February 17, 2015

Commissioner Borasky

encouraged Mr. Harper to go to the Community Outreach meetings the second Wednesday of each month at 11:00 a.m. Joy Belonga, Extension Educator with University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, advised they were in the second year of the SNAP-Ed grant and had received $90,000.00 to make a difference in the communities. The focus was on creating healthy communities with a program called All For Kids. With the grant this year they were encouraged to expand beyond the classroom, so they were pushing to have an environmental impact. There was a stakeholders meeting scheduled for March 6, 2015, to look at healthy lifestyle and eating and what would promote that in the communities, what inhibits it, and what strategies they could use. February 17, 2015 3. 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 ffirst).-Cont’d. Vern Van Winkle advised the station KACE, an FM full power station, was brought on the radio in November. There were five translators from Pahrump to Tonopah so it could be heard through the whole corridor, but one would have to change channels as they went. It was a country radio station and was getting great reviews. Mr. Van Winkle also thanked Liz for helping them get back on the air with the microwave link. Meetings would be live again at the next meeting and would be broadcast on 46.3.

Commissioner Wichman

asked the Clerk to check the dates when Commissioner Schinhofen would be in Washington D.C., on page 3. Also, on page 7 “Frank Rates” should be “Frank Reitz.”

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve with the corrections made; seconded by Commissioner Borasky; 5 yeas. SITTING AS THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TIMED ITEMS

Ms. Wood

said they were here today to find out exactly what was going on with the Town of Pahrump as it had been an active member in the League. Pahrump had played a very important role within the organization and they would like to see that continue. She said they had a joint local government summit with NACO in Henderson to discuss issues not only common to cities and municipalities, but also those issues shared with counties throughout the State such as taxation and medical marijuana. Ms. Wood encouraged the Board to not only continue Nye County’s participation in NACO, but to also allow Pahrump to continue to participate as part of the Nevada League of Cities and Municipalities. February 17, 2015 8. 10:00 Presentation by Wes Henderson with the League of Cities and Municipalities-Cont’d.

Mr. Henderson

provided a brief history of the League, which currently had 24 members. He said one difference between NACO and the League was that NACO’s primary expertise centered on Title 20 of NRS and the expertise in the League was more in Chapter 21. Also, towns, unlike cities and counties, were not automatically entitled to submit a BDR to the Legislature. As a League they were allowed to submit five BDR5 this session, one of which was brought forward by the Town of Gardnerville. Mr. Henderson said they valued Pahrump’s membership in the League and the contributions the town had made. They looked forward to continuing the relationship in the future and being of assistance to the Town of Pahrump whenever possible.

Commissioner Schinhofen

noted the town was a member until the end of June so when the budget for the town was done they would consider renewing the membership.

Commissioner Wichman

encouraged Mr. Henderson to visit the other towns in Nye County. 5. Announcements (first)

Commissioner Schinhofen

said he spent a week in Washington D.C., which went well. He sat on a board to talk openly about Yucca Mountain and thought the funding may resume and the science would be heard. Also, the Wild West Extravaganza would be the first weekend in May and Commissioner Schinhofen asked local bands who wanted to play to contact him.

Commissioner Borasky

attended a Workforce Connections meeting in Las Vegas. He said he would fill in the Commissioners on the changes in the Governor’s Workforce Board as well as additional liabilities to Nye County when he learned them. He said he was still looking for a flyover for the Independence Day parade on July 4, 2015. He also invited everyone to attend the Community Outreach meeting the second Wednesday of every month at the Oasis building at 11:00 a.m.

Commissioner Wichman

said she would be leaving on February 20, 2015, for Washington, D.C., and returning on February 23, 2015. Kenny Bent announced that on February 23, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. in the Commission Chambers in Pahrump there would be a joint meeting of the Nye County Water Board and the District 162 Groundwater Management Board. Don Cox advised he had tickets for the Nye County Republican Women’s Lincoln Day Dinner if anyone was interested. February 17, 2015 5. Announcements (first)-Cont’d. Sharon Wehrly, speaking for the Wild West Extravaganza, said yesterday they finalized having the Borax wagons and 20-mule team come out. They would be sponsoring them and hoped to get other sponsors.

Commissioner Carbone

said the Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee meeting would be February 19, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. at the Bob Ruud Center.

Commissioner Ccx

said she attended the Arena Board meeting. They were planning for the Fall Festival and there were some people who wanted to bring the open pit barbeque back. 6. For Possible Action - Emergency Items This item was removed from the agenda. 7. Commissjoners’IManager’s Comments (This item limited to announcements or topics!issues proposed for future workshopslagendas)

Commissioner Wichman

asked if Gabbs had been sent their senior van back. Pam Webster said she would check.

