Record of Service 

– United States Navy, 1969 to 1972, Vietnam Veteran

– Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), 1999 to 2000

– Church mission trip to Africa 2005

– Carson City Ward 4 Board of Supervisors 2012 to 2016

Education

Community college while in the US Navy and following an honorable discharge. Academics interrupted after buying a first home and becoming a father early in my career, which led to the start of my first business venture.

My education came from on-the-job learning to manage a successful business and support a family.  It meant being proactive to solve problems, asking questions and offering help as needed.  These qualities brought results and added to my accomplishments as a businessman.

Core duties 

The office of Mayor requires experience, integrity and leadership. By collaborating with our citizens, board members and city staff, we will establish priorities and action plans to solve our city’s toughest problems, including providing quality essential services within our current resources.

Platform

I am committed to a transparent and fiscally responsible city government. 

This does not mean overwhelming constituents with every little detail. It means giving citizens an overview of city operations and finances. It means providing small amounts of manageable, easily understood information at regular intervals – similar to stockholder meetings.  If we all understand the “why” of major decisions, we can all be on the same page.

These are difficult economic times.  Spending needs to match our available resources. Funds for street maintenance could be acquired by reducing other departments’ budgets. These reductions need to be developed by city staff and be within the “best practices” of budgeting.  City government must demonstrate that it has done everything possible before imposing additional taxes on citizens.

Bullet points

• Engage with citizens consistently

• Work with public safety authorities to ensure adequate safety is top priority  

• Streamline regulations to support small businesses

• Coordinate with neighboring communities, nonprofits and the State of Nevada to alleviate the homeless problem

• Keep the best interests of the entire community at the forefront of all decisions made by the Board of Supervisors and by city staff

What are the three biggest issues facing Carson City and what are possible solutions

1. Aligning the city budget to ensure essential services

2. Revising the Master Plan to maintain the small-town feeling and appearance of Carson City

3. Making local road maintenance the #1 priority in deferred maintenance

The city budget is the way we enable city services. As a small town, our tax revenue will always lag behind satisfying everyone’s needs so we must prioritize the most important services first. What are the city’s essential services?  That is the discussion we need to have with citizens to determine the scope of services that our limited budget can provide.  I think everyone may agree that public safety and infrastructure are vital to the community. 

In virtually all listening tours regarding Master Plan revisions, the community has requested we maintain our small-town feeling and appearance in Carson City.  Building 8 to 10 story block-like buildings around downtown and surrounding corridors does not correlate with community wishes. The look and feel of our community must be consistent with the citizens’ viewpoints. The design of our town should not reflect what other cities or states have done or some anticipated designs of developers whose objectives do not match with the people who live here. 

People are attracted to Carson City for its current appearance, not a projected idea of high-rise buildings like south Reno.  We can enjoy quiet small-town values without congested neighborhoods and roads and still have easy access to larger town amenities.

If the city would study the potential impact the 2025 budget would have if we could increase the road maintenance budget by a few percentages. Or increasing the ending fund balance, to create a reserve for local road maintenance. Just a 2% increase in each would provide much needed funding. This would be a good start until a more sustainable solution is found instead of just putting two new taxes on the 2024 November ballot. Yes, it will increase taxes and NO it will not solve the problem.

If funding for roads does not earn voter approval, how does Carson City fund roads

Local roads have been poorly maintained over the last 10 to 15 years and have deteriorated to poor or very poor condition mainly due to lack of funding. This is attributed to lack of leadership preventing this shortage of funding accumulating year after year.

Carson City collects road funding from a combination of revenue sources (from a city link) it shows that street maintenance staff received $2.6 Million dollars for salary/wages. Should city employees be paid with taxes that are collected for road maintenance?

Point of view   

• Asphalt road maintenance cost $2 million dollars per mile. This needs to be a budget line item discussed in depth at Board meetings routinely.

• We have spent close to 2 years on road funding options with a paid consultant with little advancement in funding solutions for road repair, other than creating two new taxes that are on the November ballot. Remember, there will still be a shortage of funding available for road maintenance as these new taxes will not cover the funding shortage, not even close. Additionally – these two new taxes will never go away.

• Create a reserve for local road maintenance. Even a 2% reserve per year would possibly create $20M to $30M in the next 15 or so years. Doing this today will help ease the burden of finding funding for roads.

• Examine the trade-offs between setting aside funds for local roads and decreasing the ending fund balance.

• If the City could study the entire budget and its potential impact over the next 5 years in the 2025 budget discussions for finding additional funds for roads. We need to be creative in budgeting to help with our local road maintenance.

What makes you the most qualified for this position

My vision is that our local government should be responsive to the people we serve. I would proactively seek public feedback in developing the city’s priorities and procedures.

As a resident of Carson City for more than 20 years and being involved in local politics I understand the issues our community is dealing with.

I started my first business venture 40 years ago. I learned to execute a business plan and sustain profitability to provide for my family and employees. Those were hard lessons that have stayed with me throughout my life.

In 2012, I was elected Supervisor for Ward 4. Some of the challenging issues ahead of us are the same ones that have been with us for the past decade. We need long-term solutions. Asking for additional revenue from our taxpayers must be a last resort, not the first resort.

As your Mayor

• help to protect citizens tax dollars from needless waste

• growth needs to occur at a slower pace so our small-town charm will prevail

• ensure every decision made is in the best interest of our citizens

• represent our city’s diverse population and not that of special interest or the influential elite

I will be accessible, listening to everyone and being beholden to no one. My motto is openness, transparency and accountability, which I will bring to the office of Mayor.

To accomplish these goals, please vote Jim Shirk for Mayor in early voting or on November 5th