December 5, 2018

Sheriff Wehrly

was not present at this time. ‘1. Pledge of Allegiance

Commissioner Koenig

polled the audience to see how many people wanted to talk under public comment. He explained there would be public comment when he opened agenda item 2 and everyone would have two minutes. Once that was done he would start with everyone who wanted to be nominated. They would have five minutes to present themselves after which the Board would have a discussion! a motion, and a vote. Commissioner Koenig asked the public to maintain decorum with no shouting, no yelling and no clapping.

Mr. Lilly

wondered if any of the Commissioners had ever received any financial gratuities or contributions from any of the candidates or their families. If so, then those Commissioners should recuse themselves from voting on the issue to avoid the appearance of special treatment of someone that they had gained financially from. He asked the Board to do what was right for the people. John Bosta felt his vote had been stolen from him because he voted for Dennis Hof even though he had passed away believing there would be a fair and just hearing of the selection of thc person to replace him. One thing most important to Mi, Bosta was that

Mr. Hof

signed a pledge that he would not vote to raise taxes. Mr. Bosta asked Gregory Hafen this morning if he would sign the same pledge and Mr. Hafen said he could not sign it until he saw it. Mr. Bosta further pointed out that Mr. Hof was interested in protecting the right of the domestic use of water, but Mr. Hafen had worked against that in the groundwater management plan. Mr. Bosta beseeched the Board to replace Mr. Hof with someone who had the same ideas he was going to bring to the Legislature otherwise the Board had stolen his vote. December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d.

Sheriff Wehrly

was present. Terry Svejda said he was speaking for Joe Burdzinski, overwhelmingly the people’s choice for this appointment. He felt Mr. Burdzinski embodied what Dennis Hot was. He noted that Gregory Hafen would not sign the tax pledge, had never been to a Republican meeting, and the only thing he had going for him was Jim Wheeler pitching for him. The Nevada State Republican Party said who they wanted, Mr. Burdzinski, and the voters of Nye County also wanted Mr. Burdzinski. Mr. Svjeda asked the Board to do what the people wanted otherwise he would lead the charge to conduct a recall. Both Commissioners Koenig and Schinhofen stated for the record they had never been contacted by Jim Wheeler. Deborah Walsh stated she was a registered Republican who did not attend the Republican meetings because she did not like some of the people’s crazy attitudes. She addressed the misconceptions about Gregory Hafen. She said he had worked his way up to where he was today. She had known Mr. Hafen for 14 years and saw him during summers while he was in high school digging trenches, pulling weeds, and installing infrastructure. Ms. Walsh said he was no one’s puppet or lap dog and these people did not know him at all. She thought Mr. Hafen would be very fair on the tax situation and was extremely knowledgeable in water rights. Tina Trenner said after the primary Dennis Hof called Tim Hafen to try to find common ground, but Mr. Hafen never returned the call. She reminded the Board that 68% of the people in the County voted for Dennis Hof. Jackie Freeman said everyone voted for Dennis Hof and Joe Burdzinski was by his side for almost everything. Mr. Burdzinski was at every event and knew the issues and what the people wanted. Ms. Freeman thought Mr. Burdzinski was the right man for the job. Don Cox felt Gregory Hafen was a young man that did not have enough under his belt to do the job. As far as a recall, Mr. Cox said he would be behind a recall too if the Board voted Mr. Hafen in. He felt Joe Burdzinski should be put in that seat. Kay LaPonte asked the Board to consider Joe Burdzinski. She reminded the Commissioners that almost 69% of the people voted for Dennis Hof who was an action packed person, not someone who was going to sit and roll over. She did not know Gregory Hafen, but she knew he had not been involved in the Republican Party. Ms. LaPointe stated the Commissioners had a moral and ethical obligation to select not who they wanted, but who the people voted for, and the person most like that was Mr. B u rd zi n ski. December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d. Brian Shoemake said there were two gentlemen, one who came here from the east and was running an organization that most conservative Republicans did not participate in because it was not really a Republican Party, and one who had been here his whole life who was a businessman who worked hard for this community and was well vested in the community. While Gregory Hafen was not as old as everyone else, Mr. Shoemake saw that as a huge advantage. He said younger people were needed to represent the younger generation. Mr. Shoemake respected Mr. Hafen and his family and recommended the Board vote in favor of him for Assembly District 36. Betsy Lilly said the Hafens had been in the valley for quite a while. If the people wanted to follow their agenda for how they would like to see the valley developed then Gregory Hafen II would give a direct look at it. Sally Kerr said she was here as the voice of the Republicans that vote outside of the Central Republican meeting. She had also gone to some of the meetings early on and recognized they did not represent her. She also thought it needed to be remembered that there were many in that 68% that voted for Dennis Hof specifically to keep the seat and not because they thought he would well represent them. She stood in support of moving Gregory Hafen forward to represent her. Priscilla Lane disagreed with putting Gregory Hafen in the Assembly District 36 seat. She told the Board they had a chance to put someone in there that would stand for the citizens, protect their water, get rid of the taxes hurting the small businesses, and maybe protect Nye County from the BLM. She did not think the Hafens would be interested in that. They were interested in taking the water and whatever control they could have. She supported Joe Burdzinski and said she had a petition with signatures of people from Cold Creek that wanted Mr. Burdzinski. Valerie Monroe said she saw firsthand what Andy Hafen did to Henderson, which was now the second largest city in the State. She said Lake Mead was a good example of

