Good everyone.

Good afternoon, everyone.

And welcome to the Tuesday, May 5th, 2026 redevelopment agency meeting for the city of Musquite.

It's four o'clock.

We're gonna get started.

Councilwoman Gallo, are you there?

Yes, I am.

Thank you.

So we have uh three council members here, so that gives us a quorum.

Um and we will start with our opening public comment.

Yep.

Plus Woolmay, thank you for the pancake breakfast.

Food was awesome.

Very good.

And as I told council woman fielding, I do not condone anybody that defaced her sign.

If you've got a problem with her, come to city council and address a face to face.

You don't destroy people's property.

That's totally uncalled for.

I hope they get caught.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mike.

Thanks, Mike.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward.

We're gonna go ahead and move on to item 2.1, the consent agenda.

And that's consideration of approval of the Tuesday, March 17th, 2026 redevelopment agency minutes and the Tuesday May 5th, 2026 redevelopment agency agenda.

Any public comment on the consent agenda?

Okay, seeing none.

Do I have a motion?

You were here quickly.

Make a motion.

Okay.

You want a second?

Thanks, committee chair.

I will make a motion to accept the consent agenda.

Okay, let's call for the vote.

I'll wait.

I'll second it and then we'll call for the vote.

Did you make it?

So who we haven't make it?

Did you make you made the motion?

Okay.

So uh Karen made the motion, Paul second, so we'll call for the vote.

Fail the night.

Galloway.

Okay.

Item three, uh, 3.1 requests for Travel Nevada 3D grant.

Um are you gonna present that, Becca or Amy, John?

I I can doesn't matter.

Do you want to talk about it?

I can start, and then if you want to fill in anything.

Um so as everyone knows the Mesquite Opportunities Regional Fund Morph was the recipient of the Travel Nevada 3D grant.

So the first part of it, um, the committee got together, um, came up with a tourism plan, um, which the plan outlined, expanding sports tourism and events, developing a walkable active downtown area, strengthen outdoor recreation offerings, build a cohesive destination brand, improve prove visitor experience and navigation, and establish uh strong collaboration and leadership structures.

Um, so with this, uh the city and Morph have been working together.

Um, and one of the proposed projects in that plan had been to revamp the welcome center.

Um, so with the grant uh structure, we're kind of looking at doing um having asking Travel Nevada grant the 3D grant to pay for the exterior facade improvements and the city being responsible for the interior um design of it.

Uh our contribution with that would look to be um approximately a hundred to two hundred thousand dollars.

Uh we haven't gotten quotes from that um as of yet, but it's kind of what we were thinking it would cost.

Um with looking at where we can come up with those funds, the RDA funds um would be consistent and allowable expenditures to do this.

Um so we are bringing it forward.

And I did talk to a had a contractor come look at it, and he thinks it'll be on the lower end of that.

So I mean, not that on the upper end we couldn't get something even more awesome, but John.

John Rosen, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, RTA members.

Um thank you, Becca.

That that was fine.

I just want to make one slight clarification.

So the exterior work that we're going to be doing will go beyond the facade.

It will be the facade as well as creating tourist experience capabilities at the visitor at the welcome center.

So it'll change the whole nature of what this is.

Uh actually, I we need to give credit to our mayor for having actually come up with a concept, a more detailed concept, which looked fabulous, but it will include batting cages and golf, you know, putting greens and a dog park and a number of different things that will make it a place that people can not just stop and go to the bathroom, but can stop and enjoy some time.

Actually, I we need to give credit to our mayor for having actually come up with a concept, a more detailed concept, which looked fabulous, but it will include batting cages and golf, you know, putting greens and a dog park, and a number of different things that will make it a place that people can not just stop and go to the bathroom, but can stop and enjoy some time.

It's also intended, this will become a central point of information for the community for activities that are going on.

All of us have heard various people say there's a lot going on, but I never can find out what it is until after it's over.

And certainly we all want to address that.

Um so overall, it's a central part of the recommendations from Travel Nevada that this welcome center enhancement happen, and we are just and it's also a central con uh core concept of travel nevada that whatever they do is an all-of-Mesquite activity.

That is to say, they want to see that the community is engaged, the city government is engaged, the individual providers are engaged, the not-for-profits are engaged.

And I think they are, but this is this is our opportunity to do this.

Now, what is the reason this is there's some urgency, and the reason that this is happening now is that we have gone through various stages of this process.

We got selected as one of two applicants.

We went through approximately six months of consulting with Travel Nevada, various different sessions and meetings.

You're all aware of the two listening sessions that we had to engage the community.

Then the consultants went back with all of the information that they had gathered, and with their expertise with other projects, they presented to us a recommended path forward.

It included immediate types of projects, longer term projects, and maybe out in the future projects.

And then we are then tasked with creating a very specific funding request for this.

You all know that the way the grant is structured, there's a million dollars at hand, and we and Goldfield are competing for our allocation of that.

Um we have been advised that they are expecting us to submit a request in the 500 to 750,000 range.

That means they actually expect us to get the larger share of the allocation for the million dollars.

We have all been working very, very hard on this.