Commissioner Wichman

said if that had not happened to have someone call her as she would like to know when it would.

Commissioner Carbone

said during some discussions in a few other meetings designating a Main Street in Pahrump had been talked about and he wondered if some people could be gathered to work on that.

Commissioner Wichman

said if he was referring to the project offered across the United States that gave designations, the League of Cities and Municipalities was bringing forward a senate bill started by Gardnerville to bring the Main Street Project to the State of Nevada. She suggested Commissioner Carbone talk with Wes Henderson.

Commissioner Carbone

said he would like the fire department phone to roll over to the fire chief’s cell phone as he was getting several calls from people that they were not getting a response at the fire department.

Mrs. Webster

advised there were a couple of issues with the town phones and they were working on those to make sure a body answered.

Commissioner Wichman

said she had also received a complaint from former town board member Cindy Kaminski who brought up the fact there was no connectivity between Tonopah and Smoky Valley over a period of a couple of days with the emergency services. She asked Mrs. Webster to check on that. February 17, 2015 7. Commissioners’IManage?s Comments (This item limited to announcements or topics/issues proposed for future workshops/agendas)-Cont’d.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if there was a list yet of flow downs from the State that the County would now be responsible for. Mrs. Webster said she had a preliminary one that indicated the annual flow down would be $1.7 million for health and human services, which had been $795,000.00 to $895,000.00 a year.

Commissioner Borasky

asked when “In God We Trust” would be put on the walls in Pahrump and Tonopah. Mrs. Webster advised they had been looking into different types of signs and taking measurements to get it pulled together.

Commissioner Borasky

said he had asked at the last meeting for a detailed list of liquor licenses with addresses. He would also like to be notified as the Chairman of the Licensing and Liquor Board of any new applications coming in so they could be tracked to avoid delays. Mrs. Webster said they had the liquor license list for him.

Commissioner Schinhofen

stated he was just notified that Pahrump won the state wrestling championship and asked Mrs. Webster to get a plaque for them.

Commissioner Schinhofen

noted the Capital Improvement Committee cancelled their meeting for February 24, 2015. It would be rescheduled for March 24, 2015, so at the first Commission meeting in March five people needed to be appointed. Sam Merlino stated they would have the School District Board member and the RPC member appointed at that meeting, but she would have to review the others.

Commissioner Schinhofen

thanked Trevor Dolby for giving kudos to Station 51 and said he appreciated all the volunteers. He also pointed out that four of the five Commissioners lived in Pahrump, so they were looking out for private wells. Additionally, he might be traveling to Carson City next week as a lot of State officials had reacted favorably to his e-mail regarding taxing people who did not live in the State and to talk about Yucca Mountain. TIMED ITEMS-Cont’d.

Commissioner Wichman

opened and closed the public hearing.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to adopt; seconded by Commissioner Borasky. February 17, 2015 9. 10:45 For Possible Action Public Hearing, discussion and deliberation to — — adopt, amend and adopt, or reject a Resolution authorizing a Medium-Term Obligation for the purpose of purchasing Motorola Radios.-Cont’d. Càmmissioner Carbone asked if this had been done earlier if it could have been covered with the one-half cent sales tax. Pam Webster explained that money could not be used for replacement equipment. It had to be new equipment or equipment to outfit new employees as part of the program. She was going to do some digging though because technically in that public safety arena was taking the equipment to new levels to comply with regulations or communication requirements. She felt that might be an area subject to some interpretation and warranted a closer look.

Commissioner Wichman

opened and closed the public hearing.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to adopt; seconded by Commissioner Carbone; 5 yeas.

Commissioner Wichman

opened the public hearing. Dan Harris, owner/applicant, was present.

Commissioner Wichman

closed the public hearing.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to approve ZC-2014-000003 as recommended by the RPC, but wanted to add a date when they would start doing something so if it did not happen it reverted back to the VR-20.

Mr. Harris

stated he could not bind the potential buyers to that stipulation at this point and said if the Commissioners asked for that they would stop the project today. February 17, 2015

Commissioner Carbone

said he had a problem leaving properties with special conditions on them and not reviewing those special conditions and putting them back to what the properties were originally zoned for.

Mr. Harris

felt this discussion should have been held at the RPC process. He was not aware of this request and did not think it was fair.

Commissioner Carbone

wanted a date that things would start.

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked if Commissioner Catbone stated in the motion to start within three years if that would work for the applicant. He also noted this took 80 acres out of VR-20.

