Good morning.

Welcome to the February third meeting of the Clark County Commission.

The first item on the agenda is public comment.

Anyone wishing to speak on an item on our agenda can come forward at this time and speak to up to three minutes.

Please state your name for the record.

With the recommended changes read into the record, I move approval of the agenda.

Thank you.

Please cast your vote.

That motion carries.

Commissioners, you can now move to the approval of your consent agenda consisting of number items 4 through 23.

Again, item five will be taken separately.

With item five taken separately, I move approval by consent agenda.

Items number 1423.

There's a motion for approval of the consent agenda.

That motion carries.

Commissioners.

Item five is to approve the task order, RPA00325051 for supplemental animal shelter district F with Tate Snyder, Kimsey Architects for SOQ number 607 190-24 for master services agreement and authorize the chief financial officer or her designee to sign the task order or take other action as appropriate.

Thank you, Manager Schiller.

I I wanted this item to be polled because I think it's important to put a little light on this.

This is a really important step to uh that this commission has made to move forward with some alternatives and to tackle overcrowding at the current existing shelter.

Uh so I just thank RPM for moving as quickly as possible.

Uh Michelle, thank you, and everybody who's had a role in getting it to this point.

I know we're all anxious to keep it moving forward.

So thank you.

And if there are no comments or questions on this item, I'll move for approval.

Motion carries.

I'll introduce the ordinance and set the public hearing for February 17th at 10 a.m.

Mr.

We can now move to the business section of your agenda.

Your next item is to identify emerging issues to be addressed by staff or by the board at future meetings.

Receive updates on the activities of the various regional boards and commissions and direct staff accordingly.

Seeing none.

Wow.

We're moving quickly today.

I'm in shock.

Uh your next item is to uh appoint one qualified individual, serve as a member of the Clark County Advisory Board to manage wildlife for a three-year term, February 6, 2026 to February 5th, 2028 from the list of the interested individuals.

Um Aaron Lifide and Ridel Danzi.

Mr.

Chair, I move to approve Aaron Lifetime.

Uh there's a motion for approval.

Please cast your vote.

The motion passes.

Commissioners, your next items to appoint four qualified individuals to serve as members of the Clark County Family Services Citizens Advisory Committee for three-year terms ending on January 2nd, 2029 from the list of the following applicants.

New applicants, Angela Cook, General Public, Tammy Malik, Child Welfare Advocate, Shannon Bilbay Axelrod, Child Welfare Advocate, and Madison Weir, private provider of mental health.

Mr.

Chair, I move to approve the four individuals listed below.

Please cast your vote.

The motion carries.

Motion for approval, please cast your vote.

Your next items to approve, adopt, and authorize the chair to sign a resolution making a finding that no increase in abilorum is anticipated for the payment.

It's all right.

Item 28 passes.

We can move on to item 29.

I'll start over.

I didn't have my screen on.

Item 29 is to approve, adopt, and authorize the chair to sign a resolution making a finding that no increase in Avalorum is anticipated for the payment of the Clark County Nevada General Obligation Limited Bond Banking Refunding Bonds, additionally secured by SNWA Pledge Revenues Series 2026 in the maximum principal amount of 1077 million one seven hundred and seventy-seven million 140,000 for the term thereof requesting the debt management convention commission to convene to approve the finding.

Mr.

Chair, I move approval.

Thank you.

There's a motion for approval.

Thank you.

That motion carries.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Deputy Chief Nita Schmidt.

I am the Deputy Chief over detention services division for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

And I oversee operations at the Clark County Detention Center, the Tucker Holding Facility, and the North Valley Complex.

This report today is the biannual report that covers the conditions of confinement at the county jail facility, which includes deaths of all prisoners.

This report specifically covers the time period from 7-1 through the end of the year 1231.

Our vision for detention services division is to be the safest jail in America.

We take that very strongly.

It is something that we wrap into everything that we do.

Our mission is to set the standard for American jails, and our values for our agency are integrity, courage, accountability, respect, and excellence.

The capacity for each of our facilities is listed there.

Due to renovation of our South Tower, our capacities are adjusted a little bit because we have some floors that aren't open right now because they're undergoing some massive renovation, and I'll show you some photos of that here shortly.

Our totals for the year of 2025 for booking, we were a little over 50,000.

Releases a little over 50,000.

Our average length of stay for somebody in our facility is a little over 20 days, and our average daily population hovered around 2600.

This is a decrease.

Compared to last year, we saw about a 9% decrease in the number of total bookings, a 10% decrease in the total releases, a 3% increase in the average length of stay, and our average daily population decreased about 10%.

This is a uh a decrease that we've seen year over year.

The only time that we saw uh an increase recently was in 2023.

It was a very small increase, but our jail population has been steadily decreasing since 2019.

During the current reporting period of 7-1 through 731, we had six deaths that were associated with the Clark County Detention Center.

The demographic graphics of those deaths were uh six males, zero females.

Two of them passed away at the hospital, four in the detention center, and then we have five that are pending uh medical examiner report during this reporting period.

This is a summary of the six deaths that we had in our uh associated with our detention center.

Uh one of the deaths you'll see there says absentia.

That's noted as somebody who passed away and did not ever enter the detention center.

That was somebody who was arrested and then taken directly to the hospital where they passed away.

We uh also did not experience any suicides in our facility in 2025.

Some different projects that we've got going on right now.

Our South Tower has been under renovation for the last two years.

It's a massive renovation floor by floor.

That building was opened up in 2002, so these are massive renovations to things like plumbing uh technology to support cameras, um, technology to support different devices that we have, including things like uh Wi-Fi improvement.

Phase two has been completed.

We're waiting to populate the fifth floor, so we're moving on to the fourth floor.

We also added in to this renovation an additional medical housing unit.

This will allow us to take care of people with more medical needs because we've seen our population shift.

