Good evening, everyone.

Like to welcome you to the Tuesday, May 26, 2026 regular city council meeting for the city of Musquite.

It is five o'clock.

We're gonna get going.

We're gonna start off with an invitation by Pastors Felicia and Travis Stevenson with the gathering.

Good evening, everybody.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to gather together tonight in service to our community here in Mesquite.

We ask for your wisdom, your guidance, and your peace over this meeting.

Father God, we ask that you give us clarity to every discussion, integrity in every decision, and unity as we work together toward what is best for our city and its people.

Help us lead with humility, listen with respect, and serve this community with compassion for the people.

Bless our city leaders, our first responders, our businesses, our churches, and our families.

Let mesquite continue to be a place of safety, of growth, and strong community.

We pray that everything that's said and done tonight would be done with honor to what is just and good and beneficial for all.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen.

Thank you, Pastor.

Can I have you all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Pledge.

I pledge please to the flag of the United States of America.

And to the Republic for which she stands.

Now at this time, we have a couple of presentations.

First, we'll have the Rotary Cup Club come forward.

Good evening, Mayor, Councilmembers, and members of the community.

My name is Joe Sologan.

I'm Soligab, and I'm the current secretary of the Mesquite to Nevada Rotary Club.

Several of my fellow uh Rotary Club members and I are here this evening on behalf of the Rotary Club of Mesquite Nevada Foundation.

We are pleased to present a donation of $1,000 to the Mesquite Salvation Army in support of the important work they do for individuals and families in need throughout our community.

Rotary is an international service organization made up of local community members, business professionals, and community leaders who come together to serve others, promote goodwill, and support projects that improve lives both locally and around the world.

Here in Mesquite, our Rotary Club and Foundation are proud to support programs and partnerships that strengthen our community.

We are grateful for the Salvation's Army continued service in order to help support their mission.

We have a nice big check right here.

If we can everybody in, that would be great.

I can do that.

That's good.

Just lastly, uh we gladly welcome anyone from the community to attend any of our weekly meetings to see if rotary may be a fit for you.

We always need new members.

We meet on Wednesday evenings at 150 North Yucca Street, Building 7, Space 26.

And this week, Anthony will be uh coming as our guest speaker.

We also have our weekly used book sale on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 2, and on the last Saturday of each month from 10 to 4.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joe.

And I neglected to mention, we're gonna excuse Councilwoman Gallo this evening.

She will not be with us.

Um Anthony, could I have you come come back up?

Thank you for uh this opportunity tonight.

I wanted to take some time to recognize someone very important to me and the Salvation Army since I met her.

Recently, the Salvation Army wrote a story on her journey.

I would like to share a few highlights of that.

As and this is these are her words as a two-time cancer survivor, Debbie said she believes God kept her alive to do good for her community.

I'm doing as much as I can because I have given a second chance to live and have a better life and count my blessings, she said.

In 2025 alone, her efforts helped collect over 26,000 pounds of donations for the Salvation Army in Mesquite, Nevada for a larger mission that brought in more than 135,000 pounds since she began.

Growing up in Trenton, New Jersey, Debbie said it was her parents who first showed her the importance of generosity during the Salvation Army holiday kettle season.

My mother always taught me you help wherever you can, you give what you can afford, and you give from your heart, she said.

After retiring to Mesquite, she and her husband looked for ways to reconnect with the Salvation Army to make a meaningful impact.

In response, Debbie launched the Parade of Lights in 2015, a holiday event combining a community driven parade with a food drive benefiting the Salvation Army.

The parade is free and open to the public with one simple request.

Attendees are encouraged to bring canned goods.

She said, This is the way I give back.

What began with around a thousand pounds of donations in its first years has grown steadily by 2023?

The year of the parades of lights began, it became a 401c3 nonprofit.

The total climb to 18,000 pounds, the upward trend continues, culminating in the record breaking 26,596 pounds collected in 2025.

Behind those numbers is year-round commitment, where Debbie organizes donation drop boxes at businesses, sorts and weighs donations weekly, checks labels, expiration dates, and prepares everything for distribution at the Salvation Army Food Pantry and Family Resource Center.

For Debbie seeing those donations put to use in the most meaningful, is the most meaningful reward.

When asked why she continues to dedicate so much of her time, her answer is simple, is simple, because it's the right thing to do, and it brings happiness to those in need.

Through her continued efforts, Debbie has helped transform small individual acts of giving into tens of thousands of pounds of hope to her community.

Thank you.

Thank you, Anthony.

Debbie, you want to come say how great you are.

Or do you want me to say it?

No need to say that.

Okay.

Good evening, Mayor Whipple, members of City Council, and the residents and businesses of Mesquite.

My name is Debbie Benham, president of Parade of Lights Corporation, and I'm here to talk about this year's community food drive.

Normally, I kick it off in June.

However, as a citizen of Mesquite and Mesquite Ford beat me to the punch.

Chuck Thompson, a resident of Mesa Valley Estates, has donated another thousand dollars to me for the food drive.

Ford called me last week and had they have donated 1,287.3 pounds of food.

Special thank you to Austin.

I can't pronounce his last name.

So Mesquite Ford has supported the Parade of Lights forever.

When we began, when Mike and I began this a long time ago, we never ever thought it was gonna work the way it has.

This is our 12th year, and I hope we can be as successful as we have been in the past.

Last year we collected 26,596 pounds of food and non-perishable items, bringing the total to 135,393 pounds.

This year, I'm pleased to announce that we can now accept payments through Zell.

I've got the QR code.

Thank you.

If my math is right, 67.5 tons of food.

A tractor trailer's maximum capacity is 80,000 pounds.

So that's about a tractor, trailer, and a half of food.

That's a lot of food.

We are a little bit worried this year because the prices are so high.

So we're encouraging everybody to just put a little bit of money aside every week, just a dollar.

And by the end of the year, we'll have a lot of money and a lot of food for the people who really need it.

I want to thank all the council for the big support we've had for Debbie as well.

She's done a great job.

And I just want to let you know one other little thing about Debbie.

When we were in New Jersey, the volunteer fire company had a ladies' auxiliary.

I can't tell you how many times that page went off at one or two in the morning for a serious motor vehicle accident or stretch your fire.

Debbie was right up down the firehouse with the rest of the ladies making soup and sandwiches at two and three in the morning.

She's always been a great giver.

So I just wanted you to know that too.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mike.

And thank you, Debbie.

You are you are truly amazing.

We appreciate you.

Um with that, we will start our opening public comment.

Oh, Gene.

You're not on my list.

I'm sorry.

Come on.

Uh Gene Watkins, a citizen of Mesquite with the Women's History and Culture Center board and volunteers.

This is one of the special times of the year where we get to meet and share with the community.

Don't hold on to the mic, it's gonna I'm sorry.

I know it's tempting.

Is that better?

That's better.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It just makes weird noises.

Yeah.

Um, it's a very special time of the year.

We love sharing this with the community because the community shares with us is celebrating women getting the right to vote over a hundred years ago.

We do an annual decorate saxon the suffrage cat contest.

And this year, after two months of watching these wonderful cats come in from all over the community.

We now have 42 of them, and they will be excuse me, I catch my breath.

They will be on display at the art gallery starting this Thursday through next Wednesday for people's choice voting.

So we ask everyone in the city, take some time, go to the art gallery, vote for your favorite cat.

And our mayor will be doing mayor's choice very shortly.

Excuse me, I had a run here.

I had something else going on, so I'm a little bit out of breath.

And um, we really appreciate the support we have received throughout the community for this event.

What I like is it opens up horizons for young people to express their feelings to learn about history, to see how important contributions of women are.

And this would not be possible if it were not for this city of Mesquite and how much support we receive from everyone.

We thank you very much.

Remember to come out, vote, and at the same time put aside next Thursday, June 4th, 2 p.m., 4 p.m.

to come for the award ceremony.

You will learn which of these wonderful cats received recognition.

And we're just so pleased and thank you all.

And don't forget, Thursday, this Thursday, 2 o'clock.

If you can come for Mayor's Choice, all the other judges will be there, and they love to see you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jean.

All right, now I think we're good.

We're gonna go into opening public comment.

You have three minutes, and this is for non-agendized items, Dominic Olivetto.

Tonight I'm representing the veterans of Mesquite.

Unfortunately, Councilman Galileo isn't here.

I would like to uh thank on behalf of the veterans, uh Councilman Gallo, Councilman Ennis for showing up at our celebration for Memorial Day.

Uh Patty was there, so we had somebody with some intelligence.

Bill was there to put chairs out.

Ah, I was told not to say that.

In addition to that, I'd also like two of the candidates that showed up there.

I'd like to thank Rick McIntyre for showing up, and John Rosen for showing up.

Us veterans really appreciate that, and there was a lot of conversations about the people being there.