Mr. Hafen’s

attitude toward water. She felt that was the exact attitude that would prevail here and asked for Joe Burdzinski. Greg Hafen, Sr., the father of Gregory Hafen II, said there were a couple of things he wanted to make very clear. His son was an upstanding member of the Pahrump community and worked his tail off for the community. His son served on the groundwater committee and currently served on the Regional Planning Commission as well as the hospital board. His son was a very conservative Republican and a strict constitutionalist. Mr. Hafen assured everyone his son had no intention of taking the people’s water. December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d. Lisa Hamrick addressed the people who bashed Gregory Hafen. She suggested basing this on morals, values and integrity rather than on opinions that have no basis. She felt

Mr. Hafen

was an absolutely upstanding young man who she thought would be a great asset to the Assembly. Faye Burdzinski said Joe Burdzinski’s passion was assisting all of Assembly District 35. She said he had no financial gain to make from this appointment and his platform included Second Amendment rights, supporting veterans) education, water rights, protection of domestic and wild animals, and keeping a lid on taxes including repealing the commerce tax. The Board took a brief recess. Applicant Adam Huckeby said he lived in Pahrump for 20 years and was prepared to move to Carson City to work in the Assembly without any responsibilities, duties, commitments or dependents to prevent him from performing work for three months to the best of his ability. He promised to work with local officials to make Nye County a better place to live. He would be visible in the community if he was appointed. By using his influential ability Mr. Huckeby said he would use the power of persuasion to get the crossover vote. He promised to work with the new Democratic Governor to lower taxes across the State and come up with solutions to long time contested issues such as immigration reform, gun rights and abortion. Mr. Huckeby also pledged to make a long- term goal out of reclaiming the federal Senate seat for the Republican Party. Applicant Bailey KesI was not present. Applicant Brent Leavitt said he was born and raised in Nevada and had lived in Pahrump for the last three years. He was a business owner and very active in the Chamber of Commerce. He believed in businesses and trying to make the community great. He served in the Nevada State Republican Party as a delegate at the State level and he ran for State Assembly in District? in 2012 and 2014. If the Board wanted someone who had experience dealing with politics and would go to Carson City and fight for Nye County Mr. Leavitt said they should consider him.

Commissioner Borasky

first apologized to Mr. Huckeby for not asking him this question. He asked Mr. Leavitt if he would be able to work with the caucus and the rest of the Legislature in Carson City for the true benefit of all the people.

Mr. Leavitt

said definitely and that he had already communicated with a lot of people on the caucus. He said the reality was most of the Assemblymen in Carson City were Democrats and he was coming in as a Republican so he needed to work with them rather than fight with them to get anything accomplished. December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d. Applicant Brigitte Dubin was not present Applicant Charles R. Navarro IV was not present Applicant Denise Mraz talked about a memorandum of law she had been working on that discussed how to fight back against unfunded mandates. She read from the document that the LCB has been slowly and illegally absorbing state functions which were constantly mandating specific offers by state statute. She described how in Carson City the UMRA Act was ignored. A bill was drafted, discussed and passed, and when it came to the LCB they just stamped UMRA did not apply to the bill after it had been passed. Also) the Secretary of State did not keep control of the documents as they were constitutionally provisioned to do so the documents were changed from time to time. Ms. Mraz then discussed the lawsuit to block all plutonium coming in from southern California. Yucca Mountain was needed and she said she was working with the DOE to get a letter together that would help them re-provision the money from storage to processing. She also thought the solution for the wild horses was the Wild Horse and Burro Act. Ms. Mraz suggested that if the horses were blood sampled now there would be very few under the protection of that Act) so another bill was needed to get the domestic horses now considered wild horses protected.

