December 3, 2024

Chair Debra

Strickland, District 5 (in Pahrump)

Vice Chair Ron

Boskovich, District 4 (in Pahrump)

Commissioner Bruce

Jabbour, District 1 (in Pahrump)

Commissioner Frank

Carbone, District 2 (in Pahrump)

Commissioner Donna

Cox, District 3 (tardy*, in Pahrump) Also Present: Con Freidhof, County Clerk and Ex-Officio Clerk of the Board (in Tonopah) Lorina Dellinger, Acting County Manager (in Pahrump) Bradley Richardson, Chief Deputy District Attorney (in Pahrump) Helen Bae, Comptroller (in Pahrump) Samantha Tackett, Administrative Manager (in Pahrump) Kelly Sidman, Deputy Clerk III (in Tonopah) Jaynee Reeves, Administrative Secretary (in Pahrump) Tardy: Brian Kunzi, District Attorney Joseph McGill, Sheriff CALLED TO ORDER

Mrs. Wilkinson

cautioned, General Public Comment for matters off Agenda. WAYNE YATSKO: Hello. I’m Wayne Yatsko. Y-A-T-S-K-O. And about the hemp farm, down there on the, by the dry lake bed, is there some kind of regulation that’s supposed to stop that from smelling so much? Every day we have, almost every day, mornings, nights, certain way the winds blow, it really stinks down there. I mean, disgusting. That’s all I have to say. Thank you. TIM BOHANNON: Hi. Tim Bohannon. B-O-H-A-N-N-O-N. I’d like to raise something to our attention. I was doing some background, a little bit of research, and here is what I found. Nye County is the 17th ranked in unemployment, in our State; and we’re number

Chair Strickland

closed Item 3. 4. Approval of the Agenda for December 3, 2024 (Non-action item) Lorina Dellinger pulled Item 5 from the agenda.

Chair Strickland

advised, Item 8, 10, and 20 would not be heard until after lunch. 5. For Possible Action — Emergency Items

Commissioner Strickland

disclosed she was the liaison to the Water District Governing Board, which this letter came from, and she was a licensed well drilling contractor as well as a water right broker. She had no pecuniary interest in this, just the knowledge that went with this particular item. Daniel Weeks explained the reason why staff supported moving the water from the north portion of the valley to the south portion of the valley was because the Division of Water Resources (DWR) was not a planning body. It was a regulatory body and was not looking out for the County’s planning purposes. Their job was to approve legal water uses and the Commissioners were burdened with planning and charting the future on how the water would be used. People wanted to know why the WDGB supported the movement of water to help the solar plants. Mr. Weeks stated they did not. They asked DWR to not pump the water where the decline was the highest and do it at the south end of town. The WDGB did not support solar in Basin 162.

Commissioner Carbone

felt this needed to happen to save the water in the north for a long time.

Commissioner Jabbour

said that was his hope as well. Tom Boiling said Mr. Weeks provided a very good explanation of the reason why the WDGB supported this.

Commissioner Cox

commended Mr. Weeks on what he had been doing. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 15

Commissioner Strickland

opened the public hearing. Mike Fender said there was nothing in the paperwork involved with the well permits about a meter or a way to find out or follow the amount of much water. If this water transfer was done he felt a meter should be put on the well.

Commissioner Strickland

said DWR investigates high water usages as meter readings had to be input once a month online. Heather Gang asked for clarification on exactly where the water was being pumped from and used now from and where it would be pumped from. She felt this move would increase the amount of pump-age. Laura Larsen reminded the Commissioners they had previously tabled this item because the water was actually going to the solar panels. The Sheriff had also pulled over one of the trucks. She said the Commissioners needed to tell the engineer he was not allowed to tap into the County system anymore. Ms. Larsen asked the Commissioners to say no on the temporary application. Linda Clark didn’t understand why they were bringing trucks in to haul water out. Wililiam Lovegren said if the County started using meters it would start getting in the SNWA which would start regulating the water just like it did in Clark County and it was going to get worse. He said if California wanted to do this because of the green credits for tax purposes, they should dig their own wells and get their own water. Also, if more meters were put in for residential, then Pahrump would become a city. Mr. Lovegren felt the Commissioners needed to stop doing these wells. Beth Borysewich opposed taking water from the north and pumping it down to the south. She said there were several straws in Pahrump’s water from the solar people which was causing an impact on the entire town. She said the Commissioners needed to look at stopping people from taking the town’s resources. Herman Lewis said static testing should be done especially on the southwest side to really know where the levels were at and to also gain a consistent set of data to know if the southwest was still declining at that rate. He agreed with everything Mr. Weeks said. Helene Williams stated the company legally owned the water rights and it was completely out of the Board’s and the WDGB’s hands. DWR was in in charge of all of that. She explained this was a decision made by the WDGB based on the information available and was in the best interest of the community. Carolene Logue said a lot of the future planning was centered on the conservation of resources, which included the water, and also the impact weather had on those Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 16 resources. She noted there were a lot of people on the south end of town who said they would just stop the growth, but Ms. Logue said without growth in the community there would be no taxes paid to the County. This was a bigger issue that really necessitated not concentrating on one factor but looking at all of the factors that were impacting the town. Ms. Logue asked the Commissioners to work with the WDGB. Tim Bohannon said he was not a fan of this, but it would reduce wear and tear on the roads.

Commissioner Strickland

closed the public hearing.

Commissioner Strickland

said the Board needed to figure out how to structure its recommendation so it could get done. It could be as simple as a letter from the Chair supporting the WDGB’s decision. Another option was to take no action as the WDGB letter stood.

Commissioner Carbone

thought the Board needed to make a comment.

Commissioner Cox

thought they needed to be told they needed to work directly with the WDGB. The only other thing to do was to write a letter using all the power the Commissioners had telling them what they were saying was unacceptable. The Commissioners ran the County, and it needed to stop. Commissioner Cox thought the County line should have been moved a long time ago.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to decline to support the State Engineer’s request: seconded by Commissioner Boskovich.

Commissioner Strickland

asked Commissioner Carbone how he proposed to do that.

Commissioner Carbone

said by direction to staff to send a letter answering the document from the State Engineer. Lorina Dellinger explained the NRS asked the Commissioners to consider and support the application, so the County’s letter would be non-support.

Commissioner Boskovich

assumed the Chair of the Board of County Commissioners.

Commissioner Strickland

made a motion to support the Water District Governing Board’s letter of recommendation: seconded by Commissioner Jabbour: motion failed with 2 yea. Commissioners Cox, Boskovich and Carbone voted nay.

Commissioner Strickland

opened the public hearing. Doug Knowles said he had a problem with the way bills were presented. He was a retired computer programmer and felt like he was being given two computer programs and asked to compare the differences and analyze the effect on the community. The bills were presented without any explanation of what it was supposed accomplish, how it would be accomplished, and what the impact on the community was. Mr. Knowles asked the Commissioners to reject it any bill presented like and ask for those things so the public could take an honest look at it. He disagreed with creating a business of hauling so they could charge the people to haul stuff to the dump or else the people paid fees when they went to the dump for things that they had not to in the past. He said if the County was going to do something like this with the landfill then the people wanted recycling. Mr. Knowles asked the Commissioners to send the bill back. Laura Larsen said to her this looked like a contract that the landfill was trying to redo and renew. She mentioned the glove factory trying to come into the community. She looked it up and it said people could get their United States green card with an EB5 Visa project. She said the immigration letter had to do with asbestos because of the waste that would go to the landfill. Ms. Larsen felt the bill should be rejected and the Board should look a little bit deeper into what the underlying statement was. She left the information about what she talked about for the Board to review.

Commissioner Strickland

closed the public hearing. Cody McKee from Public Works explained these Code changes were necessary to ensure that local regulations stayed up to date with the evolving needs of the County. As the communities grew these changes would help address the challenges. The first change was adding a definition for household waste so landfill operators could differentiate between household waste, yard waste, and C&D and the appropriate Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 18 tipping fees were charged at the gate. It also clarified the process for waivers. A requirement was added that in County waste be charged differently than out of County waste so the landfills were protected from being exploited by solid waste haulers in neighboring counties. Mr. McKee said these changes also encouraged proper waste management for businesses and residents who used the landfill. The changes in the waiver of use fee section were designed to encourage responsible disposal allowing homeowners and businesses that had already paid the landfill maintenance fee to help streamline the process and ensures that people were encouraged to follow proper waste management practices. A loophole was also closed where contractors doing yard clean-ups would no longer be able to claim that the C&D debris was from their personal property to get out of paying tipping fees. They would now pay to dispose of that which in turn ensured that proper fees were collected for the, operation maintenance, and management of all County landfills. Mr. McKee said in summary these changes fostered better service for the public, promoted fairness, maintained public trust and solid waste management, and ensured that the community would continue to have a landfill to utilize in the future.

Commissioner Carbone

said this ordinance had been around for many years so if folks did not know what it was, they neglected to read it. It did not negate a homeowner in town from bringing anything to the gate. This was based on how much was left for the landfill. In order to open it and have another spot or to close it and open another one took a lot of money. This was trying to straighten out the problems that had existed for many years.

Commissioner Jabbour

said when he moved to Pahrump in 1994 there was an employee at the gate to inspect everything that came in to ensure that nobody was bringing anything in that should not be disposed of in the landfill. That went away after a few years, and he was not quite sure why. He asked Mr. McKee if he would say that other counties were coming to the County’s landfills because there were no checks and balances at the gate to stop them and tell them otherwise.

Mr. McKee

said they did random load inspections. He said there were people from out of the County that brought their waste to the County’s landfill because they knew they could say there were residents and it was waste from their property. They also take it to a transfer bin station which was not staffed and disposed of it that way which then ended up at our landfill anyway.

Commissioner Jabbour

asked if there would be somebody at the gate in Pahrump if this went forward.

Mr. McKee

said there was somebody at the gate in Pahrump that did random load checks. Part of this project would go to fund an additional scale so there were tear weights for vehicles going in and out. That would help with reporting to the State and the State was mandating that the Tonopah landfill install a scale so there was more accurate reporting. Also, a definition for household waste was added, which gave staff at the gate the ability to look at the waste being brought in and make sure it met the Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 19 definition of household waste. Anything thrown into the trash could still be brought at no charge. To encourage property clean-up, the fee for landscape debris was reduced.

