Welcome everyone to the Tuesday, June 9th, 2026, uh regular city council meeting for the City of Musquete.

Um, we are gonna start off with an invocation by Pastors Felicia and Travis Stevenson with the gathering.

Mayor.

Good evening, Mesquite.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you for blessing this day and for the community of Mesquite.

We're grateful for the opportunity to gather together and for those who faithfully serve our city.

We ask for your wisdom and guidance upon our mayor, our council members, and city staff as they consider the matters before them tonight.

Give them discernment, integrity, and unity as they seek what is best for our community.

Father, we ask that you bless our families, our businesses here in Mesquite, our first responders, our churches, and all who call Mesquite home.

Help us work together in a spirit of respect and service for the good of this city.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you, Pastor, and thank you for being here again.

And could you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Pledge.

Under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

And now we're gonna have a proclamation for Constitution Week by the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Whereas the Constitution of the United States of America, the guardian of our liberties, embodies the principles of limited government and a republic dedicated to rule by law, and whereas September 17th, 2026 marks the 239th anniversary of the framing of the Constitution of the United States of America by the Constitutional Convention, and whereas it is fitting and proper to accord official recognition to this magnificent document and its memorable anniversary and to the patriotic celebration, which will commemorate on the occasion.

And whereas Public Law 915 guarantees the issuing of a proclamation each year by the President of the United States of America, designating September 17th through 23rd as Constitution.

And now therefore, I Jesse Whipple, mayor of Mesquite, Nevada, and the City Council hereby proclaims the week of September 17th to 23rd as Constitution Week and urge all citizens to study the Constitution and reflect on the privilege of being an American with all the rights and responsibilities which that privilege involves.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh no.

Okay, we're ready.

And City Council, I just wanted to make one more announcement.

Next Thursday, we're having the artist reception at the Fine Arts Center.

And the theme is going to be 250 years celebrating America.

And I know we have a nonprofit expo happening the same time, but I just want to let everybody know we usually have the awards done by 4:30, so everybody can come to the art center and then head over to the nonprofit expo.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Now we are going to move to our uh opening public comment period.

This uh comment period is for items that are not on the agenda.

So anything you have that's not on the agenda, please come forward.

You'll have three minutes.

I'm Rick Clark, and I live in Sunset Greens, and I've been here about two years, and I love the community.

Uh I love the weather, but most of all, I love the people.

Everybody's just been so kind.

But I have an issue.

I drive by the new road that we now have going into Sunset Greens now, and I have to look at a gentleman's trash every day, numerous times a day.

I took some photos a few months ago.

Went to Walgreens, had them printed, give Simon a cop, both of them, and he gave one copy to the owner.

His name's Hafen.

And I am tired of looking at his trash.

The city cleaned up a rat issue at the expense of the taxpayers.

And then you're gonna put a lien on the property, I understand.

That's what I've read in the paper.

Why can't you do that with that trash?

If you won't clean it up, do it for him.

Send him a bill.

And if he doesn't pay it, then put a lien on it.

Any ideas?

Nobody's got anything to say, huh?

Okay.

Thank you, Rick.

Uh he's talking about where the new road goes to Sunset Greens from Walmart or Sunset Greens.

That goes through the Hatman's property.

Right there.

Okay.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward.

We're gonna move on to item two, the consent agenda.

And uh as always, I want to recuse myself from any vote from the consent agenda as my company does business with the city.

So item 2.1 consideration approval of the Tuesday, April 28th, 2026 regular city council meeting minutes.

The Tuesday, May 19th, 2026 technical review meeting minutes, and the Tuesday, June 9th, 2026 regular city council meeting agenda.

2.2 consideration of approval of notification of bills paid.

B purchase orders 2.3 consideration of approval of resolution number R26 015.

Adopting supplemental number two, interlocal contract number MESO1F24 between the City of Musquite and the Clark County Regional Flood Control District District for the construction of town wash, Mason Boulevard, El Dorado to Town Wash Storm Drain.

And 2.4 consideration of bid award for the 2025 Mesquite Streets Improvement Project.

Do we have any public comment on the consent agenda?

Any questions from council on the consent agenda?

Okay, seeing none, I'm going to ask for a motion on the consent agenda.

Councilman Ennis.

I'll go ahead and make a motion to prove the consent agenda is written.

And we have a second by councilwoman Gallo.

I'll second.

Call for the vote.

Yes.

Galloway.

Okay, the motion passes.

Item three presentation from the Clark County School District quarterly report.

Mr.

Perkins.

Good evening, uh, mayor and council members.

I'm thrilled.

Sorry, I had it printed off and now it's on my phone.

So I'm thrilled to be here representing Region One and want to acknowledge that Miss Tomlinson is unable to be here tonight.

Uh she sends her deepest regrets and apologies.

She assures us that she'll be back for the next meeting that uh she's scheduled to speak.

Uh so as we wrap up the 25-26 school year, uh we want to extend a massive heartfelt thank you uh to the city of Mesquite for their unwavering support to our schools, our educators, and most importantly, to the incredible students in this community.

Uh the City of Mesquite has been a phenomenal partner in every sense of the word, and that collaboration is exactly what makes our community thrive.

Uh, we are heading into the 26-27 school year with more energy and momentum than we ever have before, and we are eager to keep this partnership growing to ensure that every child in this community has a world-class education.

Uh tonight we'll be uh presenting on our strategic actions focused on the four pillars of student success: attendance discipline, graduation rates, and workforce and career readiness.

Last meeting we focused a lot on our uh attendance and student discipline, so tonight we'll focus a little bit more on the graduation uh rates and workforce and career readiness.

Um Virgin Valley High School's graduation data is a major point of pride this year.

We saw an overall graduate uh graduation rate increase of 3.2 percent.

Uh but the most inspiring growth comes from our English language learners and students in special education, both of whom saw gains of over 20 percent.

Our students are challenging themselves more than ever.

We also saw uh 2.2% increase in college and career readiness diplomas, which actually carries more rigorous requirements than the standard advanced diploma.

This success is a direct result of our enhanced academic planning and an intentional push to enroll more students in AP and dual enrollment courses.

Also, by aligning our CTE pathways with industry demands and improving our core tier one instruction, we are ensuring our Virgin Valley graduates are exceptionally prepared for the workforce.

To sustain these gains, our next steps prioritize a holistic approach to student achievement.

We are doubling down on Tier 1 instruction while ensuring that tier two and tier three supports are seemingless seamlessly integrated for students who need more targeted intervention.

We will also be expanding our English learner pathways and special education resources to keep our momentum strong for these populations.

Beyond the classroom, we are focusing on the whole child by supporting social emotional learning through wraparound services and working to increase daily attendance.

Finally, we are refining our master's schedules to align directly with students' post-secondary goals.

In the area of workforce and career readiness, Mesquite workforce readiness is reaching new heights.

CTE enrollment has grown by 7.6% as we transition to a focused two-year program.

And dual enrollment and dual enrollment is when students are enrolled in high school and also college, get college credit for that.

That enrollment has skyrocketed by over 82% this year alone.

While AP enrollments are a slight dip, our students are clearly pivoting towards college credit and credit bearing pathways.

Moving forward, we are reinforcing our CTE programs as intentional sequences rather than electives and strengthening our middle school curriculum to ensure that every student has a coherent industry-aligned foundation from the very start.

I think a lot of you have been up on the high school campus and seeing a lot of the CT programs that they're offering up there.

And it's it's incredible to see uh the education these students are getting right now, and hopefully that uh, like it says here, that momentum continues.

So that's it for the reports.

This is where we would transition and do the celebrations if Ms.

Tomlinson are here, but I'll uh do my best to do both today.

Um, can I put this here?

Is that the right way?

No, turn it.

Okay.

All right.

So uh our first celebrations uh come from Joseph Bowler Elementary School.

Uh this spring, JL Bowler School brought families, students, and staff together through several memorable celebrations.

Field Day at the park featured exciting water activities led by fifth grade students and concluded with the annual fire hose spraying, creating a fun and refreshing experience for all.

And I believe oh, that way.

That's the way I want to recognize Principal Jenkins, who's also here with us today and his principalship out there at jail bowler.

Uh, also there at Jail Buller on April 2nd.

I'm sorry, the school's Cinco de Mayo celebration highlighted Mexican culture and traditions through student dance performances, a salsa competition, cultural activities, and family engagement.

They also proudly recognize student achievement during pre-K, kindergarten, and fifth grade promotion ceremonies, celebrating student growth and accomplishments as they prepared for their next educational milestone.

Um, this is at Virgin Valley Elementary on April 2nd.

Virgin Valley Elementary School hosted a successful career day, giving students an exciting opportunity to explore a wide range of future career paths organized by school counselor Patty Delano.

The feet the event featured professionals from Mesquite community and beyond, including pilots, chefs, public safety personnel, healthcare health care workers, technology experts, and artists.

Students engaged with presenters and gained valuable insights into the many possibilities available to them in the future.

That was a really fun event, and I saw even several people here in the audience that were there at that at that event on that day.

At Hughes Middle School, the advanced orchestra participated in the CCSD Orchestra Festival and earned an excellent rating.

So we congratulate the students for their hard work and dedication and their uh director, Miss Cook for her leadership and support of the program.

Um this is uh event that impacted the schools, as many of you know, but uh Hughes Middle School would like to express their sincere gratitude to everyone who assisted during the recent school evacuation due to a fire.

Special thank you to the SRO Justin Goodsell, along with Mesquite Police Department and Mesquite Fire Department, the many officers who helped with traffic control and the reunification efforts.

They also want to thank Virgin Valley High School and Principal Stephen Wade for their support in ensuring student safety and assisting with reunification efforts.

Uh, we are incredibly grateful to our dedicated staff for supporting students through the evacuation process and to parents for their patience and understanding uh safety and well-being of every child will always remain our highest priority.