Commissioner Borasky

asked Ms. Mraz if she would be able to work with the caucus for the betterment of all the people.

Ms. Mraz

stated Lee Hoffman had called for all Republicans to throw sand) small gravel) etc.) into the works. She did not subscribe to that although she understood his passion to keep things Republican. She felt she could move some issues ahead based her campaign slogan) Economic Liberty for All. Applicant Gregory Hafen II asked for a moment of silence to honor the late President Bush. A moment of silence was held.

Mr. Hafen

said he was born, raised and educated in Nevada. He graduated from UNLV with a degree in business management, worked in the fields laying pipe and digging trenches, and he currently was the general manager of the Pahrump Utility Company. As a manager he had seen the government regulations and the burden they caused.

Mr. Hafen

had to work with NDEP, the Bureau of Safe Drinking Water) the Division of Water Resources) FEMA, the County Planning and Public Works Departments and the Commissioners on numerous occasions and local control was far better than federal control. In the 2009 legislative session he worked with Assemblyman Ed Goedhardt to write and pass AB355, which was written specifically to try to reduce the regulatory December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d. burden on small utilities in the rural communities and was the only Republican bill passed that year as both the Senate and Assembly were controlled by Democrats. Mr. Hafen felt he could work with anyone and everyone to help resolve the problems. He was a get it done kind of person and liked to solve problems when presented. Regarding Yucca Mountain, Mr. Hafen also thought the science needed to be looked at and moved forward. As to taxes, he said it would be very difficult for someone to convince him that taxes needed to be increased, however, he believed tomorrow’s bills needed to be planned for today and not passed on to future generations. Applicant Jared Fisher was not present. Applicant Jonathan Hernandez was not present. Applicant Joseph Bradley said that while many people today presented it was the Commissioners’ job to appoint someone to the Assembly District 36 seat, he suggested that as elected officials themselves their job was to exert the will of the people. Mr. Bradley said he ran for this office and had 1,411 people vote for him, which was 21% of the voters in the most contested primary in the State in which no one, including Dennis Hof, received the majority. Mr. Bradley said the people voted for him based on his ideals. He had been in healthcare in Nevada since 2001, which was a big plus when it came to understanding healthcare issues, and he had 20 years as an educator which would help address the failing education system in the State. Mr. Bradley was the director and creator of a treatment program for veterans and first responders for chemical dependency and anxiety, mood disorders and PTSD. He was also a former law enforcement officer with multiple commendations, which he felt would be beneficial when talking about why he would be so adamant about protecting the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Commissioner Borasky

asked Mr. Bradley if he would be able to work with the caucus and all members in the Legislature for the best interests of all people.

Mr. Bradley

stated absolutely and that health issues and addiction were politically unbiased. The Board took a brief recess. Applicant Joseph Burdzinski said after careful consideration he was asking for the Board’s support to become the next Assemblyman for District 36. He had extensive political experience over the past 43 years in supporting ballot initiatives and the Republican Party. He attended three national conventions as a delegate supporting Ronald Regan and President Trump. He was a strong believer in conservative Republican principles and currently served as the chairman of the Nye County December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d. Republican Central Committee. During his term he had the opportunity to network with local, State and national elected Republicans and officials, which had given him a unique perspective on Nevada politics and what was important to the voters lesser government, lower taxes, upholding the Constitution, especially the Second Amendment, addressing the needs of the veterans, and protecting one of the most important resources, water. He noted the serious problem with the K-12 educational system in Nevada and thought there should be strong vocational programs, apprentice programs and a contemporary curriculum that helped children learn. Mr. Burdzinski also wanted to address protection of natural resources and wild animals, especially horses and burros. All business and industry along with gaming should be helped in Nevada, along with the cattle ranchers. Other issues Mr. Burdzinski would address included the right to vote, new businesses coming to Nevada, affordable energy, improved medical services in rural areas, and unfunded mandates. He said he had always been able to work with others to fix a problem. Further, he was the only one endorsed by the Nye County Republican Party as well as the State Republican Party chairman and he was supported by the Hot campaign team. Mr. Burdzinski understood it was a difficult decision, but said the Commissioners would not be disappointed in him if they chose him.