There is a time crunch because there are certain very specific requirements in this stage of the application, and that includes things like cost estimates, not just here's what we want to do, but here's why we think it's going to cost this specific amount of money.

Uh, we're very appreciative for the city staff that have been working hard with us on this.

It's all coming together, it's coming together very quickly, but it is all coming together, and we are quite confident that we'll be able to submit uh an appropriate application.

But that application is due on uh May 8th.

We are sending it out on May 7th.

We're doing that for the simple reason that after all of this work, we don't want any unexpected glitch in terms of our ability to actually send the application in on time.

So we've given ourselves until the end of day on 7th to have everything completed and ready to push the button so that it all gets submitted.

So with that, we thank you for your consideration of this request.

Unless there are any specific questions.

Yeah, we do have a couple of questions, so you want to stay here for a second, sir?

Sure.

Uh I didn't see which one you put, so go ladies first.

Thank you, board chair.

Um, and this might be a question for Martine.

Um there's a few things that concern me.

The urgency was this was this going to be the presentation you were supposed to do at City Council last week?

Pretty much, yes.

Okay, so then it counseled.

So this is the first we heard about it was Monday, I think, the first or um the other day that this is what we were going to ask for 100,000 to 200,000.

Um, secondly, who leases that building currently?

Nobody, because it's owned by NDOT and it's owned by BLM.

So where is the city's stake in this if and who's gonna lease it if we do this?

And my other concern, I'll just put them all out there, is we're gonna put bottom end 100,000 into this building.

How do we know that someday um the N Dot BLM is going to come back and sell it?

And I think I can answer those questions.

Okay.

Um, and then um, so we will find out when about the grant in June.

June 10th.

June 10th.

Okay.

So this isn't a match.

This is just helping you build your grant that's already been awarded, but we just don't know how much.

Correct.

Correct.

Okay.

So I guess my biggest question is who's gonna be leasing it?

The city of Mesquite.

And the other thing is is don't we already do the landscaping over there?

So we still mow that, right?

And take care of the landscaping.

Okay.

And do we get paid back from that from NDOT or BLM for doing that?

Or is that just the city expense?

I think it's just the city expense.

Yes, because we lease the building.

So from what I understand from Ms.

Green, is the lease agreement ended last November.

So we don't have a lease agreement currently, but we're still maintaining the property, correct?

Correct.

Okay.

Yeah, we have made contact with NDOT.

They basically say they're happy to renew that as a long-term lease.

Okay.

Uh they would love if we would go in there and revamp it and use it.

I think that's a good thing.

And I think it's I think it's fabulous.

That's what they I think intended us for do, and I think they would, yeah.

Right.

And I think it's fabulous.

I I mean fabulous idea, because when I moved here and well, 94, when first time I came here, it was there and it was utilized, and there was a lot of people there instead of now just being an overnight parking for some tourists.

Right.

Basically, and a periodic stop-in for somebody looking desperately for an open bathroom.

Right.

Okay, thank you.

Um, so just to go further.

So yes, as the mayor said, we have reached out, or they have reached out to NDOT and have gotten verbal approval that yes, they if if we're going to do this, they would be very happy to lease it and lease it for longer terms.

So the lease term that we've requested, and correct me if I'm wrong, Mr.

Mayor, but the lease term that we've requested is a 10-year lease renewable.

So a minimum of 10 years, renewable for 10 years, um, at the discretion of the lease owner.

So that 10 years does actually cover the the term of the plan from the destination plan that we've been working on with travel nevada through this entire period.

But I I think once we do this, it it's pretty clear that unless we really mess this up, it it'll be a continuing part of the city of Mesquite, a very core part.

And and this is a one-time fee between 100 and 200,000 is just the initial.

Are you gonna come back every year and want another well?

No, this one time.

This is a one-time fee.

Okay, just clarification is really key.

Well, so no, that for for this, but do understand we've just initiated tourism enhancement projects, which will go well beyond the welcome center.

There will come times when we'll be coming back to city government saying we need some help because we want to accomplish this.

We expect that that will actually be self-funded out of the tourism increase uh monies that we generate from our efforts.

How that works is to be defined.

And in fact, I I just today uh wanted to uh made a request of Bryce that I sit down with him and just bounce some ideas off of each other about how will we measure the impact, the financial impact of our efforts, and then how will we take that and figure out what portion of that do we want to feed back into ongoing efforts to keep the momentum going.

One more question, sir.

Um, so when if we approve this, then will all of the invoices for the renovations come through the city or where do they go for us to keep no track of that accounting?

Yeah, so we will get uh Morph will get the money.

Morph will get 50% of the money immediately on June 10th, and the rest of the money as we request it from Travel Nevada.

So the actual expenses, the money and the expenses will be managed by Morph.

Okay, but this this money that we could possibly approve today will go to Morph.

No, no, I'm sorry.

That money will just be the city paying for itself for the enhancements to the working center.

That's why I just need to clarify.

So we're not gonna you're requested the money, but it's not gonna go to you.

No, and so we'll be able to see the accounting from the whole normal process, yeah.

Just for the inside, just for the inside.

And you're gonna take care of the outside.

