Ep35 Carrie Cox—How Henderson's City Council Really Works: Carrie Cox on Public Safety, Affordable Housing, and the Future of Ward 3

Carrie Cox  0:00  
I take care of things one on one, so I encourage residents call me. They let me know, they text me, they email me, and they let me know this is an issue, this is a problem, Carrie. I'm about solutions, and I'm about I always have been working the problem.

Scott Groves  0:20  
Welcome to Henderson HQ. This is the podcast where you get all the stories behind the businesses that make our community tick. Don't forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Henderson HQ podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter and check out the websites Allthings hendersonhq.com. Scott Groves here with my new friend Carrie Cox, who's actually one of the representatives on our city council currently. She's running for re-election in Ward Three, and we're going to talk about redistricting and all that stuff because it used to be an at-large position, and now it's by district, and now it's all this crazy stuff. I I have your beautiful bio here. I think we're going to get into most of the bio points of you know your huge family, seven kids, 12 grandkids. You being a teacher, being in the area for 30 plus years. I think we'll get into all the bio stuff. So why don't we just start with you, like what you're what you're doing, what you're running for, and like what the position is, because I think a lot of people don't even know what their city council does. So who are you? What are you running for, and and why does it matter to the Henderson viewer?

Carrie Cox  1:21  
Well, I'm Councilwoman Carrie Cox, and I'm also a resident and here in Henderson in Ward Three, and I love Henderson first of all. And what a city councilperson does is we're over the infrastructure, roads, businesses, bringing new business in, taking care of the businesses that are here. We are addressing a lot of the education matters now because that is really a critical part of our quality of life here in Henderson. We take care of anything that's built. I usually say anything you live in, work in, drive on. You know, we're we're in charge of all of that, and we really impact as a council. We impact your quality of life more than I think any other level of government.

Scott Groves  2:07  
I don't think people realize this because it's so easy to get caught up on the national politics and right versus left. And frankly, I I feel bad for them, but I don't have any like empathy left to pay attention to what's going on in the Strait of Hormuz. But right before we started recording, you were saying like, "Oh, I helped bring like four grocery stores to the area. That's the kind of quality of life stuff of like having options, having a grocery store closer. Like this is the stuff that really affects our day to day. And I know the voter turnout for like local elections is horrible. So I try to implore people: yes, please go vote in your local elections. Get to know people, whether they're here or you search them out on Facebook or you go to their website. Because yes, to your point, these are the people that actually affect where we drive, how we work, what does our commute look like, what businesses are coming into the area. So let's just go from there. Like, how does one attract new grocery stores to come to a city? Because like, I think I think this will kind of tell us in a nutshell what city council people do, or maybe what you do?

Carrie Cox  3:02  
Well, we have a whole economic development team that I have to thank because they're on top of it, first of all. But I personally reach out and talk to people and send them over to our economic development team, and then that team also is working on bringing different businesses in, but what has been great for Ward Three, and I think you know we we definitely I think have met the task of bringing in new grocery stores. I mean, we have the Smiths that is out in Cadence had already been in the works before I was elected, but the Smiths on Stephanie. It was a pleasure to work with the Miss the Smiths Corporation. They are so down to earth. We have you know Marianas, which really people were asking, can we have a different type of grocery store? It's more of my

Scott Groves  3:55  
wife's go to. I

Carrie Cox  3:55  
love it. Yeah, and their produce and everything is great. And then Aldi's, you know, Aldi's is really affordable. It has a whole different business model, and what I love about the ones that came in are that they are different. It's not just another typical grocery store. Smiths has the marketplace, which is phenomenal. If you haven't been in that store, please. I mean,

Scott Groves  4:18  
store by Gucci. I need a sandwich or salad.

Carrie Cox  4:20  
It's so much fun, right? Offer so many choices, and then we have a discount grocery store coming in Cadence. Because when we talk about affordability, which used to be really a swear word, I mean, when you heard affordability, you thought, okay, my house values, my home values are going to go down. Right. I mean, what does that mean? What does that look like? And we need to have housing for all, which I can get into later. But as far as grocery stores, we need to have accessible, close grocery stores where the people are. People said, "Look, this is great that we have these grocery stores, but we're dying here. This economy is hurting families. It's hurting individuals." And our everything's going up and up and up and has been for quite some time. And we know what this economy is is doing to people. And I'm like, okay, there we've got to you know go a step beyond here and say, okay, we need a discount grocer coming in, and that really helps. I think the market and competition and things like that. And so I'm really proud of the grocery stores and the restaurants that have come in. You know, we brought Applebee's back. You know, it was it left where the you know Longhorn Steakhouse is, and you know, so they we just did a ribbon cut ribbon cutting. I just did a ribbon cutting. There was no we, but anyway, I just did a ribbon cutting with them, and it was fantastic. They're back, and I think they offer just a great selection, also. And so I'm very proud of all the restaurants and the and the mom and pops helping them hang in there because I owned a restaurant and I understand what that's.

Scott Groves  5:57  
Job everybody,

Carrie Cox  5:58  
and yeah, I wouldn't again. We were very successful. I actually gave up my restaurant to be able to be a council person. However, it's it's not for the you know week, and it is definitely for younger people. So my knees did not like restaurant work for 10 years, and that it was great. It was great to be in that business and to serve people.

Scott Groves  6:20  
Well, I think it's so relevant to like where we are as an economy, right? Because a lot of the economy now is service-based, even in or outside of the Las Vegas area. Obviously, we have entertainment and gambling and all that stuff. But you know, you look at any major metropolitan area; most of what is being built is service providers, right? Like service businesses, mom and pops, whatnot. Because we're not doing manufacturing a lot in America anymore. Maybe maybe data centers, but that's a whole nother can of worms. But I want to know with you and with the economic development group, what does that mean to like attract a business? Is there like is there tax incentives, or is it just the fact that we're easier to work with for like business licensing and whatnot? Which I have heard from a friend of mine. Actually, he was on the podcast. He said this publicly, so I can say it. Shout out to Casey, my the guy who owns my gym where I do jujitsu. He has three locations: one on the west side of Vegas, one downtown proper Vegas, and one in Henderson. And he's like, dude, bang for your buck! You get so much more opening a business in Henderson because it's easier to get the permits. It's it's one stop shop where you can go from window to window to window. The inspectors are nicer. Like he's like, I would open 10 more businesses in Henderson. I would not open one in Vegas. And I'm like, oh, okay, that's a piece of evidence that we're probably attracting more businesses. So, what does it look like when we do entice these companies to come to Henderson instead of pick another suburb?