Mr. McKee

explained they were trying to capture the individuals being bringing C&D waste from Las Vegas and California to make sure they paid over and above what the residents paid.

Commissioner Boskovich

said he knows there are a lot of people coming from Vegas, seeing the pictures. And to put a stop to this, this bill is absolutely necessary.

Commissioner Carbone

said he had an amendment to make and asked Lorina Dellinger to read the changes into the record as follows: • Amend Section 8.24.240.B.1, Promulgation of Regulations and Fee Schedule, on page 13 of 16 on the bottom page numbering, to read “Waiver of Fees: The Nye County Public Works Director or the Board of County Commissioners may at its discretion grant to a property owner or partial a full waiver of the annual landfill maintenance fees assessed to that property owner where such a waiver is required to provide equity. • Amend Section 8.24.240.B.2 as follows: “Waiver Application: An application for a waiver including a $300.00 processing fee for each parcel shall be submitted to the Director of the Nye County Public Works Department who will review the application and make a determination either granting a partial or full waiver or denying the application based on the criteria for granting of a waiver as outlined below. Nye County Public Works shall notify the applicant by certified mail of its determination. Within 10 business days after notice of the Public Works Director’s determination has been served the applicant may file with Nye County Public Works a written request for hearing before the Board. Nye County Public Works shall present it to the County Commissioners with his or her determination. The Board shall review the application to grant or deny the waiver based on the criteria for granting of a waiver as outlined below.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to amend and adopt Bill No. 2024-10 with the amendments as read by the Assistant County Manager; seconded by Commissioner Boskovich; 5 yeas. 11. 10:00 a.m. For Possible Action Public Hearing, discussion and — — deliberation to approve, amend and approve, or reject the new Project Priority Ranking List for roadway and transportation improvements as contained within the Streets and Highways Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) part of the Capital Improvement Plans and Impact Fees for the Pahrump Regional Planning District. Cody McKee explained this was to approve the priority ranking. It had been some months since the Board approved the actual plan itself, which produced this list. The Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) was for Nye County streets and highways. It was designed to assess current transportation infrastructure and provide strategic planning Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 20 to meet local and regional transportation needs as the County’s population grew. The CIP outlined a ten-year plan prioritizing infrastructure needs and specifying the funding required for each capital project. The CIP was structured around two components an — administrative process to prioritize capital projects and a fiscal plan to allocate funding for each project. The CIP aligned with the County’s planning and budget activities ensuring that projects were developed according to established priorities and available funding overall. The CIP ensured that Nye County’s transportation infrastructure development was well planned, financially viable, and responsive to the needs of the growing population.

Commissioner Jabbour

wondered where the money would come from.

Mr. McKee

advised the CIP was based on impact fees, which went into a pot and were allocated based on the list before the Board today.

Commissioner Carbone

said the RTC evaluated this as well. Helen Bae said when the annual budget and CIP were done, which was published before the CIP that was referenced here today, a ceiling amount was established, but it was not detailed out. The ceiling amount for FY25 was set at $2,348,655.00.

Mr. McKee

said staff ensured it worked cohesively with the RTC streets and highways plan so that was an additional fund used for road projects. Public Works Director Tom Boiling added the funding was received through impact fees and they had five years to allocate that funding to a project and ten years to spend it. Funding did not have to be available to approve a priority ranking list.

Commissioner Strickland

opened the public hearing. Tim Bohannon said he and probably the public would like to have a little bit more information on the reasons for the selections. He said to keep the $2.3 million cap in mind for budget season. Beth Borysewich asked what impact fees were going to be used. Maryan Hollis asked what transportation improvements were needed as there was no bus transportation route or anything like that. She also wondered if NDOT would be involved in the improvements of Highways 372 and 160.

Commissioner Strickland

closed the public hearing.

Mr. McKee

outlined the prioritization procedure and how the list was developed.

Mr. Boiling

said impact fees came form every house or business that was built, which went to roads and infrastructure. He hoped to start collecting drainage fees. The Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 21 impact fees that made up the $2.3 million was from what had been built in the last three to four years.

Mr. Mckee

said these were not projects on NDOT’s right-of-way. The only time they would work with NDOT was when an encroachment permit was needed. These projects were not funded by NDOT and the impact fees did fund NDOT projects. The plan would make the County a viable candidate for grant funding.

Commissioner Ccx

did not see where anything was going to be done on Highway 372. It said Charleston and Leslie to Highway 372, and Homestead to Highway 160.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to approve the project priority ranking list for the roadways and transportation improvement contained in the Streets and Highways Capital Improvement Plan; seconded by Commissioner Jabbour; 5 yeas. The Board was in recess until 2:30 p.m. 8. 10:00 a.m. For Possible Action Public Hearing, discussion and deliberation — — to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject Nye County Bill No. 2024-03: A Bill proposing to Repeal Nye County Code Title 17, Comprehensive Land Use Planning and Zoning, Chapter 17.10 entitled “Special Use Permits; Aboveground Utility Projects” and Replacing with Nye County Code Title 17, Comprehensive Land Use Planning and Zoning, Chapter 17.10 entitled “Special Use Permits”; 17.10.010 Purpose And Intent; 17.10.20 Permit For Construction Of An Aboveground Utility Project Located In A Master Plan Designated Utility Corridor; 17.30 Special Use Permit For Renewable Energy Generation Facility, Aboveground Transmission Lines (Not Located Within An Established Utility Corridor), Battery Energy Storage, Electrical Substation And Gen-Tie Connections; 17.04.040 Requirement To Obtain A Special Use Permit; 17.10.045 Solar Energy Projects; 17.1 0.050 Application Of Ordinance; 17.10.060 Definitions; 17.10.070 Energy Conservation System Distinctions; 17.10.080 Designation Of Use In Districts In The Pahrump Regional Planning District 17.10.090 Approval Process; 17.10.100 Preliminary Development Plan Approval; 17.10.110 Final Development Plan Approval; 17.10.120 Building Permits And Commencement Of Construction; 17.10.130 Construction Standard; 17.10.140 Development Standards; 17.10.050 Setbacks And Height Restrictions; 17.10.160 Post- Construction And Continued Maintenance; 17.10.170 Post Construction Modifications; 17.10.180 No Preemption; 17.10.200 Wind Energy Projects; 17.10.210 Application Of Ordinance; 17.10.220 Definitions; 17.10.230 Energy Conversion System Distinctions; 17.10.240 Designation Of Use In Districts In The Pahrump Regional Planning District 17.10.250 Approval Process; 17.10.260 Preliminary Development Plan Approval; 17.10.270 Final Development Plan Approval; 17.10.280 Building Permits And Commencement Of Construction; 17.10.290 Construction Standards; 17.10.300 Development Standards; 17.10.310 Setbacks And Height Restrictions; 17.10.320 Post-Construction And Continued Maintenance; 17.10.330 Post-Construction Modifications; 17.10.340 No Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 22 Preemption; 17.10.350 Enforcement And Penalties; and providing for the severability, constitutionality1 and effective date thereof; and other matters properly relating thereto. Brett Waggoner said there were a lot of eyes on this Board and this item today aH over the State because they would like to model what Nye came up with. This was an ordinance setting an application process with development standards that were pretty stringent and was inclusive of the stakeholders that would be affected. He said this was not approving any particular project. Mr. Waggoner said the way the ordinance was written the Board had full control and authority on the success of an application.

Commissioner Boskovich

said the reason the moratorium was in place was to give time for this ordinance to be drafted and perfected through the District Attorney, which was why he was in favor of the moratorium. In his opinion the ordinance gave the Board an amazing amount of reach that it did not have prior.

Mr. Waggoner

said that this does not have an SUP for land use. This would give the Board the full authority on where these projects would be sited. Mr. Waggoner said he had heard rumor of some wind applications, but they were not really moving through the process at this point. If this was adopted, he wanted to exclude everything from 17.10.200 and beyond and he would bring back an amendment. He would also bring back a resolution for a moratorium on the wind until a proper ordinance could be drafted for that too. Mr. Waggoner re-iterated that anyone who is a potential stakeholder would be part of the process.

Commissioner Jabbour

said the last time this was brought forward there was discussion about setting the public hearing for December 3 or 17, 2024. Mr. Waggoner indicated he wanted to set it for December 3, 2024, so amendments could be made and then bring it back on December 17, 2024. Commissioner Jabbour was not sure it would be appropriate to pass this today as he anticipated a lot of pushback, a lot of justification, and a lot of comments from the people. He thought he would get with Mr. Waggoner after today to give him recommended adjustments and then it would come back on December 17, 2024.

Commissioner Strickland

stated that they need any amendments given to Director Waggoner so it can be brought back December 17, 2024.

Mr. Waggoner

said he would prefer to get amendments stated on the record as the moratorium was set to expire on December 21, 2024, and he was trying to stay ahead of that.