Uh at Hughes Middle School, the girls' volleyball team competed in the CCSE championships during their inaugural season.

They are actually the uh division champions, there's four divisions, and that's for the entire district.

Our girls were the division champion, went to the entire district championships.

They came up short.

Uh, but the team should be proud of an outstanding effort in their first season and their accomplishments together.

Also, they uh had a hundred and forty students along with adult advisors meet at 3 a.m.

to travel to Knott'sbury farm for the final Dean's List activity of the of the year where they uh spent time riding attractions, eating, and spending time with friends while celebrating their hard work and accomplishments throughout the school year.

And the final celebration at Hughes Middle School.

Um the jazz band attended the Jazz Band Festival in April and earned a superior rating for their outstanding performance.

Uh, once again, congratulations to these students and to Mr.

Allen for their hard work dedication and music excellence.

Uh Virgin Valley High School, and I don't have all their pictures here, so I'll just read a couple of their highlights, but they wanna recognize Mr.

Steve White who retired from Virgin Valley High School this year after a remarkable career dedicated to teaching and mentoring students.

He exemplifies the outstanding educators who have made supporting and inspiring young people their life's work.

We are grateful for his years of service and the lasting impact he has had on the on countless students and colleagues.

And then Virgin Valley uh high school also proudly celebrated the class of 2026 during its graduation ceremony.

The event marked an important milestone for graduates, and we appreciate everyone's continued support and attention uh to this special occasion.

Um we had some other pictures of the valedictorians, but uh we're uh proud of all of the students and these valedictorians who delivered inspiring speeches to their classmates, families, and staff.

Um and then there's a few other things, like I said, don't have pictures, but they want to recognize uh their woodworking gala hosted by construction teacher John Felix, which was a tremendous success, and also uh the JAG uh program jobs for Nevada graduates.

Uh, and they wanted to express uh deep appreciation to the city of Mesquite for CAB funding, uh, which makes this important position at the school uh possible for these students.

With that, I appreciate your time and uh we'll answer any questions that you might have or do my best to answer the question.

Sounds good.

Councilman Ennis.

Oh, no, you're good.

No questions, but I just want to uh thank you.

I my uh I teach at the college and I do have some of the students from the high school actually do all the dual enrollment.

Uh so that CTE program is getting off to a good start.

I just encourage you to go back to the counselors and keep that going because that's so beneficial for those kids to be earning college credits and high school credits.

And so I had three students from the high school in my class at the college this last semester.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from council?

Um, I did talk to Mr.

Waite the other day, and he said that I think they had a hundred and eighty-one out of 184 or something kids graduate this year.

And he thinks they're gonna get the other three done over the summer.

So I mean that you're pushing 100% at the high school.

That's pretty pretty amazing.

So that is incredible.

Yeah, they do a summer graduation uh for uh CCSD, so any students that don't quite make it that they attend summer school, they can uh if they earn the the credits needed, uh they can participate in that summer graduation.

It's not here in Mesquite, but uh and if they don't participate, they still get their diploma.

So that's the the push.

So thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Perkins.

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

The the assistant superintendent, he forgot about some of the local athletes that excelled this year in the track team.

We had some excellent athletes.

Uh we had a state champion by uh Wynn Kelly.

She was the leader in the state throughout the year in the high jump, and she did a great job, and she uh was a state champion.

We had a sprinter in the hundred meters, which is kind of the uh bell mark for uh speed, and he won he was leading the hundred meters all throughout the year in the 3A, and he went ahead and won the state championship in the 100 meters.

We don't have as big a team, or we didn't have as big a team as Moapa, where they had 150 kids, and we had 40, but we represented the best that they could.

We had a number of other kids that placed in the top eight.

Um and uh next year they should have a pretty good team also.

So anyway, we had two state champions from the track team.

Thank you.

Excellent.

Thank you, Jeff.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward, I will turn it over to council, councilwoman Fielding.

I will make a motion to accept that presentation.

Uh councilman Wandless.

I'll second it.

Okay, call for the vote.

Galloway.

Okay, motion passes.

Mayor's comments and reports.

Um thing I would like to talk about.

Um, some of you know of our our little Mount Rushmore, and uh Travis kind of gave me the origin stories of that, and if he wants to chime in after I get done, then um, but there was a process to be able to go out there and sculpt, and I think some people have um circumvented that process and decided they're gonna just go put up their whatever they want.

One we don't want people just randomly going and carving into the side of the city's property, and and two people that do, we would like to have them politically neutral, unoffensive.

Um I mean, it's kind of a little mini tourist attraction up there, so I don't know as all we want to get rid of it or anything like crazy, but definitely people need to know that there's a process to this.

And uh, if you want to just give like a brief overview of yeah, thank you, Mayor Council.

Um, so about oh three or four years ago, uh, we had the artist uh Mr.

Pete Carnes, um, very talented, but it uh he started up there and it kind of threw all of us a little off guard because we hadn't uh had that before.

Um he started with the Vegas Knights, did some stuff up there, and it was really pretty cool.

But it in fact I actually went out there, uh talked with him and said, Hey, you can't be here um doing that at City Property.

Um we're worried about liability, you're up on these slopes or whatever.

However, uh he came back to us and said, What if we do this?

And and work through a process, and so the process that we have now, and this is what we really want to let everybody know is um if you would like to propose a sculpture up there, there's not a lot of area left in that area, but there's a uh permit that is pulled through public works.

Um, you submit pictures of what you want to do, the area that you want to do it, and um that way the city um knows what's going out there, um, that it is neutral, you know, and and in that case, and we can let them know that uh you know you have to be safe, all of these things.

So recently we've had some where um some people have gone out there and haven't followed the process.

So we wanted to really make sure that everybody understands if you do want to do any sculptures or um any carvings in that, please come to the city, show us what you want to do.

We will issue a permit um for that action, otherwise we will remove whatever is there that hasn't been approved.

And then there's no why did he get to do it and I didn't get to do it?

Yes type of situation.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Sorry, they're going to run everything that we need already.

Proper.

Um another thing.

Um we had the fire station grand opening or ribbon cutting on last Wednesday.

That was open today for operation, correct, Chief.

And if you want to get up in a minute and talk about that, we'd love we'd love to have you.

Um I didn't exactly get what order everybody else was in, but we'll start with Councilman Wanless, then Ennis, then Gallup.

Simon.

I want to talk to you for a minute.

Over the last couple of years.

I've grown to have a great respect for you.

We haven't always agreed on everything.

We've agreed on a most things.

But the next item we're going to deal with here.

The person in your seat before would have just granted them without them ever coming before the city council.

What you've done for this city, making sure things were done right, is why we're going to have this next item coming up with the public hearing.

I appreciate you a friend.

As a friend, I understand you want to be a city manager.

And I think you'll do a great job.

You deserve it.

Congratulations.

And I have nothing but admiration for you, and I wish you nothing but the best.

Good luck.

Thank you.

Councilman Ennis.

Thank you.

And Simon already said my condolences, I guess, to you for going up to West Wendover.

But good luck.

And again, thank you for everything you've done and our friendship.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

So on Thursday, we have our monthly veterans mobile clinic coming down with our doctor on board.

So that'll be here at the Veteran Center from 9 to noon.

And then the same day, Thursday, from noon till 6 o'clock at night, we have the Red Cross Blood Drive at the Veterans Center.

There's still, I believe she said eight seats left open.

So there's some flyers out there on the on the table for both of these.

There's a QR code on the on the blood drive.

You want to just uh take a shot of that QR code and I'll take it right to it and you can register and go from there.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Gellum.

Thank you for handling the issue with the carvings into the mountain.

And I got quite a few calls, so I really appreciate that.

Um I did want to um thank the community and thank Animal Control uh for handling all those dogs.

I believe the last puppy got adopted today.

So fantastic job.

Um everybody worked very hard over there, so I want to just um kudos to Animal Control, the volunteers, etc.

Um, but now we have a lot of kitties.

So if anybody's interested, we got some really cute kittens down there, and we've got um quite a few.

So um if you're looking to adopt, please reach out again to the animal shelter because we've got quite a few of those now.

It is kitten season, so and that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilwoman.

Um Chief, would you?

Well, I guess whether you want to or not, I'm gonna advocate.

Well, you didn't know that's why we even mayor and council.

Uh I want to.

So thank you for uh everyone's support.

The station opened up this morning at 0800.

As of today, they've ran uh five calls since uh eight o'clock this morning.

Uh as we were pushing the fire engine in into the station as of tradition in the fire service, they got their first call for a cat stuck in a tree.

I am not making this up.

They have ran a low blood pressure, they have ran a stroke, they have ran a heart problem, uh, or the some of the calls that they've ran today.

Uh, approximately 90% of residential growth is occurring north of I-15.

We anticipate uh station two handling approximately 20% of our 4500 calls today, uh, with that number only going up.

And so I just want to thank the mayor, the council, the community for the support.

It's not easy.

It takes years to get this done.

And we are grateful.

And so thank you.

Any questions for me?

We'll keep working on the cats out, getting them out of the trees.

Thanks.

Thanks, Chief.

Mrs.

Shrupp.

Thank you, Mayor and Council.

I would like to provide just a quick update on the senior center respite program.

Recently there have been discussions regarding potential changes to the program that were supposed to take effect in July.

At this time, those changes are going to be placed on hold while we conduct a thorough review of the program to evaluate its current operations and determine whether any of the modifications are necessary.

So it is important to note that the program is funded through a grant, and there have been no changes to the grant funding.

So the program will continue to operate as currently structured while the evaluation is being completed.

We want to remind everyone that our goal is to ensure that the respite program continues to effectively meet the needs of the participants and the caregivers while maintaining responsible stewardship of the grant resources.

Thank you, Becca.