And Bill did work real hard.

Thanks, Dominic.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and City Council members.

I'm Mary Mathis, president of the Besquite Fine Arts Center, and I'd like to update you a little bit on some of the stuff we have going on right now.

We're at the end of our showing of Colors of Springtime exhibit, which showcases our talented artists.

We'll be installing our June exhibit, America 250 on May 30th.

We invite you to come in and enjoy the new exhibit starting June 2nd.

I would like to invite you to attend the reception on June 18th from 4 to 6 p.m.

It will be hosted by our sponsor, Dar, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Also remember, we're now closed on Mondays for the summer and start up again in September.

We are launching a fun new program to support our scholarship and education programs.

Artists are being asked to give back and donate their artwork to be raffled off each month at our reception.

You can come in any time during the month and see the art that will be raffled off.

You can purchase raffle tickets at the front desk, one for a dollar or six for five.

We've also announced our June Palette and Poor events.

These are a fun event that is instructor led.

You come in and paint and socialize and just a lot of fun.

Let's see, of course, we continue to hold a lot of fun classes in our other studios, the pottery, the Matt and Framing Shop, and our new printing shop is really getting going.

I'm going to be able to print really huge pictures, so you'll be seeing larger pictures in the gallery now.

And I invite you to go to our website at Mesquite Fine Arts Center.com where you can see everything going on.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mary.

Hi, my name is Vicky Samuelson.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks.

Thank you to the council.

I wanted to let you know that we have an actual uh League of Women Voters now in Mesquite.

We have about 12 people participating in our little organization, and our biggest thing is informing voters and defending democracy.

That's our mission statement for the League of Uh Women Voters.

Um we've run into a little bit of pushback when we've tried to have candidate forums for um and having a venue to have them at.

We've gotten pushback saying that we're political.

So I kind of wanted to plead my case as to yes, we are political because we advocate on policy issues.

But we are also informative because we inform voters by having candidate forums to put the candidates in front of the constituents.

We take the questions from the constituents to the candidates.

So I think in my defense, where is we're we have two hats.

So there's the political one of which we don't cross that barrier because we don't support candidates, we don't support parties.

We have the information hat, and that's where we live.

So the policy issues we usually advocate for with the legislatures and on the national level and on the state level, usually not locally.

The only policy issues that we could possibly cross over to would be with water, land, anything like that that's going on in Mesquite.

So I think when I did some research on 501c3s and 501c4s, I didn't see anything where I bumped up against anything that would violate that policy of being political.

Um we're informative.

We're giving people information.

Our last candidate forum, we have we have the library, and we had a hard stop at 75 people, and we had to turn people away.

That's how big this thing got.

And uh I was absolutely blown away that it was it was that positive about that.

But we want to continue that.

So I I've hold I've been told that um probably the way it's listed in statute or your charters or whatever it is that you guys go by, might be where it's a problem.

So I think you need to look at that.

I'm requesting that you do give some eyes to that and see what's the issue because there is two buckets, and I want to do I want to do everything I can to inform voters.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you, Vicky.

Gary Elgort, Musquite.

Um, I'm putting on my cranky old curmudgeon hat.

I can't I hope I'm not the only one who's really getting annoyed at all the golf carts driving down major roads in the town.

Today I went down Falcon Ridge Parkway, and there was a guy in a golf cart in the middle lane.

Apparently, the whole road was his to drive on at golf cart speeds.

It's ridiculous.

And on the way here, a guy on an e-bike came to the red light at Riverside and Mesquite Boulevard, where we were all traveling down Mesquite Boulevard and just plowed around the corner on his 150-pound e-bike and his big self right out into traffic.

I know we're working on this, but I think what we need in town is a traffic enforcement section of the police department.

I think that we're a little bit understaffed there, and I know we have some issues right now going on several years, but I think we need a traffic enforcement division.

The city's getting busier, people are speeding a lot more, and these golf carts and ATVs are just running rampant.

I don't see a plate on most of them.

Nobody's driving with any safety.

There's no bumpers on these things, and yet they're in the same lane as a regular car.

Probably they're not insured either.

So it's putting a lot of people at risk.

It's a dangerous thing, and I think we need to step up our ability to enforce.

And if that requires adding a couple of officers or whatever we need to do, I think we need to do it.

I think we're reaching that point in this town that it's big enough to do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Gary.

Mayor Council following up on Gary's comment there.

Um I've been watching the police department from St.

George put a video out.

They are really clamping down on these e-bikes.

Vegas, too.

Um they're gonna start confiscating.

They have no insurance, no helmets.

Today, again, on the way here, uh, lunchtime, three kids zooming down by the middle school.

One had a helmet, two did not.

When are we gonna finally get this thing settled?

This has been going on for months and months and months.

Councilman Parry said, I hold your feet to the fire.

I guess I must have fire extinguishers because nothing's getting done.

We've got this summer to get this thing sorted out.

I'd like to see this thing sorted out by the start of school year.

There's no reason we can't do this.

Can anybody have any explanations why it's not being done?

Mr.

City Attorney.

Tracy and I have met and had discussions.

It's it's on my my plate right now.

And so um I I anticipate very soon having that proposed ordinance back out there.

But new issues always come up, like golf carts.

That's something we haven't considered in the ordinance, and maybe it's something that we do need to consider.

And so it's good to keep getting this feedback as we continue to work through it to get something, get something out there.

It's an important issue.

I'm not talking about the golf carts.

My specific thing is for the kids.

I've been bringing this up and up and up, and still nothing is being done.

It's not that hard to make an ordinance on kids.

You protect our children, that's what you do.

As I said, you only have to give one ticket out, and I'll guarantee you it'll be through the school like hot cakes.

They'll all be wearing helmets.

You only have to give one person a ticket, as you said.

When you got you a ticket for the uh seat belt, you certainly wore it after that, didn't you?

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mike.

Mayor, counsel, Nickel Fonsetti.

Um I think I gotta put on my good hat today.

I want to thank, that's right, Bill.

Uh I want to thank everyone that showed up to the memorial service that was held Monday for the veterans.

It was a great service.

The uh ceremony itself by uh L.

Littman and Dominic Allaberto, uh, was right from the heart.

And to me, it was it was just astounding.

And if anybody was there, there were tears.

There were a lot of tears there, and it was all about those that didn't make it home, so that we could have places like this today, that we would have our freedoms, that we have a country, we have all the freedoms that we have today.

And like I said, that was just absolutely unbelievable what they put together.

And I really want to thank both of them and all the participants, including Randy's people from the parks and rec coming in, bringing sound system in, the chairs coming from the vet center.

I mean, it was just coming together like I was there early, and I just saw the way that I had to help with some chairs.

Not about me.

They're just helping out where needed.

So I say, you know, those that missed it missed a great, great ceremony.

And I just say to them, next year, make it.

You'll be well rewarded.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nick.

Forman Van Est, Mesquite.

Once in a while, somebody on the council has to say something that requires rebuttal.

At a recent meeting, had a council member declare that they knew why I purchased a home two and a half decades ago so that I could that I was always my only decision to purchase a home in an HOA so I could do what I want to, and then now tell other people ironically in his words what they can't.

You must be clairvoyant to tell me what the purposes were.

Have you ever heard of lot size?

Inventory, what was available two and a half decades ago that you cannot possibly know you weren't here?

Floor plans.

Anyway, I know that's sounding close to an agendatized item, but that was needed to be addressed and returned.

I also want to take a moment while I'm here and apologize to Mr.

Kemp.

During a recent meeting, a council member made a mockery of one of his presentations and had to answer in a smart way.

And I don't apologize for him.

That's up for that person to do.

But Mr.

Campbell, I apologize to you for not speaking up sooner.

Thank you.

Thank you.

As always, I'm going to recuse myself from voting on the consent agenda because I my company does do business with the city.

That being said, item 2.1, consideration and approval of the Tuesday, April 14th, 2026 regular city council meeting minutes.

The Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, technical review meeting minutes, and the Tuesday, May 26, 2026 regular city council meeting agenda.

2.2 consideration of a notification of bills paid and b purchase orders.

Do we have any public comment on the consent agenda?

Any questions from council or a motion on the consent agenda?

Councilman Ennis.

I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the consent agenda.

Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Okay, call for the vote.

NSI.

Okay, motion passes.

Item 3.1 presentation from Shari Davis with the Main Street program.

Sure.

And the headburdios line up right over there.

Where you want.

Mr.

Mayor, members of the city council.

My name is John Rosen, and I am speaking to you today in the context of my position as the vice chairman of the Mesquite Opportunities Regional Fund.

Given the fairly large quantity of contentious or negative topics that come before this group, Morph is very pleased today to be able to offer you a presentation which is full of information and promise, and one which will serve as reason to be optimistic about Mesquite's future.