Carrie Cox  7:39  
Well, before I answer that question, it's just a shout out to our staff to talk about what you just said. You know, we have phenomenal staff at the city of Henderson, and they do a fantastic job. And I'm grateful because he had a wonderful experience, and that was part of the streamlining that I promised. And when I got in, that I helped make happen. So I'm glad to hear that, not everyone has that experience, but we need to do better and make sure everyone has that experience. But it is not a staff issue at all. They're doing great. We just need to find the right. I don't know. We just need to find the right combination to make sure. Sometimes people get hung up with a lot of times with the you know fire code, and that's so critical, right? Where we make sure that's done right. But we do see some slowdowns, like any other municipality in the county. But that's great to hear. And so, how do we bring in business? I think we attract business, and I don't think I know because Henderson's a great place to live. You know, it it we just have such with you know 300 miles of trails, 77 parks, and more coming. You know, it it gives everyone the ability to be in the outdoors, to enjoy the scenery. To kids can go play, families can picnic. You know, it brings people together. I mean, parks are about gathering, right? So I think that's a big thing for people that they look at the quality of life, and the quality of life is so important. That's what I'm about, right? I'm I'm in a fight every day for our quality of life, and believe me, it's a fight. Yeah, and but I'm going to keep doing it because I work for the residents and the businesses, and I and I work for I work for public safety.

Scott Groves  9:26  
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's funny the parks. Growing up in L.A. you don't go to the parks because they're homeless infested, drug infested. You know, it's just it's not it's not safe. It's not clean. Like I wouldn't dream if I was still living in L.A. of taking my kids to a park. Right after we're done here, we're running to the park because we're doing a little quarterback lesson with my son. Shout out to the Henderson Cowboys. But what's crazy is we've been going most nights to just throw the ball on the big grass field, and every night there's families coming out to like enjoy the splash pad and picnicking, and you know we're we're filming this in the middle of July, so it's usually after. The sun goes down, but it really there really is a quality of life with our parks and rec. So shout out to them because they're doing a great job as well. And we've taken my wife's school over to the climbing wall that's in the rec center and used the pool there for like a triathlon day. It's like it really does make a difference. And I just look around and I'm like, this is not cheap. Like it is not cheap to maintain parks, so I'm glad that that proposition passed. That's keeping the money going to the parks instead of some other slush fund that did pass, right? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

Carrie Cox  10:28  
It actually passed in the high 70s, 1,000,000% So I, you know, I'm so grateful for our parks and rec team, and I'm grateful for our amenities, and I'm grateful for their energy and their effort in maintaining that, and we just have a great parks and rec.

Scott Groves  10:45  
And how long is the term for a city council person? Four

Carrie Cox  10:47  
years.

Scott Groves  10:48  
Four years. Okay, that makes sense to me because I know some other city councils are two years. I'm like, dude, you're just learning whose name is who and what departments do what in two years. So let's talk about that. Like for you on the next four years, like what's on the roadmap? What specific projects, programs, initiatives? Like, what do you what do you really want to support in the next four years on City Council when you presumably get reelected?

Carrie Cox  11:09  
Well, what's most important is to continue the trajectory, you know, of making sure that we're taking care of residents, and that is, I think, sometimes where I get in a little bit of trouble because I'm going to stand with the residents and and the businesses, and I'm going to make sure they're taken care of because they elected me, and really that is our job. We have to do that, and so sometimes that gets away in the way of some agendas, and without being negative, it it does cause some issues. But I want that taken care of. I want everyone to come together. I think there's some division in Henderson in general, where people are upset about different things and they feel like they're not listened to. They feel like they're not respected. The residents come, they're not heard, and things are not taken care of. I take care of things even more importantly one on one. So I encourage residents because so many do call me. They let me know. They text me. They email me, and they let me know this is an issue. This is a problem, Carrie. I'm about solutions, and I'm about-I always have been working the problem, and let's get it taken care of because maybe not everyone will get everything they want, but I do want them to walk away happy. I don't want them feeling angry at me or the city council. I want them to feel like they have good leadership, and in order to do that, it takes face-to-face communication and making sure things are taken care of for them because there's some real concerns out there,

Scott Groves  12:43  
yeah,

Carrie Cox  12:43  
and they need to be addressed. And frankly, we can do better. I feel we can do better, and I want the opportunity to really get in there and work together to do better for the residents and for really our men and women that serve and sacrifice on our Henderson Police Department and our fire department. Critical. We take care of them.

Scott Groves  13:07  
I want to first of all say you are who you say you are because I texted you. You did not know who I was. You did not have my phone number saved in your phone, and you got back to me a couple hours later. I'm like, oh, who's this? Who are you looking for? How can we help? And then we ended up chatting, and you didn't even know how we got introduced. But I did have your personal cell phone. You partially responded to me. We were able to schedule this. Sadly, I had a bunch of scheduling conflicts. So sorry that we had to wait so long. Problem. But I I do want to ask because you know this kind of like a politician platitude. We can do better. It's like, well, what does better mean, right? So for you, what are some things specifically that the city, and this could be the the residents of the city. This could be the services of the city. This could be you on the city council. What what does that mean to you? Like, hey, here's some areas where we could really be doing better. Like, what's on the what's on the carry hit list of things we could be doing better at?

Carrie Cox  13:54  
Well, there's there's a list.

Scott Groves  13:56  
Okay, well, let's go through them. Go for it.

Carrie Cox  13:59  
But I really think that we and and it's better now that the contracts were finished and done for our police department.

Scott Groves  14:07  
Yeah,

Carrie Cox  14:08  
but that took a long time and a lot of money and a big fight. Why? Where we ended up in the same place we started.

Scott Groves  14:16  
Yeah.

Carrie Cox  14:16  
So as as a city council, and and I can only speak for me, but we need to honor them and really work to get what they need out the gate. And again, I don't think everybody's going to get everything that they want. Right, that's not what I'm saying. But I am saying that they protect us. We have to have them, and to have officers leaving and upset to have, you know, discord is just not necessary. So I want to make sure that public safety is taken care of. And and I've done we've we've definitely we've ordered equipment. We needed you know we need a couple of rescues for the fire department. That's my goal. Okay, we've got to get those rescues. And we've definitely been bringing in equipment, a ladder truck. You know, we've we have a couple. We we've done some apparatuses. We've done things like that to be able to make sure that they have what they need. But for instance, I mean, we have. I I've heard now we have men and women in a man camp on the Valley Verde station. Why? And it's an active construction zone. So that's how we can do better. Just let's take care of our people.