Commissioner Strickland

opened the public hearing. Beth Borysewich asked if there was a reason the moratorium could not be extended to the end of the year to give more time. She mentioned an article in the paper today that said California had over-generated solar and are causing people to pay more for their Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 23 electricity because they could not use it. She suggested putting solar panels over parking lots and road medians for bicycle paths like other countries were instead of being pushed by the feds to kill the desert wildlife. Laura Larsen was concerned about the effect of this. She said the Commissioner Strickland signed two contracts with GridLiance on September 25, 2024, and changing the Code was part of that agreement. She said GridLiance was associated with solar panels and wind. Ms. Larsen felt that since Commissioner Strickland should not have a vote on this because she signed the agreement. Asked for comment on the record. Linda Clark thought the distance from town should be 100 miles as she did not want to see it. She felt it was a waste of money and was destroying the community. She did not see where the County was getting anything out of it. Joni Eastley, representing the Town of Tonopah and the Southwest Central Regional Economic Development Authority, said she sent extensive and specific comments concerning the substance of the ordinance to Commissioner Jabbour, Lorina Dellinger, and to Mr. Waggoner. While they were generally supportive of the ordinance, they would like to offer input on two items. First, they believed that impact fees should be used only for reasonable offsets to correct impacts on public facilities related to the development itself and that those impact fees should never be used as a source of revenue for County government. Secondly, when it was applicable Ms. Eastley asked to make it a point to include the representatives of the local governing boards in the development agreement negotiations as they would have unique perspectives on how the project would affect their communities. John Koenig said he talked to a group of realtors about this item and two other items on the agenda today just to see what the feeling was, which was no because it was too close to the towns. They would be visible and loud enough for residents to hear. He also doubted the County would get $5 million out of the transmission line. William Lovegren said many ordinances already in place were not followed. He said he received a card from the BLM regarding solar panels wanting to be near Artesia right by the Hafen Elementary School, which he did not agree with. He said giving them water would be a domino effect and if California wanted the green credits then let it put them put them on their land. Mr. Lovegren wondered why the moratorium was not placed indefinitely. He stated he was tired of people trying to go different routes and put smoke and mirrors up. He told the Commissioners they needed to be truthful and honest with their constituents so they could see what was going on. Carolene Logue said it was important to have a broader look at whatever issue was in front of the community, the County Commissioners, and other departments. She said the cost of electricity was rising the fastest and Pahrump depends on electricity. A long standing issue that was faced globally was weather change. Winds were getting stronger, heat was getting hotter, and the cold was impacting everyone more. Ms. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 24 Logue said there were things in the ordinance that not only would help on national, state, and local levels, but it would help mitigate higher costs. Tim Levitt, the director of construction for Clearway, said they were in the renewable energy sector. He shared the collective interest in ensuring Nye County took a leading role in promoting responsible renewable energy development. He said this ordinance was an important measure to ensure that renewable energy projects not only aligned with the County’s interest but also delivered tangible economic benefits. Requiring development agreements for all projects was a critical safeguard, especially for those projects that were on BLM land where economic benefits to the County had not always been guaranteed. Mr. Levitt stated this ordinance ensured developers engaged with the Planning Commission, the town boards, the impacted communities, and the Board of County Commissioners before submitting BLM land applications. He said the ordinance gave the Commissioners the power to prevent the advancement of projects that were poorly sited or not suited to the community they were affecting. The Commissioners would also have direct control over how the revenue generated was spent in the communities. Erika Gerling stated Beatty had said no since 2021 and would continue to say no to the solar projects to protect their land as long as they have to. She noted the State and the nation had met the 2025 renewable goal and it was over 25%. She did not understand why a re-evaluation of where that was at was not being done. As to the ordinance, Ms. Gerling said Beatty was concerned about the removal of Section 17.10.190, Property Value Guarantee Form, as that was something that the community really wanted because they did not feel there was any other way to protect their property values. Beatty requested that that section be reinstated. Also, Ms. Gerling said the application process for federally owned lands was confusing. She asked if the County would rely on the PUC or whatever environmental documents were included in the application. Ryan Bellows, vice president of government and external relations at NV Energy, stated NV Energy’s support of the ordinance. He thought it was a balanced and thoughtful approach to these projects. As every project would require a special use permit, it would ensure that there was a thorough review and meaningful public input and notices to all stakeholders, residents, EMS, and fire services. The ordinance also provided important safeguards for public services, It accounted for strain on County resources via a development agreement, which was a great tool to make sure that projects paid their fair share and their way. Mr. Bellows also thought the ordinance did a lot to preserve OHV recreation in the County. He encouraged the Board to support the ordinance. Chris Dancy, development manager for Balanced Rock Power, a leader in renewable energy development in the western United States, believed the ordinance was a positive step for the future of solar energy in Nye County. He supported the ordinance because it would enable renewable energy projects to be responsibly developed while bringing significant economic benefits to the County. While the requirements in the ordinance imposed some stringent limitations on the development of renewable energy including impact analysis, setbacks, local government and stakeholder engagement, Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 25 and environmental regulations, Mr. Dancy said it also enabled the County to reap benefits from the projects. The property tax revenue from the project would support local education. He believed the standards in the ordinance providing significant restrictions on renewable energy development were fair and aligned with regulations seen in jurisdictions across the United States. Mr. Dancy strongly urged the Commissioners to approve the ordinance. Ross Holland, project director with Nextera Energy Resources, said the ordinance was just one of many steps in a long path for final approval of renewable energy projects in Nye. He spoke of a major concern for projects such as the ones proposed in Nye, which was the impacts to the environmental, biological, and cultural resources of the County and the land. Mr. Holland said while many of the projects were sited on federal lands, the ordinance added an additional high-level coordination analysis and approval from local, State, and federal agencies. The applicant was now required to submit a final natural resource impact report to the County. Mr. Holland told the Commissioners by approving this ordinance they could be assured that the natural resources would be analyzed and protected. Jeff Court, head of safety and training for Clearway Energy, said he had overseen the safety and training of over 50 different solar projects across the United States. He explained there were no emissions from a regular traditional power plant, no water runoff, and the most activity or disturbance would be during construction. Mr. Court said there was a lot of oversight from the Commission in the ordinance and he thought that was important from a community perspective. During the construction projects there would be hundreds of good paying jobs for the community from construction workers to electricians, plumbers, and equipment operators. Once the projects were done they would continue to provide employment for operations people. Mr. Court said typically they looked for local hires, and they had apprenticeship program to get them the training they needed to become operators for the long term. Tamie Pitman said the fact that so many providers came to voice their opinions about the ordinance made her feel like she was in a tank being surrounded by piranhas. One time impact fees were spent, as well as taxes spent, and the people were stuck with the eyesore that solar provided. The County was broke so it was easy to sway the Commissioners with money to approve their projects. Ms. Pitman said the County would not benefit from the electricity, but it would bear the brunt of the ugly solar fields. The County’s precious water would be to build and wash the panels. Also, wherever there was solar panel field it was five degrees warmer. Ms. Pitman said more controls were needed and it should not be within at least ten miles if not further away. It should not be visible. Heather Gang stated a quarter mile setback was nothing. While the project may meet the County’s standards, she thought the cumulative impacts of all these projects that could go in needed to be looked at. She recently commented on the final environmental impact statement for the Rough Hat Clark site. It was said at that meeting that there was very little valley fever fungus in the soils here, which disagreed with what the CDC Web Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 26 site said. Ms. Gang said there were studies that showed valley fever occurred after a wet year and then it dried. She felt spraying water over the desert during the dust control was simulating a wet year and thought they could be exacerbating the concentrations of the valley fever fungus. When it dried out it would blow further than a quarter mile. The other cumulative impact Ms. Gang started thinking about was the wildlife that traveled between the Spring Mountains and other mountain ranges as well as the impact to the vegetation in the area. She stated that we needed to think about the public lands rule that was recently passed by BLM that conservation is an equal footing to public land usage. Clay Jensen said he works with a local consultancy supporting energy projects. He spoke in support of the ordinance. A lot of the issues they struggled with over the years had been addressed in it. He felt it screened out inappropriate projects but allowed a diligent and detailed review of the projects with fair offsets, which was exactly the balance that was needed. Robert Adams, secretary to the Pahrump Public Lands Advisory Committee (PLAC), advised this had been three agendas. They all agreed on the proximity and the density and felt the proposed ordinance came up short on that. He said the measurement should not be from the plant to a neighborhood in quarter of miles. Mr. Adams said it should be measured in miles. If everything being proposed went it there would be a 30,000 acre creating sea of glass. Mr. Adams suggested limiting the size of the plants to 1,000 acres. He also suggested setting up buffers between plants and communities. Dwayne Enger, director of development for Leeward Renewable Energy, spoke in support of the ordinance because it required applicants to provide extensive details about their proposed projects and outlined a detailed process whereby County leaders would have a comprehensive view of the project’s specific details and benefits to the community. Mr. Enger said they believed the ordinance balanced rigorous safeguards for the community and ensured responsible development while creating a path for select projects to move forward and allowing Nye County to reap the significant and substantial annual property tax revenue and other economic benefits of these projects. He highlighted a few of the safeguards that addressed some of the key community concerns including distance from residential properties, noise reports, and impacts of costs on the community. The requirements were robust, and they agreed with them being apart of the ordinance and believed the requirements were fair and equal or greater to other ordinances around the country. Dee Mounts stated the ordinance was not far enough as the people did not want it in their backyards or schools and did not want property values to go down. She urged the Commissioners to vote no. John O’Brien said after BLM did an environmental impact study on level one environmentally sensitive land it automatically became level four, which was like a parking lot with no value at all. He asked an engineer at presentation at The Nugget why this parcel was picked. He said it cost them $1 million for every half mile of power Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 27 line to connect to the power line that Valley Electric sold that the County had control of.

Mr. O’Brien

said it was all about the newly built power line. He said a quarter mile or a half mile was not enough as he did not see it in his backyard. He also did not want to see it on environmentally sensitive land. He wanted to see it where there was no value to the land. Mr. O’Brien asked the Commissioners to make the ordinance stronger. Suzie Hertz thought the request for time to evaluate the ordinance seemed reasonable considering its length. She noted the maximum penalty in the ordinance was $1,000.00, which she thought was unrealistic since there were millions and millions of dollars’ worth of businesses being proposed. There was also language about fencing being 1,000 feet from a home, but it could be 300 feet from a home, and it could a chain link fence with a couple of bushes in front of it. Ms. Hertz did not think the public was aware of that. There was also a height restriction of 25 feet, but Ms. Hertz was not aware that there solar panel construction could range up to 25 feet tall, which was a two and a half story wall of glass near someone’s property. Ms. Hertz stated that there was information about wind energy and that there was a 1-mile boundary from the municipal area for wind towers which is pretty close and visible. The wind towers would become eyesores that would have to remain inactive for a year before anything could be done about them. Tim Bohannon said as a member of the RPC he felt something of this nature was necessary, highly beneficial, and gave more guidance. One of the concerns he had was 047091-01 in the GlS was right across from Hafen Elementary, which was too close. Other regions in the County may have different feelings and Mr. Bohannon wanted to make sure that was taken care. The other concern he had was he saw the decommission, but he did not see any restoration and would like to have that in the ordinance. He asked that the ordinance be tightened up and that local well compensated jobs are created. Mary Kay Radcliffe did not see how the people from the solar and electric companies with all of their studying found this was a fair thing for the citizens. Also, if they did not live in Pahrump, they had no right to tell the citizens what was fair for the community. Karen Waidman asked that her written statement be made part of the public record [see Attachment 2]. She asked just how far the level of responsibility reached; if there was something in the ordinance that protected the County against the costs incurred by the projects when the developer was long gone; who paid for it to be decommissioned and if it was decades down the road when that happened; and what would happen with the panels that became damaged and an eyesore because they were no longer working and the operators were gone. Ms. Waidman also asked if there would be a bond that followed the lifetime of the project. She asked the Commissioners to make sure the long-term goals of the ordinance were truly long term. Carolyn Allen, Amargosa Town Board chair, stated the town’s support of the ordinance with a few tweaks. She said BLM was tasked to give their land for solar development only, especially in Amargosa, and she was speaking for Amargosa, not Pahrump. The County had a moratorium for two years and during those two years the BLM had an Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 28 auction on various land in Amargosa Valley. Two parcels went for $82 million to NV Energy, one went for $24 million to Nextera, and $2.5 million for one in the middle of town. Although the ordinance had some holes in it that needed to be filed, Ms. Allen said Amargosa desperately needed the protection of the ordinance. Mason Voehi, executive director of Amargosa Conservancy, said they had been very active in protesting a number of the projects proposed in this watershed. He emphasized the importance of the County taking its time and really look for every opportunity to maximally leverage the level of control the County had over these projects. Mr. Voehl said they wanted to see more attention placed specifically on the role of community benefit agreements. He echoed the comments made about setback distances. They would also like to see the ordinance extended to Amargosa and Beatty.