We get a lot more people that require detox from alcohol or substances, and so adding another medical unit to our South Tower will provide a better environment for them to be monitored more closely so that they can be safer in our facility.

Also, as part of the South Tower renovation is a renovation of our lobby.

This area is where the public enters in to do uh visits or to come in and interact with with staff to be able to place money or uh set up visitation.

The area hasn't been renovated also since 2002, so the massive renovations that are just started last week out there will bring in some different security equipment there as well as improve the access and ingress egress routes there.

Some uh more recent pictures of our other large construction project, which is the UMC hospital ward.

This is eight rooms that has a capacity of holding 10 inmates.

This is a secure location located at University Medical Center.

We're hoping to get in there in the next couple of weeks.

They're putting in furniture within the next couple of weeks to get us get us set up there.

They've uh finished all the tech that they needed in there.

This will be a huge improvement for us to be able to house people securely at the hospital as well as monitor staffing needs a little bit more closely.

And then last is just an update on our SMART unit, our specialized mental health and recovery treatment unit.

I'm sure everybody is familiar with this.

This is a program that started in June of 2024.

The goal of this program is to provide specialized mental health treatment to people who are the most uh have the most need, in that a lot of them are going to be transferring to a state medical facility that'll provide competency restoration.

They've had over 600 enrollments, um, and then over the last six months, their statistics are very strong.

They over 70% of the enrollees and the participants are over 100% medication compliant, and then 64% of the participants attended 100% of the group programming.

This is a housing unit that doesn't look like anything else in our jail.

You can see from the pictures there, it's uh the furnishings are different, the paint color is different.

It's uh a much more therapeutic environment.

We uh did receive funding to be able to continue on this program to provide this pre not competency but pre-restoration uh services there in our facility with the goal of hopefully being able to uh decrease the amount of time that somebody is sent away to Lakes or Stein to receive full competency restoration.

Commissioner Gibson.

Yes, so these are people who are in custody, and seven out of ten of them take their medicine when they're supposed to.

Um we don't do anything that there's we don't compel them to take medicine.

So it medications prescribed by the prescriber.

Um if you are in competency, which is not what happens in our facility, they do some things are different up there, but no, we don't force people to take medications without uh appropriate orders.

Assuming they have the order though.

Sure, right.

If they have the order, do you and this this is to it that they take their medicine?

Yes, sir.

So this is this is part of part of the reason why this housing unit is most effective.

Is it's not just medication compliance, it's a number of different uh pro-social individualized therapies, uh, a lot of activities that they have within that housing unit in order to encourage them to stay compliant.

If somebody is not compliant with things, then they're removed out of that location.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Commissioner McCurdy.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh just like to go back to the slide where we look at the in-custody deaths.

Um thing I noticed uh, and one question that I have is what is what type of intake assessments do we do when folks come into our facilities?

Uh, in this case, I see you know, the one person, Douglas Williams, was arrested on August 14th, and three days later he passed and was found unresponsive, and then Justin Sowell was found unresponsive as well, only after one day of being uh incarcerated.

Yes, sir.

So everybody that comes into our facility gets a fitness for confinement.

So they they come in the door, that's the first interaction that they see is with a medical provider and an EMT who determines whether or not this person is physically okay to be in our facility.

If they are determined to not be fit for confinement, then they're sent out on a medical referral.

The arresting or transporting officer will take them to a medical facility to get them cleared before bringing them back to us.

Um then once that happens, if they get them stabilized out there or they send them back, um, then we we will accept them for confinement.

Um, after they go through that initial uh medical intake, they move through uh the intake process, and then when they go over to the open booking area, they end up they they will ultimately end up seeing um nursing level staff, and then if they require additional referral over for a medical level provider.

We've made some changes in in the last few months, and particularly these changes are geared towards uh inmates who come into custody who are detoxing from drugs and alcohol.

And and our our facility is accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care for both medical and mental health services as well as the American Correctional Association.

But we went one step further.

We start um medication onboarding as soon as they come in and it's been identified.

Sometimes people don't identify that they're in a detox uh process.

Sometimes uh people have other medical conditions that we may not know about with them coming and us having a very new relationship with them coming into our facility.

So some of those things uh I think take into consideration.

Uh I think that um Mr.

Williams was we're still pending the outcome of his uh his uh coroner's report, the coroner's finding and typically uh you know that was back in August of 25, and then you know the other was in July.

Typically, how long does it take to receive the examiner's report back?

It can take a while.

Um, right now, I when I checked this morning out of uh the desks that we had last year, we are still pending six.

So we're still pending one from the first half of the year and then five from the second half of the year.

And I'd be more than happy to provide you an update with that once we get those those findings.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Any other questions for Deputy Chief?

If not, thank you, Deputy Chief Smith.

We appreciate you being here for your work.

Thank you, Mr.

Schiller.

Um Commissioners, your next item is to discuss amending Clark County liquor code to allow for relaxing the structural barrier requirement between minors and the bar andor lounge area and restaurants and taverns and direct staff accordingly.

Good morning.

Morning, Mr.

Chairman, members of the commission, advanced countless, director of business license.

So minors are allowed in in the restaurant portion of a tavern.

Uh providing there's a structural barrier that separates the bar lounge area and the restaurant area.

Staff recommending is recommending a code amendment to add language to allow for an alternative to the structural barrier requirement.

Approved by the director in a security plan.

Staff also found several um references to the structural barrier requirement and other code sections.

So staff's also recommending amendment of those codes to add the proposed language.

This recommend this uh amendment will provide for consistency across across Clark County, as the other local jurisdictions do not have the structural barrier requirement.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Um, I know this was brought to Commissioner McCurdy and my attention.

Uh this will put us in alignment with our neighboring jurisdictions as well, which I think is valuable, particularly a lot of these businesses are operating in every jurisdiction.