Commissioner Wichman

commented this was a zone overlay for a special project and it was removing village residential and master plan medium density residential for a project, which would be a lot less water intensive than if it reverted to the actual zoning. The Board took a short recess.

Commissioner Carbone

restated his motion to approve ZC-2014-000003 as recommended by the RPC noting that this was only for the renewable energy special project and if that project did not happen it was over; seconded by Commissioner Sch in hofen.

Commissioner Borasky

stated in the time he had been sitting as a Commissioner and during his two terms as an RPC member this family had not had a project come before them that had not been built.

Commissioner Schinhofen

pointed out this would be the only dispensary in the County.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Carbone; 5 yeas. February 17, 2015 SITTING AS THE NYE COUNTY BOARD OF HIGHWAY COMMISSIONERS

Commissioner Carbone

assumed the Chair of the Board of Highway Commissioners.

Commissioner Carbone

opened and closed the public hearing.

Commissioner Wichman

made a motion to adopt; seconded by Commissioner Schinhofen; 5 yeas.

Commissioner Wichman

made a motion to set the date, time and location as March 17, 2015, at 10:15 a.m.

Commissioner Wichman

advised Resolution RC2OI 5-1 99 would be on that hearing and then they would be done with the mass resolutions.

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked if the plan was still to begin paving Manse Road on February 25, 2015. Tim Carlo from Public Works said yes.

Commissioner Schinhofen

said Homestead from Gamebird to Manse was mentioned in the RTC meeting this morning and if it was possible to look at another way to do that, possibly with money from the chip seal fund. He asked Dave Fanning, Public Works Director, to bring that forward at a future meeting.

Commissioner Schinhofen

thought the Board needed to look at the possibility of raising the gas tax. He had an opinion from the District Attorney’s Office that it never did require a vote of the people as it was an advisory question. He wanted to raise it to nine cents as it had not been raised since 1981 and Commissioner Schinhofen could not find any other way to keep up on the maintenance of the roads. He said it could also be earmarked to take care of worn out roads. He asked Mr. Fanning to do a presentation in a future meeting. February 17, 2015

Commissioner Borasky

asked if a five cent increase in the gas tax was done how many miles of road per year would be repaired or replaced.

Mr. Fanning

said in Pahrump three to four miles on paving might be gained, but it would vary everywhere else. NDOT went out to bid for the northern end of the County and the County piggybacked on those as much as it could. He had no known projection to give the Board.

Commissioner Wichman

said she had been asked to consider an MOU for citizen involvement in the maintenance in the Amargosa area. She requested that they provide a draft MOU for consideration and would forward it to Mr. Fanning when received.

Commissioner Wichman

said as soon as RC2OI 5-199 was recorded that file needed to be sent out as quickly as possible to the Forest Service at both Ely and Austin offices, and the BLM districts of Baffle Mountain, Ely, Carson City and Las Vegas. Baffle Mountain was now ready to bring the RMP back and it needed to have that travel management part to start from.

Commissioner Cox

said she was getting complaints from people who lived in the Chiquita area when it rained and asked Mr. Fanning if he had been able to meet with anyone over there. Mr. Carlo advised he had spoken with the lady who wrote the letter and told her it was not a County maintained toad. She was satisfied at that time.

Commissioner Cox

clarified these people were on the other end by the old Maverick.

Mr. Carlo

said throughout the years he had talked to several people and had taken care of washouts, but it was not a County maintained road.

Commissioner Cox

asked if there was any possibility they could do an assessment district in there to improve those roads. Mr. Fanning said they could look at that.

Commissioner Schinhofen

pointed out that was very hard to do.

Mr. Fanning

advised they brought to the RTC this morning the issue of the light at Blagg and Highway 372. The RTC was in favor of it so he was going to bring it up at the next Board meeting and move it through. On average it would be about $17.00 a month until the roundabout was installed. Regarding the Tonopah landfill, the equipment was washed of bird feces last week. Mr. Fanning had inquired about live catching of birds as suggested by Bradley Berthold, but he had not gotten an answer back. The fence was also up. SITTING AS THE NYE COUNTY LICENSING AND LIQUOR BOARD

Commissioner Borasky

assumed the Chair of the Licensing and Liquor Board. February 17, 2015 BROTHEL

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to accept the surrendering of the brothel license from Scofty’s Junction Inn dba Shady Lady; seconded by Commissioner Schinhofen.

Commissioner Wichman

read a brief letter she had composed to Ms. Davis in appreciation of her years of contribution to Nye County.