Mr. Voehl

asked if there was any role the County could hold open for the regional tribes as they were incredibly important partners and stewards of this land and ensure that developers work with these tribes. Herman Lewis said the people in Pahrump were not stupid as the solar companies seemed to think. It was a smart community that participated in all of this and the people counted on the Commissioners who knew what was really going on. While he did not see all of the negativity from his side, Mr. Lewis said the Commissioner had to really not let these companies come in and investigate those companies. Mike Fender referred to the information he gave the Commissioners regarding parameters for solar farms and building them in close proximity to any type of residence. He talked about the residual heat and how the distance had to be more than a quarter mile from any kind of residence, County building, State line, or County line. The size on the solar farms have not been set and that is where the issue is.

Commissioner Strickland

closed the public hearing.

Mr. Waggoner

addressed the comments made about GridLiance; the property value guarantee form; the environmental impacts; impact fees; the penalty; the 25-foot height; the restoration of the land; and setbacks. He then explained nothing the Board did today would stop the BLM process and the moratorium would not stop it either. Once the developer received their entitlement from the BLM without something in place they could develop today. He said it was in the County’s best interest to adopt something, although Mr. Waggoner agreed there were some holes that possibly needed to be filled.

Commissioner Jabbour

said he recently drove south on Highway 395 into California and there were miles and miles of solar panels, which was very ugly to look at. He said the Commissioners were aware of the detriment that this could have on the County and the people, but it could also be a positive benefit to the applicants that went through the process. Commissioner Jabbour then talked about decommissioning and referred to the language on page 14 where it was stated to a depth of five feet and said he was not okay with that. If they packed it in, he wanted them to pack it out as there were contaminants in the panels and Commissioner Jabbour did not believe they should be Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 29 allowed to remain in Nye County. He asked the Commission to consider that adjustment.

Mr. Waggoner

said that was BLM’s language for decommissioning, so he mirrored that. He believed it referred to the mounts for the solar panels.

Commissioner Jabbour

talked about the language regarding bringing the property back to its original condition. The last cell of the grid on page 12 read Northern Nye County Conservation District, which he was a member of. It also read “A letter of opposition or support for the renewable energy project. If the applicant can provide documented evidence of effort to secure a written letter, but does not receive a written letter, this section shall be deemed satisfied.” Commissioner Jabbour advised that the committee only met quarterly, which would be a reason the applicant would not be able to get a letter, and he was not satisfied with that language.

Mr. Waggoner

explained the determination would be made by the Commissioners, not the Planning Department, if that condition had been met. The other reason was the letter was part of the final documents that had to be provided and in Mr. Waggoner’s opinion it would be up the developer to do their due diligence. If they needed something from a board that only met every quarter then they better plan appropriately.

Commissioner Strickland

asked Commissioner Jabbour if he wanted to see the language changed for both conservation to match the town boards, to which

Mr. Waggoner

recalled the concern was there were certain boards that were great about providing timely written feedback, but there were other boards that were not. It was hard to penalize the developer if they followed the requirement and were unable to obtain something in writing to prove that they did. Mr. Waggoner said if they could show an agenda or two that they had been where presentations were made or if they could provide minutes or whatever for evidence that could be presented to the Board.

Commissioner Jabbour

suggested adding verbiage that there were certain committees that met quarterly so they were aware of that fact.

Mr. Waggoner

reiterated his feeling that that was the responsibility of the developer. The County should not provide them a step by step thing.

Commissioner Jabbour

asked that this change be considered.

Commissioner Strickland

asked what the verbiage would be for the motion.

Commissioner Carbone

pointed out there was a little bit of time to put everything together for December 17, 2024. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 30

Commissioner Strickland

confirmed with Commissioner Jabbour that he would be satisfied with that direction to staff.

Mr. Waggoner

asked if Commissioner Jabbour was suggesting a frequency of every single one of boards.

Commissioner Jabbour

just an asterisk to make the developers aware.

Commissioner Jabbour

moved on to page 7 regarding the reservations and asked that the verbiage be changed from Chief to chief executive officer, tribal chairman or tribal chairwoman.

Commissioner Strickland

confirmed with Commissioner Jabbour that he wanted the verbiage changed from just chief to include chief executive officer or tribal chairman and council of indian reservations, which was acceptable. Commission Jabbour reiterated the importance of safeguards to ensure there is responsible development. They do not want to see the landscaped destroyed.

Commissioner Jabbour

agreed with the public about the distance and wanted to be adjusted farther than the quarter mile minimum.

Commissioner Strickland

suggested the minimum be amended to a mile. Commissioner Cox disagreed, that a mile wasn’t enough.

Commissioner Strickland

asked the board if they should amend to not allow with the Pahrump Regional Planning District. Commissioner Cox was in support of that.

Commissioner Jabbour

stated that he would defer to the chair on that.

Commissioner Jabbour

asked if there is room or load on the lines. Mr. Waggoner said no. Commissioner Jabbour stated most of the projects won’t move forward because it is too close to residences. Commissioner Jabbour stated that the 100 jobs that would be created would transit jobs and would not be permanent which is wonderful for the economy but it is not long-term. Commissioner Jabbour asked where the energy was going and will it help the residence of Nye County. He was torn with this but welcomed the groups to see what, where and how their projects come to be.

Mr. Waggoner

agreed about asking what the benefit is to Nye County and found the answer was tax revenue same as the benefit that comes from mining projects in Nye County. Mr. Waggoner also pointed out that NV Energy does service some of the residences in Nye County. Outside of the NV Energy project, rest would just add to the tax revenue like the mining industry does.

Commissioner Jabbour

pointed out that the benefit of the mining industry in Nye County is the jobs it has created. These jobs are permeant, and they are a positive impact to Nye County. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 31

Commissioner Strickland

stated the is no decommissioning when it comes to the mining industry. That hole will be part of the landscape forever. One is temporary and one is ongoing.

Mr. Waggoner

stated they put in the environmental safeguards to mitigate a lot of the environmental concerns with this industry that we don’t have with other industries.

Commissioner Carbone

stated that Grid Liance did extend power to the southern end of the valley. That’s going to help the growth in that area that people keep arguing for.

Commissioner Carbone

was ready to make a motion to move the item to the 17th if the board was ready.

Commissioner Cox

expressed her concern with the distance and to also extend to those outside of the Planning districts and putting it a mile outside of the maps including Beatty and Amargosa.

Commissioner Strickland

explained that there are no people outside the map and if the other townships were ok with less than a mile, developers could get a waiver from those townships.

Commissioner Cox

asked if they could us the boundary lines on the map currently in use to allow a mile so those that live on boundary lines are not deterred from extending their properties if they choose to.

Mr. Waggoner

said they can set the setback to whatever. The quarter mile was to take away the ability within the PRPD because that is where the concern came from. Beyond that, a variance process would need to be place for those that have different opinions on the development. The way the ordinance is written, it doesn’t matter if it is private property or BLM. He stated if we want something that everyone is willing to work with including the industry, there has to be some give and take and little bit of reasonableness.

Commissioner Cox

wanted the board to consider what would happen after President Trump takes office on January 20th and does away with the federal organizations and gives the land back to the state.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to continue item number 8 to December 17th and with instructions for staff to look at all the comments that were made and see how they would fit if they can or not. Seconded by Commissioner Jabbour; 5 yeas; the motion carried. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 17. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to approve, amend and approve or reject an Interlocal Agreement with Clark County, a political subdivision of the State of Nevada as well as the cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 32 North Las Vegas, Boulder City and Mesquite, the University of Nevada Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department the Southern Nevada Health District, the Clark County School District, Lincoln and Esmeralda counties, the Moapa Valley Fire Protection District and the Mount Charleston Fire Protection District for the purpose of organizing and managing the most serious, complex, and costly emergency incidents that occur in Clark, Lincoln, Nye, and Esmeralda Counties. Scott Lewis, Director of Emergency Management, spoke about the Type 3 All-Hazard Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT). Mr. Lewis stated that the goal was simple, to create a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that would dictate the responsibilities in the event that a county or a community requested deployment of the IMAT. Mr. Lewis referred to the operating plan, attached in the back-up, which addressed how the IMAT would be deployed, if needed. Mr. Lewis informed the Commissioners that nothing would happen without going before the Board of County Commissioners, for approval to engage the IMAT. Mr. Lewis further informed the Commissioners that he is the only individual, plus maybe two to three others, outside of the Clark County Proper, qualified to be a part of the IMAT. Mr. Lewis stated the chances of him being deployed to Clark County are very, very small, given they are rich in resources. Mr. Lewis mentioned events in which the IMAT had proved to be helpful locally. There being no questions from the Board, Commissioner Jabbour moved for Public Comment.