And Travis, I'm gonna call you out again.

You want to just give us a little road work update?

Yes, thank you.

So the boulevard job, the mill and fill, um, all of the paving, everything is done.

We've just about finished with the closeout.

Um item still remains.

The we're putting a second layer of paint on the boulevard to make it so that it bled into the pavement quite more than what normally happens.

So that'll happen Sunday night.

Um we're gonna come and restripe um that the Canyon Crest and Horizon Roadway is done.

That was in conjunction with the fire station.

Now we're finishing up the Levit.

That portion of Levitt Lane is done, and we've got Hafen Lane closed off while we're um finishing that portion.

The contractors telling me that they um want to pave on Monday or Tuesday of next week, and then we'll finish the striping and that.

So we're looking really well for the completion date of June 24th for that, and then we'll have um both of those roadways back open um for that.

So those are were our big items.

Um it's awesome to see those coming uh to an end.

Do we have anything on the horizon of yeah, we do?

I'm sorry, I should go through the whole thing.

We haven't really even talked about it.

So yeah, so um there are there are a couple projects.

Um, one we will be looking at the airport on the service road.

That came before council in April.

Um, but with that grant, we should hear the grant um approval in the end of at the end of August.

That project will start up right after that.

Um then we also have a couple um projects that are in design right now, too.

So, in conjunction, well, as a follow-up, we're going to uh I'll be doing the engineering work for the second phase of Canyon Crest Boulevard.

So that will take from where we ended off this year on Canyon Crest, going from that point up to Mesquite Heights Road, and then we will take that down from Mesquights Road down to the roundabout.

So that way we won't just have the all both of the lanes on the one side, we'll have that roadway there.

Then the other project that actually bid out and it is um it was on the agenda tonight was that 2025 Mesquite Streets project.

And this project again was the one we have multiple roadways that we're going to be finishing out the road.

The example is on Old Mill, um, where right underneath Grapevine, it narrows down to one lane.

So we're finishing that portion of that, the sidewalk curb and gutter that will provide access from a lot of the the children in desert rows at the park in that subdivision to be able to walk to and from the school.

This is also taking place on Hafen Lane and Second South, where a lot of those students walk to and from the elementary school and the middle school.

So this is not only will help us widen out the roads, but it gives our children safe areas to walk.

The other part of that will be widening Pioneer Boulevard from Falcon Ridge Parkway to Willis Carrier.

We have a lot of people driving on that, and also for bike safety.

So we have a lot of people that like to bike out on that road, and they get narrowed down to the single lane of asphalt.

And so now this will widen that out and provide bike safety and open that up, and that'll be on both sides.

So we're very excited about that project.

Like I said, it was awarded tonight with your action.

Thank you very much.

And so we hope to start construction in July of this, so we can get most of that before the students start back into school.

And then we also is a we have a crosswalk at the crossing Falcon Ridge Parkway at the hospital.

And Falcon Ridge is a very hard road to get across.

It's very wide.

So we are putting in a I'm actually evaluating two systems there.

It'll be a crosswalk flasher or a system that'll be similar to the one at the fire station.

So that when people push the button, it'll either be a flashing yellow or a red and green stoplight just so that they can come across the crosswalk there because we have had quite a bit of folks reaching out and needing to get to and from in that area.

So those are the ones that we're really looking at that I've got in design right now for coming up project.

Thank you.

Any other comments from counselor staff?

Oh good?

Oh, no comment.

Okay.

All right, we're gonna move on to number five consideration of adoption of an ordinance number B26, dash 005, amending Title II, Chapter 13 of the Mesquite Municipal Code regarding we regarding vacation home rentals.

Jesslin.

Good evening.

How are you guys tonight?

Okay, so we are here for the adoption of this ordinance.

Should you choose to go forward with that?

Just briefly, I want to run through some of these changes.

It's been a while since we've actually gone through them.

Um this obviously stubborn from the committee that you created to review the vacation rental code title to chapter 13.

So the committee and yourselves, we have gone through all of this time and time again, and we have buttoned it all up.

So we have gone through a few changes in the definitions, changed a couple terms, added a definition.

We've added a couple things to the um license requirement process, such as a certificate of occupancy and a local qualified operator.

So somebody who's actually gonna take responsibility for the things that are happening at these short-term rentals.

There have been a few changes on the occupancy.

Seems like the occupancy has increased based on the number of bedrooms, but there is also the stipulation that that is total bodies, not just adults.

Currently in our code, it's adults and then children are excluded from that number.

With this change, it would be total bodies.

Okay.

And then the um qualified local operator, as I mentioned, is someone that has to submit a notarized statement stating they are understand they are taking responsibility for anything that may occur during those renters stay, and that they are to resolve those problems.

And there are also the new applicants are going to be required to notify the neighbors with their contact information, and as well as their qualified local operators.

They will receive those notices so they know who to contact if they have a problem and what that procedure would look like.

Additionally, um, there are some changes in here that button up the penalties for those bad actors.

So right now it's up to $500 fine or no more than a 90-day suspension.

These changes would drop it at it is a $500 fine.

It is a 90-day suspension, so there's no leeway there.

It's just a flat number.

And that's pretty much it.

Um I'm optimistic that these changes will help us to improve relationships with the neighbors with these um policies that are actually enforceable and we can manage them.

So I'll take any questions you have.

Councilman Ennis.

You knew it was gonna be me.

I did.

Okay.

I'm I'm still wallering this thing around in my head.

Just a couple of questions on 213.7 where it comes to the zoning part of it.

Before we put this moratorium into effect, we had three folks come up before us when with a conditional use permit for us to approve them to get a license.

And reading this uh three or two thirteen seven.

Is that still gonna be the case?

Are they still gonna have to come before city council for a conditional use permit?

Yes, that is the case.

The zoning code is completely separate from this.

So how the zoning code currently is written is if it is not in an area that has CCNRs that expressly permit it, they must go through the conditional use permit um requirement.

That means they come before you guys, they get their approval, they have conditions they might meet if you guys set those.

But if they have CCNRs expressly permitted, they would not have to go through the conditional use permit process.

Then the um the application part of it on two, three, uh two, yeah, two thirteen eight.

Um when we when we give them this application, they come before us with uh C UP and we say, okay, you're good to go.

I'm still I'm still I'm still hoping that we go out and do an inspection of the house before that is finalized.

Because here's the thing on this, uh Jesslin.

If I find out that's not happening, I'm gonna be angry.

And so because I've put a lot of effort into this, I've got a lot of feedback from these folks out here.

A lot of things, a lot of my intentions weren't met on the committee that I wanted to get out to that, and for whatever reason and to get to the committee, I don't know why.

But I'm just really concerned that going forward.

Let me let me sidebar for a second.

Our uh and I'm we're up here now, so we're responsible.

However, our predecessors, and I'm gonna say this straight out, screwed this up for us all.

Okay, there was no there was no policing of STRs prior to this, and we're now we're just trying to get a handle on this.

So I really want to make sure that our code enforcement, you and whoever takes Simon's place.

I hope yours is mean as Simon is on this.

Um, that um, you know, we enforce these codes because I I that will not make me happy if I find out that's not happening, at least in the next two years that I'm here anyway.

After that, you all on your own.

But uh so my next one, two on uh number on 10.

How how do how are we gonna track them paying their taxes every year?

Okay, so let me answer your first question about the inspections and the conditional use permit.

So that is a two separate processes.

They have to go through the conditional use permit with the planning department.

Once that's buttoned up, then they can do their business license.

I will not, and luckily I am your assistant planner and your business license clerk, so I will not be issuing any business licenses until I know that planning folder is completely closed and totally approved.

So we have that my word on that one.

Um room taxes.

Your room taxes are reported directly to me.

Um, I have a spreadsheet that I keep log of and I audit quarterly.

So if anybody is missing their payments on that spreadsheet, I reach out to them directly and get the that report and that information.

Okay.

And then my last one, and I'll leave you alone, I promise.

Um I think it is two, man.

I'm wanting to say two thirteen eleven B is a boy.

Um this goes back again to the um us.

I again I'm I'm not I'm repeating myself here because this I just need to make sure that we have all this in place before you say the yay, nay, or turn it back over to the planner, whoever that's gonna be, and you issue the permit.

And um, so I I just I'm just wanting to make sure this is all in place because this is gonna affect going forward.

Probably, and I hate to say this, probably can't fix what's already happened because it's a mess.

I'll be the first one to admit that.

And so going forward, I hope that this fixes this.

I'm gonna follow it.

I'm sorry.

I'm just this has been my little pet peeve, and I'm just really we need the tourism, but we also have to respect our other our other citizens out there.

So that's all I have.

Thank you.

So did you have a question on that last one?

Was I asking okay?

Well, if we I just want to make sure that we're clear on the occupancy portion again, that is total bodies.

So it seems like yeah, they're going up four people on five plus bedrooms, but it's an eliminating unnumbered children.

So you can't say, Oh, yeah, I've got 10 adults and 15 kids.

That that won't be a thing anymore.

So that will actually button that up.

And then also, um, yeah, I think that will also help the number of vehicles that will also help improve the relationship with the neighbors because we get a big complaint about it's too many cars there being parked.

This will eliminate um that issue because they're limiting how many vehicles they can have on site to how many are designated in their permit.

So if they only have four parking spaces, two in the garage and two in the driveway, that's all the cars that they can have there for their guests.

So they can't have 15 cars there either.

And I think that's it.

Okay, so I yeah, I did I just ask you to be tenacious on that because you know, we don't need to hear the complaints about uh side-by-sides blocking roadways and driveways because this friggin' thing lights up and it just you know, and rightly so.

The other thing I was gonna tell you guys is on the certificate of occupancies that we're currently we're doing inspections on them now.

We are writing on there, our building official goes out, does the inspection, and he lists on the certificate of occupancy.