Um you are just here for some direction uh to move forward.

That's correct, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Yeah, I think your recommendation of adding the the language that provides an alternative uh is the direction that we should go in.

And I know there is multiple sections that we have to you know make those corrections in.

So if you can make those corrections and bring that back to us, that'd be great.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Director.

Appreciate it.

Uh item 32 has been deleted.

Uh, so that moves us to the final time set aside for public comment.

Anyone wishing to speak can come forward at this time.

Please state your name for the record, and you'll have up to three minutes.

If there are if you want to gather, there's you can form two lines here and use both microphones, which you're already doing.

Thank you and good morning.

Good morning.

Can you hear me?

Uh, my name is Barbara Wolf, uh 3204 Carbondale Street, 89135.

I am the co-founder of Indivisible Las Vegas, and I'm here today to address an issue facing all of Clark County, namely that we do not have free designated public assembly areas for large peaceful political demonstrations, and we need your help.

Umisible Las Vegas is a grassroots uh volunteer-powered civic organization.

Many of us are retirees and working to ensure that our community can safely and visibly participate in the democratic process.

We're currently facing four major challenges, and I'll just cover two for the sake of time, but I have a full set for you, each one of you.

Uh, one is um the lack of space.

Unlike most major cities, our city was not planned.

Well, we don't have a centralized public square that that can accommodate eight to ten thousand people for political assembly.

And with national mobilizations expected to grow significantly over the next three years, uh, we must address this shortage now and plan for the future.

Um I catch my breath.

Um and we have a catch 22.

If we know Kings 2, we explored closing Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Maryland Parkway.

This would have provided visibility and essential place for a safe rally.

We were informed that uh police security would cost about $20,000.

Without $20,000 on hand, uh, we instead confined our action to free public sidewalks.

So here's the paradox.

Had we paid the quoted fee, we would have received full use of the closed street and metro as our security team would have been on the sidelines.

The opposite occurred because we did not pay the fee.

We stayed on the sidelines on the streets, and Metro took over the middle of the street.

So it's it's a little frustrating.

Ideally, we want safe visible routes for marches that can converge into a single rally space for community leaders, elected officials, and other speakers.

A designated assembly area with streamlined logistics and reduce Metro's burden and enhance public safety.

We respectfully request the Clark County Board of Commissioners and to enter and enter into an open dialogue with us to identify feasible assembly places.

Allocate special event funds to help us with our endeavors.

We don't have the money, and include us in planning for the future, um, recognizing that civic mobilizations will continue and grow over the next few years.

Um we need your help.

Thank you for your time, and I'll leave a copy of our full set here.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Hi, my name's Kathy Blair, uh 5520 Aldama Road, 89122.

I also am a founder of Indivisible Las Vegas.

And uh as Barb said, uh the lack of space to assemble peacefully without uh, you know, it costing us a million dollars that we don't have is a huge problem.

We spent, I think we spend more of our time on this issue in planning things than anything else that we do, and we do a lot, uh, if anybody's uh been paying attention.

So um, you know, obviously we have a lack, I'm the treasurer as well and the fundraiser.

So uh, you know, we do have a lot lack of funding for the for things like $20,000 to close the street.

And you know, I'm curious, and then this may be a city thing, but uh at the same time that we held No Kings 2, where we were told a couple of things that were interesting.

Uh, first, they wouldn't close the streets for us, uh, but they did close the streets as Barb said, um, but wouldn't let us use them.

They wouldn't allow us to have porta potties.

So we're expecting six, eight, ten thousand people, and we request to have two porta potties on bridger uh for our folks to use, and uh, we were literally told that uh the porta potties could be used as weapons.

So let me know if you can figure out how that works.

And or that they people could store weapons.

At that event, we had one arrest, that's the only arrest we've had, and it was by a woman that was supposedly you know, uh on the same side that we are on, and because she had a stick, multiple of our safety crew told her to get rid of the stick, the police told her to get rid of the stick.

She got arrested, and I'm good with that.

You know, that's that's what should be happening.

Um, but uh, you know, it over does dozens, dozens of events that we've had.

That's the only incident that we've had, and it was very easily resolved.

Um, you know, we are we are now having weekly events that are smaller events, um, but are it's growing every week.

We see more and more people coming out, and that's uh as Barb said, that is uh telling us you know what's happening in the future as things get more volatile, uh, more people are getting angry, and they need a place to vent that anger.

Okay, and we don't want them venting that anger inappropriately.

We want them to take that energy, come out with us, and dance to the wonderful music.

You should come out, we have the best sound tracks and bubbles and dancing and chanting, um, and but all in a respectful and peaceful way.

Uh, after uh over a year now, you know, most of our folks get it.

Uh, we haven't had any problems with even people stepping in the street for months, which was a big challenge at the beginning.

People didn't understand that.

I spent a lot of time yelling at people.

Um, so you know, uh uh we we've expanded Henderson.

We now have a group that that is you know holding semi-weekly events there as well.

So it's affecting the entire county.

Um, you know, there's only two parks that accommodate the size that we need, and um they're prohibitively expensive, as Barb said, and uh not available, they're booked out a year in advance.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Good morning, commissioners, and thank you so much for giving me a moment to speak.

My name's Barbie O'Quinn.

Uh, my address is 2832 Huber Heights Drive.

Uh, my address is 2832 Huber Heights Drive, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89128.

Um, I'm here today as a volunteer with Indivisible Las Vegas and as someone who truly loves this community.

Our organization, as Kathy said, is only a year old, but in that short time we've seen something beautiful, um, people from all walks of life coming together because we believe in democracy in each other and in the future of this valley.

We're not a big organization where retirees, parents, workers, regular neighbors who care enough just to show up.

And in just one year, we've held peaceful, joyful demonstrations across the valley on the strip in the arts district in Summerland Henderson and downtown.