Chair Strickland

opened Public Comment. There being no one, Chair Strickland closed Public Comment.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to approve, item 17 as written. Seconded by

Commissioner Jabbour

, and carried by unanimous vote, five (5) yeas. DISTRICT ATTORNEY 16. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding a request to set a date, time and location for a Public Hearing on Nye County Bill No. 2024-12: A Bill proposing to enact Nye County Code Chapter 8.44 titled “Hazardous Substances, Materials and Wastes,” related to licensing, regulating and controlling the operations of any facility handling, processing or storing of hazardous substances materials and wastes, and requiring an application for the issuance of an Operating Permit including the submittal of an Environmental Impact Report; a Moratorium on the issuance of any Hazardous Substances, Materials and Wastes operating permit until January 1, 2026; and providing for the severability, constitutionality and effective date hereof, and other matters properly relating thereto. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 33

Commissioner Carbone

moved for Public Commnt.

Chair Strickland

opened Public Comment. There being no one, Chair Strickland closed Public Comment.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to set a time and date for a public hearing to be set for December 17, 2024 at lOam, seconded by Vice Chair Boskovich, five (5) yeas. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Ms. Larsen

advised the Commissioners to think about the community, their health, and the radio, as there would be problems when trying to communicate. Ms. Larsen stated it would cause harm to the community, and that many studies have been done showing it causes not only cancer but also additional things. Ms. Larsen informed the Commissioners that she did not want to have to deal with this and that she did not want the children to have to deal with this. Ms. Larsen again urged the Commissioners to say no or to wait until after the 20th of January. Brad Adams, Information Technology Director, addressed items brought forward. Mr. Adams spoke of the 5G network, micro cell sites and major cell sites, and the frequencies allocated by the FCC that are being repurposed for 5G. Mr. Adams noted concern with EMF, living under high tension towers, as there is potential for drawbacks and health effects. Mr. Adams stated that 5G is not significantly different, other than the way that it multiplexes the signals in order to make a higher speed network. Mr. Adams acknowledged the concerns and stated that he is aware there are a lot of different surveys and information, some supporting and some not supporting. Mr. Adams pointed out that the 5G frequencies are the same frequencies being used currently for other technologies. Mr. Adams referred to the remark about the radio and assumed by the context it was regarding the public communications radio systems. Mr. Adams informed the Commissioners that the contract does extensively cover harmonic interference, and that should there be any effect on public safety radio communications, it will be addressed and addressed timely. Tamie Pitman, in Pahrump, noted that she had a history of fixing AM, FM, SSB, UHF, and VHF radios. Ms. Pitman spoke of low-frequency waves and high-frequency waves.

Ms. Pitman

stated that the frequency waves are not good for you and that there are public health issues. Reg Destree, in Pahrump, representing Verizon Wireless, present and available to answer any questions. Mr. Destree noted that several carriers in the area already have 5G technology. Mr. Destree stated the site they have that is the primary server for the town does not reach the proposed location. Mr. Destree advised the Commissioners that the lease does not allow any interference between existing frequencies, and that the FCC licenses do not allow any interference between frequencies that are licensed.

Mr. Destree

noted that this provides a local and a federal failsafe for any issues that might come up. Mr. Destree stated having improved Verizon coverage could also help with public safety, as a possible backup if the system goes down.

Vice Chair Boskovich

noted his concern last time that he thought it needed to be located on county-owned land, which now it would be. Herman Lewis, via phone, stated that everyone knows there are significant negative health consequences from these towers. Mr. Lewis also acknowledged that the towers Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 35 are needed for communication. Mr. Lewis informed the Commissioners that he took the jump with SpaceX Starlink and it is fabulous. Mr. Lewis credited Tamie Pitman with having a lot of experience in this field, military experience. Mr. Lewis asked the Commissioners to decline until all can get a better idea of the health consequences. Tim Bohannon, in Pahrump, added to Mr. Lewis’s feedback and stated it is of importance to have a little more evidence and a little more information as to the safety aspect when analyzing this. Mr. Bohannon requested more information on the safety aspect from a technical standpoint. There being no other persons, Chair Strickland closed Public Comment.

Commissioner Carbone

commented on the complaints and concerns about it being a health issue. Commissioner Carbone stated that there are health issues every time you turn around. Commissioner Carbone suggested to those that don’t want the service to leave their phones and say they don’t need the service.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion, that the Communications Rental Agreement, Memorandum of the Tower Lease Agreement between the County and the Town of Pahrump, Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, and Nye County North Communication located at 3030 West Bell Vista, be approved, execute the contract, and funds deposited to the 10291 County Owned Building fund. Seconded by Commissioner Jabbour, carried four (4) yeas, with 1 nay (Commissioner Cox). SITTING AS THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 14. CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS These are items that Staff recommend 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. 14.1 For Possible Action Approval of the meeting minutes from the joint meeting on August 6, 2024. 14.2 For Possible Action Approval of an offer of dedication for road right of way being the entire North 40.00 feet fronting East Sage Street from NEI Home, LLC., designating East Sage Street as a Minor County Road, rejecting maintenance for the purpose of future road improvements fronting the property located at 4393 East Sage St., Amargosa Valley, NV, Assessor’s Parcel Number 019-201 -11. 14.3 For Possible Action Approval to: a. Accept the Notice of Subaward for Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) for Fiscal Year 2024 in the amount of $128,982.00 to provide assistance to very low to low-income populations, along with Assurances. No County match is required; b. Execute the Notice of Subaward; and c. Fund to 10340 Grants. 14.4 For Possible Action Approval to: Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 36 a. Accept the Federal Fiscal Year 2025 Notice of Subaward from Aging and Disability Services Division (ADSD) in the amount of $45,259.55 to provide senior transportation services in Beatty, Gabbs, Smoky Valley and Tonopah in Nye County. No County Match is required; b. Execute the Subaward; and c. Fund to 10281 Senior Nutrition. 14.5 For Possible Action Approval to: a. Accept the State of Nevada Water Conservation and Infrastructure Initiative (NWCII) Funding Agreement Amendment #1 which modifies the project description by reducing the project to replace the two most critical water mains, engineering and rehabilitation to tanks and wells, and reducing the maximum grant award amount to $1,194,000.00; and b. Execute the amendment.

Commissioner Boskovich

made a motion to approve consent agenda items 14.1-14.5; Seconded by Commissioner Carbone; 5 yeas; the motion carried. HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES 18. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to: a. Accept the Grant Agreement from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Year 2024 for Performance Period September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025 in the amount of $98,185.00 to provide tenant based rental assistance in Nye County; b. Execute the Grant Agreement; and c. Fund to 10340 Grants. Karyn Smith, director of Health and Human Services, accompanied by Jennie Martin, program manager for Health and Human Services, explained how the rapid rehousing program works. Karyn Smith stated that the rapid rehousing program, through our Health and Human service office, is moving into its fifth cycle since its beginning in spring 2020. It is funded through HUD which is the federal agency and while the program title is misleading is meant to assist clients with services so that they can secure their own leases and pay their landlords directly as rapidly as possible. Ms. Smith explained that there are two components of this agreement with the majority being the RH specific for housing stabilization but also the housing-related financial piece for domestic violence clients. For the past two years Health and Human services has facilitated reviewing and approving rents that are paid directly to landlords that are housing domestic violence individuals. Ms. Smith stated that they also worked with the VA to assist U.S. Military veterans. She explained that clients must be homeless upon entering the program, from rural Nevada, and would enter a queue after meeting with a casework and having an assessment done. The caseworker typically works with three people or families at one time and when there is an opening they ask for another referral from the queue. Clients are not fully accepted into the program until they agreed to the basic terms of the program and a place is available for them to rent which holds Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 37 the clients responsible not the county. Ms. Smith highlighted the successes of the program.

Commissioner Strickland

thanked Ms. Smith for her presentation and for her service to the county.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if the funds come directly from the organization that the grant is from.

Ms. Smith

confirmed that and explained the assessment and queue process again through HUD.

Commissioner Carbone

asked what program they go through for placement.

Ms. Martin

stated Nevada Rural Housing provides the information to them, the clients go into the queue and when there is a vacancy, they contact Nevada Rural Housing and contact their matchmaker and they provide the contacts.

Commissioner Carbone

wanted confirmation that this wasn’t going through the Coalition or other organizations.

Ms. Smith

stated the only involvement is the reimbursements submitted to HUD and the Rural Nevada Continuum of Care which is where they get the matchmakers and help with the grant application. Rural counties submit applications to Continuum of Care and they take those and submit them to HUD to get approval for the grant.

Commissioner Carbone

asks who the $38,000 that is listed in the chart goes to.

Ms. Martin

explained that about $30,000 goes to help the domestic violence clients and the remainder goes to the assistance provided to the rapid rehousing clients.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if the funds went to any specific organization.

Ms. Martin

stated that they do not go directly to any specific organization. An organization in town will case manage specifically the domestic violence clients and once the landlord is vetted they will issue a check directly to the landlord.

Ms. Smith

added that all payments are made directly to the landlord including those under the rapid rehousing.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if the landlords are vetted by somebody.

Ms. Smith

explained the vetting process of landlords.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if there is a separate fee. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 38

Ms. Smith

said per HUD there is fair market value depending on the size of the unit.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if there is a manufactured home with 3 bedrooms could 3 clients be placed there.

Ms. Martin

explained that no they would not. That kind of unit you go to a family and the fair market value would be set for that.

Commissioner Cox

asked if there was a specific list of landlords that work program works with or if clients go out and find a place.

Ms. Smith

said there is not a specific list of landlords. The rapid rehousing program clients work with a caseworker to find a place. Due to lack of the fair market value housing available there are landlords that they work more directly with than others.

Commissioner Cox

expressed concern about the conditions of the housing and the possibility of conflict between renter and landlord or renter and housemates. She would rather see individuals rent single bedroom or trailers to avoid a bad housemate situation. She doesn’t want to see the grant money go to people that are renting out rooms for $1200 a month and they’re making three times the money off it and not using that to maintain the property.

Ms. Martin

stated that they do have clients that rent a 1 bedroom or a studio that is shared with the landlord for the fair market rent values, so those values are established. The quality of home must meet the HUD quality standards which is a requirement of the grant.