Our presenter today will be Miss Sherry Davis.

She is the director of rural economic and community development within the Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development.

I am truly impressed that someone figured out how to be able to fit all of that on her business card.

Shuri will be talking to us today about the Nevada Main Street Program, which is part of the nationwide Main Street America organization.

With Sherry's guidance and assistance, Morph recently completed a rigorous self-assessment of its assets and internal procedures.

In the process of qualifying as an affiliate member of Main Street America.

The experience has positioned Morph to provide even stronger support to the city of Mesquite in our shared effort to make Mesquite the best small city in America.

Main Street's ongoing training and other resources are very valuable, and we all appreciate Sherry's involvement and assistance.

It is my pleasure and honor to now turn the presentation over to Sherry Davis.

Thank you, John.

Thank you so much.

Hello, Mayor and Council members, Sherry Davis for the record.

I know I have a PowerPoint up there too.

Oh, here it is, right here.

But I did want to say, just so you know who I am.

I have lived in Nevada my whole life.

I grew up in Tonopah.

So when I say I get the trials and tribulations of rural Nevada, I really do.

And this morning I was presenting at the Urington City Council and then drove all the way here six and a half hours.

So barely made it, but here I am.

But I do want to talk a little bit about what Mesquite is doing and all that good stuff.

So go ahead.

Thank you.

So just a quick note on what GoEd is.

We there's several pieces to Goed.

And I think most people just assume it's it's you know tax incentives and things like that, but really it's a whole lot of things.

So we've got workforce development and business development.

We've got the Office of Entrepreneurship, which is first in the nation, actually.

Um, and then also international trade, the Apex Accelerator.

Anybody has a business who wants to work with the federal government or state government, talk to them.

They can help you out in procuring those sorts of contracts.

We have the film office, we have rural economic and community development and CDBG, that is my department, and then public policy and government and affairs and healthcare.

So we have we do a whole lot of things, and it's a very small agency.

But um, go ahead.

Nevada Main Street, this is the fun part.

So uh what we do is we partner with Main Street America, a national organization with thousands of participating communities.

Um is just one of those.

They really focus on downtown revitalization, historic preservation, one of my favorites, uh, community development, beautification, and economic vitality, all those things that make communities places where they where uh the locals want to be and also where people want to visit, but most importantly, where the locals want to be.

Um, it offers basically a framework that Morph can use and our communities throughout Nevada can use to uh to do this work, um and it adjusts for each unique community because they are vastly different, as you know.

Um it can act as an umbrella organization to get various partners to work together.

Um, and this is actually the definition people keep asking me what exactly is Main Street, why is it different from a chamber of commerce, those sorts of things?

And really what it does is it creates an environment both built and cultural where small businesses and communities can thrive.

Um, and it's all about empowering local communities to improve their own quality of life and keep their sense of place or placekeeping, or if you need to create a sense of place, there's also placemaking, which is a whole other thing that Mesquite is actually very good at that you have all done in your downtown with art with all sorts of different things.

Um but if you look at all of that talking and all those words, you'll see community many times because that is what this is all about is what the community wants.

You will never hear me say, I am from the government and I'm here to help.

It will always be uh, what do you want to do and how can we work together?

How can I help you to get there?

But it's always what do you want to do?

And if you don't know what you want to do, let's talk about it and figure it out through strategic planning through all sorts of different things.

I know you you all have a master plan and that sort of thing, but how can we help with that?

So go ahead.

Thank you.

Um, so we have an and um we've kind of spoken about some of this stuff, uh, strategic planning, work planning, organizational development services.

So this is how we help.

Uh board members, staff and committee training, networking, scholarships, and grants.

Morph has been the recipient of several grants.

Uh, access to the Main Street America website, which has tons and tons and tons of training, anything you can imagine.

If you want to learn it, you can go on there and learn it.

It's kind of amazing.

Uh, we do twice monthly virtual calls and then support from uh from me directly.

So go ahead.

Uh we had $700,000 uh just in one-shot funding from the 2325 biennium.

So we went all over the place.

Actually, we conducted uh a strategic planning workshop in a one of these rooms over here.

Uh 19 participating communities.

So we now have a strategic plan for Morph.

Um, we awarded uh 16 communities, 23 projects to operationalize the goals in that strategic plan, and then we just awarded the next round of grants, um, which was 425,000 to 31 projects in 21 communities.

So they're small projects, but they are vital, and they it's amazing what people who are motivated and volunteers can do with a small amount of money.

So and more certainly has done some of that.

So go ahead.

And all I could do was gather people together that could help.

And so this is this is how we offered this.

This was our this was our what can we do for you since we have no money.

And so we put together this great list of partners.

If I can't help, I can find somebody who can, and that is the beauty of this project also.

I know we think that in government, especially in state government and in federal government that we're siloed.

In this case, we certainly are not.

We talk all the time on a weekly basis.

So lots of great partners here.

Thank you.

These are all of our main street organizations accredited, just means that they are doing all of the things that they have a paid executive director that they are doing basically best standards across the board.

And that is something that is offered by the national organization just to uh just as like a little hey, you guys are absolutely incredible.

Here is your gold star.

So we actually used to have one for many years, many, many years, and then we went to two to three last year, and now we're up to six.

So we're not just building a program that is has a lot of members, we're building program that really has quality uh to it.

So it's not just uh it's not just doing some things, so they're really doing an amazing job.

Affiliate, we just added a whole bunch of affiliates as well.

As you can see, Mesquite is up there, um, but these are the communities that we're working with on a regular basis, and then we also have that exploring and general uh bucket of communities who are just kind of starting uh with us as a main street as uh main streets.

So go ahead.

Um, these are some of the things we so this is the best part, right?

That was all the talking about what we do the things.

These are like the things that we actually do, which is the best part of all of this.

Um Wells Main Street created and expanded a small business incubator using an old motel.

If you ever get a chance to go up to Wells, I know it's really far away.

Um there's seven businesses in there now, um, which is super exciting, and they that was a uh partnership that was CDBG funding, funding from Main Street from uh my organization, and then money from Nevada Gold Mines.

So they really sort of had that public-private partnership, all of that stuff with that.

Umage and art installations.

Uh Hawthorne Main Street had an a piece of property that had been vacant for many years, um, and now it I just drove by it today on my very long drive here.

And um they've got flat flat, you know, hanging flowers, and there were kids out there playing out on the grass.

It was really pretty incredible.

You'll see pictures of that in a minute.

Um, but what we were trying to do, and this is where that strategy piece comes in, is so many people travel that road on a regular basis.

Um, if you want to get them in your town, you have one shot because there's a bypass.

So if you convince them to not take the bypass, you've got that one shot to make it so that they always do that.

And we want them to go in to see all of the small businesses to get off the highway, right?

Um, but it wasn't ready.

Like if you went, you would be like, oh, I don't know about this place.

Well, they're just about there where we can maybe put up some billboards and some signage to really encourage people to get off of that uh that thing.

They've they're doing another project with uh banners, they're painting light poles, they're doing all sorts of stuff to beautify their downtown so that when we do start bringing people off at that main drag, they really do want to continue to do that.

So uh Fernley, we put in a crosswalk.

Like these are the things, it's really what is the community need, and this is the important part.

Um, they were unable, uh, the Department of Transportation would not allow them to have large events in an event space because there was no safe way to cross the street, and so we paid for a crosswalk so that you could park and cross the street.

So these are the kinds of like bizarre one-off uh projects that we do.

Uh Goldfield Main Street, same thing did a town square and planted a community Christmas tree.

So now they can all gather and light it every year, and then a whole bunch of other stuff.

And then uh the Winnemucca Main Street, they did 29 murals in a weekend, and actually their next uh murals and music times two uh will be this coming weekend.

So they really are doing some amazing things there too.

But and you all know the importance of art, you have incredible arts community here.

So go ahead.

So these are the some of the before and afters.

You can see this is what that main street mall, the one I was talking about, that was an old motel.

That's what it looked like before, and then the interior rooms, and that's what it looks like now.

And they actually just put up some awning and a picnic area too so that people can visit uh and have a place to sit as they stroll through the shops.

This is Ely.

They're trying to fill in the vacancies in their downtown.

So they're doing all sorts of uh beautification things to do that.

Um and then downtown's most eligible building, which I thought was cute.

They also have this like where you take off for your outdoor adventures is in the downtown, so it encourages people who are going out to uh to do some outdoor recreation to come and spend some money downtown first, right?

So leave us with some more dollars in our small towns.

Uh this is Tonopah Main Street.

They uh they created a small business incubator as well and a meeting space and uh a pocket park in between where they have games and all sorts of different things.

It's absolutely beautiful and very history-based.

Um, if you ever get a chance to stop in Tonappa, you should check it out.

So go ahead.

This is before this is downtown Reno.