Commissioner Carbone

amended his motion to include Commissioner Wichman’s letter;

Commissioner Schinhofen

amended his second; 6 yeas. Regarding Commissioner Borasky’s request for notification, Callie Stark from the Sheriffs Office explained 95% of the applications she received were not complete and she had to work with the licensee to complete them. She asked if Commissioner Botasky wanted to be notified when she received the completed application or when it first hit her desk. Commissioner Borasky said he wanted it right up front. Mrs. Stark would notify him by e-mail with a copy to the Sheriff. SITTING AS THE GOVERNING BODY OF UNICORPORATED TOWNS OF BEATTY, BELMONT, GABBS, MANHATTAN, PAHRUMP, AND RAILROAD VALLEY

Commissioner Wichman

assumed the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners. PAHRUMP

Commissioner Schinhofen

said this was his item. He thought there was a wonderful area at the fairgrounds which was fenced in, had a nice parking lot and a well.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to accept additional information; seconded by

Commissioner Carbone

; 5 yeas.

Commissioner Schinhofen

explained he had been asked by the fireworks folks to have a place for a shooter site. He had hoped the County could dig a retention basin and that could double as a site, but there were no plans to move forward with that. The fairgrounds had been looked at by the town fire chief and fit his requirements other than water. They would have to have a water truck or some kind of extinguishment system until the well was up. Commissioner Schinhofen saw this as a room filler and the money generated from that could be used elsewhere. February 17, 2015 19. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding a request for a shooter site at the fairgrounds in Pahrump and direction to staff to proceed with the required actions to move the project foiward.-Cont’d. Dan Simmons said they had been looking at this for many years and from a personal and professional standpoint this was an opportunity to open the fairgrounds. Casey Steinhart stated he had been in town for six or seven years and a shooter site had been brought up every year. An association was formed by all stores in the Pahrump area to try to achieve this. They would like the shooter site to eventually be where the water drainage was, but in the meantime there was the paved area where the town and County fairgrounds were already located where it was very safe. Mr. Steinhart said they would also guarantee the County $50,000.00 up front that the association would put toward the project. They anticipated the selling of permits and the payment of permit fees would bring additional funds to the County as well as assist with some of the initial set-up costs. He believed there would be close to $200,000.00 coming in to the County. Dan Peart said they received site plans from the Building Department which they took to their engineers and flushed out to come up with one that that they thought would be a good starting point for discussion. On the fairgrounds property there was a paved parking area that already existed, and on the other side of the fence there was a large area of eight or ten acres on which they proposed 16 possible launch sites with appropriate distances between them.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to direct staff to work with them; seconded by

Commissioner Wichman

asked staff when looking at this to be sure to look at the increased liability and how that would be covered.

Commissioner Borasky

was concerned about what fees would go into a fund that would go back into that property to improve it and about liability. He applauded the fireworks companies for the work they had done.

Commissioner Wichman

wanted to include that if there was any cost borne by the residents that it come out of the town coffers rather than the County coffers. Doug Burda said he received a notice from another shooter site in Nevada asking them to stop sending their customers to them and thought they could stop losing that business.

Commissioner Wichman

was curious what the last four quarters’ write offs had been and if this was high or low compared to that. Michael Sullivan, Finance Director for the Town of Pahrump, said the amount was right on target. Regarding the deceased accounts, Commissioner Wichman asked if there was any attempt to recoup from the estates. Mr. Sullivan said yes.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if raising the rates, the mileage, etc., had been considered. Mr. Sullivan explained the contractual reimbursement obligation and said they could bill more than that but would not be able to collect it.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve the bad debt write offs; seconded by Commissioner Carbone.

Commissioner Cox

said she knew there had been talk about privatizing the ambulance service and thought maybe that should be done as it would not stay above water if these costs had to be continually written off. She would like to see something move forward, maybe a citizen’s advisory committee, and said she could not go along with approving these kinds of things.

Commissioner Schinhofen

said he believed Bob Adams would be a good fit, but asked Lorina Dellinger to explain the situation.

Mrs. Dellinger

advised she was trying to determine what the membership was, an alternate or a regular member. According to the list she got from the town office they had eight members and the by-laws only allowed for seven and two alternates.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to appoint Bob Adams contingent upon the clarification of the positions; seconded by Commissioner Cox. Mike Zaman, chairman of the Pahrump Public Lands Advisory Board, stated they only had six members. Mrs. Dellinger said she would work with him on the clarification.

Commissioner Schinhofen

wondered about what liabilities the County would incur if they overdrew the account. Pam Webster explained it was in their name and the County was not on the hook. They were asking for permission to open the account, which the NRS required them to do.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Ca rbo ne.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if they already had an existing checking account and if they were going to close it. Charlene Riley from the Public Administrator’s Office said yes.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if there would be an audit on the account before it was closed. Mrs. Webster said the Commissioners did not request an audit so it would not be audited.