Ms. Smith

reassures that Ms. Martin does go out and inspect the homes to ensure the meet the HUD guidelines.

Commissioner Boskovich

stated that if the grant could be restricted to the residents in Nye County it would be easier to support.

Commissioner Carbone

asked if the process takes care of that.

Ms. Smith

said that a name could be pulled from another rural county, they work with them and they are not moved until all barriers have been removed and they have a place of their own that they have signed a lease with. Ms. Smith explained that it would not be beneficial to move someone down here to be homeless. If a client does not wish to move, they would go back into the queue and wait for an opening in their county. In order to fall under Nye County’s grant, they would have to become a Nye county and be from rural Nevada to even be put in the queue.

Commissioner Cox

asks who pays to move the ones from other counties that move to Nye. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 39

Ms. Smith

states that the resident entering in the program would pay for their move. Only 2 in the past 4 years have moved from another county and they were responsible for paying for their move.

Commissioner Jabbour

asked if it was correct that of the 9 individuals mentioned 2 were homeless veterans.

Ms. Martin

confirmed 2 were veterans.

Commissioner Jabbour

suggested reaching out to the veteran services available in Pahrump to make them aware of this program to give more access to the homeless veterans in the area.

Ms. Smith

stated that they do already work closely with the veteran services and advertise their programs to other different services throughout the county to get referrals to help everyone, not just one specific group.

Commissioner Strickland

opened the item for public comment. Carolene Logue spoke to the fact that this was a safety net that prevents people from becoming homeless. She spoke in support of the program and said the more it continues the grow the greater the positive impact it will have on the community. She stated that we should do more as a community to help those that are homeless instead of putting them down when they did not choose it. Ms. Logue again spoke in support of the program as it is something that will make a difference. Linda Clark spoke on her past experiences working with housing programs in California. She stated that she did not want to see the program grow because it is already out of hand. She asked is this was the same program that’s listed in the backup where it tells about all the stuff they pay for including moving costs, food, and travel. She thought she heard one of the presenters say that they only pay for moving costs but the program in the backup talks about the stuff that they’re going to pay for. Ms. Clark asked where are they finding affordable housing. Ms. Clark also stated that they do have rules and regulations they must follow. You can’t have a three bedroom if you qualify for it, then rent out rooms, you’ll lose your housing voucher and be disqualified for the programs so that should not be encouraged. She stated that every community in the United States needs affordable housing and it should be advertised if you know where it is at. Tim Bohan non shared a story about an experience he had hiring someone who was homeless. He highlighted the importance of assistance programs and that this one was designed to benefit those in the State. He stated that this program gets them transitioned as quickly as possible from being homeless to being fully productive. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 40 Laura Larsen spoke about what was said on this matter in a past meeting and that they said they take people from other places and if they’re not happy here they go in the back of the queue. She stated if a person wanted to sue the county taxpayers would be responsible for legal fees. She asked that this be pushed off to a later time. Ms. Larsen expressed her concern with the aid going to those that are coming from California and not local. She inquired about what the $6800 administration fee goes towards. Ms. Larsen again asked that this item gets set aside to have more time to look into it. Karen Waldman stated that the definition of a safety net is to catch someone before they fall. A safety net wouldn’t apply if they are already homeless. She expressed her concern about clients having to be willing to be Nye county residents and asked why they are in the queue here if they are not a resident which is a HUD issue. She objected to having county funds pay for people who do not live here and are just waiting to come here to use county funds. Ms. Waldman stated her opposition. Beth Borysewich stated that this item and item 14.3 are similar. She stated that she understood this item to be for Health and Human Services handling rental assistance for people that are homeless. Ms. Borysewich shared that she thought we should invest more in Nye County assisting individuals instead of using outside companies. William Lovegren stated that he doesn’t have a problem with helping our local veterans and those in the community that are homeless. He expressed his concern with other communities putting a ban or ordinance on people being homeless that pushes them to the rural areas where they are then brought here or other places where they have money. He stated that allowing this would create a crutch for these people. Mr. Lovegren stated that the backup documents did mention U-Hauls and other moving equipment and asked where the money was coming from for that equipment. He reiterated that there is not enough low-income housing to support this. Tamie Pitman stated that she knows of two other programs that do the same thing, AmeriCorps and the veterans program, so there is duplication. She asked what portion of the $98,00 goes to the individuals versus salaries and asked where they are getting their salaries from. Ms. Pitman also expressed her concern with moving people from other counties here, when there is already a lack of housing and jobs for the ones already here. She was disappointed in society due to the lack of families caring for each other. Doug Knowles spoke in support for this item, citing that it is run through the Health and Human Services office of Nye County, which gives the county control over it compared to other programs that the county does not have control over.

Commissioner Strickland

closed public comment.

Commissioner Jabbour

stated that he was recently made aware of 219 homeless children that are in the Nye County School system. Those that qualify for 3 or 4 bedroom homes are the families that have children and this program is working to find Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 41 these homes to get those families with children off the streets. Commissioner Jabbour expressed his support for this program to help the children by helping the parents. Comm issioner Strickland explained that Health and Human Services is asking the board to support a grant that had been around for four years and this would by the fifth.

Commissioner Carbone

stated that part of the grant does goes to them to maintain the grant.

Ms. Smith

explained where their salaries and the salaries of caseworks come from and other administrative costs. Ms. Smith explained, for the public, that there are things in the grant that they could apply for, like transportation, that they chose not to apply for. They are mainly using this grant to help with housing and utilities.

Commissioner Carbone

asked again about the multiple rooms in one home where each person is paying rent and the landlord is the owner of the property.

Ms. Martin

stated that they do not work with those properties. They do hear about them but do not have any clients in that circumstance. All single-family homes go to single families, or an individual goes to a one-bedroom apartment.

Commissioner Boskovich

assumed the chair of the board.

Commissioner Strickland

moved to accept the grant from U.S. Department of Housing as written, execute the grant, and fund to 1040 grants; seconded by Commissioner Jabbour; 5 yeas.

Commissioner Strickland

assumed the chair of the board. PLANNINGIBUILDINGICODE COMPLIANCE

Commissioner Jabbour

inquiries regarding the impact fees. Brett Waggoner clarifies they are not impact fees they are application fees.

Commissioner Carbone

made a motion to adopt resolution 2024-09; seconded by

Commissioner Boskovich

; 5 yeas. DISTRICT ATTORNEY Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 42 15. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to establish a reasonable time for Lesly Despeigne and Jean Francois Despeigne who are the property owners of 6300 N. Orcas Avenue, Pahrump, NV. Assessor’s Parcel Number 030- 131 -35 to repair, abate or remove a public nuisance consisting of an unsafe building, unpermitted construction, construction material and debris, all of which pose a public health and safety hazard. Brad Richardson states it was previously determined this property constituted a nuisance and part of the process is to allow the property owner a reasonable time to abate the nuisance. If they don’t then our office can proceed to go forward with an action in district court. The property owner had been given a substantial amount of time to address the situation; they were aware of the previous agenda where it was constituted a nuisance; he recommends no more than 30 days in his opinion. Brett Waggoner disagrees; thought they had a reasonable amount of time and wouldn’t give them more than 15 days.

Commissioner Jabbour

inquiries about how long it took to build and erect this unpermitted structure. Brett Waggoner states they have been working with this for over six months; fell once and put up again. Brad Richardson states that it is a consideration; and he spoke with Brett about the possibility that reasonableness considers the possibility of this causing harm to the public so the timeframe could be shortened.

Commissioner Carbone

motions to move to establish a timeframe for the action to be taken for this property 030-131-35 to be completed by 12/23; seconded by

Commissioner Boskovich

; 5 yeas. PUBLIC PETITIONER

Commissioner Carbone

motions to approve the proclamation P2024-06; seconded by

Commissioner Jabbour

; 5 yeas. PUBLIC WORKS 21. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation to approve to enter into a Road Use and Damage Remediation Agreement with T&D Power Incorporated for Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 43 the purpose of utilizing East Sage Street within Nye County for construction traffic in association with power transmission line projects. Tom Boiling states this is just a standard road damage remediation agreement for a company that is potentially building a power line, and they want to utilize a road in Amargosa Valley, and they will have to remediate it whenever they’re done.

Commissioner Carbone

motions to approve as written; seconded by Commissioner Jabbour; 5 yeas. SITTING AS THE NYE COUNTY BOARD OF HIGHWAY COMMISSIONERS 13. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding the General Road Report by the Public Works Director on General Road Maintenance, Gravel Road Maintenance, Asphalt Patching, Weed Mowing, and direction regarding public works projects.

Commissioner Carbone

assumed the highway chair. Beau Gott provided updates with road repairs and patching crews up north and down south. Gravel road maintenance and tree removal. Shouldering will occur in the winter months.

Commissioner Ccx

expresses her concerns about Point Street and the numerous potholes. On Deerskin the asphalt is coming out of the shoulders. The corner of Deerskin and Unicorn needs some attention, that’s the one that keeps re-holing itself. Inquiries about filling these potholes with the dura patcher and the excess gravel not going down so the problem is you’re driving down the road and it’s throwing the gravel back and forth all over the place.

Commissioner Carbone

states you guys can look at that and find out what things going on there because it doesn’t sound right, but Beau Gott states they did send a sweeper through after dura patcher, but the traffic will loosen some rocks that were not fully embedded. William Lovegren noticed that the road department did from Sandy Lane all the way to Blue Ridge on Kellogg there and grounded up and then put like oil spill on it and then put some marks on it. Is that how they are going to leave that or is it going to get repaved? On Sandy and Bridger there’s one of your traffic a frame that’s been sitting there with a cone for a while and it looks like water, or something is underneath the road. The homeowners had shown a picture of it and took a tape measure and stuck it underneath the road and I don’t know if it’s eroded from water or what it’s been done so I’m just making that aware of both things because I live in that area. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 44 Laura Larsen outlines a few streets that I need some attention. Blagg St. which is north of Bell Vista, Lola in between Irene and Wilson, and on Bryant which is by Pahrump Valley Blvd. and Bryant all the way down that street in between Vicky Anne. You must really try to dodge those potholes all the way down that street so those need some attention. On Bryant you got some really bad kind of roads going on and then also pass Leslie going towards Simpkins in that area you got some issues there. I thought I’d bring those to your attention thank you very much.