And every single event has been safe, respectful, and full of positive energy.

We've built strong relationships with Metro, and we're proud of the trust and uh cooperation we've created.

In fact, last time one of the Metro officers said to me, we love you guys, because we're so peaceful and happy and energetic.

Um, but as our community becomes more engaged, we're running into a challenge.

Las Vegas simply doesn't have the designated spaces for large, peaceful political gatherings.

Other major cities have civic plazas or central parks.

We don't.

As national mobilizations grow, as Barb said, this gap becomes more noticeable.

We often get only a few weeks' notice for national actions.

The only parks big enough to hold thousands of people, book out a year in advance.

And as a volunteer-run group with a tiny budget, we can't afford the high costs of street closures or security fees.

We want to do everything the right way.

Uh but right now the system makes that very difficult for small community groups.

And yet, people keep showing up.

They show up because they care, they show up because they believe their voices matter.

That hope is powerful and it's something we want to nurture, not limit.

And that's why I'm here today, not to point out problems, but to invite partnership.

Um, to imagine solutions together to create a future where civic participation is supported, safe, and accessible for everyone.

We're asking you to work with us to identify real assembly areas across the valley, to look at public properties that the financial barriers that keep grassroots groups from participating fully.

Thank you very much.

We're ready to work with you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Morning.

Honorable Chair and Commissioners.

My name is Barbara Wells, W E L L S 6645 Network Circle, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89156.

And I represent the League of Women Voters of Nevada as their president.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution states that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or the right of the people peacefully to assemble.

This may well be one of the most fundamental principles of our democracy, one that sets it apart in terms of the privileges accorded to the American people.

It is also one that calls for active support and protection on the part of communities in order to prevent its gradual erosion.

Here in Clark County, we face significant challenges to the exercise of these constitutional rights.

Lack of adequate specified public assembly space is compounded by other factors.

Long wait times for open space reservations, prohibitive costs, and burdensome regulations, all pose barriers to the free expression that our founding fathers envisioned for Americans.

At the League of Women Voters of Nevada, we join Indivisible Las Vegas and upholding and defending the rights of our family members, friends, neighbors, and fellow human beings to have their voices heard and to actively participate in our democracy.

We stand in solidarity with indivisibles request that the Clark County Board of Commissioners work with their community to address the problems previously described.

I believe that we can achieve this goal together for the benefit of all residents of Clark County.

And I respectfully thank you for your time.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you for hearing us.

My name is Beisha Torres Miranda, 2219 North Rentral Drive.

I am here on behalf.

I'm also a member of the steering committee with Indivisible, and I'm here on behalf of a volunteer of Indivisible, Julie Kemp, who was unable to attend in person, so she asked me to read this for her.

My name is Julie Kemp, and I have been a resident of Las Vegas for over 20 years.

Last year I joined Indivisible Las Vegas.

Over the past uh year, I have participated in and volunteered with Indivisible for many of their protests, primarily which have been located in front of the federal building downtown Las Vegas.

There have been a few issues with this location, which makes it not easily accessible or affordable to many attendees.

Parking can be a challenge and expensive expensive, excuse me, especially for those of us who are in need to arrive early and for setup and stay late for takedown.

Even for attendees, the parking costs can prohibit making participation a privilege rather than a right, and in support of the First Amendment.

Beyond the accessible location itself is an ideal.

Although downtown Las Vegas is being revitalized, this location doesn't have the visibility or traffic of other potential locations throughout the valley.

Additionally, it can become very crowded for a well-attended gathering, which we have seen growing constantly.

Umusing safety issues.

As an attendee at one of the protests, I was located on the west side of Las Vegas Boulevard, the rocky area along the steps, and up to the building were off limits.

Therefore, with that limitation, along with trying to keep the path open for people walking along the sidewalk and the street being off limits, there were bare there was barely any room for thousands of attendees.

Um I was myself personally was scared that I could easily be trampled or pushed into the street if people did start pushing.

Additionally, it was impossible to hear the speakers on the stage on the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard.

This led to a feeling of being disconnected from the group and the purpose of the protest.

I chose to move to the other side of Las Vegas Boulevard, which had more space.

Unfortunately, that side is incredibly hot as it has tons of sun with basically zero shade covering, also a health risk for many.

As a volunteer, many attendees have voiced similar concerns that I've mentioned above.

At one of the indivisibles Las Vegas in person meetings, I learned about the many challenges our leadership faced trying to procure different venues for our larger protests and all the roadblocks that have come into their place.

I was shocked to learn that the cost of some venues, especially considering we are a nonprofit organization, solely organizing for the purpose of allowing the public to exercise their First Amendment right.

When one of the co-founders, Barbara Wolf, said she was going to speak today, and she asked us to come.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Karen Newcomer.

My address is 3932 Toronto, Las Vegas, 89103.

First, I came earlier last year to speak when I felt that our police officers were being very aggressive with us.

And I just wanted to say today, for any influence that you had on the change in their behavior, I really appreciate it.

We see protests from all over the country and the world.

Most cities have designated areas where their protests are held.

It would be safer and much more enjoyable for our crowds if we could all be together.

We are having more and more citizens coming out to voice their concerns.

This is a great opportunity to showcase Las Vegas.

Instead, we look like we're just sprawled out, and a lot of people get myself for sure, uh a sense of camaraderie, a sense of hope when they come out to these protests because they're with like-minded people concerned about the same things, and the fact that so many people turn out makes us hopeful.

Um we need the federal government and U.S.

citizens to see the passion that Clark County residents who attend these events possess.

Larger crowds garner more respect and the opportunity for more political leaders to receive our message.

A very effective way to accomplish this would be to show the world and potential tourists that we are a city who cares and that our communities turn out when they are concerned.