There are three bedrooms slash sleeping areas.

So if we see later that that same rental says, Oh, I have four sleeping areas, we can go back and then issue them a violation because their certificate of occupancy is explicit in how many sleeping areas there are.

Okay.

Councilman Wandless Jesselyn, we would talked about removing the fines or the restrictions or the everything from the actual ordinance.

So we don't have to change the whole ordinance again if we need to increase those fines or make it more strict to make sure things are going right.

Is that happened?

So what this does is it makes them stricter.

Right now, what it says is there's a fine up to $500, or the suspension is for not to exceed 90 days.

So if they go before the court and the judge says, we're only going to give you a $60 fine, he's within his rights to do that.

This would button that up, so that's not allowed anymore.

If if it was moved to an appendix, could it just be changed without changing the whole ordinance?

I'm not sure.

I understand what you mean.

It's in the violations section.

I'm not sure why we need an appendix for it.

But if we wanted to amend that in the future, we would have to do another ordinance.

And is there any way to get around that?

We'd have to amend that section to say that the fines would be established in a different way, like in a fee schedule adopted by you know, approved by the city manager, something like that.

Okay, maybe that would be better than having to go through all this again.

Because if the certified operators that are local aren't being responsive, I think those properties should be held accountable.

And if need be, they're not carrying enough $500, doesn't make that much difference to them.

Make those fines tougher, or make the instead of 90 days, maybe six months or a year, because the people who are doing this right are doing it right.

I think a lot of the problems we're having aren't by the groups in this city that are doing this.

It's just fly-by-night people.

And I hope you look at them all and make sure if they're out of state and they have no one local, or their local person isn't, you can't reach them, that those CUPs just get pulled right off the bat until they can comply.

So what how this is laid out in this code section?

The first violation within a 12-month period is a warning.

The second one is a notice of violation and an administrative fine of $500.

The third is a suspension for 90 days.

The fourth, the license gets revoked for a year.

They could re-apply after a year, they could um ask to be reinstated, but the city manager would have discretion at that point to say no.

So it's I won't be here to for any of that.

But those are those are pretty, it's a good stepping level for anybody that is within violation of these rules.

I think this council did everything we could to try to make this work.

We put together a committee.

I think they came up with some really good ideas.

I think you you did a great job.

Thank you, Jesseline.

Yeah.

But at the same time, we need to make sure that it works, and that everyone up here is vigilant, making sure that it continues to work properly.

And the people who are being harmed, let us know when it's happening.

These these operators that you have that that are local and know what they're doing, need to be available and need to stop this before it goes to the police.

In fact, maybe those people should be talked to before they actually walk into the house, let them know what's going on.

There's a lot of ways to make this work right.

And I think the people who are doing it here, I know some of them, I know some of the people who've stayed in some of their properties and and and it's been done that way.

They've been told you this is what you can do and what you can't.

And that's important.

That's what's going to make this right.

And when people when people are going out to the website and they're they're applying for these these homes and things, ask those questions or have those rules there.

Make them say they've read them.

So when you come back to them and they say, Well, we didn't know that, you say, Well, you had to read it before you actually paid us money, so now you need to leave.

Because if we can do this right, it'll work and it's important for this city.

If it's done wrong, it's just gonna be a worse headache.

I won't be here, but it'll just be headache for for someone else.

And I don't want that to happen.

I want this to work for the city.

I want this to work for all the people that are here that are going to stand up and tell us why they don't want it.

But from a legal standpoint, distancing is in the courts right now, and we've already said that when that lawsuit's done, whether it's in district court or it goes to the Supreme Court.

When it's done, we'll know if we can do distancing or if we can't.

But as far as just putting another moratorium on it, I'm afraid we're opening ourselves up for a lawsuit from the people who bought that are next to people who have STRs and they can't, and they feel like their constitutional rights are being violated.

And if we find out this other one says you can't do spacing, they're right, the city's going to lose.

So we need to do something, we need to do it now.

And it's hard.

I Simon, I almost wish you would have never brought this to us.

But I know you had to, and I know it's right, and I know they should all come to the council.

So everyone in the city knows where these STRs are going in.

But I hope every one of them have the management group that's going to take care of them listed with them with numbers so people know who to call if there's problems.

And I really hope you guys step up and make sure this works great.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilman.

Uh councilwoman Gellow.

Thank you.

Have we been doing have we done any inspections on the homes that are already in the process that are already been approved and everything's good?

We have been doing inspections for probably six months now.

Okay, so about how far do you think you are?

Uh oh, okay.

So you mean the ones that are already existing licenses?

No.

So we didn't go back and retro inspect, um, but we're starting it, started about six months ago for any new licenses coming in.

Okay, and then um that's what I was gonna ask you.

Is um are we following up on?

Because we know that there are homes out there that are not in the process that have not gotten licenses that are not approved.

If they don't have a license and they're not approved, then they are uh not in compliance, and therefore they are operating illegally.

But have we been able to follow up with them?

Yes, though it's some ones like those.

Nate is on those, he's working with um on some of he's had a couple repeat offenders.

I know one in particular has been repeating, and he's he's on it.

He is locked on them and making sure they're um getting their violation notices, working with the attorney's office and the judge, and ensuring that those bad actors are getting what they thank you because that's kind of important because I think that affects those that are doing the right thing.

Right.

And all we're hearing about are the ones that aren't doing the right are doing the wrong thing.

So thank you for following up on that.

Thanks.

Absolutely.

And the ones that are licensed and are not abiding by it, they're getting violation notices too.

And that word is spreading, like, oh shoot, the city is cracking down.

I got a letter, and my trash cans were just out overnight.

So they're they're hearing.

Councilman Parrish.

This is a combination question for Jeslin and Adam.

Um, you mentioned if you're approved for four autos in a you know, two in a garage and two in what's the definition of a trailer?

Because that seems to be one of the uh the big drawback.

Somebody pulls into uh STR with four vehicles and four trailers.

So in my mind, that's eight vehicles, but I don't know where we stand legal-wise, or if we need to clarify that or where we might be.

Thanks.

A trailer isn't defined within the ordinance, so it's something that we could we could designate now that a vehicle does include a trailer or anything towed behind a vehicle as a separate would be considered a separate vehicle.

It's something that we could add to the ordinance right now if we if you wanted to, but it's not defined in the what's before you right now.

And I want to be clear too, Adam.

I'll ask you to clarify this if I'm incorrect, but on-street parking is allowed for short-term rentals as long as the number of cars does not exceed the number of on-site parking.

So that is something that they can still park on the street.

So if they have a trailer, they can still park it on the street as long as it is parked legally.

But that trailer has to stay within c the confines of that property.

Uh, not necessarily, no.

It's as long as it is parked legally on the street, it's not blocking the sidewalk, it's not on the sidewalk, it's not blocking a driveway.

They could park it two houses down if there's space there.

And it doesn't count uh against the number of vehicles.

As long as the vehicle is.

Am I correct in saying that?

Yes, correct.

So they can have they can have three trailers on the street, doesn't count as a vehicle, then have still have four cars parked somewhere in the driveway.

No on the street.

No, those three cars that are attached to those three trailers would count toward the on-site parking requirement.

So they would only get to have one more additional car in the driveway.

How do you know if they're parked four houses away?

That's something they're gonna have to put on the property managers.

That is a little bit more difficult for us to enforce.

If we find out that the property managers are not enforcing the rules, these qualified local operators are not doing what they're supposed to be doing, that's where we come in with a violation notices and the fines and the suspensions.

And I think if we start doing that and the owners start saying, hey, I'm getting all these fines, the property managers are either gonna button it up or they're gonna lose their that customer.

This would be a good time for you property managers to make sure they knew that they're gonna get fined if they're blocking anyone else's property.

Period.

And if they can put it in front of their house, maybe that's fine, but I would almost like to consider the trailers as one of the vehicles.

Councilman Parrish, or you're done.

Okay, councilwoman Fielding.

Thank you.

So here's my question.

So on the number three, which is 213 13.

Three.

For the third violation within any 12-month period, the penalty is a suspension of the license for a period of 90 days.

Are you gonna be committed to go out and make sure that they're not using it for a property man or a short-term rental?

Yes in that 90 days.

And then following that is four, the fourth violation is 12 month period.

So you are gonna be committed to make sure that if it is revoked or pulled or anything.

So I mean, that's something that you do as well to make sure that they're not because we don't know right that they're not using it for an STR.

Yes.

And they're still doing it.

So it's gonna fall to code enforcement, and they're gonna be watching it and monitoring that, and I will too.

Okay, yes, thank you.

Absolutely.

Right.

Thank you.

Um councilwoman Gallow.

I do have a concern about being able to park trailers in I would not want someone's trailer and parked in front of my home.

I can understand that is I think that's a concern.

I can understand that.

I certainly can.

Um the problem where it gets sticky with this is if you are a long-term resident, I can park my neighbor, I can park my trailer in front of your house as long as it's a good thing.

I will probably call legally so that's where it gets hard.

It's these are this is the city coat.

As long as it's legally parked on the street, it can be parked there.

So I would defer to the attorney's office on for clarification on that one or what they would like, how they'd like to proceed.

Councilman Ennis, did you you I do I have a follow-up on that trailer thing?

So, how do we go about I I how do we add that as a vehicle or how do we I I have an issue, a big issue with these folks coming in with all of our ATVs or side by sides, wherever you all call them and unload them, then just leave their trailer right there on the curb and then still park in their cars and their ATVs and everything else all over the place.

Yeah, so after the public hearing and we hear from the public, there'll be a time to make a motion as part of that motion.

One of you would have to say we want to adopt this subject to the following changes.

One would be to include within the definition of a vehicle also a trailer, you know.

And we could I could work with Jessel and come up with language, but if we get the direction in the motion, then that's sufficient, you know, for the purposes of this chapter.