Commissioner Cox

states two more roads that need attention, one is Elizabeth and Thousandaire.

Commissioner Carbone

wants to set up a meeting with John about this report. Debra assumed chair. 10. 10:00 a.m. For Possible Action Public Hearing, discussion and — — deliberation to adopt, amend and adopt, or reject Nye County Bill No.2024-Il: A Bill proposing to amend Nye County Code Title 3, titled Revenue and Finance, Chapter 3.04, titled Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax, Section 3.04.020. titled Definitions by amending Motor Vehicle Fuel, and amending Section 3.04.100, titled Imposition and Rate; Motor Vehicle Fuel by imposing a five cent ($0.05) per gallon excise tax on diesel fuel and providing for the severability, constitutionality and effective date thereof; and other matters properly relating thereto. Tom Boiling gives a little background to the six public workshops that were held for the diesel tax back in 2021-2022. A question was put on the ballot in June of this year in the primary and it was not approved. Both budget-increasing items were approved and outlines that there are 2400 requests in the last two years, and they have only been able to rectify 711 of them. They exhaust all their funding every year doing maintenance, pothole patching, weeds and mowing. Mr. Boiling reviews the funds it costs every year to provide these services and repairs. He states there is a rainy-day fund, but it is for catastrophic events including major storms and flooding. This is why we need to approve this we desperately need funding or were going to have roads that will continue to disintegrate, and the maintenance requests are going to go up and we’re not going to be able to handle them we already don’t not even by 1/3.

Commissioner Carbone

states the people voted no and want the crappy roads, then they can have the crappy roads. Tom Boiling outlines how the tax breakdown works and states they would get 5 cents a gallon for every truck that fills up on the 95 or anywhere in town if they buy on road fuel.

Commissioner Cox

states she voted yes and outlines the concerns she has heard from people who voted no. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 45

Commissioner Carbone

states he heard the same concerns including making cuts to the county to pay for the roads.

Commissioner Jabbour

clarifies when this first came before the board and

Commissioner Boskovich

was not seated at that time it was Commissioner Blundo the chair of the RTC at the time. We were accused of taxation without representation, which was false. When you held the presentation workshops people understood but the verbiage on the ballot confused them. I apologize for the situation that we’re in, but I can’t go against what most of the people voted on. When can we bring this back through the next cycle to go over it again so we can respectfully educate the people of the county to say this is what we need, and this is why we need it. Tom Boiling states not until the next primary and notes that fewer people vote in the primary. He addresses the issues regarding grants and why they need sustainable income.

Commissioner Cox

outlines the success she has had with grants for rural areas with low income. Beth Borysewich her question is how much money we give to the roads people for their budget. One of the things I want to know is the $5,000,000 that we took earlier this year has been paid back because those funds could be sent over to the roads. Also, we have gotten millions and millions and millions of dollars in ARPA money and that is supposed to be used to help improve the lives of the people in town. The town needs to figure out what we want to be here, do we want to take care of our infrastructure, do we want to be a tourism town or do we want to just be rural. I put in a request 3 1/2 years ago when there was that bad rain, and it washed out the right of way by my driveway and I’ve even had somebody come out and look at it and still hasn’t been taken care of. There’s just not good follow-up and not good management so I’d like to see the budget of this department. Maryan Hoilis asks that her comments be part of the record. Let’s separate the process from the project. We the people voted not just for this board or your staff but we the people voted not on next door or Facebook or in public comment or in an e-mail but on a ballot. You felt that the issue should be voted on by the people and therefore have the question placed as a ballot measure. We appreciated that opportunity and we respected your recognition of our position. We voted, we said no but someone here had no respect for that democratic process. We would do it who has denied the voice of the people. I’ve spoken before of the public’s believing that an issue or an appeal was settled but then outcomes a county toolbox. Waivers extensions specialist’s temporary that. But now there is a new item in that toolbox, and it is a big screw, and it has we the people’s name on. This betrayal of trust and disrespect for the voice of your constituents as well as the sanctity of a vote is unconscionable. This may be a defining moment as we the people see you either protect and respect our vote our no vote our voice or we witnessed the most egregious use of the newest tool in your toolbox. Choose carefully, you will not be able to overturn our vote when your term is up, and we decide if you get Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 46 another term. It won’t mafter then who pushed for this agenda item to resurrect imposing this tax, but your vote here today will. Shame on anyone disrespecting the voice of the people thank you. Laura Larsen says sorry to Mr. Boiling for what you are going through my heart goes out to you. When the people vote for something, everybody here should honor it. I used to deal with diesel fuel whenever you fill up that diesel truck there is tax that goes to the roads, and it goes into a fund. That tax you are supposed to get a percentage of it because of how much they’re coming into our roads and damaging our highways. This is something that you need to talk to Lombardo about because it is from the state and the state is supposed to give us our money for our roads. Somebody needs to get in touch with someone to get something towards this county of anything that is bringing brought in from their corporations that they must pay a tax to drive on our roads. Karen Waldman requesting this part of the public record. Thank you, Commissioner Jabbour, understanding the vote of the people and pointing that out. I’d like to also point this out by your own wording from the primary ballot a yes vote would allow Nye County to enact an ordinance, and a no vote would prohibit Nye County from enacting an ordinance to impose an additional $0.05 per gallon tax on diesel fuel. Let me just say that again a no vote would prohibit Nye County from enacting such an ordinance. As you noted over 7500 people voted against it, that’s more than twice the numbers that voted for it. Quite frankly it sends chills down our spines at the DCCC would even consider ignoring this vote and in case that wasn’t enough of a message send you, during the recent general election a rousing 16,499 voters said no to your increase in sales tax for funding the roads. That amount until almost 63% that said absolutely not. What do you suppose that is, could it possibly be due to the fact that a large portion of the citizens in Nye County, I don’t think you spend the money you already have as wisely as you should. Could it be that utilizing a priority system that favors pet projects of some of the members of the Commission instead of meeting the needs of assistance here make some heat up. For the record cutting things out doesn’t mean cutting the treasurer, recorder, or other officers. Why are you constantly looking to spend money on things we can live without instead of funding our roads? Why aren’t you directing the grant administrators to look for grants that fund infrastructure instead of welfare projects. Grants were discussed earlier but dismissed its still money you can use. Where are your priorities/ We expect better from you. County governments never seem to have enough revenue and unlike the taxpayers being unable to manage their budgets without asking for more money. Budgets of the taxpayers don’t get to magically increase by having more money appear. If there is a finite amount of money county departments will have to learn to live within their means and stop sending other projects until the roads get the priority you claim they need, thank you. William Lovegren says I’m sorry you have to go through this Mr. Boiling, but the problem is that we have an issue here. We don’t have red dye diesel available in Pahrump so tractors and stuff can’t do that. Mr. Lovegren states that he was a commercial driver for many years and recommended looking into the IFTA tax because anytime they come in any of the states they have to pay taxes on every mile that’s driven on every road. He Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 47 stated how the diesel fuel tax would affect him since he does have 2 diesel vehicles that are used for hauling and for trips out of town. He stated that the board has to find another way, with the other tax being shot down, he recommended an internal audit to find where the money can be appropriated from for this. It shouldn’t fall on the taxpayers. Sharon Cruise stated that she understood the need and cost for repairs but asked that the quality of the products currently being used be reviewed to find products that would last longer. Linda Clark stated that she thought that part of the issues that we had to deal with for past 3 or 4 years were just the economy in general that causes people to not want to spend money. She stated that she did vote for this because she knew how badly the town needed road improvements, which is not something she would normally vote for since she feels taxes are overused. Ms. Clark asked about Mr. Hafen’s involvement in the community since she has never met him, but why are we not using him to get funding from the state. Doug Knowles stated the community are the ones buy diesel in town, we have no truck stop in town and we are getting no benefit from the diesel traffic that’s on our roads because they do not get their gas here. He stated that is why he had a problem with this bill. He also stated that you have to drive to Las Vegas to get diesel for off road diesel. He asked if we are funding the whole road department with gasoline taxes and where are the other monies coming from. He recommended that the other sources of revenue need to be looked at. He stated typically taxes affect the people that use the product and not the out of state trucks that do not get their gas here, this will only hurt the locals. Tami Pitman stated that she has talked about this with a lot of people coming up to the election and while everyone agreed that the roads were in deplorable conditions, nobody trusts the county to spend the money wisely. She stated that there was concern about not knowing if the money coming from the diesel tax would actually be spent on the roads. John O’Brien stated that technology is part of the problem. He said we are not taxing the electric vehicles that charge in town and maybe this problem needs to be addressed higher with state legislators or our governor. He stated that we have a large population of retired people that are on a fixed income that are against extra taxes. He reiterated that the board needs to address this higher with the state. Mr. O’Brien said that the condition of the roads are deplorable nationwide and the federal government should be involved in all states. He said this problem will not be fixed today and this is the wrong time to ask this question of the voters. Herman Lewis stated that this item is a no-win scenario as he analyzed it, being a numbers guy. He said that the people have spoken out against this item 3 times and it’s nearly impossible for the board to approve something like this. He did state that he understood that the roads need to be fixed but they need to find something to cut in Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 48 order to get the money and not go into debt. Mr. Lewis closed with restating that this is an impossible item because we need the roads but when the people spoken against it, you cannot go against the people because then we don’t have a constitutional Republic that’s democratically voted on. Tim Bohannon thanked Mr. Lewis for his comments. Mr. Bohannon asked are we saving enough money to start putting it into the roads. He stated we should look into grants for roads and infrastructure. Mr. Bohannon stated that there is concern about the real cost and how much is really needed for roads, and do we have a plan. He stated that when Director Bowling came out with a plan and presented it, more conversation with that is useful because that dialog is very important. He liked the comment about what are the state reps doing and what is happening on a national basis because this is a comprehensive problem that is not going to be solved with 1 item. He stated that we need to get the roads fixed, but prioritization is key. Carolene Logue stated that she does feel strongly about the fact that we have worked so long on our road conditions and try to find funding sources which keep getting rejected. She said that she has spoken with our legislators through letters and face to face and what she heard back was there’s no communication that’s been opened between the county and them. She stated that we need to communicate with our state and federal legislators to get help. Ms. Logue stated that while the public tends to be against help from the government through grants and other federal help, we need to open better relations on all levels to get the help we need for the roads.