Scott Groves  15:35  
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Carrie Cox  17:29  
It is a rough look, and but I think more importantly than the optics is the reality, right? Because you know we we do a lot. Politicians, particularly, do a lot about optics, right? It's all about optics. How's it going to make us look? How's it going to make us look? I think if we thought less, and I don't really think that way, but if as politicians thought less about what it was going to look like and just do what's right, I think it solves that, right? And I'm not being critical of anyone on the city council, or staff, or anyone that negotiated that, I am saying that yes, was not a good look. The reality is, is that public servants, our public safety men and women, paid for that.

Scott Groves  18:17  
Right.

Carrie Cox  18:18  
You know the stress, what they went through. I just think we've got to find a way to come together and do take care of it sooner, and not let it go on and on and on. Let's we're going to disagree. We're going to come together and let's find a path forward. And that ended up happening, but it went to arbitration. I mean, it it isn't great, and so I prefer to just say, yeah, the look was awful, but the reality was worse.

Speaker 1  18:42  
Yeah,

Carrie Cox  18:42  
and it wasn't fair. And in my opinion, I

Scott Groves  18:45  
would be willing to bet with arbitration and legal all the other stuff. We as a city probably ended up losing more money than we gave up for for the contract. But I haven't seen those numbers, so I'm just projecting.

Carrie Cox  18:56  
I think affordability. Going back to affordability, we've done a lot with housing, and that's where we're heading. Is you know we have kids. I had kids that couldn't afford to live here in Henderson that moved with their children and my grandchildren, right? And so that's that's a normal, I mean, a typical thing, right? That's happening. It didn't just happen to me. It's happening to residents where they themselves cannot afford to live in Henderson, but they work in Henderson. We want to make sure that there's housing for all. I really feel that, and so Meriden is a project going in on the corner of Galleria and Stephanie, right by the Galleria Mall, and they that is a great project because it is offering townhomes, and I think home ownership-you know-one of the things that would really help our economy and help our young people, and even some that aren't so young, that have either lost their home due to divorce or due to the economy or due to a loss of job, is to help them get back into home ownership and get those that need that have never had home ownership. Get the if they would like that to get them into home ownership because think about the American dream, that is what I mean. I'm 60, almost 61 years old, and so I had the American dream. My parents had the American dream, and my grandparents. And what worries me is that we are just degrading the American dream to the point that our kids are never going to realize that, and definitely theirs won't. And so, that's part of doing better and making sure that we have the housing necessary for people to be able to be affordable. And so, I know it doesn't sound like 300,000 to 350,000 is affordable, but that's great compared to 506 $100,000 homes, which is where our market is and was. So we're bringing in developments and working with developers to do that.

Scott Groves  20:51  
So how how do you do that, Ray? Because I I worked in mortgage for a long time. I I'm embarrassed how much I know about the housing market because now it's all worthless knowledge that I just coach people. But what's interesting is, like in LA, for example, I'll use because I just love to pick on LA with how horrible they are. They were they were incentivizing the wrong side of the curve, right? They were always like, "Oh, well, we have a new $5,000 grant for home buyers, or we have all these things that they would create because there's a lot more wannabe homebuyer voters than there are developer voters, but the problem in LA is not more programs to get people a little bit lower down payment. The problem is there's not enough housing. So how do we incentivize the builders to come here and say, no, no, you know your profit margin might be a little bit smaller on condos or townhouses or high density units, but this is what the city needs. What kind of levers do you have to pull on that at the city council level to help entice developers to come do high density housing instead of oh no we just want to make seven McMansions and sell them for a million each because our profit margin is higher which is what's happening right down the street from me. How do you get them to do more high density housing? Like what what can you guys do on the city council? Well, there are developers that really specialize in that, and we're lucky to have them. And for the ones that aren't specializing that would like to get into that, KB Home. I mean, they're great. They came in. It took a lot to make that project pencil,

Carrie Cox  22:12  
okay, but they did. And there are incentives, and we do work with developers. But it really is based on AMI. It's based on what our neighborhoods need, and right now we've got to be able to get loans for people that don't make the you know six figure incomes, and take care of families. And I think that that helps homelessness. It helps everything across the board when we're making sure that there's housing. I mean, we're down. I mean, I think it was 40,000 units still. I would have to check that. That's not a while, but it's it's significant, and I am. I don't think high density housing is the solution. Okay. I think it's an. I think the high density housing we have, we have adequate high density housing. Okay, I I just I feel that, and there's a lot of push from a lot of people for not having high density housing, right? And so we've got to listen to our residents, and this is, and I'm not against anybody that builds high density housing, but I do think there has to be options, and I love that we're going to single family again, and to townhomes and detached and attached, and we're trying to make sure that we have, I mean, an array of options and price points to serve everyone. Yeah, that that's important to me.

Scott Groves  23:36  
I think is we might be saying the same thing, but I think of townhouses as like high density, just because you can squeeze two or three of them on a lot that you would normally do a single family.

Carrie Cox  23:44  
No, I know. Yeah, but well, but

Scott Groves  23:46  
I would be the worst city council person because these two things cannot be true at the same time. You can't bring down property prices and like make things more affordable unless you build more housing, and more housing means there's going to be more human beings and more traffic, and so if I was talking to a voter, if I was a city council person, like I don't like having traffic in Henderson, and we need the price to come down. Where those two things aren't going to happen at the same time. So how do you balance? And it doesn't have to be these two things, but how do you balance like competing interests, right? Where it's like, yes, and we we need this business, but we don't need to spend this money, or we need we need more housing tracks, but everybody's upset about the Boulder project, which I don't understand why people are mad at the Boulder City or the Boulder Highway project because it's like we need a wider street. It's just your job seems unwinnable. I guess I'll just put it that way. So how do you balance all things when there's conflicting interests?

Carrie Cox  24:36  
That's a great question. My brother, I haven't. I had two older brothers. One's passed, but the one that's 15 years older than me, Bill. You know, he was brilliant in business. He was a business consultant, and he just said, "Listen, Carrie, always go for the win-win. He said, "You don't want somebody to win big and someone to lose big." You know, it it doesn't work. So go for the win win, and that win win may be minuscule, or that win win might be great. But we have to try to thread the needle, and I think, you know, we may not, and I may not always get that right, but I'll tell you right now, it's always my goal, and I never give up, and I am always fighting to make it right. And when our residents are upset about the Boulder Highway project, I don't blame them. I think we need to look at the problem and not personalize it.

Scott Groves  25:37  
Yeah.

Carrie Cox  25:38  
Um, I think I read a quote. I read a little response on one of my posts about the Boulder Highway project, where somebody says the city hates us. You know, and I that that broke my heart. So I don't hate. I don't hate the residents. I love the residents, and I love Henderson, and I want to make it better, and I want to keep what's great, great, and work on the things that aren't right together. And so, as far as the Boulder Highway project goes, I think it's really important to note, and and hear me all the way out because I'm not skirting accountability at all. I was not on the city council, when the Boulder Highway project had its final approval in May of 2020, the only two that were that are currently on the council that were that voted on that was Mayor Romero and Dan Stewart, councilman, and I wasn't there, so I don't know what happened. I can't judge that, but what I can say is, we're here now,

Scott Groves  26:47  
right?