Go ahead.

And that is after.

So they planted trees, they did art.

We were just a teeny tiny piece of this.

I think we paid for the lighting.

This was actually before my time, but lots of uh projects of beautification for downtown, just to get more people downtown.

What?

Thank you.

This is Hawthorne.

This is that lot I was talking about.

Uh it was filled with weeds, it was a mess.

It used to be a gas station.

Go ahead.

And this is what it looks like now.

So big, big, big difference.

And this is right in their downtown.

So you drive past this now as you're going through, which is another reason for people to come and stop.

Good.

Um, and this is what Morph has already done through the Nevada Main Street program and through their own projects.

So the utility box wraps, which I think they are also updating some of those, streetlight banners, the statues.

So there's the girl on the bench at the library, the girl in the wheelchair at Pioneer Park, the children with the baseball mitts at Old Millball Park, um, and then contributed a portion towards that uh that beautiful firefighter statue.

Um they're working with SBDC in support of Mesquite's own initiative to create a small business growth and sustainability center.

Uh, they received the Travel Nevada 3D project.

You'll be hearing about how much was actually awarded, I think this in the beginning of June.

Okay.

June.

Oh, you got not that you're counting down or anything.

Um 14 days, yeah.

Um, anyways, I know, just so you know, because I said I sit on that uh awards committee.

But anyway, but I can't tell you, I know, right?

No, my lips are sealed.

But anyway, uh see, we all work together.

That's that whole no uh no um uh silos.

We all sit on everybody, we all sit on each other's uh award uh committees.

Okay.

Uh then the special projects grant from Travel Nevada also, which was 50k for shade structures and benches, something very important in Southern Nevada, and then um they'll find out more about the Travel Nevada rural marketing grant soon, too.

That I'm not on that, I'm not on that committee.

But anyway, so that's what they've already done.

And this is just a start, right?

These are those small projects that you start with as you build into the bigger things.

So go ahead.

Um, and this is just something that I stole from Fred Steinman, actually.

Um, it came from the uh Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe.

They did a county community assessment, and I thought these are the things that everybody wants.

Like this was for them specifically, um, but I feel like this suits everybody in rural Nevada, creating a likable community, right?

These are the things that we can help with.

Uh, seek new uses for vacant buildings and parcels.

We're doing that on a regular basis already in several communities.

Uh beautifying the community, small piece, but it matters.

Uh, supporting and enhancing the very important reasons people to choose to live where they do.

Recreational opportunities, sense of community, good place to raise a family.

I think all of that sort of fits mesquite as well.

So um, but people live here for a reason, and let's continue to uh give them reasons to love it and to stay and to be proud of where they live.

What?

Okay, so what do we need from you?

So you uh you is like this nebulous idea, right?

Um, so and also directly from some of you.

Uh, continue to work with Morph to establish a public-private partnership with the city of Mesquite.

So that is something that just helps.

It's like a force multiplier, right?

If everybody's working together, um, and we do have some um things that we can offer, certainly.

Um, define a main street district, that's already done.

Um, and also in this mesquite future vision 2045 document, which was approved by all of you in 20 in February and incorporated into the master plan.

Um, hire a main street manager or director if possible.

This is something that we're really working on throughout the state, but you uh Mesquita's very fortunate in that the Morph executive committee really is very dedicated and able to do some of the things that a typical uh director would do.

So they will continue to address many of the responsibilities of this role in consultation with all of you.

Uh provide funding for staff and volunteers to attend trainings.

We're working on some more of that.

Also, we're going to be doing a, and nobody knows this yet, actually.

We're going to create a uh rural economic and community development conference in coordination with UNR.

And so that's something that we will be doing very soon as well.

Um, work on budgets, fundraising plans, and work plans.

They've done a great job with that.

Tracked, collect data, and report so that I can brag about everything and beg for more money from the legislature.

And then also encourage widespread community engagement.

That really is an important piece to make sure the community knows what Morph is doing and how they can help and be a part of all of it.

Okay.

And that's it.

I talked fast.

I always talk fast, but I know you have a really full agenda.

Can I answer any questions?

Do we have any questions from the council?

Okay.

We're good.

Yeah, that was easy.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Sherry.

Thank you, Moore.

John.

Yes, I just wanted to add a couple of concluding comments.

I have spoken to this group in my context as a member of the Master Plan Committee.

And I just want people to recognize that when we created the master plan, when we created the future vision documents, they were not simple pieces of paper to be go up on a shelf.

That we have through various entities in the city been working already on implementing parts of that, making incremental improvements, and there really is reason to be very, very optimistic about the future of Mesquite.

Thank you.

Thank you, John.

Do we have any public comment on that presentation?

Okay, seeing none, I will go ahead and ask for approval of that from the council.

Councilwoman Fielding.

Thank you, Mayor.

I will make a motion to accept that presentation.

Thank you.

Councilman Annis.

I'll segment that motion.

Okay, call for the vote.

Parachive.

NSI.

Motion passes.

And thank you again, Sherry, and thank you for coming all the way.

Happy to be here.

Well, you came to a much better place, you know.

I'll tell them that.

I hate them.

So, you know, old grudges die hard.

I'd like Tonopah every time I pass through.

So it's a it's not a bad place.

Got the clown motel and the giggle springs, and you know, nice place.

Yeah, I see.

I've heard it's really good.

500 feet to stand on top of it.

It's pretty big.

We stayed in the Belvada one year.

Beautiful.

My daughter refused to stay in the mitzvah because she thought a ghost would take her away.

I don't know.

But it's it's really come a long way.

You're too young to remember, but we used to be in the same league as you in high school, and so we came to Tonopah all the time.

And Tonopah has really made leaps and bounds.

It's be it's turned into a beautiful community.

Anyway, thank you.

Um, Mayor's comments and reports.

So we have had a lot going on in our little community here.

Um, I just want to give a couple thank yous.

I want to thank Chief Fells and Joe Masias as well as all their departments for handling the dog situation as well as they have.

It's been a huge challenge.

Uh Joe has told me all about it, and and Chief has told me some about it too.

Um, but amazing work.

Um Ryan, Deputy Chief Thornton.

You good good job from you guys as well on the fire.

Um, it was quite the exciting afternoon.

Um it was probably more frustrating for me because I had a sixth grader that I was trying to figure out what we were gonna do with, and she didn't want to be agreeable.

And so anyway.

And also Travis, new road opened up.

You want to give us a little update on that.

Yes, thank you.

I was going to uh just give a quick so Levitt Lane.

Um, we have that opened up, and now we have so we need to finish Hafen Lane, but to do that, we needed to finish Levitt Lane.

And so what you'll see is you're going down there, uh, you have uh one lane in each direction with a three-foot walkway slash sidewalk or not sidewalk, uh bike lane.

Now, many people have asked me this question, and I wanted to take this opportunity to so as the city develops these roadways.

Um, we do the middle portion, and then it's the policy that the developer on each side of the road finishes their portion of the roadway.

So many people have asked me, will there be sidewalk with that new road?

The answer is no, because that's the responsibility of the developer when they finish their piece of that roadway.

But we do have um we've made space um for a walkway/slash bike lane that will at least give people the opportunity to be away from the traffic in that aspect.

But uh wanted to just clarify that there will not be any sidewalk with that road.

What you see is the finished product for Levitt Lane.

Now they are working on they started uh milling up the existing asphalt on Hafen today.

Um that contract is anticipated for final completion June 24th.

So that road will be shut down to that time, or hopefully maybe a little bit sooner as the contractor goes.

But uh things are looking well.

Um but there will be I did receive a comment from a um a citizen, and I'm thankful for it.

They witnessed that there was a semi going down the new portion and couldn't get out of there.

Um so we will be adding some signage to let people know null outlet.

That's basically so you can get to the golf course and sunset greens at this particular time, but there is um to get around, you'll detour around to either uh Riverside Road and Skeet Boulevard to do that.

So um we also have updated the website for that road closure and an update on the project.

Um so I believe we we've tried to get the word out a little bit better on this one.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um I'm gonna keep a running total of how many times I try to go that direction and have to turn around.

And so far it was one today.

So hopefully it's old habits die hard.

You know, and then but it will be an extended period of time to do finish that.

Um, like I said, the anticipated completion is June 24th.

Um, but hopefully, as they continue, um, they'll be able to get that sooner.

But that's what we're looking at.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, Chief, did you have any updates on that?

Or did you yeah, we've uh been very, very fortunate.

We've got a lot of great donations.

I think we're in the neighborhood of $30,000, right?

So of the donations which 100 dogs, $600 apiece.

That's about halfway there, right?

But we're doing really good.

Um, we've been have a lot of people reach out to help, and um we've had we had a lady come down and spend the entire day like just shaving dogs.

That was a groomer because they they're so um dirty and stuff to get them completely looked over.