Mrs. Riley

explained the intention of this was a little broader than what was put on the agenda. The bank they had been with for the last few years had decided the account was not opened correctly and wanted something from the Board saying they were allowed to operate as the Public Administrator. To broaden that, Mrs. Riley thought what they needed was a certificate of incumbency. She knew Robin Dorand-Rudoll had the form from the Clerk that she was elected as the official and was now the Public Administrator, but a lot of times people wanted something on formal letterhead saying she was elected, she was the Public Administrator, and these people under her may sign on her behalf and conduct the business they needed to conduct. Maria Ziotek advised she had spoken to Mrs. Dorand-Rudolf about it and asked that

Mrs. Riley

contact her directly. NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY PROJECT OFFICEINATURAL RESOURCES

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked about the costs. Levi Kryder from the NWRPO stated the costs during the period of the last ten year strategy was just basically field time for him to participate with the group in frog counts and meetings.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to continue to participate in the conservation agreement and conservation strategy and execute the signature page; seconded by

Commissioner Carbone

thought this would keep the government out as it was being done by private people and would keep it off the endangered species list. Mr. Kryder clarified it was a mixture of government agencies and other groups, such as BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service, Nevada Natural Heritage Foundation, Nye County, and a few others.

Commissioner Wichman

pointed out that the spelling of Smoky Valley needed to be corrected.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Borasky.

Commissioner Cox

asked if this could be done in Pahrump. Commissioner Wichman said it could be looked into, but transporting them might be a problem.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to appoint Elizabeth M. Davila; seconded by

Commissioner Schinhofen

; 5 yeas. 32. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to appoint one (1) member to the Amargosa Valley Library Board due to one (1) resignation.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to appoint Patricia Booth; seconded by

Commissioner Schinhofen

; 5 yeas. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS These are items that Staff recommends for approval. The Board reserves the right to move any consent agenda item to the regular segment of the agenda should issues arise that need to be addressed. Discussion of any item from the Consent Agenda Items that needs review before a decision is made.

Commissioner Carbone

asked that item 23 be pulled for discussion.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve items 20-22 and 24; seconded by

Commissioner Borasky

; 5 yeas. 20. For Possible Action — Approval of Elected Official Collection Report

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve items 20-22 and 24; seconded by

Commissioner Borasky

; 5 yeas. 21. For Possible Action — Approval of Assessor’s Office Change Request

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve items 20-22 and 24; seconded by

Commissioner Borasky

; 5 yeas. 22. For Possible Action Approval to set the date and location of the second meeting of the Board of Commissioners for Monday, May 18, 2015 in Pahrump. Nevada.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve items 20-22 and 24; seconded by

Commissioner Borasky

; 5 yeas. February 17, 2015 24. For Possible Action Approval to submit a funding request for the 201 5/2016 State of Nevada, Office of Traffic Safety “Joining Forces” Grant to provide funding to participate in statewide, multi-jurisdictional traffic enforcement events that are focused on reducing fatalities and serious injury crashes in Nevada.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve items 20-22 and 24; seconded by

Commissioner Borasky

; 5 yeas. 23. For Possible Action Approval to submit an application for grant funding in the amount of $200,000.00 to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for an Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grant (formerly Brownfields Job Training Grant) focusing on providing training in support of the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries. There is no match required.

Commissioner Carbone

read some statistics regarding the grant. Of the 65 graduates, 17 were vets and 41 were employed, which equaled about a 63% return on investment. There were also 32 new jobs created. He thought this was a good win/win for everyone.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Schinhofen; 5 yeas. COUNTY MANAGER 35. Ongoing Project Report The report was in the back-up. 36. Open Meeting Law Training Report Lorina Dellinger said there was a good turnout for the training, but several members who were not able to attend asked if there would be more sessions scheduled. Mrs. Dellinger was scheduling two more, one on February 26, 2015 and one on March 12, 2015. On March 17, 2015, she would be able to let the Board know which boards complied with the 90-day requirements. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 37. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to renew an Interlocal Contract with State of Nevada, Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Nevada Division of Forestry to provide Wildland Fire Protection.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to approve; seconded by Commissioner Borasky; 5 yeas. February 17, 2015 DISTRICT ATTORNEY 33. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: 1) re-discuss and re deliberate Nye County Resolution No. 201 4-51 titled “A Resolution Saying ‘No’ to the Bureau of Land Management” adopted January 20, 2015; and 2) amend and adopt, revoke or re-confirm Nye County Resolution No. 2014-51 titled “A Resolution Saying ‘No’ to the Bureau of Land Management” adopted January 20. 2015.