Carrie Cox  26:47  
So regardless, I'm a councilwoman, and our residents are extremely inconvenienced and stressed, and they're being and their quality of life's being affected. So,

Scott Groves  26:58  
are people generally frustrated about the the cost, the size of the program, everything, time delay. It's like

Carrie Cox  27:04  
yes, because we're not widening, we're narrowing, and like I said, frankly, I didn't have say in that,

Speaker 2  27:12  
right?

Carrie Cox  27:13  
But what I do have say in, and the vote that I did vote on, was the acceptance of the bid, which is required by law. I have to. I can't. Like they go through a bid process. I check that bid out up and down, and it was done correctly. So that bid went to Las Vegas Paving. I'm required by law to vote on that and say yes. We're ratifying basically, right? We're not.

Speaker 3  27:42  
So it

Carrie Cox  27:42  
wasn't a decision about more of

Scott Groves  27:44  
a rubber stamp once you go through the bidding process.

Carrie Cox  27:46  
Exactly, and what was sad was that there were reports by the RJ and I think a couple of stations that hey, the Boulder Highway project was approved when we had the vote in 2024, and it's like no, the Boulder High go back it started in 2006. The final it it went through a long process of neighborhood meetings and and getting and everything else right because they need to think about this. That took a lot to get that through. It took from 2006 to 2020, and then in 2024 we accepted the money that goes with that, and we're not paying for that. But they're upset about the narrowing of Boulder Highway, and I understand they're upset about the bus going down the middle and people having to cross from both sides. And I understand that. I get where they're coming from. I guess it's hard to say, but the train left the station, right? And so, what can I do? What am I doing? What I'm doing is mitigating the inconveniences and the things that are upsetting them-the residents and businesses, which are really being affected. And I am highlighting businesses, and I go to-I I push people to the businesses on Boulder Highway. I am a customer to all of those businesses. We literally spend our time on Boulder Highway to help out. Yeah, and I have a large family, and so I bring friends and I bring family, and we're we're supportive. But when I help with the communication with the city, I work closely with the public works director and with staff to address the timing of the lights. That's been a big deal, and I know they're working on that. And I actually drove from the movie theater. We were over at the movie theater over off of just off of Boulder Highway there last night.

Scott Groves  29:32  
Cinnadome,

Carrie Cox  29:33  
and we have a Cinado.

Scott Groves  29:34  
Shout out to our $5 Thursdays or whatever. Right? Yeah.

Carrie Cox  29:37  
Wonderful. And there was someone out there actually working on the lights physically at you know 10 o'clock at night? They had a crew out, so I take what I'm hearing from residents and I go and I address that with the proper staff to make sure that we're helping mitigate this. I hear let's get rid of. Let's reverse it. Let's do that. I don't have that in my power, right? And I just want to make sure I take care of residents and businesses through this process. This too shall pass. That stinks, right? I'm so sorry, but I'm here for them. I am here to help address.

Scott Groves  30:15  
By the way, this very

Carrie Cox  30:16  
concerns.

Scott Groves  30:16  
Another reason why I would be a horrible city council member because I go to Johnny Max. I go to the Citadel Theater. I go to several the comic book store down there. We go to a lot of businesses on Boulder Highway because right down the street from us, and the good businesses are still busy. So the people complain, oh, my cousin's friend's business went out because of the construction. No, it probably went out of business because you have a bad business. But that's just me. I would. I would make a lot of people angry in your position. But you mentioned what we can do. Do you happen to know going back to 2020 what is the positive outcome that they were looking for? Because there. I mean, city council people aren't evil. Like there had there had to be a positive outcome that they were looking to accomplish by doing this project. Like I don't. I don't equate things to evil. It's like maybe there was a misunderstanding. Maybe they didn't make the best decision, but there had to be a reason for their decision. So was it was it getting the bus lane down the middle so that we could clear up traffic on public transportation, or like what was the initial? Yes, this makes sense. Do you do you know that by

Carrie Cox  31:14  
just my understanding of what I've been briefed on and what I've read personally and what I've researched, and that is when you know, and and it's going to be interesting. I'm told the Boulder Highway traffic is not going to increase. I mean, it's going to it's going to increase because we have more people, but the flow of traffic and the timing of the lights are going to be how they're going to address that. So it's going to be interesting, but they wanted to narrow Boulder Highway because of safety issues that you know it's the most dangerous road. Yeah, but the reality is really more of the danger. I mean, I I tell the truth, so that's that's fortunate and unfortunate. It's unfortunate for me because I don't like making people angry and I don't like blaming anyone. But the reality is, is that the most dangerous part of Boulder Highway is Sahara, which is in Las Vegas, and they've elected to put the fencing down the middle, and so they've made some other choices, right? But we are where we're where we are, and so to answer your question is they cited. I can tell you what they said, what this council at the time said, and it was safety, and they wanted to make it easier for them instead of crossing all the way from one side because that was a very large, very large. You know, think about going across six lines to get to the bus, and people are running to the bus, and they wanted to make that more like they come to the center because it shortened the distance and it would create a safer path and an option. By the

Scott Groves  32:43  
way, this makes sense to me because I've almost ran over four people in my life. Three of them are on Boulder Highway because people are cutting across and whatnot. So it's like it's this double-edged sword of like, yeah, okay, maybe you're a little frustrated that the businesses are suffering because there's construction, but if you want the whole ecosystem to be more walkable and more pedestrian friendly. These are the kind of changes that have to be made. Like I'm, I'm not saying they're right or wrong, but just this. I see on the Facebook groups how these people get about some of these local projects, and I'm like, dude, you need to go to work or go spend time with your family or go stop by a CBD store or something because you you guys are you guys are stressed out of your mind for something that.

Carrie Cox  33:19  
Well, I feel bad for them. I feel bad for residents. I do in businesses, and I get where you're coming from. I really support residents and how they feel on this.

Scott Groves  33:30  
Right.

Carrie Cox  33:30  
But again, I wasn't there to help make the decision. I didn't weigh in on the decision.

Speaker 4  33:34  
Right.

Carrie Cox  33:35  
So at this point, what do we have?

Scott Groves  33:37  
Yeah.

Carrie Cox  33:37  
We can complain. We can be upset. We can let it disrupt our lives even more, or we can say this project is being done

Scott Groves  33:47  
right.

