Lake Havasu City “Mayor” Shaena Reed called the “city council” meeting to order at 9:07 a.m. Thursday.

Jackie Leatherman/News-Herald Photo Lake Havasu City “Councilman” Devon Mills, pictured left, speaks at the Student Government Day mock city council meeting Thursday ran by Lake Havasu High School students. “Councilman” Ross Carlton is pictured right.

And only a few giggles emerged as 18 Lake Havasu High School students followed her lead by taking the oath of office — administered by fellow student “City Magistrate” Kambri Dodge.

By 9:15 a.m., the newly sworn student “City Council” was ready to take action inside the Lake Havasu City council chambers.

The high school’s student government organization took about two hours to discuss three agenda items that they researched during their mock run as a city council and staff during the annual Student Government Day.

The students discussed increasing jobs in Lake Havasu City, encouraging spring break and bringing a four-year university to the city.

When “Mayor” Reed opened the “council” up for discussion on how to increase jobs, there were a few moments of dead silence before acting “City Councilman” Ross Carlton started the discussion with how high state taxes deter new industries from coming to the city.

But acting “City Manager” Ryan Murphy pointed out that the city controls property taxes and perhaps they should be lowered to attract businesses.

For 20 minutes, the “council and staff” talked about lowering construction impact fees to stimulate economic growth, building a hotel and convention center on the island to bring in revenue and new jobs, the impacts to Main Street if incentives were given to small businesses to relocate to the mall complex, and how to build business near the London Bridge.

The “council and staff’ then took about 35 minutes to discuss expanding Lake Havasu City’s spring break marketing to attract families and then providing events and family-friendly spring break spots around town.

Acting “Police Chief” Patrick McSweeney quickly pointed out that any increase in visitors would mean an increase in patrol officers when the city already faces a constrained budget.

“I’m worried about being able to handle the safety down there,” McSweeney said.

“Vice Mayor” Phillip Derusha suggested a water park to give spring breakers a choice other than drinking alcohol. McSweeney agreed that having spring breakers in one place would make it easier to supervise them.

“Councilwoman” Brittany Goldberg was the first to suggest having spring break events for families.

“During spring break, the lake is not an appropriate place for kids,” she said.

The council spent the least time discussing bringing a four-year university to the city — seemingly due to their unanimous agreement that such an institution should come here.

“Finance Director” Javier Ortega said he thought the university is a “good idea” since there is “no direct responsibility for the city.”

Murphy agreed.

“I believe bringing a four-year university to the city would be unbelievably beneficial,” he said.

The group talked about how the university would allow students to stay in Lake Havasu City to obtain their four-year degrees, rather than having to transfer out of the county, adding that it would be beneficial for local students who couldn’t afford to move away.

“I think a lot of people in our city leave and go to college, or stay because they can’t afford to go,” Murphy said. “I believe it is an intelligent way to move forward with our city.”

They also said the prospect would increase jobs and increase the chances of a higher-skilled workforce staying in the city once they’ve graduated, which would raise the bar for local job openings.

“I see no downside whatsoever in bringing a small university,” said “Councilman” Devon Mills. “We need to make sure that this plan does not fall through. (We need to) offer incentives so that we get this no matter what.”

The group discussed using the upcoming vacancy at Daytona Middle School next fall for the site. Some “members” said the site would be ideal opposed to the lakeside of the city; others questioned how potential future college students would feel about gaining the university experience at a site that used to be a middle school campus.

They group then fielded unexpected questions from other high school students, or “the public,” including road conditions when it rains, street construction, the city’s environmental efforts, and lake clean up.

The real city Mayor Mark Nexsen said he enjoys hearing the students’ perspective on active issues.

The students talked to local government officials, researched the agenda items, and formed their own opinions prior to the “meeting.”

“I think it’s important for them to better understand how city government operates,” Nexsen said. “I think it’s a very good event for them to understand the conduct of a meeting. … I think that what this does, again really for me, it allows me to hear the youth and what they are thinking … in many cases, I’m surprised by what they say.”

Murphy said it was his second year participating in the event.

“It’s kind of cool to see what city council has to go through to get things done,” he said. “It’s not really (that) simple.”

The event, which has occurred for at least 25 years, is hosted by the London Bridge Women’s Club.

You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com