Mayor Corona's last meeting was held as part of the Governing Board on August 2, 2022. In completing his last meeting, the Mayor took the opportunity to address the Council along with the Public and City Staff which was present at the Meeting. Additionally, the Council presented him with a plaque memorializing his time of service to the City.
Mayor Corona will be moving in the next few weeks and taking on new employment in Nevada Gaming in the Lake Tahoe area.
We here at the City wish him all the best and thank him for his dedication and hard work in serving our City as Mayor these past 6 years.
Thank you Daniel and Good Luck!
Pictured from left: Council Members Robert Trujillo, Kathy Durham, Ismael Gutierrez (Mayor Pro-tem), Mayor Daniel Corona, Council Members Nick Flores and Jasie Holm.
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Mayor Daniel Corona's Statement:
For the last several weeks I have struggled to put into words what I want to say as I leave office, this certainly wasn't the way I planned to leave office when I was elected & re-elected. But one of the many things that my time as mayor has taught me is that things don't always happen as we plan, instead major events often happen on their own timeline & we must be flexible to this. As I've been preparing to enter this new chapter, I have taken the time to reflect & I am leaving proud of the work that we have done which wasn't always easy.
During my time in office, a major focus of mine was ensuring that West Wendover always had a seat at tables of power. Often, this meant showing up with my own chair & forcing my way in. I am often reminded of the adage, "If you are not at the table, then you are likely on the menu", which fueled my persistence. When I ran for mayor one of the driving forces was that I was tired of our community being overlooked & forgotten & I didn't feel that those we elected, aside from a few exceptions, ever really tried to change it. It is my sincere hope that anyone who comes after me learns from my time in office & understands how critical it is to be as active a mayor as they can possibly be. If I wouldn't have showed up at those tables of power the relationships that the city has with Senator Cortez Masto, Senator Rosen, Congressman Amodei, Treasurer Conine, & their offices would not have been possible. It was these relationships that led to many of our greatest accomplishments. Senators Cortez Masto & Rosen worked closely with Congressman Amodei to help us secure the downtown property. Congressman Amodei has been a tireless advocate for the federal government turning over the land that was promised to us 25 years ago, land that is vital to West Wendover's economic future. Treasurer Conine & his team helped facilitate the initial meetings with the DMV that led to us securing the kiosk at city hall.
Another relationship that has been vital to our success is the relationship between the city & the Nevada League of Cities. As you all know I had the honor of serving as the League's Vice President & President during what was arguably the hardest two years of the League. It had become ineffective & increasingly difficult to show value to members, but myself & the executive board knew the extreme potential of the league & the importance of cities working together. At the beginning of my Presidency, we hired Wesley to lead the league & he has completely turned it around. Today the League is an organization that is respected & taken seriously by our state & federal elected officials, it is vital that the city of west Wendover stay involved in the league as there is extreme value & we need to ensure that get all we can out of our membership! It is the relationship with the league that led to securing changes in state statute that allowed us to make the decision on whether to allow a dispensary in our community, without needing permission from the county. It was my involvement in the Nevada League of Cities & National League of Cities that led to me representing West Wendover when I testified in front of Congress & visited the White House as invited guest of the president. It is the league that has convened a working group or representatives from the league, city, Governor's office of Economic Development, & Nevada Health Centers to renew conversations about improving healthcare services in the community. Council members Holm & Flores are part of that group & I strongly encourage whoever the next mayor is to join it!
I was asked recently what my proudest accomplishment as mayor was & I said working with the council to ensure that 10% of all marijuana tax revenues was set aside for our schools & community programs. Many of the needs of West Wendover' s schools have long been overlooked by Elko County School District & this program will help ensure some of those needs are met.
I am incredibly proud of my time in office, I am also incredibly grateful. Grateful to this incredible, resilient community for raising me. Grateful to those who put their faith in me & allowed me to serve, giving me experiences that I could've never even dreamed of. Grateful to those who served with me, for challenging me when we disagreed & for forcing me to consider multiple sides of complex issues. Grateful to folks like Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerbloom, Former Lieutenant Governor Kate Marshall, & former Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell, who all have been incredible friends & even better mentors. Grateful to city staff, particularly the department heads. Any city is only as strong as the staff that keeps it running & as I have said & will continue to say, West Wendover has some of the best department heads & employees of any city in the state.
I am especially grateful to Chris Melville who has been the best person I could've possibly hoped to have guide & mentor me through this journey. We are incredibly lucky to have Chris leading our city & I will forever be grateful for the time I have gotten to work with & learn from him. He is a fountain of knowledge who is well respected throughout the state & when his day comes to retire, he is going to leave an incredibly large pair of shoes for his successor to fill. No person has had a more positive impact on our community than Chris.
I am grateful to my close friends & family who have been my rock throughout my time in office. No one can humble you like those you love & my loved ones have made sure that I never took myself too seriously. When a commenter on Facebook called me, "the Marijuana Mayor", it was my family that made sure I had a birthday cake with a pot leaf & "Happy Birthday Marijuana Mayor" at my next birthday. When a story about me testing positive for COVID featured a photo of me that looked like a mugshot it was my friends who cut it out & hung it up in their homes & jobs. And when a Facebook commenter called me a "Commie expletive" it was my niece Reagen, who decided that I would for now on be known as, "Uncle Commie". It was my friends & family that reminded me throughout this that I am still human & that those who would hurl insults or create asinine rumors often don't know me & that I should be proud of the work I was doing.
Lastly, I am grateful to my Grandpa Roland who passed away a little more than six months after I took office. It was him who told me to, "quit your bitching & do something about it" when I was expressing my frustrations about West Wendover being left behind. That same evening, he gave me the money for my filing fee, it was $50 in $1 bills that he had saved from his tips as a casino shuttle driver. Not only did my grandpa encourage me to run he was the one person who believed I could win, even when I didn't believe it myself. My grandpa taught me the value of hard work & that through hard work nothing is impossible. I hope that he would be proud of my time in office & that he knows that none of it would've happened without his encouragement.
Next council meeting you all will appoint my successor, & while I respect your role in this process, I want to leave you with one piece of advice. Do your due diligence in making this decision & ask yourself do you want to go back to the way things were or do you want to continue moving forward. If you want to continue moving forward, select the candidate who is committed to giving this job the time & attention it deserves. Whoever comes after me is going to have to work hard to build vital relationships, just as I had to & that is a full-time commitment especially with a legislative session just around the corner.
I leave office hopeful for the future of West Wendover & grateful for the role that I was able to play in shaping that future.
Thank you.
Daniel Corona, Mayor
Original source can be found here.
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