Carrie Cox  33:48  
And at this point, we've got to make it as good as we can for them. And what is it that they need to be okay with it? Let's get them from we hate it to okay. I can tolerate it, or I can live with it, or I'm. I would love to get. I'm okay with

Scott Groves  34:07  
it. Yeah,

Carrie Cox  34:08  
because it's it is affecting quality of life, and that's important to me. We have to understand that, you know, whatever the reasons. And again, I always hesitate answering for someone else. I can't tell you all of it, but I can tell you that you know with a bus going down the middle, that's intended to help with a walkable community. You know where people are able to reduce their use of cars and gas and things like that, and so that's one of the things that was really the thought process, but in this case, I need residents to reach out. I see a lot on Nextdoor. I see a lot on Facebook and Instagram, and what I need them to do is call me. I. Help! I'm here for them, and I think you know the people that work on Boulder Highway. It's not their fault. We're like the

Scott Groves  35:08  
people are not the guy's fault. Who's a 160 degrees land payment right now?

Carrie Cox  35:11  
It's not their fault,

Scott Groves  35:12  
right?

Carrie Cox  35:12  
You know they they just need a job for their families, and so we need to remember that too. Is that you know we're just trying to do our best, but I get it, and I understand, and I actually agree with a lot of the residents on how they feel. But I think at this point, we got to make the very best for it and get through it.

Scott Groves  35:30  
One of my all-time favorite books is Basic Economics by Thomas Sal, and he says in politics and in economics there is no such thing as solutions. There's only trade-offs. So what I appreciate about what you're saying is like, call me, we'll figure something out. Because there's only trade-offs. We don't have a solution to make it right for everybody. So if you guys can find some some some temporary trade-offs that might work, yeah,

Carrie Cox  35:51  
that would be that would be great.

Scott Groves  35:52  
I

Carrie Cox  35:53  
like to help.

Scott Groves  35:53  
I want to switch to a topic that's super near and dear to both of our hearts because you are a kindergarten school teacher for a long, long time, and my wife and I own a micro school. We decided to opt out of public school for many, many reasons. But between homeschool and charter schools and public schools, and this is not a big secret that in Nevada, not Henderson, but Nevada, across the board, we have the 49th or 48th worst school districts and schooling system in the country, like we have some real problems with education. And when I talk to people in more professional fields like medical, they're like, "Yeah, it's really hard to get doctors to move here because public school is just not an option for their kids. So when they're weighing a cost benefit package of like, "Okay, well, we have no taxes, and maybe the pay is good, but we're going to be shelling out $50,000 for private school because we're not going to do public school. And then, you know, I just I don't know how to solve a problem this global and this this large. So, what can the We City Council of Henderson, Nevada, do to help make schooling a better option in public school

Carrie Cox  37:01  
education is a huge topic and a huge critical component of our lives. Right, we want to educate our children, and I'll just tell you, I mean, I we we bang our head as teachers, we bang our head against a wall in trying to make that needle move, and it did at one point. I think we were up to 46th, and you know charters came. That was after some key charters came in. Pine Crest was phenomenal, and Mater several of them legacies. You know they came in and they for years have helped try to lift that. It's a big left, it's a heavy lift, as you know, because you have a lot of experience and all, right? And

Scott Groves  37:47  
which is crazy to say, by the way, I barely made it through high school. Didn't like my wife runs everything because I barely, I barely made it through high school. I had to go to the army because college was not for me. But yeah, it's crazy that I own a school now. So I'm very very familiar with the challenges of guides and coaches and teachers and students and parents, parents love them. Yeah, gotta love them.

Carrie Cox  38:05  
I know, I know, it's a lot, but

Scott Groves  38:07  
move the needle because I'm I'm imagining there's stuff that comes up from above at the federal level, at the state level, at the county level. So by the time we get down to schools in Henderson, I don't know 5060, 90% of what you can and cannot do is probably already mandated. So I don't know. You you talk about how we can identify the problem and what we can change.

Carrie Cox  38:27  
Well, I think you said a very key word, big. And I have to preface this with I have seven children, as we've said, and five of them attended Clark County School District schools, and five of them had an exceptional education. Now, keep in mind, my oldest is 40, so we're talking Brian Cram days, and you know, and but and then you know we went on to other other superintendents, but I think we have a phenomenal school board in place now, and I think they're trying really hard. And the admins, you know, administration's trying. We have a, I think we have a great superintendent at the helm. This is not for lack of trying. This is not for lack of killing themselves to get the job done, and I feel big is the answer, and we really need. And I don't say break up because it's harsh and people don't like that. But I'd love to see Henderson opt out, and I think you have to yeah be its own school district. Some love that, some don't. But I will tell you why that's important because it has been shown all over the United States, especially if you look at Educate New York, which is their theme. Right, New York has very small school districts, and they do phenomenal. Mississippi was able to come out of the lone, low worst school districts, and they're now in the middle range.

Scott Groves  40:07  
Yeah, I think I was just looking at those. Yeah, they went from like 50th in the country to like yeah 27th or something. Yeah.

Carrie Cox  40:13  
So whatever they're doing, we need to do

Scott Groves  40:16  
right.

Carrie Cox  40:16  
So I'm a proponent for look at who has gotten got it right. Go study that. Figure out. In fact, bring them in. Have them come and mentor you. I don't think it answers everything, but I think it's a great start. Yeah. What I've seen in the school district with my kids being in it is a lot of changes, a lot of changes in curriculum. You know, we just get used to a curriculum, and boom, it's gone. And but I don't want to fault the school district; they have a huge task, and I think what would help solve it because I think we've tried almost everything is let's let's go ahead and opt out. And if Vegas wants to, if I mean, we may end up not have you know. I mean, we'd have our own individual school districts, and that's scary. I get

Scott Groves  41:05  
it. Yeah,

Carrie Cox  41:06  
but it

Scott Groves  41:06  
can't do any worse.

Carrie Cox  41:08  
But it would work, in my opinion.

Scott Groves  41:10  
Right.

Carrie Cox  41:10  
And um, and then charters, you know, when I'm out walking and knocking, I've I've been surprised this time because a lot of I mean, it's not a lot, but there's a significant amount of people that say to me, "Oh, I hate charters. No, no, no, I'm against charters, and I say, "Well, why? And what they don't understand is that charters are funded the same way the Clark County School District is. The difference is we get less money in a charter, right? I mean, I had somebody not vote for me because I taught in a charter, and I'm like, wait a minute! Charters give competition. Charters bring challenge to do better, you know. And I think you know there are great charters out there, and the ones that aren't great aren't going to be here anymore because they're governed very strictly, as you know. So when we became a charter school authorizer, thanks to the legislature, we just, as you know, you know, was able to get Kesher Academy through our rigorous process, and they're they're going open

Scott Groves  42:16  
this year, right?

