June 21, 2022

Mr. Goedhart

mentioned the “impaired” water from the Nevada Test Site amounts to tens of billions of dollars of damage to Nye County resources.

Mr. Lach

suggested the next meeting be set for the Budget Workshop. Mr.Goedhart mentioned he may be traveling during the next meeting of the water board. Discussion waivered to the appointments of future members to the water board.

Mr. Holden

asked what the purpose of the workshop would be. To which Mr. Lach explained that the tentative budget was basically composed of placeholders and that the workshop would provide the board an opportunity to examine what monies have been spent in the past and how the board would move forward. No vote was called for or taken on the item.

Mr. Goedhart

asked if resolution No. 2022-19 was included as backup. Mrs. Williams noted that it was not included as backup. The Nye County Water District General Manager Daniel Weeks explained that he had sponsored the item as a way for liaison Strickland to explain why the county had opted not to pay the bill. The manager went on to mention that the cooperation of Division of Water Recourses was vital to his office’s functioning. Nye County Commissioner and Nye County Water District liaison Debra Strickland explained that the bill was issued pursuant to NRS 534.040 which she said outlined that the county must pay the bill. Mrs. Strickland went on to support prior public comment that water users should bear the financial burden, not every property owner. Strickland further stated that not paying the bill “would not stand up” and that the water board should be aware that a legal battle over the matter was possible in the near future.

Mr. Lach

asked if the county had been paying the bill for the past 15 years to which the General Manager responded that the bill is passed on to property owners as a line on their annual tax bills. Mr. Lach confirmed that the monies collect should be sitting with the Nye County Treasures Office.

Mrs. Williams

noted the State described the fee as an “Assessment” in their letter but that the tax bill listed the impostion as “Tax.” Mrs. Williams also mentioned that there were still many questions surrounding the matter. Nye County Commissioner and Nye County Water District liaison Debra Strickland explained that the bill was for the management of the Basin #162 not just the oversight of water purveyors. Strickland suggested the board consider the issue as one to use its single Bill Draft Request to the Nevada Legislature.

Mr. Lach

asked Strickland how the county’s vote went. Her answer was 5-0 to not pay the bill. Nye County Commission Chairman Frank Carbone entered the meeting to make comment. He stated, “Yes it was a 5-0 vote. And the reason for the 5-0 vote was that we believe that purveyors need to be paying for the water issues. The owners of the 40,000 plus lots with no water movement are going to be paying for this activity. Why? Nobody else within the county does that, just in Pahrump. What we are doing is, we are challenging the State Engineer, asking when he can come visit us and talk about the subject. The key here is what do they really want to go do? What do you guys really want to do? Do we want to make this right or do want to keep on paying this bill that we shouldn’t be paying? Why are we putting this on the back of property owners? It should be on the people who own water rights.” 4 Page 4 June 21, 2022

Mr. Lach

asked Nye County Commission Chairman Frank Carbone if the monies for the bill had already been collected to which Carbone replied “Yes.” Mr. Lach stated that not paying the bill does not make a lot of sense as the county was not going to refund the $2.65 to each property owner. He suggested that confronting the state while we were trying to work with them on important issues was not productive. He recommended that the Water Board suggest that the Nye County Commission pay the outstanding bill for now and that we move forward with changes in the way the bill is assessed.” Nye County Commission Chairman Frank Carbone asked the board to support the commission on the matter.

Mrs. Williams

suggested that the County needs to pay the bill for this year but that the Department of Water Recourses needs to come before the commission to explain things.

Mr. Goedhart

asked Nye County Commission Chairman Frank Carbone if the utility companies in Pahrump were paying a portion of this fee as it was assessed on a per parcel basis. Nye County Commission Chairman Frank Carbone responded, “You are hitting on some of the questions that we want to have answered.”

Mr. Lach

recommended that the General Manger reach out to the Division of water resources to explain that the board is looking for a way to pay this bill and is exploring how to pay the bill and to request the Division come before the board or the commission so they can discuss the matter to prevent to bill not being paid moving forward.

Mr. Lach

motioned to change the Mission Statement as written.

Mr. Goedhart

seconded the motion. The vote was 4-0 to approve the new Mission Statement as: “Protect, provide and preserve the water resources of Nye County.”

Mr. Lach

asked the General Manager about previous work and deliverables from the previous legal firm. Weeks responded that the contract had expired and that the firm had left a large deposit of paper deliverables which had not yet been processed.

Mr. Lach

specified that he would like to see a legal firm that had experience with water law litigation as well as contract law.

