July 9, 2012

Commissioner Wichman

advised that Commissioner Eastley would be the liaison to the Nye County Parks and Recreation Board effective immediately. Judith Holmgren, chair of the Referendum 2012 Committee, asked the Commissioners to consider placing the four additional questions the committee presented on the ballot. She stated Sam Merlino had advised the Committee that the Secretary of State had been notified that the District Attorney had determined that they were initiative petitions and therefore did not have enough signatures. Mrs. Merlino informed them that the Secretary of State would probably concur that the signatures did not need to be verified.

Mrs. Holmgren

said she had not received anything yet and believed something had to be decided by July 16, 2012. Brian Kunzi advised this item was not on the agenda and the Board could not take action on it. Mrs. Holmgren said she understood that, but wanted to propose it to the Commissioners so they could take action when appropriate.

Commissioner Borasky

said he would review the statute to see how it was worded and take action from there.

Commissioner Wichman

advised that unfortunately the next meeting was July 17, 2012. Pam Webster said a special meeting would have to be arranged. July 9, 2012 2. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT (Three-minute time limit per person.) Action will not be taken on the matters considered during this period until specifically included on an agenda as an action item (first).-Cont’d.

Commissioner Hollis

said public comment was to hear from the public and the Commissioners would have to research it to see if they even had the authority to do anything.

Mrs. Webster

said she would follow up with the public. Donna Cox stated there were a lot of definitions of referendum versus initiative and a lot of them were combined together. She had found a definition in the dictionary which defined a referendum as a vote by the whole population on an issue or a vote by the whole of an electorate for a specific question or questions put to it by a government or similar body. She felt the ballot questions could be either referendums or initiatives and requested the Board of County Commissioners deem them to be referendums so the petitioners could follow through. Mrs. Cox also stated she was not sure Mr. Kunzi had the authority to determine if the questions were initiatives or referendums since under Nevada Revised Statute Chapter 295 someone who wanted to challenge the petitioners had to get an opinion from the court.

Commissioner Wichman

advised Mrs. Cox that Mrs. Webster would follow up with her as it was the same issue Mrs. Holmgren spoke of. Don Cox asked why they were not notified when the petitions were given to the District Attorney’s Office. He said they were not asking for a law to be changed, only to have the questions placed on the ballot. Sam Merlino advised that she did immediately speak with Mrs. Holmgren and sent her the raw count upon its completion although it was not due until 5:00 p.m. July 6, 2012.

Mrs. Merlino

said she sent a letter this morning based on the District Attorney’s opinion. She had not heard from the Secretary of State and did not believe that office would get involved.

Mr. Cox

noted the opinion came back earlier than July 6, 2012. Mrs. Merlino said it did, but she still had to do a raw count.

Mr. Kunzi

explained he issued his opinion when the petitions were received. There was nothing for the County to do until then. He clarified that if the petitioners felt they were aggrieved by that decision then they could file a court action to put it on the ballot. July 9, 2012

Commissioner Wichman

opened the public hearing. Brian Kunzi said he believed they had a tentative agreement at the time of the previous meeting, but more discussion on the Memorandums of Understanding presented last time was needed. He explained the email Danelle Shamrell sent which changed the provisions on the reward of a retirement badge and thought everyone was in agreement with that. He also advised the Board of a clerical error which was fixed.

Commissioner Wichman

closed the public hearing.

Commissioner Hollis

asked if the other unions were also in agreement. Mr. Kunzi explained there were tiny differences between the agreements, but what was in the backup for the other associations and Memorandums of Understanding had been approved by the other associations.

Commissioner Hollis

asked if management employees had agreed to be at-will employees. Mr. Kunzi said the people who were allowed by law to be part of the association had approved it and those who were not allowed by law to be part of the association would have to seek judicial action.

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked if it would be better for the Board of County Commissioners to determine retirement badge awards to avoid claims of favoritism. Mr. Kunzi said the typical practice with labor agreements was to deal with this at the lowest level possible, so if it could be resolved with the Sheriff then it would not have to be brought to the County Commissioners.

Commissioner Schinhofen

said he appreciated the job of all the unions, particularly the law enforcement people, but believed government should not have unions.

Mr. Kunzi

advised the collective efforts of the negotiations with the various associations and the significant concessions the employees had made resulted in a salary savings of $820,000.

Commissioner Borasky

asked if the language in paragraph 4 in the Memorandum of Understanding for the NCLEA regarding the use of furloughs to avoid layoffs and possible staff reductions at a later time if financial conditions worsened meant employees would be restored to their positions, including back pay, and then laid off.