Carrie Cox  42:16  
They open up in the fall.

Scott Groves  42:17  
Awesome,

Carrie Cox  42:18  
and again, options. Yeah, I think people love choices. We didn't have choices as kids, right? We had you can have, you know, the red crayon or the blue crayon. There wasn't a lot of you know you had the primary colors. You have an array of crayons now. Yeah, you know, what 120 now in a box? I don't know the different colors. So I'm just saying we don't all fit. You can't make everyone fit into the round peg,

Scott Groves  42:45  
right?

Carrie Cox  42:46  
And I think we've done that for long enough. And parents get to decide. And so I love options where their kids can go where they want, and I love options where the money follows the kids and the tax dollars follows the kid because that is when it's fair, and with also with charters, what a lot of people don't understand is that it's a state lottery. I heard, oh, you guys get all the good kids, and it's hurt the district. And no, that is not what happens. There is a lottery system, and in my first year, the lottery was one to one. So if a child was applying, they had one pool. Their name was in it. The lottery one time, but as we went forward, it became okay. Depending on that child's needs and the demographic, and whether they were low income, medium income, high income, you know, they put a lot of parameters in there, and they could have more than one. They could be in there five times. I remember on one of the years, you know. So their name, they had a better chance, right? And so I think everyone's trying to make it as fair as possible. Is it perfect? No, nothing's perfect. That, but but as we

Scott Groves  44:01  
current system is not perfect,

Carrie Cox  44:02  
right? It isn't perfect, but we have to do something. And so, what's interesting is when we have residents and and families clamoring for certain things, which they should because they should have their voice and they should stand up and speak what they want. That helps me actually when people let me know what they want, because I can't read their minds. I need to know how I can help.

Scott Groves  44:25  
They didn't give you the reading mind hat when you became council member. No, no, okay.

Carrie Cox  44:28  
But I would, I love it when they come to me because it allows me to address the problem. It's when they go on social media and they're like, "Oh my gosh, get rid of the entire city council, or you know, she's horrible and they don't know me. They've never met me. They never had a conversation with me, and they haven't given me a chance. But out of frustration, rightly so, they feel that way. Yeah, and so they're expressing it the way they they can. Um, but I invite them to come talk to me, and and we can make a difference together.

Scott Groves  44:55  
Want to ask that question because you brought it up a few times. Like, I don't want you to give out your phone number on the podcast.

Carrie Cox  45:00  
No, everywhere, and

Scott Groves  45:01  
is everywhere. Okay, so they have your phone number. We'll we'll get we'll get it in somebody that he says. I don't want you to say it out loud because then YouTube will pick it up and you'll have 5000 spam callers.

Carrie Cox  45:08  
Okay,

Scott Groves  45:08  
but if people do want to be heard, right? Like if let's just say I'm super passionate about this, right? I was like, hey, I want I want there to be more school options. We might be a competitor. Charter should be a competitor. Tesher should be a competitor. This should be a competitor. Like, what's the best way for a local Henderson resident to be heard? Is it come to the city council meetings? Is it schedule a coffee with each of the individual city council people or whatever? Like, how do people get heard so that you get better feedback and better ideas? Obviously, they can call you. I know your phone numbers.

Carrie Cox  45:37  
Sure, absolutely. Well, a couple of things. I want to change the time of City Council. It's 4o'clock on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. It's hard on everybody. They're picking up kids. They're just finishing up their workday. They've got to get to a meeting or a doctor's appointment, and it's at 4o'clock in the afternoon.

Scott Groves  45:57  
First and second.

Carrie Cox  45:58  
It's the first and third.

Scott Groves  45:59  
First and third

Carrie Cox  45:59  
Tuesday. So in my next term, one of the things that I want to make sure that happens is that we get that time pushed to at least 6o'clock. I mean, and I understand it's it's you know it may be a staff issue and things like that, but we can figure that out. Come on, the residents, the taxpayers, they deserve to be able to come and talk to their council members or attend city council meetings when there is something that interests them or that affects them. The other thing they can do is I have morning meetups, breakfasts. I have I have evening. You know, a lot of people are like, "Hey, I can't come to a nine a.m. breakfast meeting, and then I have. But we alternate, and I do have evening meetings at 6o'clock, so they can choose what works best for them. But if none of that aligns with our schedule, because they're day sleepers and they work at night or whatever their kids' schedules, because of all the things that we do for our kids and the sports and the dance and everything, I've done it. I've lived it. Yeah, I've been saying, you know, they're like helping class, right? They're like, I can't get to a city council meeting. Call me. I will go to coffee with you. I'll meet you anywhere. I'll meet anyone anywhere. You know, because I want to make sure I'm taking care of them. I believe it's a responsibility of an elected official to be accessible, right? And the one thing I am is accessible, and you mentioned that. And if for some reason I miss a a text message or a messenger is really hard when they message me on message me on Facebook. I have like seven different areas that I have to watch, and I'm trying to help people, which I it's fine. I'll get to it, but if I don't get to a person, call me, text me, tell me I can't get a hold of you because you know. And if it doesn't get addressed, one of the things that I don't love is that there was a governance policy put in place where residents are supposed to go through a chief of staff. Now we have a wonderful chief of staff. She's fantastic to deal with, but I'm their representative, and so I pushed back pretty hard on that governance policy. And I actually don't, I don't, I don't follow it. They don't maybe don't like that, but I'm not going to not answer to my constituents because that's who I work for.

Scott Groves  48:20  
And it feels so weird. Like, well, have your people call my people. Then maybe I'll be able to answer you about the city that we all live in, right? It's like, it's it's kind of a big deal. Well, and

Carrie Cox  48:29  
the emails go through my, you know, executive assistant, who's also an amazing person, and I get why they buffer. Yeah, but if you're getting the buffer and you're not getting to me. Call me, text me directly. You know because you'll get me if you call me. You'll get me, and I will come to them. I mean, whatever they need, because I want to address the issues. I want to take care of people. I am we the people. I am your ordinary person, you know. I've been a business owner for years and years. I, a teacher. I, I want to be there. That's why I ran.

Scott Groves  49:09  
Yeah,

Carrie Cox  49:10  
I ran to help and to make sure that people felt like they have a voice and that they actually do have a voice on the council. And like I said, it's gotten me in trouble a little bit when I stand up and go. I don't agree, but you know we have to learn how to agree to disagree.

Scott Groves  49:24  
Right. Well, we've got some dysfunction going on in this. So what? Yeah. I'm glad you're running for re-election despite all that. But what what are some? We've talked a lot of challenging things.

