating from Valley High School in Las Vegas.

Bigelow has lived in Pahrump for three years, but has been a resident of Southern Nevada since 1963. He was a deputy sheriff for a few years when he was stationed in North Carolina, drove a long-haul truck cross-country and managed a Domino's Pizza restaurant.

Bigelow has been working on a college degree from Embry Riddle University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Randolph Community College and Southern Nevada Community College.

"A lot of the things that I kept seeing weren't making much sense and it was repetitive, the same crazy ideas over and over and over," Bigelow said.

"For example, everybody gripes about traffic lights. The county commissioners, also being the road commissioners, can form a partnership with the state. Then if the state doesn't want to fund something and the county does, then the county can go ahead and do it as long as they follow the same guidelines."

Bigelow said he would be a team player, after developing a sense of team spirit at the military academy.

"This north-south battle is insane. It's got to stop. I might not be the guy who can do it, but I'm certainly the type of guy who can go and start shaking people's hands and say it's one county. That's my slogan," Bigelow said.

Bigelow said he would abstain from voting on the fire and rescue service, but said the county normally only processes the payroll. He said he'd make a point of being in the county office one day per week to talk to the constituents.

Bigelow said he has three promises: to work for the whole county; work within the budget; and to be accountable to the people.

Andrew "Butch" Borasky

Andrew "Butch" Borasky, 58, operates an excavating business and a gravel pit. He started his business in Pahrump 10 years ago. He has been a frequent visitor to county meetings.

Borasky was appointed to the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission one and a half years ago and also sits on the Storm Water Task Force and the Pahrump Building and Safety Appeals Board.

Borasky said he was influential in persuading county and state officials to transfer approval of septic permits from the state to the Pahrump Building and Safety Department back in 2000, after lengthy delays in working with state inspectors.

"I've always said, if you want something done, do it yourself. That's always been my motto," Borasky said. "The same with the planning commission. I used to sit in the audience and I couldn't figure out why they did certain things. They'd sit there and nobody had any background in buildings and roads."

Borasky said he decided to run for the county commission following the death of Pahrump RPC member Sheldon Bass last year.

"I believe you're going to have to slow down the high-density residential housing that's coming in," Borasky said. The emphasis should be on attracting more commercial development, which provides more revenue to run the county, he said.

"Somehow we're going to have to figure out how to increase development to find the funds for fire and police," Borasky said. "The other thing is, where are we going to get this water from?"

Borasky said Nye County doesn't have the money to spend like Las Vegas. He said it would cost $250 million to bring a water pipeline from the north.

"I'm going to ask commissioners to put the foot on high-density growth until they can prove they have the water to deal with this," he said. "The biggest issues are going to be the water and the growth. That has to be the biggest thing to deal with. Roads are going to be on the back burner."

Mike Maher

Mike Maher was terminated as Nye County manager in March, though he said simply, "I was let off without cause, which means they just decided they wanted to go a different direction."

Maher, 59, was county manager since June 2003, and before that served as assistant county manager, general services director. He began his career with the county in December 2001 as a fiscal analyst for the Nye County Department of Natural Resources and Federal Facilities.

Maher had also worked as an auditor for the state of Nevada.

He ended his 20-year career as a naval officer as chief staff officer for logistics for the commander of the Seventh Fleet in Okinawa, Japan. Maher said he has experience in engineering, manufacturing, labor negotiations, contracting, supply management, compliance, real estate, transportation, accounting, insurance, purchasing and investments.

Maher said he received his master's degree in business administration from Webster University in St. Louis, Mo., and his bachelor of science degree from UNLV. He has also been involved in the retail grocery and hardware business, sold real estate and insurance.

"Nye County is a diamond in the desert. People don't really know what we have and the potential that we do have for being the major player in Nevada as well as in the United States," Maher said. "We've all got to work in the same direction, but we have to come up with a vision of where we want to go, and I find, in my mind, there's too much pulling in different directions."

Maher stated his opinions on four major issues.

"I believe that they shouldn't raise the sales and use tax. I'm opposed to it. I would work to reduce the impact fees. I feel the zoning needs to be done immediately; it's either zoned or it's not. I feel that we need to develop our economic corridor up Highway 95."

Maher wants to develop more facilities for youth and senior citizens, saying the planned Boys and Girls Club isn't enough. The county could also provide money to support the development of medical facilities, he said.

"What is the fear of the growth?" Maher asked. "There are going to be such increased costs to be borne by those that are here if you don't get into large populations."

It would be too expensive to have a central water and sewer system for single homes on one-acre lots, he said.

"If you're allowing them to build like in Las Vegas, you're not going to have such water usage," Maher said. The density would generate more property taxes, he added. "If you have eight homes on an acre and their average valuation is $300,000 that's $2.4 million. And if you have one acre rented, you only have one house for $300,000. Where do you have the most valuation to help the county?"

Maher said there should be some tourism attractions to attract people to Pahrump, like wagon train rides, a world-class BMX course, fireworks shows or other amenities people don't have room to enjoy in Las Vegas.

"I feel we've got to make some changes to public works and planning to make it easier for development people to get their projects on. It takes too long to get their plans and approvals through," Maher said. "I think that we need to start and build a flood retention basin system that we could do before we start getting more of the development in here."

Maher supports Yucca Mountain which he said is being forced on the county.

Finally, he said Nye County has to be attractive to business and investment.

"I'm offering myself as a servant to try to make things happen and go forward," he said.