Commissioner Wichman

explained this was being returned to the Board one more time in an attempt to make sure all possible measures had been taken to engage everyone concerned. In order to avoid a similar confusion of actions in the future, Commissioner Wichman imposed a new rule on the Board. In the event a motion was made for reconsideration of any item in the future, and it received a second and was voted on by the Board to be heard again, the item would be returned to the next regular agenda so it could be posted all over again.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to reconsider and discuss; seconded by

Commissioner Cox

; 3 yeas. Commissioners Schinhofen and Wich man voted no.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to bring back the items that were removed to get it back to what the original agenda item was on February 3, 2015; seconded by

Commissioner Wichman

noted none of the Commissioners had that in the back-up.

Commissioner Borasky

said he would like to see a copy of the original resolution. The Board took a short recess so staff could provide the information Commissioner Borasky requested.

Commissioner Schinhofen

made a motion to adopt; seconded by Commissioner Carbone; 5 yeas. February 17, 2015 PUBLIC PETITIONER

Mr. Hafen

advised other items that had been looked at over the last twelve months by the committee included the new planning code for parceling and water right relinquishment for development; the Pahrump master plan update; aquifer storage and recovery; investigation of the water level monitoring and quality assurance programs ongoing today; and a suggestion to the Water District that a geoscience study be commissioned to investigate many aspects of the groundwater in the valley, which Mr. Hafen thought would be a very good tool going forward.

Commissioner Wichman

asked for the date the committee was established and how Mr. Hafen felt it had progressed. Mr. Hafen said their first meeting was in February, but they were appointed in January, 2014, so it had been one year exactly. They held a workshop and 180 ideas came out of that. They looked at every single one of those, discussed them, and received good feedback. Mr. Hafen felt one of the big accomplishments was the public education that had come about.

Commissioner Borasky

said he would like a copy of the 180 items.

Commissioner Schinhofen

thought this was something the Water Board should be doing, not a committee, and he was afraid this was going to be a continual committee. Concrete things were needed to give to the State Engineer and he wanted the Board of County Commissioners to have things next month to vote on so it could be taken to the State Engineer. He reiterated that all of the Commissioners were on domestic wells so they were concerned about domestic well use and not giving away more. He was not sure how he felt about metering new wells, but he would also like to see plans on how to get the water out of the fan and onto the valley floor.

Mr. Hafen

said they had looked at some of those items, aquifer storage and recovery being one of them, which was not a cheap proposal but was a way to take water from February 17, 2015 42. For Possible Action Presentation, discussion and deliberation regard ing the Top II priority items selected by the Basin 162 Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Committee to be included in a Groundwater Management Plan for Basin 162.-Cont’d. areas of the valley that were rising and inject it back into the ground in areas where the water table was falling.

Commissioner Wichman

did not think this was an issue that was going to go away tomorrow and she would hate to put a restriction on how much time it took them because it was ongoing.

Commissioner Schinhofen

felt if they were not given any urgency it would drag on longer.

Commissioner Carbone

said he knew they had been working hard, but there were things he would like them to focus on, such as trying to get a good model of the aquifer owned by the County. He pointed out that funding for this committee had become an issue and he would like to tone down the eleven items to something more specific to work on. Regarding domestic wells, during the meetings those were kind of to the wayside and Commissioner Carbone would like to see more activity with that. He also thought the committee make-up might be an issue.

Commissioner Wichman

outlined her understanding of what the Groundwater Management Plan Committee was to do. She said nothing was being set in stone today. The Commissioners asked the committee to bring what they had so far to make sure everything was still moving correctly. Also, regarding statements that neither the domestic well owners nor the residents of Pahrump were being represented on the Groundwater Management Plan Committee or the Nye County Water District Board, through a series of questions Commissioner Wichman was able to reveal that there were eleven domestic well owners and seven Pahrump residents between both boards and she felt both domestic well owners and Pahrump residents were well represented.

Commissioner Cox

stated she had been told that one of the water board members moved to Las Vegas but still sat on the board. Gregory Dann confirmed that and advised he found the previous two addresses that Michael Lach used were no longer accurate.

Commissioner Wichman

said the general manager would follow up and handle that issue.

Commissioner Cox

asked about the length of time the committee might need. Mr. Dann thought it was going to be a very dynamic thing over time and they were not going to solve all the problems. There was a range of things not being done properly in Pahrump due to lack of compliance on the State and local levels and who would check on those types of issues was one of the things that needed to be determined. February 17, 2015 42. For Possible Action Presentation, discussion and deliberation regarding the Top II priority items selected by the Basin 162 Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Committee to be included in a Groundwater Management Plan for Basin 162.-Cont’d.