Commissioner Strickland

closed public comment and called for action.

Commissioner Carbone

stated that we do have a lobbyist in DC that they communicate with a lot but they aren’t always given a good response. When he talked about cutting people within the county he wasn’t making those comments but those were comments that he was hearing from others on how to get more money, but you don’t get the services without those individuals. He expressed the importance of understanding the material costs are constantly changing and public works are always looking for new materials to use. The roads were not roads that we put here they were put here by an organization that was trying to develop this place. He stated that we’ve had to rebuilt a lot of the roads and that was money they didn’t have and when they do go to the state for funding using a portion of the diesel tax money they are told no and that money is for N DOT. Commissioner Carbone stated that he takes offense to someone saying it’s a trust issue and lack of respect, because it’s not.

Commissioner Cox

said that the people have been listening and watching just not to the right people because she has not seen a lack of respect from the people she has talked to.

Commissioner Carbone

stated to the chair they are all on the same page and that the people spoke and no action should be taken. Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 49

Commissioner Strickland

You don’t want someone to find out about a real estate transaction and be bought up underneath you?

Commissioner Carbone

exactly so there’s a there’s a lot of issues that we bring up. a person here is talking about the issues in Artesia and so on and so forth so Artesia and Mountain Falls and a few of the folks at the race track probably most people probably don’t know this but they’re looking to incorporate so they’re in the process of going through that so if you really want to know what’s going to happen to you in those areas it’s going to cost you more money and you think your taxes are going to go down? They’re going to go the opposite way so think about what you’re getting yourselves into. If in fact any of you are in Mountain Falls or Artesia just to make sure people get the information out there that you probably don’t know. There’s a surgical center that was built here and I think most people can go past it it’s over by the hospital you notice that there’s nothing happening there. Again, we try to get things to come here and get things done. Doctors rotate through here through Intermountain and all the other places on a continuous basis and the reason for that is that we don’t have facilities to take care of those individuals, including places for them to live if they want to be here for a certain period of time. That’s why they rotate, so there’s a lot of the things that were brought up in here many of the times and again because we’re going to be getting out of here soon a lot of the things that we’ve been working on may not get continued but I know some of us are already working on several items that that we’ve started and I know that commissioner Strickland is going to be taking those on and working them because they definitely need to be worked for many years down the line because it’s something that’s continuously looked at. But again, it’s really rough to leave this job and knowing that certain things aren’t going to get done because all the things that we’re working on it’s kind of hard to transfer, over some of us will probably continue working certain items I know Donna is going to work certain items and so am I but again we try to do the best we can with the limits that we have constraining within NRS;s a lot of folks don’t realize some of the things that we can’t do is because we have a law it says we can’t and sometimes we kind of bend that a little bit and we get in trouble people go ahead and they hit us with an opening meeting law violation so sometimes we can get things done and sometimes we can’t you definitely want to make sure I finished my statement to you Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 55 because you asked the question and I tried to get as much information out as I can to those individuals.

Commissioner Cox

there’s been statements made here several times and on Facebook and other media things that Nye county is broke totally broke to the point we’ve had to borrow all kinds of money so can I ask you just how broke we are do we have any money at all how are we paying staff how are we operating would you mind just addressing that quickly. Helen Bae-. so we pull our cash report from all of our funds every day sometimes multiple times a day to monitor our Ins and outs of our cash and in our general fund which is our operating fund today as of today we have $8.4 million of that 8.4 there is the $5.78 million that was loaned from grants through the inter fund loan that was made on April 2nd of this year that will be paid back and has to be paid back by April of next year because it’s a one year intra fund loan and we plan to pay that back as soon as possible most likely by next month we will have the cash flow to do so and we did have to borrow that because we have a three month delay in receiving our year end revenues for sales tax and that is several million $ that we do not get until August September October that we cannot actually put on our books as a cash basis and so we needed that operating cash to float for those three months until the cash gets receded in from the state for our sales tax. We’re not broke but I would say that we are very conservative because we do not have a fund balance like we used to when we had more revenue through mining revenue and we’ve had to have many expenditures for capital improvement and we used to have a healthy fund balance in our capital projects funds and now we do not so we have to be very frugal and watch our cash flow.

Commissioner Cox

Can you tell me how much money we have in investments? Last she heard it was $167 million so the county was not going broke, have money,

Commissioner Strickland

asked for an agenda item to loan ourselves $12 million from the investments for roads

Commissioner Cox-town

board it was brought up to maybe we should have another town board. We are not only a county Commission we are a town board and by taking over the town board, which the people voted on, they voted out the town board and they voted what we got here we save almost half a million $ a year and I believe it was like what 2013 two 1023 so we’re into almost 12 years of being without a town board at saving a half a million $ a year because most of that money was going to lawyers we weren’t getting anything back out of it and that was brought about because number one they took our freedom of speech away from us at the meetings. we were sitting on that side they were sitting on this side and all of a sudden and if anybody tells you anything different it’s not true because we had a little debate over the fact that they didn’t care for the fact that we stood up in the position you’re standing up today and had freedom of speech and so they decided that we were not going to have any more public comment and that was it that was done that a petition and that was and the people voted it out and you know they sometimes were their own worst enemies so that one’s covered um Board of County Commissioners Minutes — 12/03/2024 Page 56 the project that the chamber wanted to bring forth I think that that would that would probably be able to be funded they need to fund that somehow through ARPA or something yeah they want you know they’re coming here and they’re not saying oh we just want to have this committee they’re wanting the money to do it with so they need to apply for a grant apparently and that would be take care of that if we have any money left in ARPA I’m not sure but whatever project they would fall under incorporations always interesting the point is I don’t know how many he mentioned in corporation but there’s some committees that only wants to incorporate half of parents they only want the half that’s going to be where all the new development is somewhere around the area of the fairgrounds and the Speedway and then pick up all the new stuff that’s coming in which is fine if that’s what they want but they’re going to leave the county in a spot so not only will they have higher taxes everybody here will have higher taxes because we have to make up for the taxes so if it comes to that I’m sure you’ll have a lot to say about it and you’ll do some studying and express your opinion and i think I’ve covered everything that was brought to our attention.

Commissioner Jabbour

thank you Chair, Commissioner Cox the reason I was chuckling is you said the lights aren’t going out tomorrow, but they are going out tonight as soon as we’re finished.

Commissioner Strickland

adjourned the meeting. APPROVED this ATTEST: ailu1 Of , 2024. NyCRnj I am requesting this to be part of the public record. I’d (ike to know just what you think your job is to protect your citizens from all of the. countless entities that understand how easy it is to slip something by you. It seems that you are more REACTIVE than PROACTIVE on many issues. Take the homeless shelter that you constantly claim that the county has “no involvement” with. Are you aware that our neighboring county of Clark is actively seeking solutions and locations to make their faiLed sociaL experiment of a homeLess industry disappear? Is there a consortium of departments in Clark that are pooling resources to “fix” their problems? Are you aware that the Governor’s Office of Economic Development has a $75-$1 00 milLion dollar project to award for ONE participant for a homeless project? What part does the powerfuL gaming industry have in all of this? Do you think they want to protect their interests by cleaning up the mess thatthe city and county made bythinkingthey could fund their way out of the homeless situation? Would this same powerfuL gaming industry be witlingto help fund a homeless shelter compLex somewhere far enough outside of Vegas to make it prohibitive for the individuals who wilt be bussed there to return? Could that location be the homeless shelter and soup kitchen promoted by Kathie McKenna and the CoaLition? What steps are YOU taking to make sure that this doesn’t happen? Where is our ordinance governing not just vagrancy and homeless in the public areas such as parks, but homeless shelters altogether such as how close should they be to neighborhoods, schools, businesses? Impacts to our Education system, Water, Traffic, Community, Pubjib Safety, Medical? I have written 138 questions we have about what things the shelter would need to be addressing. I have emailed each of you a copy, along with the COED information. If you haven’t read it yet, please do so, and then tell me that you think the county would have “no involvement.” And before we get the usual “shaming” of hardened hearts about homeless individuals, please ask all of the nonprofits requesting our taxpayer dollars just how much they pay out for overhead including salaries and the cleverly hidden “consu(tant”fees. Exhibit 1 The Coalition received aLmost $5 million in grants along with a Limited amount of tundraising in 2022— their IRS 990 verifies this. My question is always, where are these dollars going? How many people couLd be heLped by the $5 million instead of the• individuals profiting from this? What exactly is the profit of a 40-acre homeless shelter industry? Before you willingly or unwillingly aid and abet the Las Vegas and Clark County entities from using us as patsies for their own problems they created, please do somethingHoW— you simply cannot sit and do nothingwith your heads in the sand if you trulywant to stop this. If youdon’t, it will then be YOUR turn to figure out who you can pass this problem onto. Don’t worry. You can increase taxes with what tax base is Left that hasn’t fled in disgust. Karen Waldman BOCC meeting 120324 First PubLic Comments 2 am requesting this to be made part of the public record. I heard a Lot about “responsible” everything in the supporters’ comments. I’d Like to ask just how far this leveL of responsibility reaches. Is there something in the ordinance that protects the County against the costs incurred by the projects when the developer is long gone? Who pays for it to be decommissioned if it’s decades down the road when that happens? How about panels that need replacing and become damaged and an eyesore because they are no longer working and the operators are gone? We have seen this happen with various solar panel companies that show up to sell the paneLs and claim theywilL maintain them but then poof! They are gone. I know its not the same but it is a concern especially with such huge projects. Is there a bond that can follow the lifetime of the project so we aren’t left in a situation where it’s cheaper for a developer or operator to walk away than to return the land back to its original state? What happens when there’s a new type of renewable energy that doesn’t require thousands and thousands of acres will we be left with a bLight of solar panel farms that no one is responsible for mediating? Is there a requirement to return the land to the original form? Please make sure that in the tong-term goals of this ordinance we truly look Longterm. Karen WaLdman 60CC 120324 Agenda Item 8 Exhibit 2