August 31, 2020

Commissioner Strickland

stated that this morning, Nye County (Board of County Commissioners) received a warning from the Department of Business & Industry (OSHA), reading that employer (Nye County) is not complying with the Governor’s COVID 19 mandate specifically, in regards to employees wearing face masks during Commission meetings. She reminded everyone present to keep their face masks on for the duration of today’s meeting.

Commissioner Strickland

disclosed in addition to this Board’s liaison and a County Commissioner, she is also the owner of Strickland Construction, T&M Group Realty and Lakeside Storage. She has been a licensed well drilling, pump setting, septic contractor as well as a broker who brokers water rights for 26 years. She will not be voting on items during this meeting. Although she will be able to influence this Board, she does not find this to be a conflict of interest. It is her hope that her knowledge base is of value.

Commissioner Strickland

stated that she believes we should be requiring the utility districts to assign water rights to the lots that are tariffed. Oz provided background on the efforts he was aware of in which the private utilities have made in this process. Darrell Lacy, Director of Natural Resources for Nye County also complimented Walt on his efforts. He stated that Nye County is working towards “smart growth”. Subdivision maps have more layers of review versus parcel maps. Another area of focus is the significant amount of vacant lots that are undevelopable. Understanding the difference between gallons used per capita and residential usage is critical. Knowing the importance of how much water a person actually uses (inside of home and outside of home-parks,etc.) is also key. Board member Bill Knecht reiterated the importance of understanding and adhering to the existing Groundwater Management Plan. Board member Helene Williams stated her frustration as the presentation was quite complicated, especially for those who are not engineers. The focus should be on the last seven (7) pages of presentation.

Chair Dave

Hall mentioned that he spoke with John Klenke on when we might see measurable results correlating to a cloud seeding project. It was his opinion that reasonable data could be obtained after five (5) years. Board member Helene Williams strongly believes there is a cost benefit to doing the cloud seeding project over other past proposed projects. She asked presenter Frank McDonough, how much (if any) of last year’s cloud seeding produced precipitation went to Clark County. To determine that amount, he would have to run additional evaluative measures to the data. Helene also asked about the required timeframe of project. Which Frank responded, November 1- December 1 depending on proposal option. Board member Joe Westerlund clarified that project comparison cost previously presented by other board members did not consider that cloud seeding would be an annual cost. For accurate cost comparison, total cost (reoccurring each year the cloud seeding project is funded) is what should be compared to the one time capital cost of other proposed programs. Board member James Weeks fully agrees with what Oz has stated in his summation of the cloud seeding project. There are too many variable for him to get behind it.

Commissioner Strickland

stated that the next CNRWA will be meeting 9/18/20 at 10 am. Jeff Fontaine forwarded her a copy of SB250 and passed along his gratitude to Oz Wichman for his work on it. c. Staff Reports I. Oz Wichman None II. John Klenke John reported that he will be meeting with DRI on the Water Model 9/15/20. III. Christal Behrends Christal made mention that in May 2020 the call volume received by the Nye County Water District significantly increased. This was due to the upcoming on-line land auction and folks doing their due diligence to see if there was water on the parcels they were looking to acquire. There has also been a significant increase in call volumes this month (August) as a result of folks who did not do their due diligence and have purchased lots trying to acquire water / utility service. d. Projects Status Report I. Staff e. Board Liaison Reports I. Commissioner Debra Strickland f. Report from other individuals, groups and or agencies regarding water- related issues; for informational purposes only.