Commissioner Schinhofen

said he wanted to see a time limit because he wanted the urgency, but he knew in reality it was going to be a long job.

Commissioner Borasky

said his biggest concern from day one had been how long it would take to get it completed. He originally thought they would meet four times or twice a month instead of once a month to try to come to some type of conclusion quicker and that a much more rigorous schedule would have netted some better results, but he was not criticizing. He knew know there were problems with the composition with having three utilities on the advisory board and business people. He thought the water model would do more than anything, but the committee also needed to meet more often.

Mr. Hafen

advised that on February 23, 2015, they were supposed to have a presentation of what they had as far as modeling. He said they did own the modeling software and there would be discussion on having the modeling up and being used on a regular basis he believed. As far as focusing on a few items, he agreed that could be done in a timely manner, although there were items in the eleven that could be done and they could be reported on in a few months. As to meeting more often, Mr. Hafen stated one of the issues they ran into was having staff available to put the documents together. He knew the committee members had been helping staff on a monthly basis to put back-up together. He did not know if they would be able to meet more often, but they could work toward that.

Commissioner Carbone

thought the Board needed to give Mr. Hafen some items that they wanted the committee to work on. Darrell Lacy, Planning Director, said they did currently have two water models. One was a big picture model done by Desert Research Institute which they would update at a cost. For smaller details there was an administrative model which Levi Kryder could run which looked at local impact issues.

Commissioner Carbone

noted there were people who would like to see that model and how it worked.

Mr. Lacy

added that the State Engineer would be at next week’s meeting and who would do what and where the money would come from would be discussed.

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked the other Pahrump Board members and encouraged anyone else interested to join the volunteer metering program as that would provide the data needed. February 17, 2015 42. For Possible Action Presentation, discussion and deliberation regarding the Top II priority items selected by the Basin 162 Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Committee to be included in a Groundwater Management Plan for Basin 162.-Cont’d. At the request of Mr. Dann, Mr. Hafen reviewed the four recommendations from the Nye County Water District that were added as sub-parts to the eleven items that were originally proposed. They related to education, new domestic well meters, the creation of incentives for utility companies to voluntarily connect to public water systems where feasible, and setting up a fund to plug abandoned domestic wells. Frank Maurizio, owner of a well and president of the Pahrump Well Owners Cooperative of Nye County, said it was pretty obvious that the State Water Engineer wanted to control all the private wells and water in the State of Nevada, so on March 3, 2015, he initiated a class action lawsuit against the State Water Engineer. Regarding requiring meters on all new domestic wells, a Nevada Supreme Court ruling in 1862 determined that percolating water was part of the soil and could not be distinguished from the soil itself. The proprietor of the soil had a free and absolute use so he did not invade that of his neighbor. The aquifer was contained in the soil of the land owner and was private water, not public water. Therefore, the State Engineer had no public water to manage in Pahrump.

Commissioner Wichman

stated her understanding of Nevada water law was the water belonged to the people. She thought what Mr. Maurizio was suggesting was like California which had a right of capture and the water belonged to whoever sat on top of it.

Mr. Maurizio

stated the Legislative Counsel Bureau had not followed the Nevada Supreme Court rulings on water law so his point was that no matter what happened in Carson City, neither the Nye County Water District nor Basin 162 had any control over private wells and just because everyone owned a private well did not mean they were going to protect the private wells of other people.

Mr. Hafen

felt he had gotten direction for his board. He noted one of the comments was to focus on a few items and asked if there were some in particular that the Board would like them to discuss first. If not, then one of their top priorities would be to make that determination.

Commissioner Carbone

said he would collect information from the test of the Commissioners and would make sure Mr. Hafen had them. Kenny Bent said there were actually 181 items as he brought modeling up a couple of times and it never went anywhere until the last meeting and now it was on the table. He had also heard that on February 23, 2015, Glorietta Goescience would give a speech on modeling. He felt modeling was very important, but he believed it was a model that should not be given to the State Water Engineer and it did not need to be farmed out. February 17, 2015 42 For Possible Action Presentation, discussion and deliberation regarding the Top II priority items selected by the Basin 162 Groundwater Management Plan Advisory Committee to be included in a Groundwater Management Plan for Basin 162.-Cont’d. The Nye County Water Board was created to take care of the County’s water issues, which Mr. Bent felt also included keeping the State Water Engineer at bay. He had tried several times to get the data for the water level of the 44 wells they were monitoring and had been unsuccessful.