Uh anything towed behind a vehicle, including a trailer, you know, will be considered a separate vehicle for the purposes of the chapter.

And then um, council member wonless for yours, there would be an amendment also to the existing ordinance that says instead of a mandatory $500 fine, it would be a fine in accordance with the fee schedule adopted by the city manager or determined by the city manager.

So after we have the discussion with the public, then if those are things you want changed from the current version, one of you would need to include that in a motion, or one of you would need to include both of those items in a motion.

Okay, do we have any more questions from council before we open the public hearing?

I would like to make one more comment on the fee schedule for the fines.

I think if that's something you want to come back and do later, we can definitely do that.

This has seemed like a very long drawn-out process because it has been.

If you're just simply changing one part of a code, you have two meetings, an introduction and adoption.

It's not this in depth, it's not this involved.

It's a much simpler process than this entire thing has been.

So you wouldn't have to go through all of it, just two meetings.

If you decided it what we have on the books wasn't working, you can always come back and redo it.

Okay.

Thank you, Jessel.

Okay, with that, we are gonna go ahead and open up the public hearing.

Jeff Reynolds.

I don't know why you don't have an ordinance uh banning trailers being parked on the city roadway anyway.

It's a hazard.

So you can you can take a 40-foot fifth wheel and park it out uh on the street and just leave it there.

There's no, I don't sound like there's no restriction on that.

I'm not sure, but I don't think that's real smart.

You know, if people want to put them in storage units, if people want to put them on their property up beside their their residence, but just to park a trailer on the road and leave it there, it's kind of trashy.

Uh sounds like you guys got a lot to do before you approve this ordinance.

There's a lot of holes in this thing that that you're gonna be sorry if you pass it quickly.

So I think you guys need to go back to the drawing table and fill some of these holes in.

Thank you.

Thank you, Jeff.

Dominic Olivetto, Citizen of Mesquite.

I'm not gonna repeat myself tonight on zoning and all that.

I believe there is an ordinance where you can't dump your trailer on the street for more than 24 hours.

That's already an ordinance, if I'm not mistaken, due to the fact when I poured my driveway, my neighbor down the street informed me to get my trailers off the street, and we had a discussion about that.

What you're doing here I know how you're all gonna vote anyway.

No matter what we say here tonight, you're gonna approve this.

One thing I want you to think about though is what you're doing today is you're putting a band-aid on a problem that you all inherited, and I appreciate the trouble you've all went through mentally trying to figure out why it all ended up in this situation.

But everybody keeps talking about Las Vegas.

Well, the mob needs to go back to Las Vegas and clean the damn place up.

You need to look out, reach out to other cities.

There's lots of cities out there that have had the same problem we do, and they've cured it with zoning.

They've done a lot of things to make a goal in the future.

What we're doing here today is a band-aid for what's going on.

And you know, I could stand up here and talk for the rest of my time, but I'm sure nobody up there has cares what we say, because everybody thinks tourism is so important here, which it is, but we're not gonna have tourism.

We're gonna have a mess.

And people already think we're the laughing stock in Nevada.

I mean, I got three kids that live in Utah, and I get tired of them calling me up saying, hey dad, are you going to city council tonight?

Because we're gonna watch because we want some entertainment.

We we need to be progressive.

We need to end this today with this new ordinance, and then we need to move forward in zoning and making sure it has to be commercial for these things.

Simon was absolutely right about it being boy.

Did I give you a compliment, Simon about it being commercial?

I I'm sure that every other place that's had this problem is taking care of it.

What Vegas did was wrong.

They banned it all together, and you can't do that because we do have property managers here that I know do a darn good job, but they're not the problem.

I imagine if you look up, I think it is 218 High Watha Way on the corner, that that doesn't have a license for a vacation rental, but I'm sure my neighbors used it for that for the last two years.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dominic.

Mayor and City Council.

Uh I just want to agree with Dominic on one thing.

That uh I I believe there is a code of sections that prohibits uh trailers and I'll be parked on uh on the street for 24 hours.

And also uh especially I'll be cannot be parked if it is not the designated IB parking spaces.

So there are I've be parking spaces in uh uh house, maybe side yard or in the uh the IB garage that is okay to park inside, or or otherwise they need to park RVs in the designated IB uh the storage areas.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

John Rosen.

Um I I want to uh mostly agree with with uh the last speaker's comments, but I I'm certainly a little more generous than in terms of my interpretation of what's been done.

I think what has been done so far is a whole lot of improvement over the situation we had before.

I think what's being discussed right now is so much better than what we had, but it is not complete because uh you've you've done a great job of addressing the people who abuse the right to have vacation rentals and clean up the uh the the most egregious abusers, and and I I applaud all of you and the committee that led up to these recommendations for that.

But we've had some other problems presented by the part of some of our uh prior people who've been in at this this microphone that have not been addressed.

One was uh property values.

It is absolutely true that a commercial property that looks like a house will be more valuable than a residential home that looks like a house.

And the the what it's not been addressed is the property value itself and the density problem.

Now I I understand that the problem of spacing and whether there's lawsuits out there or not, but the zoning does eliminate that problem entirely.

You could implement zoning solutions today that are completely legal, unless you decide that all zoning is illegal, which I don't think is is the right solution, and have some kind of a grandfather clause for those existing strs that are in place and uh operating responsibly and just over time so that you can resolve uh resolve that uh in terms of the holes that are left in the uh the ordinance.

There are some holes left.

You've talked about some of them now.

I'm I'm not sure that saying that it is full of holes is is a characteristic or a character character that I would have described.

I think there are some holes to be fixed, and I think you can do that, and I think you should do that to finish this up, but the zoning issue is the one that I would seriously ask you to look at again and reconsider.

We can fix this problem today by designating what will happen going forward with new STRs, even as we've now solved the problem of abuse with the existing STRs.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you, John.

My name is Chris Art Tander.

My wife and I live in what is supposed to be zoned a residential area.

It's a development.

Some of you have already heard me speak.

Our common common interest community is literally one block.

It's a cool de sac.

And all the permitting that went over many years, I'm guessing ordered of magnitude took 10 years from the beginning of the permitting and several developers to finish it.

They they kept the common interest community, and they were concerned about quality of life.

And I haven't heard anybody talk about quality of life.

What I've heard is that it seems as if this ordinance was put together to accommodate these VRBOs, which is somewhat of a misnomer because we have sixte homes on our street, and there's four that are already HOAs.

And how did they get how were they allowed to do it?

Because they're they are working with VRBO, Airbnb, they hire managers.

That's commercial property.

Whatever I've been able to read.

But I I trust what you folks do, and I I want to thank you.

It's somewhat of a thankless job you're doing.

You're trying to do the best thing.

But what I'm seeing and hearing, like I you're accommodating the people to make it easier for them.

For example, I don't know if any of these four owners have applied for commercial licensing or whatever, but in my opinion, this the community we bought into was a wonderful quality of life situation.

And I would like to see maybe I'm just repeating what the fellow said ahead of me to concentrate on the zoning.

It seems like you're making it easier for these people to squeeze in through permitting when the grandfather of our street is residential, and it's it's like you got four units.

Thank you, Chris.

Your your time is up.

Thank you.

Sorry.

Sherry Hollenbach.

And first of all, I just want to give a huge round of applause to Jess Lynn.

She has been on this topic of the short-term rental.

She's been with us the whole entire time in the ditches.

And the way she handled your guys's firing questions was just outstanding.

And I also want to give a huge thank you to Ms.

Gallo and Mr.

Parish and Mr.

Ennis and Miss Fielding and Mr.

Wainless and Becca and Adam and all the support staff and even Simon, maybe.

But because the um the the stuff that you guys have to do after being on the subcommittee, all the headaches and all the all the nonsense, all the complaints valid or non-valid, and everything that you have to be responsible for.

This is just one subject of the hundreds that you have to deal up with every single year.

So I just have a whole new appreciation of what you guys do.

So thank you with that.

And my last comment is just kind of repeat is the committee that you guys put together.

We weren't meant to agree.

Some hated STRs, some loved them, some are neutral.

But we were a committee that you guys specifically built to find out what was best for mesquite.

And we gave you these recommendations.

And uh I would just appreciate if um this could be approved sooner than later.

And that's all I have.

But thank you again so much for everything.

Thank you, Sherry.

Where's my other hat?

Yes, she was heading and she stopped.

She's gonna answer a lot of questions too, I'll tell you that.

Anyway, Doug Reath, I am uh 26-year resident of Mesquite, co-owner of Premier Properties and Mesquite Vacation Manager management.

And this is Christina, my right hand that can answer a few questions.

She doesn't like to get up front, nor do I, but here we are.

Um first of all, I would like to thank also the uh committee that worked really hard.

We went to most of the meetings and narrowed it down to I didn't realize there was an issue.

I think I was in Hawaii and I called Kevin and I called Christina saying, Hey, what's going on?

I we normally don't have any issues.

So getting to the bottom of this and and this communication, it really is where neighbors not knowing who to call and say we've got a problem.

And we've got a staff, and I'd love my staff to stand up if you all can.

We we've got 10 members that are actually employed with Premier, and then another 10 that are cleaners, and then handy men, et cetera.

So we're large part of this community, and we take pride in taking care of issues.

We really do.

We I just dumbfounded what do we have to do to solve this problem if there is any problems.

We we know that STRs are a valuable part of this community, not only from the tourism side of things, um, and the the soccer games, but people that are building their houses and they want to be there for the last three months in a build job or something happens to their home and they don't want to stay in a hotel.

Out of Mesquite, there's 20% that allow short-term rentals, and out of that, there's three percent total in town.

There's 226.

We looked over the spacing criteria of AB363 as well as the distancing, and it would eliminate the 200 plugs uh STRs down to about 32.