I ask that you take this opportunity to provide a facility where we can come together, showcasing Las Vegas in its best light.

That may be uh hopefully you guys will take this very seriously.

We, as many people have already said, these crowds are just getting larger and larger, and we're worried about what will happen.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Ashley Lovell.

My address is 6070 West Gowan Road, 89108.

Good morning, everyone, and greetings, commissioners.

Thank you for allowing us the time to speak today.

I'm here in support of Barb Wolf and these other amazing folks who, as you've heard, are looking for cooperation from the county for protesting space.

When Barb first asked me to speak today, I had a lot of questions.

What are the problems they've identified?

What are their impacts?

Is the county commission able to support?

And while I've been to maybe a dozen know your rights trainings in the last few months, I wasn't previously aware of the rules around setting up a protest, cooperating with law enforcement, and what it really takes to keep people safe as they exercise their rights.

Upon research, conversations, and reflections, and listening to Barb share her experiences as an organizer, I began to see the opportunity that we have here.

My background is in peace studies, and I've had the privilege of studying under civil rights leaders like Jim Lawson and anti-apartheid activists in South Africa.

I've worked around the world in developing countries with varying levels of democracy and authoritarianism, and I've seen all forms of protests and conflict.

I've learned that nonviolent movements and peaceful protests are powerful precisely because cooperation and restraint are elevated human abilities.

So I deeply feel the privilege of coming to a government office on a day like today and asking our elected officials, all of whom believe deeply in upholding our rights as Americans, protecting their citizens, and empowering our law enforcement officers to cooperate on this front.

I grew up here in Clark County, so I also know firsthand the privilege of our parks and open spaces and the geographic expanse that we have developed into.

With an ever growing and widening metropolitan area, elected officials like yourselves and law enforcement have immense responsibilities they must tend to, and we appreciate this work deeply.

It is precisely for this reason we are here today, asking for cooperation with organizing large scale assemblies as our constitution deems a right.

To me, it would be a marvel of cooperation and success for this body to work together with organizations like Indivisible who wish to peacefully exercise their right by finding a consistent and sufficiently large space where they could do so, where law enforcement could know what to expect, and where we could show that our county works together to protect the liberty of all individuals.

For this reason, I humbly asked you to consider adding this to your future future agenda and work plans.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

1717, Manador Way, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89128.

I am here representing the National Action Network for Dr.

Bush.

He wasn't able to come today.

And I was the previous executive director of the National Organization for Women here in town.

And just here to support all the organizations, the community members who've attended our marches before, our when we've been at the federal building and all the great things that individuals are doing, and asking you to put it on your agenda to give us a safe place to be.

We've often had our protests, and many of you been to the federal building, and it we've outgrown it, and they're keeping us on the sidewalk, and the police have become quite helpful with that.

But we we have outgrown it.

We need a safe place to assemble.

And we thought community coming to talk to you and telling you how important this was for our free speech to be able to assemble.

Um, and we're asking that you put it on the agenda and uh hopefully you listen to all these wonderful community members.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi.

Good morning.

I'm Pastor Marta Poling Schmidt, uh, 3345 West Hale Avenue.

And I'd just like to say amen to everything that has just been spoken.

We need safe public spaces for citizens to gather with the federal government, if we can call it that.

Um, doing what they're doing right now to our democracy, we need to be able to gather as citizens to peacefully protest and say enough is enough.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, commissioners.

My name is Joy Hoover.

I live here at 1211 Eighth Place.

I'm raising my children here, and this is home for us.

I'm here in support of Indivisible Las Vegas with a sincere request for partnership.

Many of us want to show up peacefully, responsibly, and yes, some people even show up in inflatable frog costumes.

Because civic engagement should feel accessible, human, and even a little joyful.

It should feel like something regular families can participate in safely.

I understand there are logistics and safety considerations you have to balance, and I truly appreciate that work.

At the same time, the current permitting costs and lack of clearly designated large assembly spaces can make it feel overwhelming for volunteer led groups.

Indivisible Las Vegas has a strong record of peaceful, coordinated gatherings.

This isn't about creating disruption.

It's about creating clarity and making sure there are safe, clearly defined places for residents to gather, be heard, and go home peacefully afterward.

Civic engagement in our valley is growing.

That's not something to fear, but it is something to plan for.

So I'm asking that this issue be placed on a future agenda and that the county partner with the community groups to identify realistic, accessible assembly spaces and explore cost accommodations for peaceful, constitutionally protected speech.

We want to work with you and gather safely, and we want our kids to see that democracy is something you can participate in, not something you're priced out of.

Many of for many of us, action is one of the best antidotes to despair.

And when people have a safe place to gather and participate, our whole community is stronger.

Thank you so much for your time and your service to our community.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Morning, commissioners, and thank you for the opportunity to speak today.

My name is Zachary Blake, and I live at 1840 Plum Court, Henderson, Nevada, 89014.

I'm also with Indivisible.

Indivisible Las Vegas is a concerned group of residents that have exercised the right to assembly responsibly and consistently, organizing peaceful demonstrations, as others have said, all across the valley.

We maintain strong cooperative relationships with metro area commands, and our record reflects careful planning, communication, and respect for our community.

We are long-term Clark County residents who feel that civic participation should be safe, visible, and accessible for everyone.

With that goal in mind, we face a growing challenge.

Unlike many other cities, our valley large lacks large centrally located public spaces designated for public assembly.

This comes at a time where national mobilizations are increasing, and there's not a sufficient amount of public space to accommodate the increased demand.

This is uh led to a structural gap where, as others have mentioned, due to the increased amount of people that are at these protests or at any civic event, we are still having to have the streets shut down, and there's still public funds being spent without us being able to use the streets whatsoever.

This is a purely logistical structural gap that doesn't need to exist and only makes exercising our first amendment right more dangerous.

