Supervisors offer city manager job to Glen Martel

After extensive public interviews Thursday, the Carson City Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to offer the city’s top executive role to 59-year-old Glen Martel.

“I’m excited for Carson City’s future,” the 1983 Carson High grad told the Appeal after the hearing.

Martel said he would build on his history in the capital city and continue the work of making it “the best it can be.”

Supervisors selected Martel for the job pending a background check and authorized the District Attorney’s Office to enter negotiations and return a contract for board approval.

In his application, Martel stated his preference for minimum compensation was $220,000 a year, in line with the job’s salary range.

Current Deputy City Manager Stephanie Hicks was the other candidate interviewed Thursday. A third finalist, Darren Coldwell, withdrew his application, Mayor Lori Bagwell said before interviews started.

What looked like a split vote on the board, with Bagwell and Supervisor Lisa Schuette supporting Hicks, became a unanimous vote to move forward with Martel.

“I’m going to give Mr. Martel my vote because I don’t want to start off in a negative position,” said Bagwell. “I want you to know I support you.”

“We have somebody who has proven herself to be a capable, competent, thoughtful, mindful person,” Schuette said of Hicks, explaining she wanted to support the majority decision. “So please understand, regardless, that that’s where I’m coming from, and I respect and appreciate both of you.”

Supervisor Maurice White said, “It’s too bad we can’t hire both of these folks.”

“I’ve said before that I believe there are some pretty serious economic decisions coming to us that we’re going to have to make, and at this point, I think the right decision is to go with Glen,” White said.

Supervisor Stacey Giomi thanked the candidates for putting themselves out there.

“For me, this comes down to timing, and who is the right person at the right time in the right position, and given the direction the city is going with a lot of large-scale public works projects, I feel that Glen is that candidate,” Giomi said.

Supervisor Curtis Horton said he favored a new direction.

“We do have very talented candidates who I appreciate very much, but I think we’re faced with an opportunity here today, and the opportunity is to take a new path with new leadership, new ideas, or continue down the road we’re on, business as usual,” Horton said. “I’m not a proponent of that. There are things that I want to see corrected. I want improved accountability. I want things to be different in our city. I want new solutions to the problems that we face.”

Current City Manager Nancy Paulson is retiring June 30 after 26 years with the city. Forty-one people applied for the job following news of her retirement, and an internal panel with Bagwell, White and the city’s human resources director forwarded the three candidates to the May 15 board meeting.

Martel is chief executive officer for the Nevada Builders Alliance. He was city manager of Live Oak, Texas from 2022-23 and assistant city manager of Missouri City, Texas from 2019-22. He also served in the Nevada Air National Guard/U.S. Air Force for nearly four decades, earning the rank of brigadier general. He holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in business administration.

Martel fielded tough questions during his interview. One question from the mayor was how he would respond to hypothetical infrastructure failure, like a water main break, that “raises questions whether the city acted quickly enough.”

Martel said he would be as transparent as possible while fixing the problem and reassuring the public.

“Timeliness of communication and assuring the public that team Carson has got it, and that they’re safe and that their resources are OK, and that the city will be back up and running as soon as we can get there,” he said.

In other action, supervisors directed staff to support Assembly Bill 66 with certain comments for lawmakers.

Set for a hearing at the Assembly Ways and Means Committee on Friday, the bill would require Carson City and Churchill County to add a new district court judge — from two to three for the former and from one to two for the latter.

“Based on the last hearing that this bill had, it was the statewide report on judicial and caseload incapacity,” Cameron Gresh, the city’s government affairs liaison, said of why the bill focused on the two communities.

In an amended version, other communities were excluded from the bill’s provisions.

Bagwell wanted to hear from First Judicial District judges themselves, and Judges Kristin Luis and Jason Woodbury told supervisors a high number of caseloads in the district are problematic.

The district includes criminal, civil and family law cases in Carson and Storey County and often sees election cases and those involving the state prison system.

“Trying to get to all those things and manage that caseload reasonably is a significant challenge,” Luis said.

Woodbury said First Judicial (in its current configuration) was established in 1977, which means the city has had two district court judges for nearly 50 years. Woodbury added, “the pace of justice is really what’s at issue.”

The city is pursuing an estimated $15.3 million remodel of the courthouse. However, that project will focus on reconfiguring justice court for a third justice of the peace. A new district court judge could use an existing third courtroom on the third floor, and a jury room there could be converted into judge chambers, according to Court Administrator Max Cortes.

Cortes outlined some funding for district court contributed by Storey County. Supervisors, however, wanted public testimony on AB 66 to highlight the financial impacts to the city and the city’s ongoing responsibility to Storey County.

A fiscal note attached to the current bill puts the financial impact to the city at $414,535 for fiscal year 2026 and $351,261 for the following year.