Bagwell faces no term issues in mayor reelection, Carson City District Attorney says
Questions have arisen regarding Mayor Lori Bagwell’s eligibility for her reelection candidacy due to the total number of years served as a public official.
Prior to becoming Mayor, Bagwell served as a member of the Board of Supervisors representing Ward 3.
However, prior to announcing her reelection, Bagwell approached Carson City District Attorney Jason Woodbury with the same question.
On March 20, 2024, Woodbury responded to Bagwell’s request stating it is the “firm opinion of this office that you are eligible for reelection to another term as Mayor.”
Within the 40 page legal analysis, Woodbury and his team went through relative state and local laws on term limit provisions to form their opinion.
In 1994, Nevada voters approved a citizen initiative barring any one from serving in a particular office for 12 years or more.
According to this law as well as the Carson City Charter, the Mayor, while having specific duties appointed to her office alone, is still an equal member of the Board of Supervisors. Meaning, the law pertains to both Bagwell’s time as mayor as well as time spent as a supervisor.
Since her first election to the board as a representative of Ward 3 in 2015, Bagwell will have served Carson City for 10 years at the expiration of her current term as mayor.
This is where the question comes from: at the time of her reelection, Bagwell has not exceeded her 12-year term limit. However, if reelected, Bagwell will have extended the 12-year limit by the time her next term ends.
During their investigation of state and local laws, Woodbury’s office has determined that because the language in the law is ambiguous, they “identify nothing in the language (of the law) which would suggest that a person cannot be elected to another term if completion of the next term upon successful election would mean that the total years o service exceed 12 years.”
They came to this conclusion because the language in the provision states that a person is excluded from running if that person has served in that office for 12 years by the expiration of their current term.
“At present, you have not served 12 years,” Woodbury wrote in the opinion to Bagwell. “Additionally, your current term as Mayor expires in January 2025, at which time you will only have served a total of 10 years as both Ward 3 Supervisor and as Mayor.”
Bagwell will face off against former supervisor Jim Shirk in the bid for mayor on Nov. 5, 2024.