Mrs. Williams

directed the General Manger to move forward with seeking a new legal firm for the Nye County Water District Governing Board.

Mr. Holden

stated that the item was one of his ideas and that he wanted to understand what was happening with the companies’ water rights and how much development could be expected.

Mr. Lach

stated that the Utilities Companies had banked water so they did not have show proof of beneficial use. He went on to explain that the banking measure helped to save water by allowing rights holders to not be forced to pump water for meter readings alone.

Mr. Lach

mentioned that he would like the Board to be able to have certain questions answered by the companies before they appear in a meeting so the board would know that their questions could be answered. He went on to question if the water rights that were banked with utility companies were subjected to a 3-1 relinquishment.

Mr. Holden

suggested that the board members supply the General manager with questions for the Utility companies to answer and return with those question as an action item to be adopted by the board in a future meeting.

Mr. Lach

motioned to have each Board Member send questions to the General Manager which they would like to have answered by the Utilities. The Manager would then compile the list to eliminate duplicates and possibly get one company to “show up” at the July meeting of the Nye County Water District Governing Board.

Mr. Holden

second the motion. The vote was 4-0 to approve.

Mr. Holden

stated that he had asked that this item be included on the agenda because of a substantial rate increase that had recently been passed. Mr. Holden suggested that the water board send a letter to the Public Utility Commission commenting on the increase indicating that the board feels the rate structure should emphasize water conservation and penalize heavy users more than average users proportionally.

Mr. Goedhart

noted that the agenda item had been presented in a discussion only format that did not allow for action by the board. Nye County Commissioner and Nye County Water District liaison Debra Strickland clarified that the board could give direction to the General manager to compose a draft letter to the PUC.

Mrs. Williams

questioned if the item and discussion had drifted into matters beyond the purview of the board. She also stated that efforts to influence the process the PUC uses may be a waste of the board’s and staff’s time.

Mr. Goedhart

stated that he could support a suggestive letter that encouragers the PUC to support conservation. No vote was called for or taken on the item.

Mr. Holden

motioned to hire General manager Daniel Weeks for the next fiscal year.

Mr. Goedhart

made the second for discussion. The vote was 4-0 to approve.

Mr. Goedhart

noted that the action item as posted did not include information on the Amargosa petition letter. Nye County resident John Bosta recommended that the board request that the state engineer extend the deadline (July 5th) for public comment on Order #1330. He went on to claim that the order could impact Pahrump and that there was a “40-mile-radius” from Death Valley. Nye County resident Victor Fuentes stated that Fish and Wildlife were diverting water away from Devils Hole and into California. He said that he did not understand why they were being allowed to send Nevada’s water in California.

Mr. Goedhart

mentioned the Death Valley Regional Flow Model and stated that the state was attempting to combine many Basins into one “Super-Basin.” He went on to ask that the General Manger request that the State Engineer hold open the public comment for another 30 days for public comment.

Mr. Goedhart

made a motion to direct the General Manager to request the State Engineer make an appearance before the water board to explain the Order (#1330). He further stated that the board would provide the General Manager with a list of questions to be answered by the State Engineer prior to the meeting being set.

Mr. Holden

made the second. The vote was 4-0 to approve. Following the vote, Mr. Holden questioned the length of time needed for the extension of public comment. Discussion lead to the consensus that a 90 day extension be requested by the General Manager.

Mr. Lach

described the over allocation of water rights in Basin #162 as the “Elephant in the Room.”

Mr. Goedhart

mentioned that as paper water rights were sold off that at some point in the future there would no longer be water rights to purchase in order to develop new homes in Pahrump. He went on to mention that many property owners may be facing a situation where they would be forced to haul water to their homes.

Mrs. Williams

closed the item without further direction. 8 Page 8 June 21, 2022

Mr. Goedhart

stated that he was 100% in support of the couple’s fight with the federal government.

Mr. Goedhart

motioned that the board put their weight in the form of a letter into petitioning State Engineer Adam Sullivan to put this matter high on his office’s priorities.

Mr. Lach

made the seconded the motion. Nye County Commissioner and Nye County Water District liaison Debra Strickland interjected to state that the Nye County Commission had been contacted by the Office of the State Engineer to relay that they had in fact prioritized the matter and that he was meeting with staff to discuss the Fuentes’ situation. The vote was 4-0 to approve.

Mrs. Williams

suggested that the time for the meeting in July be set for 10:30 a.m. No vote was called for or taken on the item.