Our asks are straightforward.

We respectfully request that the county engage in open dialogue with indivisible Las Vegas, identify designated assembly areas across districts, review county-owned properties for potential use, provide cost accommodations for constitutionally protected assemblies, and include civic organizations like ours in future planning and budgeting.

Designated assembly areas would improve safety, reduce metro's burden, and strengthen democracy in Clark County.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

I fear I might be in the wrong class, but it's safety nonetheless.

Laura Bautista, 1610, Rocking Horse Drive Henderson, Nevada.

Um I'm here about the most recent situation near Hollywood in Washington where a man was arrested for allegedly disposing of biohazardous materials, and where we were told we know he has owned the house since at least 2022.

I need to address a public safety vulnerability that I believe has been ignored since 1997.

Just over a year ago, December 16th, 2024, customers in that exact zone called the Las Vegas Valley Water District reporting very low pressure and even no water for hours.

This is not just an inconvenience.

A significant drop in pressure is a contamination risk because when pressure collapses, the system can pull water backwards through cross connections and weak points.

That includes back siphonage through garden hoses sitting in buckets, mop water, or any unprotected plumbing connection.

It can also allow intrusion through cracks and leaks when the not when the line is no longer pushing outward in that neighborhood.

Someone is now accused of mishandling biohazardous materials.

So the environment is not predictable.

Across the country, when systems drop into a danger range, which is normally below 20 PSI, the standard response is notify the public, do event driven testing, and issue precautionary boil guidance with when the results are verified, especially to protect infants, the immunocompromised and senior citizens.

But the Las Vegas Valley Water District does not follow that common sense standard.

They have an exemption to NRS 445 and an alternative standard operating procedure.

Loss of pressure so narrow that it only triggers when there is a confirmed zero, not one, zero PSI, and a 50 PSA lot PSI loss at the pump, which many parts of Las Vegas, especially this zone, don't even run at 50 PSI.

So it is mathematically impossible to ever trigger those precautions.

Now the event was dangerously low.

They they said it didn't happen, they denied it, and then they came up with three different stories until thank goodness for the water coalition who hammered NDEP and finally an engineered model, not real numbers, came back showing that it dropped to 1.78 PSI, exactly three houses away from said house that was just raided.

And said house that was raided is one of the houses that is not at an acceptable pressure standard.

And it is NDEP has suggested they be changed.

Who knows if it has?

So this has been in place since 1997, and they're claiming no illnesses are tied to the water.

How could there be?

The claim is like saying a hospital boasting about thank you very much.

Okay.

Here is a written thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Deedra Radford.

I live at 7431, Wild Horse Mesa Court, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89131.

If that ain't a Nevada address, I don't know what is.

As Barbara Wells uh so eloquently put it, what she said was something about the United States uh uh constitution about and about our right to peaceably assemble.

Um I fear and I feel and I'm grateful for the fact that in the future I think there's gonna be a lot more of us that are peaceably assembling in our city.

And I'm concerned that we we don't have enough room to do it.

Um at our at one of our last protests, we were all up against the sidewalk like this, and you know, we couldn't be in the street.

The streets were blocked off, and all the police were in the street, but we couldn't be there.

So we were all just crammed on the sidewalk, and it was about 115 degrees outside, or that's what it felt like anyway.

And um, people were starting to kind of pass out, you know, little old ladies were starting to pass out, and we had some cold towels for them that we wet with our water bottles, but it gets dangerous out there.

And and because of it when you're cramped up in a space like that, it can get really dangerous, especially especially for those folks that are a little older and um might not be able to tolerate the heat as well, or people like myself who have illnesses might not be able to tolerate the heat as well.

Um, so if we could, you know, have a little bit more space somewhere that doesn't cost 20 grand.

Um, you know, we're most of us are regular working folks.

We don't have an extra 20 grand sitting around in the bank that we can give the city for stuff like this, but I feel that the city ought to provide it because you know it's our constitutional right to do it.

Um anyway, that's that's my feelings on it.

I hope I hope we you guys can take this up and maybe work with us on it.

Um I don't want anything dangerous to happen.

Um, so far it's been good.

So if you could consider that would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Uh hi, good morning, commissioners.

Uh, my name is Brian Harris.

I reside at 484 Sellers Place, Henderson, Nevada, 89011.

Um, I'm here in support with uh Indivisible Las Vegas on this issue.

Uh I feel like this issue affects residents countrywide, and I support placing it on future commissioners' agendas.

Uh I feel like peaceful protests is a right that we all should have here in Las Vegas, and um just having a said space to do so would be quite helpful.

So thank you.

And I hope you all can um work on this issue later.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Morning, commissioners.

My name is Natalia Jordan, and I'm here on behalf of SCIU Local 1107, and we're here in support of indivisible as well, but we also come with the angle of the turnaround time.

Like previously mentioned, the parks take about a year in advance to book and in situations like Alex Predi in Minnesota.

We saw a turnaround that happened over 24 hours.

So these mobilization efforts, an overwhelming amount of our nurses and additional uh hospital workers had reached out and to do something like this, and safety is top of mind for them as well.

So as we see some of these things continue to unravel, we just ask from our perspective that the county helps us with uh creating a system that we can work a lot quicker to ensure that this process is as safe as possible.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Morning, chair, morning, everybody.

Um, my name is Brandon Bunts, B U N C E of Las Vegas.

I'm once again returning the call for action against the pervasive usage of flock cameras by our police department.

Um, to recap last meeting, I spoke about how these cameras are incorrectly marketed to the public as license plate readers, despite truly being AS surveillance cameras with the ability to collect data on anything that passes by them and allow the police to query that data without due process.

Uh real quick, indivisible.

The gut the work you guys are doing is fantastic.

It is absolutely fantastic.

Hearing you guys talk is has made my day so much better.