Carrie Cox  49:35  
Yeah. Let's talk results.

Scott Groves  49:36  
Yes. Let's talk about like what's what what's coming up for Henderson or what's happened recently that people might not be aware of that you're excited about? Because let's end on let's end on the getting there of like what what's what's been great the last six months, other than the parks getting fully funded again. That's awesome. And then what's what's coming up? Is there anything you can tease us on that like we're excited about X Y Z?

Carrie Cox  49:56  
Sure. Well, some of the results, which I think that's how you. Measure a person who serves you, especially in a re-election. You have to measure and and don't listen to the noise, right? Like I said, if they have questions, they need to call me. I don't care how tough the question is, I'm going to answer it. And don't believe everything you hear on the news. That would be something I will say because there's sometimes a political agenda out there trying to make sure that you don't have a voice.

Scott Groves  50:23  
Yeah.

Carrie Cox  50:23  
Um. But we, um, I worked really hard on pushing for a preschool, um, learning center to be put in cadence, and we have that. That is the groundbreaking's taking place. It's underway. It's looking good. It's gonna come online, I think, in 28. I have to look and get an update on that, but that's exciting because you know early childhood education is critical,

Scott Groves  50:49  
more important than college,

Carrie Cox  50:50  
right? It really is, and you know. By

Scott Groves  50:53  
the way, people don't understand that, so let me qualify. So, do you agree with me? There is a lot of research. You can Google it. You can Chat GPT it. Where like all of the money that we are subsidizing in college, really, if we wanted to like actually move the needle, especially with low to moderate income, we would reinvest all that money to early childhood learning, like two to five years old, because that's when the brain's developing the most. Look it up; you can argue with me. Email Scott, it's got gross team. It's fine, but yes, I would love to see more preschool, pre preschool, child development, all that kind of stuff. So that's awesome that you brought that. Sorry, I cut you off.

Carrie Cox  51:24  
No, that's great. And we need to really address the mental health. That those results. I mean, I think I've been working really hard. I know they're going to bring Campus of Hope for the for the unhoused, for the homeless. That's going to be ran by the state. And so I don't know how much access yet Henderson's going to have, but we're pushing on that because we do need to address homelessness and mental health. And I have done that. I mean, I've been out working with homeless with my family for 25 years. This wasn't a city council let me do that for city council. Right. So I'm going to continue to push for more funding. Henderson has a great homeless response team, and we need to buoy that up. We need to make sure that that's you know we have more resources. One of the things I'm hearing a lot about, and that I helped with, is with the RTC, where the the you know individual little busses. They go around and they pick up, you know, our retirees and those that have different challenges, and they make sure they go to doctor's appointments, things like that. Well, I hear they're struggling with that, and there have been some residents stranded, and we have to address that. I work on that frequently on how can we do better. We have to address some, you know, things that are so important as taking care of our vulnerable populations. And I feel that that's some of the results. Is the vulnerable population, the kids, the seniors, the veterans? I work closely in all of those areas, to help people that need more help than your average person, because we can't forget them. We have to take care of them. And thank you to everyone who served, especially with our 250 years. You know, thank you. And my husband, father, father-in-law, brother, but also serve. But I had uncles serve. So thank you to everybody who served in whatever branch that is. We just unveiled a veteran wall inside of Mira, and it

Scott Groves  53:31  
was very cool.

Carrie Cox  53:32  
It was fantastic. And so the successes are: can I have a direct effect on grocery prices? No, but let's bring in some grocery stores for competition, like I mentioned, and and bring in a discount grocery store. Can I have a direct on healthcare? No, we can't. But what we can work on is making sure that our education is in check. So what you said, doctors want to come here, and we can bring in good quality. I mean, we have some great doctors here. We just need more.

Scott Groves  54:03  
Yeah.

Carrie Cox  54:04  
Um. Our population's increasing. We need that. Um. We've seen leaps and bounds. Um. You know, we have 46 officers in the academy right now addressing. You know more cops on the street. Um. That is an. That's been an issue for a very long time, great that

Scott Groves  54:21  
they filled that class because I know from a year ago when I talked to somebody who I can't use his name, they're having a really hard time with recruiting. But now that's great to hear that there's 46 people going through the academy now.

Carrie Cox  54:31  
Exactly, I love it, and I actually went early on. I was when Chief Chadwick was in, I went and did a recruiting trips that went up in Utah, and I know they're changing how they do that now, but that was very successful. Where we went to five different colleges up in Utah, and we went to two private academies, and we were able to get people in because we were really hurting. When I ran in 2022, we had a 90% increase. In burglary, an 88% in robbery, and a 55% in catalytic converters and vehicle thefts. Okay, I mean doors were getting kicked in an anthem, right? Chief Chadwick brought that down before she left. Chief Rader is maintaining that, which is wonderful. So we definitely addressed, and that was some of the results.

Scott Groves  55:23  
Yeah,

Carrie Cox  55:23  
I definitely helped to address the public safety crisis that was coming our way, and also we had a program where retirees came back in and they worked for two years to fill some of the gaps, and so that was great. Our cadet, our cadet program was a big thing. I pushed.

Scott Groves  55:43  
Oh, that's that's so

Carrie Cox  55:44  
that's another result. Uh huh. We had an explorer program, but I wanted the next step, and so that cadet program, I pushed. We've we've got a new fire station over on Boulder Highway, and that was amazing because that was the old camping, you know, camping world. So I feel like there's been a ton of success, a ton of results that have impacted quality of life in a positive way. And like I said, bringing in businesses, taking care of our public safety, taking care of our education, and I think really transparency. And I know that's a buzzword. Like it's thrown around all the time. One of those platitudes you talked about, right? What is transparency? You know, I sometimes want to say, "Can you handle the truth? I sometimes want to say that, but I'm not going to because I feel like maybe everyone doesn't need to know all, but if they want to. They should have access to that. Yes, they should be able to know what's going on in their city, and that transparency is critical in really moving forward. And that I'm going to keep working on because I think when there's transparency, people might not like what they hear, but doesn't that give you a jumping off point to have a conversation, to have dialog, to work together to come to a win-win. And some people say, "Oh my gosh, that sounds so Mary Poppin-ish, right? You know, you're like Mary Poppins, right? But the reality is, think about when I was born and as I was raised. That's how we did things. Right. We did things with a handshake. We did things with trust, transparency, and it was in a phenomenal time. It's not that we didn't have our problems, but I enjoyed that time in my life where I felt true peace growing up. And we need to give that to our children. We are Henderson. I can't say that enough. We are Henderson, and what my number one goal is, is to bring people together. Let's bring everybody together, and it sounds kumbaya-ish, but we are we are Henderson, and I want residents to know that leadership is about even if you're not there for a vote, even if you're, it's about taking accountability and saying we're going to fix this, and this is how, and we need your help. We're going to come together. We're going to listen. Listening is so important to find out what is the problem, and then we can start working the problem and find the solutions. And that's, I think, what residents want, and I find that we have very smart, intelligent people in Henderson, very educated, a lot of them, and very in tune people that know the political game, know what's political, know what political attacks are, and I've come under a lot of eat and issues. By