It would wipe us out for sure.

So, whatever we can do, and I think that the committee really came up with a great idea, and that is that point person that we can call that we can take care of the problem within that hour and handle all the issues.

And I know Paul, you had a couple questions.

You know, when do what do people know when they come in to rent our what are homes?

Is that was that a legit so Christina?

Come on up here.

Okay.

So Christina corn.

Corn, C O R N.

So, of course, uh, anything that they would need to know prior to booking and and uh renting is in the listing description, and it's uniform across all platforms.

So, whatever is on our direct website, it is exactly the same information on whether it's on Airbnb or if it's on BRBO.

Then when they make a booking, they have to complete a rental agreement.

And in the rental agreement, it talks about everything that is from noise, parking, parking particularly, um, and they have to complete that within five days before their reservation is considered confirmed.

So the rental agreement gives us the power to say, hey, you cannot park those on this on the street and block this driveway.

Most of the time, people that are traveling to Mesquite with trailers, they're calling me and asking me how big is the driveway?

Can I park there?

This is what I have.

Where can I park my trailers?

They know what's what accommodations they need, and they're reaching out most of the time.

This is my experience, and asking me, can this accommodate that?

But if they don't, the rental agreement gives us the power to say, hey, you've got to move that, or you have to go.

In the time that I've been with the company for the last four years, I've never had to evict somebody for parking or for noise because most of the time when I talk to them, because I it's me calling them and saying, Hey, I'm getting calls, I'm getting complaints.

You need to follow these rules, or you you have to go.

And most of the time, they comply.

I've never had to kick somebody out for noise or parking.

All right, thank you.

Okay.

Anyway, Doug, your time's up, sir.

Oh, just sorry.

We are here, and we're gonna solve these issues, and I think we've got a great idea that the committee put together.

Please pass this, and nights are losing three, too, by the way.

Spoiler alert.

Is that what changed someone?

Mayor counsel Becky Peterson.

I just have to stand up and say the last couple of people that we've listened to are talking about their business.

They're not talking about the residents, the people that bought in a family-oriented community to raise their families.

They're talking about their businesses being affected.

We've got to remember those that bought those homes in those family residential centers to raise those kids, to give them the background, the neighbors, the friends, the stability of a community.

Zoning is the issue, and that's got to be looked at.

If people have the money to invest in places, let's find them, help them find what they need in an area that will allow that in the zoning.

But don't give up on our residents, please.

Thank you, Becky.

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council members.

Um, just wanted to go through this again.

I got bringing up some more zoning.

Um, my name's Natalie Hafen.

Two weeks ago, I spoke about preserving the character of our single family residential neighborhoods and the need for distancing requirements.

Tonight I'd like to focus on two questions that I believe deserve public answers.

First, how did short-term rentals become permitted use within single family zoning?

In 2012, the city uh city treated short-term rentals as a conditional use permit.

That process recognized that transient lodging was different from traditional residential use and required individual review, public input, and consideration of neighborhood impacts.

In 2019, the city charged changed short-term rentals from conditional use permit to permitted use.

That decision removed the neighborhood review and allowed transient lodging by within single family residential um neighborhoods.

My question is simple.

What findings supported that change?

And how does transient lodging remain consistent with the purpose and intent of single family residential zoning?

If short-term rentals once required special review because of their impact on neighborhoods, what changed?

Second, I'd like to clarify the cover case regarding assembly bill 363.

The Nevada legislator adopted AB 363 and specifically required that qualifying cities to adopt or enforcing to adopt and enforce ordinances regulating short-term rentals.

The law requires minimum distancing standards of 660 feet and short-term of short-term rentals and 2500 feet for resort hotels.

The city short-term rental advisory committee recommended waiting until the 2030 census before implementing these requirements in the city council accepted that recommendation.

My question is what legal authority supports that decision.

If mesquite has reached the applicable population, population threshold, or is relying on population data from a recognized governmental sources, why are we waiting until 2030?

Every year of delay allows additional investor owner short-term rentals to enter single family residential neighborhoods.

Once these neighborhoods become concentrated with transient lodging uses, the residential character of that homeowners relied relied upon when purchasing their homes may be permanently changed.

I respectfully ask the council to publicly explain the legal basis for delaying implementation of AB 363 and explain how the current treatment of the short-term rentals remains consistent with the intent and purpose of single family residential zoning.

And I think everybody is missing the point.

Thank you, Natalie.

Mayor and Council, my name is Barry Clarkson.

I'm an attorney that have been practicing in Nevada since the mid-90s.

I have several businesses here in town, but I am not a resident.

I live up in Santa Clara, Utah.

I am a part owner in Premier Properties, but I also represent a lot of different homeowners, a lot of different investment and construction groups.

And let me just be clear and address a couple of issues related to this question.

I appreciate the efforts of and have been on a lot of committees, and I appreciate the efforts of the committee to work through this process.

The political process is never easy.

That's how it's supposed to be.

We're supposed to discuss things and not always agree and work through those.

And I appreciate what they've done, and I appreciate what you guys have done in looking into this.

I used to appear in these meetings a lot more often than I have in the last few years.

That's probably a good thing.

So thank you.

First of all, there's been mentioned a few times of this ordinance or this uh this state uh state rule.

I'm sorry, I'm losing the the word right now, but we simply in Mesquite, and I say we, I apologize again, I'm not a resident, but I do have several businesses here.

We simply don't qualify for under the census numbers that that that uh that state uh that state rule doesn't apply.

Simply doesn't.

If it does apply, then we're over the sense, and we have to provide a lot more services as a city and at a cost that's astronomical.

The second thing is it's been addressed several times of these are commercial uses.

And I don't care where you look at any legal definition that I've been able to find of commercial use, then that's that's these residences don't apply.

Now, if you have five units or more under any definition, that becomes a commercial or a multifamily type zone.

But having a residence and leasing that out, whether that's long-term and or short term, uh it's not a commercial use.

Well, I mean, there's I I work in St.

George, Vegas, all over the place, and no none of those ordinances identify uh short-term rentals or rentals of any kind as a commercial use, and there's a reason for that.

The second thing you need to keep in mind is under the constitution we're guaranteed equal protection.

And so when we talk about parking and some of those things, we have to treat and other weeks otherwise, then there's potential liability.

We have to treat short-term rentals and long-term rentals the same way.

These are not transient.

There are is a special section of the code related to transient housing, which is hotels.

These are not hotels, there's not a central organization as far as uh in-keeper laws don't apply, etc.

We are all about trying to solve the issues and to be able to help police and make sure that this it works out for everybody.

But at the end of the day, we can't have short-term or long-term rentals treated differently.

It's simply unconstitutional.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Hello, Amy Gardner.

Excuse me, I'm a Mesquite citizen uh part owner, Jane Amy's mesquite getaways, and a member of your uh SDR committee that you assigned.

Um, first of all, before I forget, I want to weigh in on the trailer parking issue.

Um, in the years that we've been doing this, that has been a problem.

And I think it's very wise to consider uh making a trailer as one of the allowed vehicles because it's it's an issue.

And we we drive around and we monitor it and set pain.

So if we had your support saying, oh no, the city says you can't, it would help help us a lot.

Um in my former profession, I'm gonna read this because I know I'm gonna forget something.

In my former profession, I have experienced effective and horrific leadership.

Good leadership looks like what you guys have done with this issue.

You've listened to mesquite citizens and those who are experts in the area.

You've looked at the data and you're making informed decisions decisions on change.

Moving forward, I am sure that you will continue to monitor that data that comes with the changes and reassess in order to make any additional changes that might need to be made.

Your assigned short-term rental committee responded to mesquite city concerns, mesquite citizen concerns regarding SDRs, and we made recommendations of change with those concerns from Mesquite citizens.

The council voted in the last couple meetings that you should trust the committee's recommendations, and I really appreciate that.

One of the things that I'm concerned about is all the existing properties that hold an STR license will need to go through the same process as new applicants.

Otherwise, if we don't, a lot of our we're not going to see as much improvement as we want.

Advertised listings need to be monitored for licenses and non-compliant homeowners slash qualified local operators.

We need to be held accountable.

I am concerned that the code enforcement officer and the development office staff might not have enough time given in their day in order to deal with this big issue, especially in this next year, if you're gonna look at the existing um licensed people.

Um I really appreciate your time.

I appreciate how thoughtful you guys are on this.

For me, it's not just a business.

Thank you, Amy.

Uh Davis Waddell, um, homeowner here.

Um I have spent like I don't know, 100 to 500 hours researching um basically what every other city in the country has done to tackle this stuff over the last you know, 10, 10 or 15 years, ever since Airbnb really became a thing.

And I just wanted to point out, just I haven't been able to make the last couple, but just to kind of correct some of the things that are have been said in the last few meetings.

So, number one, like what is this city council actually done?

Number one was do the moratorium.

That was like less than two months after the concerns really were raised from the citizens here.

I could not find a single other city council anywhere in the country that responded as quickly and as like decisively as the city council did.

Like doing that in two months was extremely quick, extremely decisive.

Uh, it was done much to my chagrin, unfortunately, but like there was that like the idea, I guess saying that like this city council doesn't care or you know, it wasn't responsive.

I just think is like that's objectively not met with the facts.

The second one is the recommendations of the committee themselves, and like these directly address, I I re-listened to I put the notes through Chat GPT.

I mean, they really directly address all the concerns raised in October.

Um, if the goalposts are now moving to say, hey, actually, we shouldn't allow any Airbnbs, okay.

But like the original concerns really have been met.

And like, for example, for context, the qualified local operator agreements, uh, that kind of requirement now, it basically means you can't self-manage.

Um there are like maybe five cities in the country that have that.

Like that's a very um pretty like not extreme, but that's a very like uh strong regulatory action that the committee proposed and that we're gonna hopefully accept here tonight.