Commissioner Wichman

commented that it would be wonderful to keep it within Nye County, but the first thing that would have to be done was finding the money to do so, which would require raising parcel fees. Also, she said the reason it was suggested to be held in the Division of Water Resources was because they were already doing a tax assessment on this basin and the Amargosa basin to monitor the water.

Mr. Dann

said the science of the behavior of water was not known by the Groundwater Management Committee and they were tasked with making decisions without that information. He hoped when this was finally implemented that everyone would agree that the County needed to do it and needed a staff member to be the keeper of the model. Bill Clark thought Commissioner Carbone was correct and that all the ideas needed to be taken to pen. Staff was too overworked to put the ordinance together, but there was a water plan in Title 17. He suggested having staff massage that and bring it back at the next meeting. Mr. Clark felt the engineer would put Pahrump in a management basin anyway, so it was just how the County reacted to it. He suggested getting the plan in front of the State Engineer as soon as possible. Dave Caudle clarified that until the State Engineer designated the valley as a critical management area there were ten years from the time that was done until the plan had to be written, so right now there was 50 years if he did not designate it.

Commissioner Wichman

noted there were time changes going through the Legislature right now.

Mr. Caudle

felt putting a meter on a well would not do a thing for a model. All it did was show how much usage that person had. If the depth of the well to the water was measured and put in the model that would give an idea of what the aquifer was doing.

Mr. Hafen

said there was a lot of talk about static modeling and he thought there was some confusion on his earlier statement. He clarified they had been presented with static model data and on February 23, 2015, there would be an update presented to them which would hopefully answer a lot of the questions that kept coming up. February 17, 2015

Commissioner Wichman

suggested having this item returned to the agenda as the public petitioner was not present. FINANCE 38. Financial Reports Amy Fanning corrected an error on page 3 of the revenue report regarding the quarter cent fuel sales tax. She said they did receive a report from the Assessor’s Office this morning that all personal property bills were out the door, so next month’s report would provide a better picture of what should be coming in. Pam Webster stated they completed an analysis of revenue for this year and it was projecting a $2.5 million shortfall for 2015. They were still analyzing options and the financials related to the options to bring back to the Board at the next meeting. She pointed out that the $2.5 million would continue into 2016 and future, so they were dealing with steps that would have to be taken to establish a budget that would sustain. On the expenditure side, Mrs. Fanning pointed out the IT Department showed over in services and supplies, but there was an error there that had been corrected and they were in budget now. They were meeting with the Sheriff’s Office in the next couple of days to review their budget, but the Sheriff was making strides in overtime and scheduling of staff which was helping. Overall there was nobody in the red. She reiterated they were working on bringing forth a plan to make up the $2.5 million shortfall. That shortfall was largely due to the Solar Reserve abatement issue and they had been talking to DTAX so it did not happen in the future. In the meantime they were reviewing every avenue possible.

Commissioner Wichman

read a letter from Dwight Lilly into the record thanking the Board for bringing the financial discussion to the public and addressing what he considered the important solutions to the overall issue. He suggested the formation of a public oversight committee to oversee spending; reduction in wages, salaries and benefits to a level that was more representative of the private sector in Nye County; replacement of the ambulance service and fire department with a contractor or voluntary organization; and mothballing any and all government services not mandated by law. 39. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding action to remedy the revenue shortfall for Fiscal Year 2015. This item was removed from the agenda. February 17, 2015

Commissioner Schinhofen

advised VFW Post 10054 and Boy Scout troop 651 would present Chili Night on Saturday, February 28, 2015, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 4651 Homestead Road. The event was to help raise food donations for the VFW food bank and funds for the Boy Scout Troop. Kenny Bent said he asked Levi Kryder if he could get data on the 44 wells for monitoring and was told specifically it was not available for the public at this time. As far as funding, he asked if it made more sense to have a model here or to keep paying for outside consultants to do it. Don Cox said he wanted to make the public aware that all the doors had been taken off the boys and girls restrooms at the high school and they were now removing the mirrors so the kids did not cut themselves. He also saw pictures the kids had taken and to him it looked there was a camera in the bathroom. He had also talked to the Sheriff about this. Richard Goldstein advised that along with the chili cook off on Saturday, Community Group 651 would hold a food drive in front of Smith’s Food King to benefit the VFW’s food bank for veterans. He also suggested that to make money the County Commission and staff should hold a car wash and bake sale that day.

Commissioner Wichman

adjourned the meeting. APPROVED this ATTEST: Of Nr’h ,2015. Ny Coihty Clerk / Deputy