Mr. Kunzi

advised that was what the language meant, but due to his past experience July 9, 2012 3. For Possible Action Public Hearing, discussion and deliberation on the collective bargaining agreements for the following :-Cont’d. a. Nye County Law Enforcement Association b. Nye County Law Enforcement Management Association c. Nve County Association of Juvenile Probation Officers with the associations he was firmly convinced that if the County got into economic trouble again they would renegotiate as needed. He reminded the Commissioners that the NCEA had voluntarily gone along with the furlough program the prior year even though they were under an active contract at the time and did not have to give up anything.

Commissioner Borasky

asked for an explanation of the language contained in paragraph 6 of the NCLEA Memorandum of Understanding. Mr. Kunzi explained the reason for the language was because of the disagreements that existed as to whether or not it was a mandatory subject of bargaining. He said this was a one-time deviation, had no precedental value, and would allow the County to assert its management rights in the future.

Commissioner Borasky

asked if Mr. Kunzi would continue to bargain the three Memorandums of Understanding and then bring back whatever was missing at a later date. Mr. Kunzi said he would and explained the reason it was done this way was so the County could receive the full benefit of the furloughs.

Commissioner Eastley

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Borasky; 4 yeas. Commissioner Schinhofen voted no.

Sheriff DeMeo

asked if the budget was taken into consideration to cover the increased costs, such as certifications and longevity, as the agreement was entered into after the budget was approved. Susan Paprocki said she would do a complete analysis once all of the changes took effect to see what the overall impact would be on the budget and would bring it back to the Board since the budget was finalized prior to the agreements.

Commissioner Eastley

asked why that complete analysis was not done before something like this was brought before the Board so the Commissioners would have a complete idea of how the budget would be affected. Mrs. Paprocki advised that most of the changes were taken into consideration in the budget. Pam Webster clarified that the savings Mr. Kunzi stated was a net of the increases for step increases and reductions due to the concessions and that figure would be reflective of the impact.

Mr. Kunzi

advised that the longevity provision the Sheriff referenced did not start until the next budget year. July 9, 2012

Commissioner Wichman

said that Dave Fanning had provided those numbers to the Regional Transportation Commission. Pam Webster estimated it would result in a $300,000 increase in the anticipated revenue each year.

Mr. Kunzi

advised the Board they could approve with that change and state approximately $300,000 each fiscal year.

Commissioner Borasky

wondered how many miles of road that would take care of.

Mr. Kunzi

said the current gas sales figures to support the RTC’s argument that gasoline sales in Nye County had dropped since 2005 was also needed. Dave Fanning advised it currently cost $40,000 a mile to chip seal and 2,750 miles of road were maintained a year. The cost of chip seal would be higher in the areas outside of Pahrump because of haul and contractor costs.

Commissioner Borasky

asked if this would still have to be approved by the Commissioners after the ballot question was approved by the voters or if it became law.

Mr. Kunzi

advised it was an advisory question.

Commissioner Hollis

asked if it would have to come back before the Board. Mr. Kunzi said it would.

Commissioner Wichman

asked if Commissioner Schinhofen wanted to rewrite this to make it clearer. Commissioner Schinhofen said he thought he would make the arguments, not rewrite it, but if there was something else the Board wanted to add that would be fine with him. He said he voted against this last time, but since it sunsetted in July 9, 2012 4. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: 1) approve a request to place an advisory question on the November 6, 2012 General Election ballot regarding increasing the motor vehicle fuel tax by 3 cents; 2) appoint committees to prepare arguments advocating and opposing approval of the advisory ballot question pursuant to NRS 295.121(11), NRS 295.121(8). and NRS 295.121(7); 3) approve, amend and approve or reject Nye County Resolution No. 2012-31: a Resolution approving the placement of an advisory question on the November 6, 2012 General Election Ballot Concerning Increasing the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax by 3 Cents: and 4) provide the 2012 Advisory Question concerning increasing the motor vehicle fuel tax by 3 cents to the Nye County Clerk pursuant to NRS 293.481.-Cont’d. three years and the money had to be used for roads past their “use by date” he had agreed to try to get people to understand that the County had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years and would now be happy to make a motion to approve this.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve with the correct financial numbers added and a clean copy for the Board to sign and to adopt the resolution; seconded by

Commissioner Wichman

asked if it was necessary to appoint committees to prepare arguments. Mr. Kunzi said the County did not have the population and was not required to appoint committees.

Commissioner Schinhofen

restated his motion to approve this advisory question, including items 1, 3 and 4, with the correct financial figures to be added; seconded by

Commissioner Eastley

; 5 yeas.

Mr. Kunzi

advised the Board that the pay scale appendix to the NCLEMA agreement had to be changed since the computer had populated it incorrectly. He said it was not a substantive change in the agreement since it was based on formulas.

Commissioner Borasky

advised that he and Dr. Waters of the Pahrump Town Board had agreed to postpone the joint meeting.