Most cities do not have that.

They allow you to self-manage, like that is again a very strong response to the concerns raised in October, um, just objectively, comparatively speaking.

The third thing I want to say too is um just really around like this idea that um I don't know, we need to rezone or there's some you know commercial use.

Again, you just can't find that anywhere.

Like there are no cities that view renting a home as commercial use as has been brought up.

Like that's just not that's not how any cities deal with this.

And so I you're really stretching to say, hey, because it's a short-term rental, it's a commercial use.

No one's saying a long-term rental is a commercial use, obviously.

And so I think we're if you look at the the issues that were raised in October.

I think objectively, this council has been extremely responsive.

Uh, from my liking, too responsive on timing, but that's okay.

And um, I just want to state that stuff for the record because I think a lot of things get set up here.

But if you look at the actual comparison with real facts and figures, like it tells a pretty clear story.

So just wanted to kind of state that for the record.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dave Mayor Whipple and members of the council.

My name is Rick McIntyre, and I chaired that committee, and uh have a great respect for every one of the members that you appointed to serve on that committee.

I appreciated the time, the effort, lots of time and lots of effort that went into uh what you have before you today.

Uh I'll repeat, I won't repeat many of the you know, or I I talked plenty about this in prior meetings, and I won't repeat any of that.

Um, but I want to just make this one thing clear.

Everyone here with a few very technical um items, very technical, not even worth talking about, but everybody here is right.

I mean, uh, you know, this is a difficult one.

And the people that are talking, the people that are addressing you tonight, uh they're all they're right.

They're all right.

So it's difficult.

Um I think that the committee came up with recommendations that are valuable uh that will work.

And I think uh your your additions, by the way, are excellent about trailers and such.

I think adding that into this is a great idea.

But I think we just need to uh move forward.

We need to uh adopt the ordinance and let's get started.

Let's get started with the enforcement.

Let's get started with the things that we that we built into this and try to solve many of the problems uh that were fate we were faced with before we ever got together and talked about it.

If we'll adopt that tonight, then you'll give credit to the committee's work.

Uh Adam's been terrific in this, Becca, quite literally everybody here that was involved.

Uh Jesselin's been amazing, by the way, absolutely amazing.

And uh I commend them all for the work that they did.

I recommend to you that you adopt the ordinance tonight uh with the two additions that you suggested.

I think they're brilliant, and uh give us an opportunity to get started and solve these problems.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Rick.

Gary Elgord.

Um, yeah, the idea of adding trailers is one that leads towards quality of life, and that's something that was spoken about a lot of times tonight.

And I think the only thing that doesn't match with quality of life or a residential quality is the numbers.

I don't know anyone in a two-bedroom home, pretty much that has eight people living in it.

I know even fewer in a three-bedroom home that have 10 people living in it, but these are the kind of numbers you're looking at allowing.

So I'm not sure that if you're trying to match to a residential quality of life, maybe these numbers, along with the limitation on the trailers, are not the right thing.

You're saying that, well, let's be careful about how many cars we have.

Well, let's be careful about how many people we have.

A realistic number in a in a two-bedroom house is six people.

I think that these numbers are kind of out of control.

In a five-bedroom house, you're saying there's three and a fifth people per bedroom.

Who lives like that?

If you're gonna have residential quality, then the numbers should reflect what in this in residentials, not in hotels or not in uh a crash pad where you just had people sleeping on mattresses on the floor.

If it's supposed to be like a residence, number it like a residence, not just in vehicles, but in people.

Thank you, Gary.

Hi, I'm Jay Gardner.

Uh Amy and I run the business here doing uh we host.

And all I really wanted to say, I want to be brief as possible.

But uh I think that uh what you guys had the committee do was excellent.

Our business has always been looking forward to being able to work with everybody in the community and with our business, we wanted to be a plus, not a minus.

And having this committee come together and put together what they put together helps us do that, um and helps the city do that.

Um we want to be good residents.

And just a little addition there about the trailers.

We we certainly agree with with uh taking a look at that, and what the gentleman just came up and talked about for people in the residence is something we also look looked at too, and we'd be uh happy to make sure that those numbers are right, also.

Um I know that Doug's business has uh uh done something really good as far as having their guest be able to uh take the trailers and take them somewhere else besides the residences and and get them off the streets.

Uh we we've done we are doing that now also.

Uh it's been a good example.

But anyway, I want to thank you guys for uh taking the time with the committee and uh thank you for your listening.

Thank you, Jay.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward, the public click hearing is closed.

Uh Councilman Wandless.

Mayor, can I yes or can I address one thing just real quick?

Um I don't want to interrupt council member wandless.

You're good.

Okay.

So it was brought up just discussing AB 363, and do we have the authority to put that off until 2030?

And so I just wanted to address that, especially given Mr.

Clarkson had made some comments about that as well.

So there's actually a Nevada Supreme Court case directly on point that interpreted um this very very similar issue.

And uh maybe more for Mr.

Clarkson's benefit, it's yellow cab of Reno versus Second Judicial District Court of Nevada, it's 127 Nevada, 583.

It's a 2011 case.

And what the Supreme Court said was when a law is passed and it's and it's based on a population number.

If it doesn't specifically say which what we're gonna use, like the state demographer, then the default comes back to the um national decennial census.

And they pointed to another NRS NRS 0.050, which specifically says that if the statute doesn't explicitly state what population number we're gonna use, it defaults to the decennial census.

And so there's at least on that issue, there is some very clear authority that says unless an AB 363 is said to use a state demographer, then we gotta go with the decennial census.

And so, based on that, and this came up in committee uh earlier on, and so just for the benefit of the public, it at least in my view, very very clear that um we're not bound to that until the next decennial census in 2030, at least under the established Supreme Court case law and the statutes.

So I just wanted to clarify that.

Thank you, Adam.

Councilman Wallace.

Mr.

Elgord, it's also my understanding that those numbers aren't necessarily how many will sleep there, but how many can be at the property at any given time?

So if there's a swimming pool there, and you have a ball team down and there's six people staying at the home, and it's however many bedrooms, no more than that many people can be in the pool or on the property enjoying the pool.

Total people there, and the number of vehicles stays the same.

If they have the maximum number of vehicles there, more vehicles can't come down and park there to go play in the pool.

So these numbers were higher.

But I don't think there were meant.

I guess if people want to sleep on the floor, you could, but I don't think that was the that was the thought behind what was done there.

And I see these people that were on the committee shaking their heads, yes.

So I'm I'm gonna go with that.

Councilman Ennis.

I might comment is just this before we make a motion on this.

If there's no other comments from council, is I agree with you all.

This is you know, whatever we decide to vote up here tonight, we're gonna we're gonna upset this group or we're gonna upset that group.

And that's just one of the this has probably been one of the since I've only I've been up here for two years now.

This and I can honestly say this is gonna be probably one of the hardest decisions I've had to make since I've been on city council.

This has been gnawing me for a long long time.

And uh I see both sides of the story.

I hear it from one of our constituents back there all the time down at the veteran center.

Thank you.

And so uh but so whatever whatever way we go tonight, it's gonna upset some folks.

And I'm and I'm okay with I'm I'm not okay with that, but that's part of my responsibility ability as your city council.

So that's all I got to put, and then we need to make those two additions to it if we want to.

Okay, councilman wandless.

I'm gonna turn it back to you.

Adam, you're gonna help me through this so it's done right.

Okay, I'm going to make a motion to adopt bill as ordinance number B26-005, amending title two, chapter 13 of the mesquite municipal code regarding vacation rentals, with the exceptions.

We move the fines under the discretion of the city manager, and we count ancillary vehicles like trailers as one of the vehicles that can be allowed on the property.

Councilwoman Fielding.

I'll second that.

Okay, call for the vote.

NSI.

Okay, motion passes.

Item 6.1 consideration of approval of mural and design to be painted on the exterior wall of the virgin a real virgin reliance connects facility building located at 61 West Mesquite Boulevard.

Simon, are you presenting that one?

Or who's Steve?

Are you Steve?

Is this public comment?

Or is it just no presentation?

You you present us what you want here.

Hello.

Do you have a picture of the mural?

So I'll go on while he looks for that.

Um for the last two years, we've dinked around with uh two mural spaces on private property, um, one on ACE and one on Reliance.

Okay, and then out of out of nowhere, we've got half the money for one of the murals.

So we had Miles, um Miles Woods, he created a design, and um it it kind of followed what Reline said two years ago that they were looking for something that would kind of pay homage to their past up into the future.

Okay, so we had half of it there, and that's thanks to um Paul Benedict, his wife passed away, and he donated half of the mural, which was 5100, half the cost um to be in her name.

And then we had no other money, and the other day, um Nevada Arts Council asked me, hey, would you like some money out of the America 250?

And there it is there, out of the America 250 fund.

So I have that.

And then I just heard about an hour ago from Christy that um Reliance also wants to pay.

So now we have too much money.

That's not a problem.

And of course, as usual, I got Miles going.

He wanted to get this done before it gets too hot, and he went out and took the 5100 dollars that he had in his pocket and already bought the paint.

So here we are.

This is it.

And he can get it done um before July 4th.

And this this metada arts councils for their America 250.

So somewhere on there, they'll be they'll need to be a reliance um um sticker or logo.

They'll need to be in the Vada Arts Council logo and America 250 logo, they'll be small, and then um we'll do something for Paul Juan Lassus' wife, Barbara, and memorium to her.

Excuse me, but I don't recognize this building.

Can you direct us on which it looks it looks too pretty, doesn't it?

Exactly.

If if you pull into the art gallery, the mesquite fine art center.

If if you pull in there and you go straight, um so looking at at right there, to the left of us is the is the museum, okay, and then the art gallery, and then off to the right is the temporary buildings.

And then off to the right is the temporary buildings.

