Recommending committee advances Las Vegas Youth Leadership Advisory Council to full council

The Las Vegas recommending committee voted on March 17, 2025, to move Bill 2025-1 — an ordinance to create the Las Vegas Youth Leadership Advisory Council — to the full City Council with no recommendation, making it eligible for adoption at the April 2, 2025, City Council meeting.

The council-designated advisory body would be a standing youth committee intended to advise on youth-related matters, review council agendas for items that intersect with youth, develop bylaws and governance, and deliver an annual report and recommendation to the City Council. "The plan is to meet every month during the academic year, but in the resolution, minimum number of meetings would be 5 per academic year," said Dr. Malich, representing Youth Development and Social Innovation, which would facilitate the group's meetings and supply a nonvoting staff member to oversee logistics.

Why this matters: supporters said the advisory council is intended to provide a formal, ongoing pathway for students to learn about municipal government and to craft youth-focused proposals. Sponsors listed on the bill include Councilwoman Olivia Diaz, Councilwoman Francis Allen Polinski and Councilwoman Nancy Bruni. The recommending committee vote sends the bill to the full City Council for consideration on April 2, 2025.

Committee members and staff described how the advisory council would operate. Members would be high school students (freshmen through seniors) and, if appointed while still in high school, could finish their term into early college years. The committee would help students learn legislative process and culminate each year with a proposed resolution or ordinance the group could present to council. Youth Development and Social Innovation staff would work with the City Clerk’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office on meeting procedures; the staff member from Youth Development would not be a voting member.

The proposal drew both support and opposition at the recommending committee meeting. An unidentified council member opposed creating a new city committee, saying it duplicated the work of existing nonprofit programs and was "outside the city core function and purpose," adding, "this is a simple waste of time and waste of the city's funds ... for this reason, I'm going to be voting no." Dr. Malich and other supporters countered that existing nonprofits do not have the same ability to teach students the internal workings of City Council and that a city-led program would offer direct civic-education opportunities tied to municipal decision-making.

Another committee member stressed the long-term value of internships and youth civic programs, recalling an intern named Nicole Malich who later pursued law and became a deputy district attorney; that speaker said local internship and youth-legislature programs have helped foster municipal engagement.

Procedure and outcome: A motion to move Bill 2025-1 out of the recommending committee with no recommendation was made and passed; the committee chair announced that if moved out of committee, "bill number 2025-1 is eligible for adoption at the City Council meeting of 04/02/2025." The transcript does not record a vote tally or the name of the second.

Votes at a glance: - Motion to approve final minutes of the 02/03/2025 recommending committee (agenda item 4): motion passed (vote tally not specified in the transcript). - Motion to move Bill 2025-1, Las Vegas Youth Leadership Advisory Council, out of recommending committee with no recommendation (agenda item 5): motion passed; eligible for City Council adoption on April 2, 2025 (vote tally not specified).

The recommending committee then opened a public-comment period (no speakers) and adjourned.