We had to shave a lot of them, and so they're doing that.

We've just started the process of um getting them because obviously there's legal barriers, right?

Evidence and all that, but they're we're just starting the process to get them so that we can start to adopt them pretty soon, I hope, um, or separate them.

And so um, we're working real hard to get that done because it's a lot of dogs in a little shelter.

But yeah, we've had a lot of great um people that have been a very very generous to donate and do we're we're we're getting there.

So appreciate everybody.

Thanks, Chief.

Um any comments from council councilman Wilmouth.

I just want to echo what the mayor said to the police department and the animal shelter.

Great job, and to the community for step stepping up and helping them with that.

And Chief Thornton when you have to go fight the same fire three times, and all you can say is damn wind.

That's tough, and it grates on you.

But you you guys have done a great job, and they're probably still watching hot spots right now.

So well done, both of you.

Anti-animal control.

What you've done over this last week has been above and beyond what you're called for.

Councilman Parrish.

I just had a uh citizen or two uh question me about the e-bike ordinance, and I know attorney Anderson addressed it a little bit, but I think I'd like to maybe get something pinned down a little bit firmer so that we can maybe get that done in the next month or two.

So if Attorney Anderson can answer that, I sure would appreciate it.

Thank you.

Yeah, it it's it's on my desk, and there's there wouldn't be any issue of getting it done in the next month or two.

No, no problem at all.

Okay, any um comments from staff or reports from staff?

No.

All right, thank you.

Um we will move on to item 5.1 consideration of introduction of an ordinance number B 26-005, amending the Title II Chapter 13 of the Musquete Municipal Code regarding vacation home rentals.

Jesslin.

Hello, how are you guys today?

So we are finally bringing the introduction of the bill for all the changes we've made to the short-term rental um code.

So we've um we met May 5th at a special meeting, we've uh included the changes you guys wanted to see, and now we're bringing that forward to introduction.

Staff recommends introducing it and setting a public hearing for June 9th.

I'll take any questions you have.

Councilman Parrish.

Oh, I might have beat Councilman Innis.

Um I've read through this thing three or four or five times.

Um the one thing I'm having an issue with, and there's it's not actually spelled out is property that might be grandfathered or think they're grandfathered in.

Um I don't know.

So in other words, if there's a house that's a short-term rental now, and the homeowner sells it to somebody else saying that it's already approved for short-term rental.

I don't think that's true, but I want to make sure that it's not true.

I want to make sure that they got to go through the process.

So can you show me in the ordinance where it says something to that effect?

It's not directly in the ordinance, but I think it's just basic law where their licenses are not transferable, and that is in our code.

So anybody that comes in would have to qualify for the new license under the current code.

Okay, so it says that it's not transferable, but it's not in this, but it's in another ordinance in the city of Musquite.

Is that what you're telling me?

That's correct.

It's okay.

I will look that up.

Thank you, Jasmine.

No problem.

Councilman Ennis.

Yes, and just a couple of questions for you.

Um, when these licenses are up for renewal, I know I thank you for sending me that list.

Uh big list.

Um, when these when the licenses are up for renewal on these STRs, what is that process?

I mean, did they they get sent a letter and then they just send the city the renewal fees and then it's good to go?

Yes, that is currently our process.

We ensure if they have a secretary of state, it is active, and then we process their payment and renew it.

Same for other business licenses.

So, with that being said, what is this?

What is ours?

And by ours, I mean the city's part in going out and making sure that they are still in compliance.

That is something that we could address within the department.

Um, but we're not currently doing inspections at renewal, if that's your question.

Because I think I think this is one of the major complaints of a lot of the folks out there.

Um, even with the grandfathered uh STRs that they they renew the license and they know that nobody's gonna come out and check on them, so they just go willy-nilly and continue doing what they're doing, and then when citizens do send us pictures and stuff like that, is when we finally go out and check on it.

Is there anything I and I when I first discussed this committee way back in January?

I think this is one of my talking points several times actually since then.

Is um what are we doing to make sure these people I know we I know we're only our code enforcement officers only part-time, which I still don't understand why, but um what are we doing to make sure they're in compliance?

I've already seen citizens send in several pictures of houses that aren't in compliant, and so this is my frustration.

I you know, I'm all for the STRs and all that, but I'm also you know, on the side of the citizens when it comes to these these complaints that they get.

I understand a lot of citizens they don't they say they make the phone calls, they don't make the phone calls to the PD.

That I get that, but some of the pictures I've seen were there's five or six trailers on the street with side-by-sides on them at one STR.

I I I guess maybe I'm maybe Dominic's right and I am dumb, but I just don't get that.

I don't why aren't we following up with that?

And if we do renew the license, why isn't there something in effect?

I think there should be something in effect where license is being renewed on something like an STR.

We need to go out and make sure that they're in compliance.

I mean, that's not gonna that's gonna that's not gonna change my outcome on the ordinance.

Okay, yeah, lots of things to tackle there.

Um, I share your frustration with STRs not being in compliance.

As you mentioned, we do only have a part-time code enforcement officer.

So we are um operating on a complaint basis.

We have um a good working relationship with PD.

So when we do get a complaint, it is addressed um quickly, if not immediately, and then we do follow up with the homeowner or the um STR licensee or qualified uh local operator.

So we are following up on that part.

Um it is virtually impossible to go to every single STR every single night and make sure they're in compliance with the parking, and a lot of that is gonna fall back on the property managers to ensure that they are doing their part, which is part of why in this um new ordinance, there's this responsibility for that qualified local operator to make sure they're doing their part to help the city with that and ensure that their guests are in compliance with the code.

And yeah, the the three or four property managers that we have are doing a fantastic job.

But it's those individual STRs out there that okay, nobody's gonna come out and check my if I'm up the code or if I'm following uh code or whatever the case may be.

So I'm just gonna do whatever I want to do.

I understand that you know we and I hate to say this, we screwed up a long time ago as a city by not doing this from the very get-go.

But and I'm just I'm just battling right now, and I apologize for that, but I'm frustrated in the fact that there's been nothing in place about us following up on these STRs to make sure that they're in compliance.

And that's been the major complaint from a lot of our citizens out there.

I get it.

I really do, I get it.

Uh, and so um committee did a great job.

I appreciate you, but I think maybe in the future this is something we need to discuss about, you know.

You know, I'll work for free, I don't care, I'm retired, I have nothing to do.

And so um, you know, I'm just saying that we this is something I think needs to be addressed.

Um I'm already like I said, I've already made my mind up about the ordinance, of course, but something we need to address in the future.

Yeah, I think having the qualified local operator having to sign an affidavit stating, I take responsibility for these two is gonna help hold those people's feet to the fire and ensure that they are in compliance as well.

Thank you, councilman.

Councilman Parrish, you're still lit up.

You good?

Okay.

Um, any other questions from council?

Okay, thank you, Jessel.

With that, we will open up the public comment.

Gary Elgord.

Um, I I'm confused a little bit, I guess.

I think originally we used to make people apply for a conditional use permit to do this, and then we stopped doing that, and now somehow you're running a business in a residential neighborhood, and you even make them apply for a business license, which makes it sound like it's really a business.

And I'm wondering then if we approve this and move forward with all this stuff, can I open like a nail salon in a house?

Because that actually has less traffic than one of these STRs.

Right.

I could open up a nail salon, have somebody come by once every two hours and have a business there and not really impact anyone versus 12 visitors staying for three days.

I I'm very confused that this meets the requirement of a residential district.

When you were allowed or required conditional use permits, then you had a hearing, you looked it over, you said, okay, this makes sense here, or it doesn't make sense here.

The neighbors had an input on it.

Now it's just you put in an application, you get okayed, and suddenly the guy next door has 12 visitors every every weekend going crazy in the house.

It sounds to me like you're saying it's okay to run a commercial business in a residential area, and I I think that would be a strong argument if you tried to take it to court as a business.

But I'm just worried about it.

I don't think we're doing it right.

Thank you, Gary.

Mayor Council Nickel Vincetti.

Um the thing that I look at is this we have a lot of the short-term rentals that are being operated like many holiday ins.

Okay, if you've been into a hotel, obviously you got a spring system, you got a fire alarm system that'll call the fire department direct.

Okay, if they got a swim pool, again, there's ordinances on that.

I don't see any of those inspections being held up where gates are left open.

Anyone can walk in there, walk over the line, jump the fence, get into the pool, whatever when nobody's there.

There's just a lot of things going on that's hard to catch.

Okay.

Um, and I just say, you know, to open up a business, yeah, you need a business license, but you look at all these other places that are opening up businesses that have to come before you to be approved for certain licenses to do this, do that, whatever.

And those are being uh scrutinized here by the council individually, these places just come and go.

And once they're in, they're in, and that's the end of it.