Well, they're not temporary buildings, but for the art gallery.

Okay.

Yeah, it's kind of I I can understand.

Councilman Wallace, did you have a seven?

Okay.

All right.

Do we have any uh questions for Steve?

Okay.

Thank you, sir.

Um public comment on this uh mural.

Okay, I'm gonna turn it back over to council.

Councilwoman Fielding.

I will make a motion to approve the mural and design to be painted on the exterior wall of Rio Virgin slash reliance connects facility building.

Councilman Ennis?

I'll second the motion.

Okay, call for the vote.

Yeah, that's right.

Galloway.

Okay, motion passes item 6.2 discussion and possible action regarding recommended locations for downtown shade structures, benches, and trash bins funded through the Travel Nevada Special Projects Grant.

Thank you, Mayor and City Council.

Um here we go.

So it it is uh known as a Stevie Special Project Grant, and uh when when I applied for it, it was uh Musquete Downtown Shaded Bench and Accessibility Enhancement Project.

So it was uh to be four-page really short presentation, but uh during the weekend I exchanged uh a couple of emails with the citizen, and uh I thought this might be uh discussed that uh online if I'm uh the on my experiences in City of Musquite when there was a discussion, and then uh people would discuss uh throughout the Facebook or so.

So I thought I I need to address this uh without telling who this was.

Uh so there was a concern.

Uh this concern was basically about the maintenance issues.

Um first question would be what is the total long-term cost, not just the grant amount.

Who is financially responsible for upkeeping?

Uh, what is the projected annual maintenance budget?

What is the replacement timeline?

So they simply respond to this.

We have uh this uh shade structures, benches, and uh trash bins are the exactly the same materials that we have been using at the parks.

And uh this is uh virtually maintenance free.

There was nothing the city has been maintaining in uh for this materials.

So and then that that there was a discussion about how about the trash?

Who's who's gonna clean up those trashes?

If trash bins filled up in downtown, it means our downtown is successful.

So if he gets the trash, I I think we should be able to go out and clean it, and uh that that's gotta be better for the city.

Uh if there is no trash, then there will be no maintenance, so nothing to lose.

Um so my question is have we ever asked these questions before?

Every public asset has ongoing cost, rules require resurfacing, park requires the landscaping and repairs.

Street lights require electricity and replacement.

Public buildings buildings require maintenance, but nobody asked about maintenance issues so far.

The thing is, it is uh operational uh level.

It is not uh master plan or strategic plan level that each individual citizen would ask.

It is the operational level that uh STEM need to be embarked in.

Um for example, master plan is uh citizen level and public and the city council strategic plan would be the city council and director's level and maintenance uh and the operational plan would be the step level.

So our job uh is to build and maintain infrastructure and public spaces that makes a community desirable.

And the actual question citizen would ask should be does a beautification project make downtown more inviting?

Does it encourage people to spend time there?

Does it support local businesses?

Does it improve community pride?

Does it help attract uh visitors, residents, and investors?

Those should be the questions, not about the how much would be the maintenance cost.

It's like uh it is not even micromanagement.

If each individual citizen asks about those issues, city will not do anything at all.

So growth expense, the tax base, the tax base supports maintenance, and responsible budgeting keeps the system sustainable.

That's how city has been always working and functioned.

Sounds like it makes sense.

However, this project has been discussed nearly two years through the visioning sessions and urban design element process, travel nevada's 3D workshops, and downtown development discussions.

So it is not actually never discussed at the city council or outside of the city council.

Every meeting were open to the public and uh it uh imbibed the hundreds of participants so far.

So for example, a mosquito 20 uh 45.

It says a vitalized Musk Lobard and City Center will anchor the city's identity featuring a walkable downtown that brings people together.

Urban design element that says enhance landscaping, shade and palace and amenities to increase comfort and connectivity.

And Travel Nevada 3 grant uh 3D grant, uh the project activities and the description says the city has initiated efforts to define downtown boundaries and establish distinct character zones.

The zones provide a framework for targeted improvements and help organize visitor movement and experience.

So when we applied uh project description says these improvements improvements will transform the corridor uh from an accessible but exposed workway workway into an inclusive visitor friendly environment that encourages exploration, rest and outdoor activity.

So those were discussed, and uh we got uh five shaded structures and ten benches and seven trash bins uh from it.

Uh so uh if you look at this map, the red means shade bench and bins, and uh uh the orange means bench and bins, and uh yellow means bench only.

So Taco Bell, KFC, Posim Belly Heritage Heritage Park and City Hall, Muskie Plaza uh gets the shade uh benchy and trash bins on that locations, and uh uh jersey mics and the brickyard gets the bench and bins, and then uh Holiday Inn and uh the bacon lot uh in between the North Arrowhead and Udbury, and then USPS will get uh benches.

So these are the locations first uh those uh the five locations will uh all those three materials and uh those three will get uh benches and bins and other three uh guest benches only.

So uh this is the recommendations, but uh before uh I make a recommendation.

Um the uh there are uh about six hundred and thirty dollars left over uh that can be used for uh concrete uh for the foundation, but Travis estimation is a little bit bigger.

Uh so uh Travis will bring in uh the uh estimated foundation cost next time.

It'll be how much?

So we figure with each of these um shade structures, they're 10 feet large, um, and for the benches and that.

So we're gonna put these, we'll have the five-foot sidewalk, but then we'll also have to put a five-foot pad behind and also the foundation systems for those.

So we anticipate that this may be another two to three thousand dollars for the concrete um for the foundations of the shade structures, the um areas on that.

Um we do have funding that we can use from our streets uh 11 account for these um for that, so that uh shouldn't be a uh concern with that.

The biggest thing uh with these locations will be getting easements because uh we don't have the easement behind that.

So we'll have to go to each of the locations um and acquire those easements from the property owners in some of those locations.

There are some obviously City Hall, uh Taco Bell.

We actually own that um area right there, so um there are locations that'll go easier, but yes, it's a Simon's point.

Um we will have additional costs, but um that would come out of our 11 account for that.

Thank you, Travis.

So my recommendation goes move approved the recommended locations of the shade structures, benches, and trash beans.

Alternatively, uh approved by the rebellions to the recommended locations.

Thank you.

Thank you, Simon.

Um, do we have any questions from council?

Okay, seeing none, thank you.

Um we'll go ahead and open up for a public comment.

And let me first say, because I forgot Simon will miss you.

So um, as I'll put my mesquite works um chair hat on now, and I will say thank you very much because this helps it's gonna be a walkable downtown.

And um the the folks and the residents of our center will be happy that I think more people will come in and they can get cooled off before they catch the bus.

So thank you.

Thanks, Steve.

Dominic Olivetto and I to paid for the bench, you're gonna put a KFC when I walk out to Polaris World the other day to find shade.

So I think this is a really good idea.

And if you run out of money, Travis, I will donate for the one at KFC.

Thanks, Dominic.

This is not a big project, it's a relatively small one, but it is a very, very tangible evidence of the fact that we actually are building towards a very distinct future for Mesquite.

And I'm very pleased that this is going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, John.

Okay, seeing no one else come forward, uh, Councilwoman Fielding.

If there's no more comments, I'll just make a motion to approve the recommended locations for the downtown shade structure's benches and trash bins funded through Travel Nevada Special Project Grant.

And thank you, Simon, again for doing that grant.

Appreciate it.

Councilwoman Galloway I'll second it.

Okay, call for the vote.

Very shy.

Galloway.

All right.

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

And I am just gonna head that off and say thank you.

Simon, we're gonna miss you, and we appreciate all the hard work you've done.

I just wanted to thank Simon um being on good.

I feel bad because being on the master plan committee with him, this is the first time on any committee I've been on that we've actually done something.

I've seen it come to the city council and seen you know, something happen.

And he's updated codes, he's updated programs, everything's updated, and he's innovative, and he's come up with this on his own.

And like I said, this is the first time I don't know how many years that to be on a committee and to have something happen and and successful.

So I really appreciate Simon and he does know what he's doing.

Thank you.

Thank you, Natalie.

I wanna say kudos to Simon on his new position.

Um, I understand talking to you last time about your son going to the U.

Go Ute.

Um a lot of my neighbors, they don't attend the meetings, they read up on them, they watch them, and they have all been so impressed with you and your skills and your care and concern about our community.

And they all asked me to say thank you for what you've done for us.

We are gonna miss you.

Your intelligence, your qualifications, good heavens.

When you put that out last time, but just a big big thank you for what you do.

Um, I saw something while I was up in Salt Lake this past week, and I didn't get enough time to research it, but I thought I'd just ask you guys, I know it's not a question and answer session, but nearly 79 acres of drilling, including land near Washington County border with Arizona.

It also includes bordering Utah and Nevada.

Are you guys aware of any drilling and how that might affect our aquifer?

You know, I'm just getting my feet wet with all this, so I'm just kind of throwing this one out there.

If anybody's heard anything, it was in the Salt Lake Tribune, but it was St.

George, Utah News as well.

So if you want to take a look at that and maybe inquire, they've got a uh public comment section that's only open until the 11th, and I just found out about it two days ago.

So if there's something that we ought to maybe make some comments on.

Thank you.

Thank you, Becky.

Oh, man, right there.

Ben Martinson, General Manager of Virtuality Water District, we can chat after.

Um, we will actually be presenting.

Well, Aaron Bunker, our hydrologist, will be presenting at the July 14th meeting on the health of our aquifer.

And we'll put it plain and simple, it's actually extremely healthy, even with the Utah and Arizona.

They could take almost double what we're allotted to take right now when we'd still be okay.

But if we're drilling, correct.

Yeah, we would still be okay.

And Aaron will be be presenting on July 14th, and we can chat a little bit after if you like.

Thanks.

Thanks, Ben.

All right, seeing no one else come forward.

This meeting is adjourned.