You just might, you just might.

I also want to note these cameras have been documented being used to track protesters.

So I can tell you guys about that later.

But anyways, um, Sheriff McMahill has been excessively drilling that flock safety is a public-private partnership done right.

Let me be clear on the definition of this uh partnership.

It's parasitic.

The entire flock deployment in Vegas was funded by Ben Horowitz, a man who is no stranger to data collection for profit.

Yet our police department gave him and his goons an all access pass to track us.

Yes, us, everywhere we go, with no consent of the people, and no legal formwork in place to regulate it or protect our rights.

I believe that our police operations are granted only a fraction of the capabilities of these cameras.

While Flock, a company recently valued at 7.5 billion, will be getting rich off of our data and our locations.

I've worked in technology my entire career, and what stands out here is not innovation but opacity.

Flock is fundamentally a data collection company, and much of its public messaging relies on minimizing or obscuring the scope of that data collection rather than confronting it honestly.

Taking advantage of this lack of clarity is what allows this system to expand without meaningful oversight.

That concern is reinforced by how Flock Safety responds to criticism.

In December, Flock CEO Garrett Langley sent a mass email to customers framing critics of these systems as anti-police or pro-lawlessness.

That kind of rhetoric discourages legitimate oversight by request uh recasting governance questions as attacks on public safety, and it pressures public agencies to defend technology decisions emotionally rather than evaluate them legally or empirically.

It's important to recognize this framing does not serve the public interest.

Asking whether mass surveillance is necessary, proportionate, or effective is not anti-police.

Commissioners, I believe you want what is best for Clark County.

I'm asking you to slow this down, ask harder questions, and ensure that the public and yourselves understand exactly what's being deployed in its name before it becomes irreversible.

Flock depends on lack of confusion or uh confusion and lack of clarity.

So to help you, I've made research material available at my website, www.dflock.vegas, if you'd like to know more.

And I would welcome the opportunity to speak with any of you or your staff directly.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Morning, Commissioners.

My name is Mark Diefenbacher, 3960 Candle Glow Court, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89147.

Regardless of our race, background, or political party, we value our freedoms.

Yet, under the Trump MAGA agenda, those freedoms continue to be violated from the streets of Minneapolis to here in Clark County through aggressive enforcement actions that separate neighbors from their families and use force against those peacefully standing up for one another.

These actions foster fear and division based on what we look like or where we come from, while benefiting billionaires and large corporations at the expense of working families.

Clark County families are taking action to free America and stop this assault on our freedoms, our families, and our futures.

This movement is growing in both size and strength, and it requires adequate designated space to assemble peacefully.

Investing in public assembly spaces signals that this county values the voices of all residents and recognizes public expression as a necessary part of a healthy inclusive democracy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Izzy McLean, MCC L A I N of Las Vegas, Nevada.

I am here today to speak out against flock cameras being installed in Clark County.

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.

It requires that searches be reasonable and that warrants be issued only upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and specifically describing what is to be searched or seized.

Flock cameras fundamentally invert this principle.

Rather than beginning with suspicion, these systems collect data on everyone first, vehicles, movements, locations, and patterns, and allow law enforcement to search that data later.

This is not targeted investigation.

It is a continuous automated surveillance.

When surveillance becomes permanent and searchable by default, the constitutional safeguard of probable cause becomes an afterthought instead of a prerequisite.

Yet despite this shift, Clark County currently lacks a clear legal framework governing how this data is collected, how long it is retained, and who can act and access it and under what circumstances it can be shared or sold.

This concern is not theoretical.

Across the country, automated surveillance systems have already led to innocent people being stopped, questioned, um, accused, and held up at gunpoint, based on flawed data, misidentification, or over reliance on algorithmic results.

When these systems are treated as authoritative, errors do not stay small.

The burden shifts away from the state proving suspicion and onto individuals proving their innocence.

That is not how our justice system is supposed to work.

Without strict policies, audits, and transparency, mistakes are inevitable, and the consequences fall on ordinary people who did nothing wrong.

Residents of Clark County did not meaningfully consent to being entered into a continuously searchable surveillance database.

These systems were not approved through public vote, and their full capabilities were not clearly explained to the communities they monitor.

Consent requires knowledge and choice.

Right now, most people do not know these cameras exist, and they cannot opt out of being tracked simply by driving to work, visiting family, or living their daily lives.

Surveillance of this scale quietly reshapes public space into something conditional and monitored rather than free and shared.

Commission commissioners, the question before you is not whether this technology exists or whether it is convenient.

The real question is whether Clark County should allow mass AI assisted surveillance to expand without firm limits, public oversight, and constitutional guardrails.

I urge you to stop the deployment of these cameras, will require comprehensive policies governing their use and ensure that civil liberties are not sacrificed in the name of efficiency or innovation.

Public safety and constitutional rights are not opposites.

A community is safest when it is both protected and free.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Hello, good morning.

My name is Laura Martin.

I'm the executive director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada.

I have the privilege of live living in Commission District B, and I'm also here to support Las Vegas Indivisible.

Um at Plan, we would argue our entire community is a free speech zone, but too often Las Vegas Metro Police Department tries to charge everyday Nevadaans a protest tax.

We aren't talking about people who want to take the streets or lead an insurrection like President Trump did in 2020.

We're talking about people walking on sidewalks or gathering in parks together.

Plan is no stranger to demonstrations, and we only want to organize in solidarity with Planistas and our partners, not with the police who work on the behalf of the government and has tried to price us out of and in some instances call and discourage us from protesting.

Our protests, strikes, and demonstrations have always been peaceful until Metro decides they don't want them to be.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Anne War Green.

I reside at 4350 Paradise Road in Las Vegas 89169.

I am here also in support of my friends at Indivisible.

They've said a whole lot.

So in addition to thanking you for allowing us to be here and for hearing us.