It's a sealed deal.

But again, as the previous speaker said, they didn't sign up for this, neither did I.

I've been there 20 years, never had the problems I've got now, and it's just ridiculous.

It's ridiculous that it just continues on.

Again, uh, pictures, comments, things happen, trucks and trailers that were brought up are there, parked across sidewalk, ADA violations of parking across sidewalk, putting people out in the street.

That's not legal.

None of it is.

You call for all of that, next thing you know, nobody's gonna show up when there's a problem.

And I just say that you know, we've overlooked a lot of things with this type of thing.

I've been doing some research on other states, other cities.

Cleveland now is eliminating them.

They're shutting them down.

They're saying enough enough.

We just aren't gonna put up with this anymore.

A lot of other cities are doing the same thing because of the aggregation it's bringing.

And I say this you know what?

Maybe it's time to get a dedicated area that's away from this area to put that in and offer that to them.

Okay, have the houses go back to straight residential, be done with it, and be over with it.

This way here, they can party all they want, make all the noise they want, do whatever they want.

Let's open up the doors for it if that's what they want to do.

But I say something needs to be done more than what's being done tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you, Nick.

Hello, Bob Bradbury, resident of Mesquite.

I know this is probably going to fall on deaf ears because it sounds like some, if not all, council members have already made up their mind about this ordinance.

But I want to echo the point made previously about how can this not be a commercial business?

That was brought up by our development services director a couple meetings ago, and his point that he was making that uh seemed to confuse some was the same.

How can we not consider this a commercial business?

If Hall at A Inn were to buy several houses and start running them as short-term rentals, maybe that's a little more offensive than individual investors.

What I found real interesting is in the uh previous speaker who seemed to be the spearhead of this, she referred to these owners as local operators.

That's the same term franchises use.

Thank you.

Thank you, Bob.

Hello, this is Colleen Gleaden.

Um, I just wanted to tell everybody about the the businesses in the homes.

If you're doing a long-term rent rental, then you're also doing a business in that home.

So you're collecting money.

That's just do we have to outlaw that too?

Um, I think the um subcommittee that did a lot of research and digging into all the facts about STRs, they spent months doing this, and they a lot of their time and effort to make their recommendations.

And I think the recommendations were making the uh ordinance stricter and uh making the uh owners more responsible for their 24-hour line that they needed to be there for, and we have one warning, and then you have a fine, and then you have it taken away.

They're very strict rules.

And I feel that if you let these become these new recommendations go for a while and see how things pan out instead of doing any drastic distancing or getting rid of short-term rentals.

So I just wanted to point that out as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Colleen.

Um, I had to write this as I only have a few minutes, and I go by fast up here.

So I respectfully I respectfully ask the council to seriously reconsider the current treatment of short-term rentals with single family residential zoning to adopt a meaningful distancing requirements to protect established neighborhoods.

Many homeowners purchase property in single family residential areas with the understanding that these neighborhoods were intended for the permanent residential living, not transient lodging businesses.

Over time, the city first allowed short-term rentals through conditional use permits.

That was in 2012, and later converted them into permitted uses in 2019.

That transition was significant because it effectively changed the character and practical use of single family zoning without many homeowners ever fully understanding the long-term impact.

Conditional use permits at least provided neighborhood review, public input, and case-by-case consideration.

Once short-term rentals became permitted uses, those protections largely disappeared.

What was originally treated as a special exception became an automatic right through business licensing.

Too many residents that did not feel like a simple policy adjustment.

It did not feel like a simple policy adjustment.

It felt like a fundamental change and the intent and purpose of single family zoning.

The concern is simply not about vacation rentals.

The concern is whether transient lodging operations are truly compatible with long-standing and purpose of single family residential zoning.

Hotels, motels, and lodging businesses have been historically have historically been separated from residential neighborhoods through commercial zoning for a reason.

Short-term rentals involve continual turnover of paying guests, increased traffic, parking impacts, noise concerns, and commercial activity operating inside residential neighborhoods.

Many homeowners believe the city council city blurred the line between residential and commercial use without fully addressing the long-term consequences to neighborhood stability and housing availability.

There is also concern that the transition from conditional use permits to permitted uses have effectively changed the nature of the zoning without the level of homeowner awareness and participation that such a majority of policy shift deserved.

While meetings may have been legally posted, most homers in affected single family neighborhoods were never personally notified that the rules governing their neighborhoods were being fundamentally altered.

Many residents who purchased years before these changes had no reason to monitor zoning agendas because they believe single family zoning protections were stable and would continue to preserve residential neighborhood character.

I'm asking the council to recognize that this issue is not about being anti-business or anti-tourism.

It's about restoring balance and protecting the integrity of established single-family neighborhoods.

Distancing requirements are one of the few remaining tools available to prevent over concentration and the gradual conversion of the residential neighborhoods into de facto lodging districts.

So please consider the strong stronger space requirements and additional protections for single-family residential areas that the original purpose and the character of these neighborhoods are not permanently lost.

Thank you, Natalie.

Thank you.

Mayor and Council, my name is Becky Peterson.

Two words community and zoning.

Last month I spoke up about what community means and how important it is.

Tonight, hearing all of these people talking about community morph, what they're doing to try and help establish a better community.

Community is knowing your neighbors and feeling safe.

There's no doubt, but let's not disregard people that bought in to those single family residential zones that now have people that feel like they have the opportunity and the right to have a business inside that community.

That's not right.

That's not doing justice to those that have been here longer than we have.

So please take a second look, understanding community and zoning and make those changes.

Thank you.

Thank you, Becky.

Um, I know I have spoken many times about my feelings about zoning versus uh community versus uh allowing these in single family residence.

Uh the only thing I would add is number one, I think we ought to stop permanently any new licenses from this happening.

I do think we need to work out a reasonable, rational transition plan for those licenses that do exist.

And I think that is what needs to be a part of the ordinance.

Um, I I will admit I have not read the complete ordinance right now, but I also know that it's coming up for a hearing uh June 9th, I think I heard.

Uh at any rate.

Uh I also have learned of various different communities that have just slammed the door shut hard on any new STRs, including closing down the ones that do exist.

I think working with a rational transition plan for people who did, in fact, to get in under the wire and have legal uh licenses should be factored into the ordinance.

Thank you.

Thank you, John.

Dominic Olivetto, I should have tripped John so I could get up here first because she speaks a lot better than I do, and it's hard to follow.

I mean, I'm not against vacation rentals.

But I am, you know, I picked a spot because of the way the zoning was.

And then everybody else talks about HOAs.

Well, I got a buddy that's president of one of the HOAs.

And you know what they're considering?

One complaint, you get a letter, two complaints, you get fine five thousand dollars, three complaints you can't have one in their HOA.

So it isn't just us that have a problem.

And I really think that when the zoning was changed and things were added on there, the city owed me the right of sending me a letter saying, hey, we're changing the zoning, and you're no longer in single family.

Then that leaves it up to me whether I want to move somewhere else or build 40 foot walls.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dominic.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward, I'm gonna go ahead and turn it back over to council.

Councilwoman Fielding.

I was just gonna make a motion to consider the introduction of ordinance number B26005.

Councilman Ennis.

I'll second the motion.

Okay, call for the vote.

Parish no.

NSI.

Okay, motion passes.

Item 6.1 consideration of adoption of bill as ordinance number B26-004 of the city of Mesquite, Nevada, amending the design standards for development in the downtown central business business district, DCBD, aligning site plan parking provisions with the unified development code, revising sign regulations for consistency with the C sign Code, establishing a grant scoring system for the DCBD and Mesa area, including application review and funding procedures for the facade improvement program and providing for other matters properly properly related there too.

Simon?

Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

I made a presentation at the introduction hearing uh two weeks before.

Uh so I'm gonna make it really concise.

So uh there will uh there are sections that doesn't admit the uh Muskete municipal code, so which is the parking sections and science sections.

So I'm uh removing uh those uh unnecessary uh sentences from the requirements so that it meets the MMC.

And uh um the main uh the purpose of this ordinance is to uh introduce and uh introduce a grant scoring system and uh especially this is for the facade improvement program.

City has been uh giving out uh monies uh from the facade improvement program.

However, there has been lack of standards.

So um the uh first review processor uh procedures will be when they submit their application step review, and then architecture review committee will review, and then the development agency will review, and then that goes to the city council's decision and goes to the funding agreement, and uh funding agreement will include the project completion deadlines and inspection requirements.

Uh so grant scoring system in in need to meet 25 points, and uh at least the two different categories uh need to uh meet uh those requirements.

This is the criteria, how we issue the five points through the two points and bonus points.

So five points being uh it it becomes a destinations and four points is uh uh just uh significantly uh significantly enhance the usability or character.

Three point is general, two point is uh secondary enhancement, and bonus point is uh right there.