Commissioner Borasky

asked Mr. Burdzinski if he would be able to work with all State legislators fairly and evenly and treat everyone in the same fashion.

Mr. Burdzinski

said yes. He recently had a conversation with the Assembly minority leader and talked about different things that needed to be done. He also talked to some Democrats he knew.

Commissioner Wichman

asked Mr. Burdzinski how he thought the State should be attracting new businesses.

Mr. Burdzinski

thought one of the things needed to encourage businesses to come to Nevada was elimination of the overburdening regulations. He felt some sort of incentives could be offered by having a workforce that couid provide the workers the businesses would need, and that was part of the education he felt was needed.

Commissioner Wichman

asked Mr. Burdzinski if there were any other incentives he could think of.

Mr. Burdzinski

felt he would be limited on a lot of things he could do as an Assemblyman, but some ideas he would push would be a tax incentive and making sure there was infrastructure in the areas where the businesses wanted to go.

Commissioner Schinhofen

asked how Mr. Burdzinski stood on Yucca Mountain. December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d.

Mr. Burdzinski

was concerned if it was just for dumping nuclear waste as he did not think that was a wise thing to do. Possibly the reprocessing needed to be looked at, but the engineers and scientists were needed to make sure there was protection. The geology of the Yucca Mountain area needed to be looked at as well to make sure earthquakes or other hazards did not need to be worried about. Applicant Nathan Taylor was not present. Applicant Patrick Nary was not present. Applicant Sandra Tulley was not present. Applicant Thomas Duryea said he applied because he was approached by several private citizens who encouraged him to apply as he was a man of honesty and integrity. He was not beholden to any individual or special interest groups and would represent all citizens of District 36. He noted part of the job was to take concerns from the Board to Carson City and express those concerns with the rest of the Legislature and Governor. In his 30 years experience in the military he knew someone could not do that and be a lap dog. Mr. Duryea said he could work with people on both sides of the aisle and was a very good custodian of taxpayer dollars. He saw no reason to raise taxes and felt smarter, more efficient ways to use the money was needed. He noted his resume did not reflect his experience teaching in a community college and a vo-tech college in a rural setting and Mr. Duryea felt that was a problem in Nevada.

Commissioner Borasky

asked Mr. Duryea if he would be able to work fairly and evenly with both sides of the aisle when he went to Carson City.

Mr. Duryea

said yes. He had experience doing that and would represent everyone. Applicant Tina Bond-Kuglin was not present. Applicant Walter Grudzinski was not present. Applicant Wayne Villines was not present. Applicant William Gray, Sr., was not present. Harley Kulkin said normally the Board made decisions in the best interest of the public and was not self-serving, but this was a different situation. The people voted for someone and they expected his replacement to be someone that Dennis Hof would have liked to take his place and he had an association with. Mr. Kulkin felt there were a December 5, 2018 2. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation for the Board of County Commissioners to nominate a qualified individual to be considered to fill a vacancy in Nevada Assembly District 36-Cont’d. lot of good candidates that put in for it, but he did not think they met the criteria he just described. He thought Joe Burdzinski would be the one Mr. Hof would want. The Board took a brief recess.

Commissioner Wichman

made a motion to appoint Gregory T. Hafen II, even though she had heard from many qualified and impressive candidates; seconded by

Commissioner Cox

pointed out that almost 69% of the voters supported Dennis Hof in Nye, Lincoln and Clark Counties. From the letters! c-mails! phone calls and public comment today it was also very apparent that those same people who voted were strongly in support of Joe Burdzinski as the person to replace Dennis Hof and to serve the best interest not only of Nyc County but the Republican Party in the State’s Legislature this year as well. Therefore, Commissioner Cox could not vote for Gregory Hafen. She said it was not a personal issue. It was what she thought was the will of the people and that was what she had to support.

Commissioner Koenig

mentioned he had been threatened it he voted yea, and because he was threatened he would vote yea.

Commissioner Koenig

adjourned the meeting. APPROVED this ATTEST: I Of_______________________ 2018. LjJN7( Nyd County Clerk! Deputy