Yeah, and to be clear, the reason we're we're here today, is that we want, in fact, we need to be able to state in our application that the city is stepping up and will handle the interior renovations.

Perfect.

So travel nevada's not gonna see the money, I'm not gonna see the money, Morph's not gonna see the money.

It'll all be an internal piece of business for the city.

Sure.

No, it's a great investment.

Like I said, for 31 years, I've come here and and it's been on and off again for years.

Oh, when I forget I I would actually like that building to be given to the city of Besquete.

So that's something they acted like they would consider.

I mean that's I don't want to, I don't want to say that that's by any way a done deal, but they acted like that could be an under consideration.

Well, mostly when they closed down years ago and we took it over, and it's like now we're doing all the work.

And yeah, yeah, they want to keep the right-away in case you know, of course, they have to expand the freeway or do whatever, but I think the building itself, they had showed a little bit of interest on okay.

Yeah, um, Ms.

Fielding, when I moved here 13 years ago, I shared that with you.

I was one of those people who came to town and was all excited to learn what was going on and stopped in at the visitor center and found out that the doors were locked.

And I went, Oh, I wonder where the hours are published, and then I kept coming back and coming back and coming back.

Yes.

I I think all of us have recognized that that's an asset we really need to reactivate for sure.

Right.

Mostly when the sign says welcome to mesquite and there's nobody there.

Yeah.

Councilman Wanless.

What do you have any other questions?

Holy cow.

Just one.

Do we have any idea how we're going to fund having it open all the time?

Right now, it's done by volunteers.

No, yeah, yes, we do have that figured out.

So the funding for the staffing for running it is included in our request to travel Nevada for the two-year period of the grant.

Now, after that, that's an ongoing expense, and that's where we'll have to figure out how our tourism efforts are going to pay for the ongoing operation.

And how many people will that include?

Uh it will include two people, one full-time, one part-time, and whatever volunteers we will be able to generate during this process.

Okay.

Yeah, I was just wondering, is is it a requirement of the grant that we staff that for a certain amount of time after those two years?

It is it is not a requirement of the grant.

It is a strong recommendation of travel nevada that that was part of our problem, is that we had a facility, a welcome center, whose hours were unpredictable, small, erratic, and if anything, it became a negative rather than a positive for us.

So it is our intent that the welcome center will be staffed 100% of the normal working hours of the day.

Okay.

But we will have other activities going on in there, so we're not just having people sitting and twiddling their thumbs while they're doing that.

Well of you.

Oh, you're good.

The tech meeting is was the RDA is so you're good.

Uh Councilwoman Gallo, did you have any questions?

No, it sure excuse me.

It sure sounds like you guys got it pretty well covered, and um, I think it's a great idea that we're using utilizing this building since we um it's been sitting there empty, and the plans that you had originally shown me of different things that you're looking at doing look fantastic.

So I think this will be a great spot.

So thanks for all everybody's efforts on this, because it's it is a lot of work.

So thank you.

Thank you, board member Gallo.

Sorry.

And and uh board board member Gallo on behalf of Morph, we hope you feel better soon.

Thank you so much.

So do I thank you.

Did you want to say some things?

Yeah, George Galt for the record.

Um, one of the goals the of Morph has been to uh create a business development and navigation system.

And um, as you know, we we generate lots of business startups.

We don't know what happens to them.

We don't know, you know, most of them are very private kind of service things we'll clean your house, we'll cut your grass, that kind of stuff.

We'd like to help get those growing, and we're in conversation with the state small business development center's office.

Um the Nevada Grow program at UN at uh CSN.

And um we're we're hopeful that we can pull that together and put it in the center in the in the visitor center that was so it would be another function of the for another office and support place for the for the community to come and get some help get with business startups and that sort of thing.

So thank you, George.

Thank you, John.

Um let me ask you, John, for the best wording that you would kind of like to see on this.

Basically, my recommendation to you would be that you offer up a motion to commit to a level of funding for this project uh as as requested.

That is to say, I would recommend to you that you authorize that RDA funds not to exceed amount X be made available specifically for the purpose of the indoor renovations.

Yeah, councilwoman uh board member Fielding.

I'm never gonna get that right.

Thank you, Chair.

Um so just to clarify, the city of Mesquite will have advertisement within the building.

Oh, absolutely.

Okay.

I because it's not our building, we're just maintaining the landscaping, and you're gonna be running it, but as long as the city of Mesquite does have some kind of visible, yeah, it'll hundred percent be a partnership okay between, yeah.

And this this will include electronic kiosks, things like that.

I mean it's it's going to be a top-notch facility.

All right, perfect.

Thank you.

Thank you, gentlemen.

And do we have any public comments?

They don't.

Okay, seeing none, councilwoman uh board member should thank you, Chair.

Um, I will um make a motion for to reckon recommend and commit to a level of funds not to exceed 200,000 for the interior renovations of the welcome center.

Okay, do I have a second?

I'll second.

Okay, call for the vote.

Galloway.

Thank you.

Motion passes, and now we've come to our final public comment.

Okay, seeing none, this meeting is adjourned.

And we will reconvene in eight minutes.