So we have uh architecture enhancement create criteria with the points.

Uh you know, people might think that that could be the subjective, but uh if you read it through uh those uh required the features is quite objective.

So and then public well uh improvements and landscaping enhancement, artistic and cultural features and water features, economic and functional impacts, accessibility and inclusivity, and sustainability and resilience, and bonus would be going uh going to the historic building rehabilitation or uh private uh the uh owner will match the uh funds.

Um both architecture review committee at their April 16th meeting uh and uh uh the Mesla Plan Committee uh at their uh April 20th meeting, uh they unanimously recommended the city council approved this item, and uh uh at the couple of weeks ago, uh bill number B246 was introduced at the city council meeting, and uh uh it was uh approved unanimously by uh 5 to 0 vote.

Uh recommended motion is adopt bill as ordinance number B26-04.

Thank you.

Thank you, Simon.

Any questions from council?

Okay, seeing none, I'm gonna go ahead and open it up for a public comment or open the public hearing uh Rick McIntyre, uh Mayor and members of the council.

I happen to read the minutes from the architectural review committee.

What an excellent discussion they had with Simon and others, they actually changed some of these point structures and things.

It was very well thought out, item by item by item.

I thought you had a great job on it.

Uh I also serve on the master plan committee, and we also thought this was a great little way to do things.

Uh, very fair uh and well done.

And Simon led a lot of that, and he did a great job at it.

We certainly encourage you to approve this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Rick.

Any other public comment?

Okay, seeing none, I'm gonna go ahead and close the public hearing.

Councilman Ennis.

I saw you reaching.

I'm gonna go ahead and approve the adoption of uh ordinance uh number B26-004.

Councilwoman Fielding.

I'll second it.

Okay, call for the vote.

Very shy, NSI.

Okay, the motion passes.

Item 7.1 consideration of approval of resolution R26-013 confirming the abatement or removal of hazardous conditions at 574 Condor Street Condor Street, APN number 001-17-710-038, declaring the costs and expenses incurred to be a lien for delinquent assessments within the districts, directing the city clerk to transmit certified copies of the resolution and the verified statement of costs to the Clark County Assessor and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh, today we are uh finalizing that uh rat infestation uh cases.

Uh so uh it started September 2025, and total cost uh on this one is uh actually 162,34 and 72 cents.

Uh so uh Ben Nusu, uh our building officer has been led uh this projects.

Uh first he had Alicia, Ali has Alicia did some work, and then uh she left.

So he was the only one actually who led the entire projects, and uh uh he will make a presentation today.

Thank you.

Thank you, Simon.

Council, yeah, Ben Russo, building official.

Like Simon said this started the end of August, first of September when the complaints came in to city council.

And um the following day, myself and Alicia went out and met with the homeowner, uh, did confirm there were a number of rats on the property.

Um we had no idea how many rats were on the property at the time, but with the help of uh animal control, um, and the uh pest control that we hired.

We we removed I believe 600 rats from outside the home.

Um the homeowner denied that there were any rats inside the home.

And I told her that basically we have to get in to confirm there are rats or aren't rats if the city is gonna help take care of the problem.

She took it took us probably a month to convince her to allow us to come in the home.

We didn't have a warrant, we couldn't go in.

It's not like something like that.

When we got in the home, I think uh Frank's got some pictures there.

Um that's not what the home looked like when I went in.

I'm sorry.

Anyway, um when Alicia and I went in the home, there were rats running everywhere.

And uh just big rats, not mice, but rats, and going in and out of the holes that they had made in the walls, and just everywhere.

So that piano right there.

When we opened that, they had eight, they ate all the pads off of the keys, so it weren't any good.

And we opened the lid on that upright piano.

You can see Alicia in the background doing this.

About 16 rats jumped out at us when we did.

So uh public works, Travis.

There's the holes.

If he zoomed in on that picture right there on the very bottom, there's two rats sticking their head out of the hole.

I didn't know it till after I took the picture and then realized it.

But you can see how they were eating the uh the drywall.

So we um with the help of public works, that that couch was full of live rats.

We took out we removed a lot of furniture.

I believe we took four dump truck loads to the dump of furniture from inside the home, stuff from outside the home, and um then we had to move the homeowner and her mother to a hotel so we could start the abatement.

So we we hired UDK, which is uh Utah disaster uh cleanup.

They came in and did the demo on the home, and we had to remove everything down to the studs, some of those pictures he was showing.

This is the wiring.

They they they chewed through the wiring, all the duct work, the plumbing, the refrigerator didn't work, the range didn't work, the um the water heater actually still worked, but they had chewed through all the wiring for all this, so she was cooking off a microwave and doing whatever.

We moved her into a hotel to start the demo, uh, and then Alicia resigned from the city, so it all fell back on me to handle, which I've been in building for my entire life, but um as a building inspector and official for 26 years I've never seen a home this bad that wasn't tore down, and and my authority I could have condemned the home.

Homeowner would have been out on the street, your mother's 87 years old, would not have had a place to live.

So thankful to city council and the city that they agreed to pay for the repairs and uh you know lean the property, not really knowing at the time what we were getting into.

So we had to remove all the drywall, all the electrical, all the ductwork, all the insulation, it was all full of rat urine and feces, and then they had to pressure clean the entire inside of the house and sanitize it, and uh then we contracted with Jackson Construction to do the rebuild, and they came in, uh did a fantastic job.

Um this is a picture of the bathroom.

I didn't show the picture of the bathroom earlier that had the rat on a brush, hairbrush, but this is the same bathroom that is complete.

Uh as you can see, the home is is beautiful.

Uh no rats, no we provided her all new appliances, everything.

Um Nevada residential contractors, they donated all the drywall for the project.

Jackson construction donated all the lights and the ceiling fans, which saved saved the city about $6200 just for that.

But um, I want the citizens to know we don't have a rat infestation in Mesquite.

We have rats, every city has rats.

There are areas where maybe around some restaurants and different things, there may be more of them.

But as citizens, we just need to maintain our property, keep the trash picked up, trim your palm trees, just trim things down so they don't have anywhere to live outside, and uh and don't raise any rats, you know, just don't do it.

And uh and don't raise any rats, you know, just don't do it.

But um but anyway, that that was about it.

I just wanted to kind of give a report, show some pictures uh of what the home looks like.

Uh we moved it took us almost eight months to do this project.

It was that bad.

Um the last few months it went pretty quick, and we were able to turn the home back over to the homeowner in April.

So she was able to get back in.

So any questions I can answer or any questions.

Councilman Wandless.

I just want to say, God bless you.

And and everyone that helped you through this.

The businesses that is have stand stood up and helped make this all possible.

What you had to go through, I'm sure was traumatic and hard.

And and on everyone that in that whole neighborhood.

This should never have happened in the first place.

The fact that it did is extremely unfortunate.

And thank you for telling people how to avoid it in the future.

And hopefully people will listen because this could have been a lot worse than it was.

Yeah, and you know, we we had some code complaints come in afterwards, and part of it was they have rats.

And I don't know if that was to get us out there faster or whatever, but we did go out and we did find some rats around property, but it wasn't.

I mean, we took 300 out from inside the home, over 900 rats out of this home, and it's just you know, and I haven't heard any complaints from those neighbors around there lately about any more rats.

I know they all started putting traps out and stuff, and you know, that's what it takes.

It takes the community and people to just work together.

You know, unfortunately, um what happened, and I I don't know what's in people's mind.

I don't know how they lived in the home.

Um I've been sick for six months from being in that home.

Um, so I it's not I don't want to do it again.

So if there's another, I'm not doing it.

Simon, I'm not doing it.

So Nate, that's a good one for me.

So Mayor and City City Council, uh, I would like to uh extend our appreciation to other departments to public works, uh, helped a lot.

And the police department is that uh especially the animal control did a lot of work.

So uh I want to appreciate all those departments who helped this project.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ben.

Anything else?

Thank you.

Okay, do we have any public comment on that presentation?

Dominic.

Dominic Olivetto, that gentleman deserves a raise at least double his salary because I wouldn't have guts enough to go in there.

Nick Elfensetti.

Uh, real quick, uh, was there any compensation given to those people that did have trouble from being neighbors, whatever, uh, some of the destruction that went on in that bill that you've put forth of the hundred some thousand?

Because again, all those people had to come up with different things, the uh poisons, whatever, traps, uh all that kind of stuff to contend with it just until everything was organized and taken care of and minimized.

Uh actually um the those uh cost uh will be put on uh that uh owner's uh deed.

Uh so um the if the neighbors are support uh suffered from it, then they actually need to get into legal actions.

Uh it's it's gotta be private legal actions.

Uh but the city will not reimburse or uh assist anything on that wise, they have uh rat issues again, then the city will go out and do the same thing and uh put their money on their deed.