I do want to salute Indivisible for doing it the right way.

And I ask that you, the Commission, please partner with them so that protests can be accessible, affordable, and safe the way that they should be here in America.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm with well, my address is 625 Pepper Tree Circle Henderson.

With we the people of Henderson.

The First Amendment says that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, the prohibition of free exercise thereof, or a bridge of the freedom of speech or the press or the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the government for regress regressive of grievances.

Section one of the 14th Amendment in part says no state shall make or enforce any law, any law which shall abridge privilege or immunities of the citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of liberty, life, or property without due process.

The freedom of speech and peaceable assembly are protected rights, and government shall not abridge these rights.

But since we were political, we would probably get denied anyway, and they would keep the money.

So instead, we're gonna have a much bigger protest with a whole lot of people and we're gonna be on the on the sidewalks, and then there will probably be police action and everything else out there to protect um the folks.

So I encourage you to take it up in future uh future agenda item and um help protect people's rights instead of systematically denying them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Yeah, hi.

Uh my name is Al Rojas.

I live in Sunrise Manor.

I'm active as a road watch person.

You just let go of that.

Yep, perfect.

Okay, thank you.

I just want to know for the people here, because I'm gonna make a comment towards that.

I want them to know where I'm coming from.

We started a neighborhood watch program with about in Sunrise Manor with 8,000 people.

And this is our model, and I'm gonna address that is that the safest counties support law enforcement, the community and elected officials from the state, the county, the city, the DA, the judges, and the citizens, and that's what we're doing.

And I wanted to present to the commissioners that this is where I'm coming from when I come and I speak to you.

Now, regarding I'm listening to as a law-abiding citizen who is who understands that safety is critical and your first amendment rights are important, and who is aware of how to do demonstrations that has been involved in demonstrations.

I briefly listen to some of the citizens here.

And my comment is that Metro is very clear about how to hold the uh public demonstration.

I've been in several of them that were pop up on sidewalks, and you can't block traffic.

That's number one, you're gonna get shut down.

There's things that you can't bring.

And I personally have not found um uh no problems uh demonstrating on sidewalks.

We supported um uh Elon Musk over on the uh west side, and we had a major demonstration.

We were very peaceful, we said we had to say, we even invited people in opposition, and they were on the other side of the part of the street, and then over on uh Sahara and Boulder, there was a major, there was a larger um uh demonstration, and it was peaceful.

Let us not forget that somebody got shot the last time under Siselec's governorship when he said come out on expressive frustrations, and we had a law enforcement officer shot in the head.

These the law enforcement is there to protect you.

And I have one more minute.

Also, I want to tell you that doing my neighborhood watch, I was standing out there observing some homeless people making an encampment, and somebody called the police on me.

Suspicious activity.

That's fair.

That's not a problem.

I gave them my card, they didn't want to talk to me.

The police came and talked to me.

Reporting suspicious activity is fair under our law.

So if you're out there doing a demonstration and they're looking at your license plates, and they think you're suspicious, they have every right to figure to uh to track you down.

And let's not forget, when you go to court, if the evidence was gathered uh illegally, it will not be admissible.

So your rights are being protected.

And safety comes first.

Okay, so I totally support what they're saying, but you know, let's try to you know keep say within the rules.

The rules are very clear here in Clark County.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Morning, Commissioners.

I'll be short, I promise.

My name is Audrey Dempsey, D E M P S E Y.

I'm here in support of Indivisible this morning as the president of the Nevada Federation of Democratic Women.

And we have people that are protesting both in North and South part of the state.

And safety and compliance with the law is very important to this group.

They have always been peaceful.

There are many, many senior citizens like myself who participate in these wonderful opportunities to express our feelings.

And I'll leave with this.

Thank you very much.

Good morning.

Good morning.

My name is Ed Eulin.

And the last demonstration I went to, this uh anti-Kings demonstration.

It's I think it's true that it's not really not fair.

Everyone was so spread out, the police, there were tons of policemen, and they had all everyone all scattered out.

How what kind of a demonstration is that?

That's not any fun at all.

And uh, and so it's yeah, you can't get across the point either.

But uh I I only have myself to blame, though.

I voted for this guy, and uh my God.

It's so hopeless.

Anyway, uh what I wanted to talk about is uh number 31 and 30.

Um the the uh demonstration uh the the presentation about the jail, that is really amazing.

All the it's so shiny, everything is so shiny and nice looking and everything.

The last time I I was taken to the jail, uh it was the people were yelling at each other.

The this uh uh this is how the for example uh person with mental defects would come in and say some swear word, and the policeman would have to yell out uh say the F-word to ten times, uh yelling it out over the whole, it's totally different from the picture that was played today.

Uh is it possible to see?

Uh and then and then when uh I was released on uh cognizance, cognizance, and the parts of the jail that I walked through, they certainly didn't look like those pictures today.

It was very different, and I'm wondering can one go visit that and find out if it's really true?

Do you guys do you guys go down and and look at what's really going on at that jail?

It's it's incredible.

Um and then regarding um uh regarding the uh the liquor thing, uh why couldn't we have pictures of what you're talking about?

Uh the you're changing the barriers between uh younger people how how can anyone understand what's what's really being discussed there?

And uh why why not just make things easy and make the drinking age 18 and everyone's happy and uh and you solve all these problems instead of uh having this group of of uh uh people uh from age 18 to 21 that can't do anything, and so they engage in a lot of violence.

When I went to China uh la uh a couple months ago, I went to the bars there, and they are they have 18 year olds, everyone's having a great time, and it really works well.

Why not try something like that here instead of encouraging all this?

Thank you very much.

Seeing anyone else for public comment, if not, we will recess this meeting until tomorrow morning at nine o'clock and enter into a closed door session.

Thank you very much.

Have a good afternoon.