Scott Groves  58:41  
the way,

Carrie Cox  58:41  
and I get that a lot of false information, a lot of

Scott Groves  58:46  
lies. Yeah, and you know we could go into all the drama, which is not really worth going into. But I just, I know what city council people make. I know how much time you put into a job that probably comes out about $10 an hour after you factor all the time that you work on this, oh yeah, can't I can't fathom the reason for the political attacks and the mudslinging and stuff like that. But I do have two very important asks. One, we need a really good bagel shop somewhere around Water Street. Like

Carrie Cox  59:14  
you, you know, you have Einstein Brothers that went right there in Cadence. They're right by the EOS, the EOS,

Scott Groves  59:23  
EOS. Okay, well, I want one closer to me. So you want one close,

Carrie Cox  59:26  
yeah? One on Water Street.

Scott Groves  59:28  
I want one super, like I want one next door. But if we could go under water, yeah, we basically need a bagel shop down there. We need like a really top notch breakfast spot. Um, and then what other entertainment things are coming, if at all, to Henderson.

Carrie Cox  59:41  
Well, you know we have a phenomenal department that does that. I have to give a shout out to Brian Kendall and to his team. They bring just quality performances and events to the plaza. This is right there at City Hall, and we how. We're gonna have Casey Car Star Paul Casey's Car Stars are coming. I think september 19. It's gonna be phenomenal. We have a host of events. I say check out our website. Check out. I mean, they do a lot of promoting for the different things that are coming. They just had Juneteenth. They just had several events that brought a lot of people down there that they enjoyed, but we've got National Night Out in the fall, which is great to come and see all of our police and fire and and go in this swap vehicle, and it's just really cool. They always have, I think, some great food trucks, and and it's just a great family atmosphere, and it just brings you know. I mean, it's that gathering place that's just so important, and you have the play area down there. And I've loved, I've loved the VGK watch nights, and I mean, there's just a ton of stuff. I mean, they have bands come in, so Otter Street's happening.

Scott Groves  1:01:01  
We did the what did we do recently? We did the car show. We did the St. Patrick's Day parade. We did one of the movies in the plaza there. So yeah, there is a lot.

Carrie Cox  1:01:09  
Yeah, Moana. Yeah, that was phenomenal, right?

Scott Groves  1:01:12  
We we didn't make it to that one. We made it to the one before. I can't I can't remember if it was Finding Nemo or something else. But

Carrie Cox  1:01:17  
well, those great restaurants are on Water Street. I was just at Wands, Flaming fajitas. Was

Scott Groves  1:01:21  
just at wine on Water Street the other night, having a few cocktails with a friend of mine.

Carrie Cox  1:01:25  
And that's a great place that that people love to to go in. And I have to say that Water Street Pizza Pizza. If you haven't done Water Street Pizza, oh, you've got to go to Water Street Pizza.

Scott Groves  1:01:36  
We got another coming up. Maybe we'll do it.

Carrie Cox  1:01:37  
Please, it's an incredible place that really mom and pop owned. They do a great job. The food is fantastic, and I think what people, residents, can do right now is support businesses on Water Street and support them on Boulder Highway.

Scott Groves  1:01:57  
Yeah,

Carrie Cox  1:01:57  
that's how we can help get through this time where there's a lot of construction, a lot of cones, and the reality is, is the positive side is is there's jobs. That's jobs. That's helping the economy. But the inconveniences, again, call me. We'll address them because we got to help. We got to help calm. We got to help calm that stress down, and I have felt it. Trust me, I've been there. I've been on the roads. I'm experiencing it.

Scott Groves  1:02:25  
Well, that that sums up Carrie, right? Call me, and we'll see what we can do. It's like it's like that. Really sums you up. Like I just I want to be transparent. I don't know if I can have all the solutions. There might be some trade offs, but call me. We'll see what we can do. That that's going to be your tagline. If you thank you,

Carrie Cox  1:02:39  
I should. And I just have to say that you know, voters have a choice in this election, and this is a critical election. I need I need everybody to show up because I do show up. That's the one thing. If people say Carrie's going to show up, I'm going to show up for you. I'm going to show up for the residents, the businesses, and then for families, I'm going to take care of it. I'm going to take action, but I need people to show up in this election because you have a choice of someone who stands up to special interests and puts my neck out on the line every day, and will continue to do that because Henderson's worth it. You're worth it, right? And or you have someone that lobby has been a paid lobbyist that works for special interests and has for a long time, and she doesn't mention that in her bio, but it's true. And I've known her for a long time, and I have nothing negative to say except for that is the choice, and for me, I want the person who's going to show up that has the experience, that knows how to get to a win-win, and I I don't need any on-the-job training. I mean, I'm going to continue to grow and learn, but I've got it. I've got the experience, so please don't let the noise affect that, and know that you need somebody that knows what they're doing and is not beholding to special interests. And because if we we get that, we're in trouble. But so I intend to win this race, and I ask for everybody's support. And if they're on the if they're on the fence and they don't know.

Scott Groves  1:04:20  
Call you.

Carrie Cox  1:04:21  
Call me because we're gonna get together and they they can get to know me. I love. And I promise, I'm I'm here for them. I'm here for you. I am not here for me.

Scott Groves  1:04:31  
That might have been the quickest hour we've ever done on a podcast because it was just easy. So thank you, thank you for being here. After you win re-election, we'll have you back on. I love that. We'll talk about what's new for the city.

Carrie Cox  1:04:42  
I would love that. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. It's been a pleasure.

Scott Groves  1:04:48  
Hey, it's Scott Groves with the Henderson HQ podcast. I hope you got something out of that episode. If you enjoyed it, please don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe to the podcast. It really helps the show grow. And by the way, if you are a business owner or you know a business owner who has an interesting product, service, or just an interesting backstory, please, please get in touch with us. Email us at thehendersonhq@gmail.com. We would love to interview you because that's what this show is all about. It's about building community, supporting local, individually owned businesses, and just making Henderson a great place to live. And don't forget, go to HendersonHQ.com and make sure you sign up for our newsletter. We send out a once a week newsletter, no spam, about the most interesting local businesses, hotspots, restaurants, community events. Thanks for watching the show. Really appreciate you.