Well, if it wasn't for the neighbors complaining again, this thing would have gone way out of board, way off.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Nick.

Hello, Mary Gleason, Mesquite resident.

I'm just curious.

I mean, you don't have to be a mental health professional to know there was a mental health issue there.

So just moving these two women back into the house.

Is do we know if there's any other support services or anything being rendered to them or mandatory, maybe, so it doesn't happen again.

Ben when this started, we did contact we took contacted health department, and they would do nothing.

They said it's they they handle businesses and restaurants and stuff like that.

There's uh help Nevada, a another group that we contacted to um try to get some counseling for them, but we couldn't get anything for these people.

And you're right, there is a mental issue there, but there's also they have rights.

So we just couldn't come in and say, okay, you've got to go do this, this, and this.

I I wish we could have had maybe hindsight.

I don't think we've ever done this before with the city, just massive with a resident.

But it in the future, I think if it happens, I think we need to have some counseling for those people before we agree to put all this money into a home.

Because if she never sells the home, the city's not getting their money back until she passes or whatever.

So, you know, it it's a lot of money.

And but I have it, like I said, I haven't heard anything from the neighbors.

I've been around, some of the neighbors have come and talked to me while I was out there.

Um they didn't really complain about a lot of rats in their, you know, they they did put traps out, but they there wasn't a lot of rats.

But yeah, I I think in moving forward, that's something we need to consider before we do something again.

Thanks, Ben.

Thanks, Mary.

Hello, everybody.

Bob Bradbury resident.

When someone asks how someone's doing, they often say, I'm doing good.

The grammar police jump in and say, No, Mother Teresa did good.

You're doing well.

For the city council for working and getting this approved for everybody that worked on it, for the people that went into the building.

You did good.

You did real good.

Thank you, Bob.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward, I'm gonna go ahead and close public comment and I will ask for a motion.

Councilwoman Fielding.

I will I will make a motion to approve resolution R26-013.

Okay, do I have a second?

I'll second.

Call for the vote.

Parish, Iem 7.2, consideration of approval of a restaurant with bar liquor license, Chicago Greek 355 West Mesquite Boulevard Suite 30 and 40.

Justin?

I'm back.

Okay.

So this is actually a really exciting thing for me as your licensed clerk because we get to see one of our small businesses expand and grow their operations.

So I'm excited to bring this to you today.

Chicago Greek is applying for a restaurant with bar liquor license because they have expanded into the next seat suite, and they are able to expand their seating and therefore meet the requirement to have the restaurant with bar.

So staff recommends approving this, and we'll grant that.

Thank you.

Any questions from council?

Okay, any comment from the public?

Okay, seeing none, I will ask for a motion.

Councilman Ennis.

I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the restaurant and bar and liquor license for Chicago Greek.

Do I have a second?

Councilwoman Fielding?

I'll second that.

Okay, call for the vote.

Okay, motion passes.

Item 7.3, consideration approval of class A gaming license for United Coin Machine doing business as century gaming technologies for seven slot machines at Green Valley Grocery number 24, located at 290 North Sand Hill Boulevard.

Doing business as century gaming technologies for seven slot machines at Green Valley Grocery number 24, located at 290 North Sand Hill Boulevard.

Hi.

Okay.

This one and the next two are all going to be relatively the same.

These locations already do have gaming licenses, but they are changing the slot route operator.

So that's what we're approving today.

Is the change in the slot route operator from uh United from midget market or Crawford Coin to United Coin Machine?

I do have their approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission.

They had their meeting late last week.

We got it on Monday, so we have those.

I believe they were distributed as well.

So take any questions you may have.

Any questions from council?

Okay.

Any public comment on item 7.3.

Okay, I'll turn it back over to council for a motion.

Councilwoman Fielding.

I will make a motion to approve the Class A gaming license for United Coin Machine.

You want to add the location to that, Councilwoman.

Um slot machines for the seven slot machines at Green Valley Grocers number 24, located at 290 North Stan Hill Boulevard.

Okay, do I have a second for that?

I'll second.

Okay, call for the vote.

Parish, and I'm sorry.

Okay, motion passes.

7.4 consideration or approval of Class B gaming license for United Coin Machine Doing Business as Censory Gaming Technologies for five slot machines at Green Valley Grocery number 41, located at 910 West Musquite Boulevard.

This is the same thing.

Um, just instead of a class A gaming license, it's a class B which limits them to five slot machines.

Thank you, Jocelyn.

Any public comment?

Okay.

Do I have a motion?

Councilman Ennis.

I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve Class B gaming license for United Coin Machines grocery and store number 41 located at 910 West Musquite Boulevard.

Okay, do I have a second?

I'll second.

Okay, call for the vote.

Building I.

Parishye.

NSI.

Item 7.5 consideration approval of Class A gaming license for United Coin Machines doing business as sensory gaming technologies for seven slot machines at Green Valley Grocery No.

78, located at 1215 West Pioneer Boulevard.

Thing is the last two.

Thanks, Jesslin.

Do we have any public comment on 7.5?

This is where everybody gets up.

Oh no.

Okay.

We have a motion from Council.

Councilman Wanless.

I'll do it this time.

I'll make a motion to approve a class A gaming license for Green Valley Grocer number 78, located at 1215 West Pioneer Boulevard.

Councilman Ennis.

I'll second.

Okay, call for the vote.

Parishye.

NSI.

Okay.

Item 7.6.

Consideration of adoption of the City of Musquite tentative budget, either as presented or with modifications incorporated into the City of Musquite final budget for fiscal year 2026 through 2027.

Bryce.

Has been to maintain financial stability while continuing to support core services, infrastructure needs, and long-term planning for the community.

Following the tentative budget presentation, we met with department heads to review operational priorities, identify cost saving opportunities, and discuss adjustments to requested expenditures.

Department submitted reductions and additional meetings were held between the city manager, finance director, and department leadership to finalize recommendations.

We also held a meeting with all department heads to review the final results before bringing the budget forward tonight as required under Nevada or NRS 354.596.

The public hearing for the final budget is being held within required time frame before adoption.

Slightly increased slightly from 4.6 million dollars to 4.62 million dollars.

The general fund revenues increased by 385,000, while expenditures increase by approximately 362,000.

These changes reflect updates made by made after department review meetings and adjustments for operational and capital priorities.

For public safety, we added one firefighter EMT position and one firefighter paramedic position to help support service demand and emergency response coverage.

We also included four additional more cops vehicles to support police operations.

Capital and infrastructure projects were adjusted or added, including moving the fire truck replacement into next fiscal year.

Additional projects include uh replacement of the bucket truck, pioneer light wire replacement, landfill planning efforts, fine arts parking lot pavement improvements, senior center improvement planning, and Corus Circle Storm Drain Project.

Some of the projects are subject to committee approval.

We also have a granica software update for ADA compliance.

Slide five is a budget comparison for fiscal 2526 to fiscal year 2627.

Uh overall, the budget reflects measured growth in revenues and expenditures while continuing to prioritize essential services, infrastructure maintenance, and strategic capital improvements.

The comparison also demonstrates the city's continued effort to balance operational needs with long-term financial sustainability.

Next slide.

Monitoring revenue remains trends remain important as we continue to evaluate economic conditions and future growth impacts on city operations.

This slide shows how general fund expenditures are allocated across departments and operational areas.

Public safety continues to represent a significant portion of the of the budget, reflecting the city's commitment to police, fire, and emergency services.

The budget also supports parks, streets, administration, community development, and other core municipal services necessary to maintain service levels for residents.

And that's the end of my presentation.

Thank you, Bryce.

Any questions from council?

Okay.

Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and open it up for the public hearing.

Okay, seeing no one step forward, we're gonna close the public hearing.

I'm gonna ask for a motion.

Councilwoman Fielding.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I will make a motion to adopt the City of Miski tentative budget as presented.

Councilman Nennis.

I'll second that motion.

Okay, call for the vote.

Yielding I shy.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Thank you, Bray.

Okay, with that, we have come to our final public comment period.

This uh is for anything you'd like to comment on?

You have three minutes.

Dominic Olivetto, I'm gonna break the rules just a little bit, Mayor, if you don't mind.

Simon, although I didn't agree with you a lot of the time, I hate to see you leave because you did do a lot of work on research.

And we appreciate what you did.

I mean, there was times I wanted to throw a chair at you, but you did such a good job.

It took me so long to figure out all the research you did.

I got tired and gave up and decided you were right.

Good luck.

Well, I was gonna save it until next meeting.

But yeah, that this is my last meeting, so next meeting, uh, June 9th will be my last meeting.

So I'll do the same again.

So we will save the official announcement and our goodbyes for for next meeting, but we do appreciate you very much, Simon.

Any other public comment?

Okay, with that, this meeting is adjourned.