Good morning, everyone.

It is 10 a.m.

I will call this board of county commissioners meeting to order, and it is January 13th, 2026.

We're going to start with a salute to the flag.

We have a former county employee here, Paul Lipperelli.

I'm hoping he can lead us in the salute to the flag.

Legally.

And to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you very much.

Madam Clerk, if we could have the roll call.

Certainly.

Alexis Hill, Chair.

Here.

Jean Herman Vice Chair.

Here.

Mike Clark.

Present.

Mari Luce Garcia.

Here.

Claire Andreola.

Present.

County Manager Kate Thomas.

Here.

Uh District Attorney Michael Large.

Here.

And I'm Jan Gallasini, your county clerk.

Madam, you have a quorum.

Thank you so much, Madam Clerk.

We'll now move into public comment if Manager Thomas can help us with that.

Thank you.

Item number three is public comment and comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the commission agenda.

A news time may not be allocated to other speakers.

The commission will also hear public comment during individual action items with comment limited to three minutes per person.

Comments are to be made to the commission as a whole, and virtual public comment may be taken when facilities are available.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

If you'll please help us with the public comment.

First up, we have Jan Gallicini, followed by Tammy Holt still.

Good morning and happy new year.

Good morning.

Chair, last year you challenged county employees to donate, and the clerk's office for the last 20 plus years has sponsored the Silver Slay Award.

So I'm very happy to present that there were 15 departments that participated this year.

That gives me chills.

So in 24, there were uh eight departments at $7,000 donated, and this year or last year there were 25 departments for over 12,000.

Incredible.

Wow, and that's your leadership, Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

So with that, um, in my office, Jessica Malka was the one who spearheaded all of this and got in charge or got in touch with all of the um departments and worked with the food bank and um made it so successful.

So if I could have representatives from HSA and public administrator come forward.

I mean public at Guardian, sorry.

Public something.

Wow.

So the donations were um all collected at the food bank, and depending on the number of FTEs, it was by full-time employee the donations.

And so the public guardian, who might have a very competitive leader, was winner again, so they get the silver sleigh award.

Woo.

Incredible.

And so the plaque.

The plaque has the winners from all the past years.

We've done it so many years we had to get a new plaque.

So wow.

And then the um human services agency, they have 449 employees, so you know it's a lot of employees, but they collected the most amount of money.

Wow, that's amazing.

So that's all I've got.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Um, I think Candy wants to take some pictures if y'all will stand together.

I don't want to take one.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

That's amazing.

I think it shows how much our employees care about this community, and um we continue to step up in really tough times.

So thank you very much, Madam Clerk, for your leadership on that.

Next public commenter.

Tammy Holt still, followed by Terry Brooks.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Happy New Year.

Tammy Holt still for the record.

Representing District Five.

Later on today, you are going to be looking at changing seats.

And District 5 has not had a chair for over 12 years.

And again, it looks like you are going to pass over District 5 again.

I think that is a very disrespectful way to look at a district.

I do not appreciate it.

And I know District 5 does not appreciate it.

It's not proper.

She is senior on your board.

She has been here the longest.

She's also a senior.

And it shows ageism, I think, on your part.

So I think when you guys go back to deliberate, I think you should think again before you guys make any decisions.

Because we've been watching for a very long time.

And I think you guys need to look very deep before you make any decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Terry Brooks, followed by Heidi Soper.

I'm in the commission meeting.

Good morning.

It's me, Terry Brooks again.

And today I'd like to render on the act of discrimination when it comes to economics and gender.

There was a time that only men were allowed to own property.

At that time, women were not allowed to own property.

And at that time, only sons were allowed to inherit property, but daughters were not allowed to inherit property.

At that time, women were not allowed to own real estate.

So it kept getting passed down for only men to dominate.

And even though women made up more than half of our population, they were still limited to access to certain kinds of occupation.

It used to be that women would have jobs that men did not want to do.

But now women have a lot of jobs that a lot of men have too.

But even when women got such jobs, they were paid less wages.

Things have improved a bit through time going through small step stages.

When women would get paid less than men, it was hard to make a living when both men and women had the same costs of living.

And by making less money for a living, women were less likely to own a business, while men making more money were more likely to own a business.

And by owning their own business, men were more likely to hire men.

So they wouldn't, there's so there wouldn't be as many women working as there would be men.

When it comes to economics and gender, it appears that there's a chain reaction, which might then lead to acts such as affirmative action.

So as far as economics and gender, things are better than they used to be, but things are still not quite as good as they ought to be.

And instead of competition between different genders, what we need is cooperation among the different genders.

Thank you, Mr.

Brooks.

We missed you.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

Heidi Soper, followed by Nicholas St.

John.

Good morning.

I'm Heidi Soper.

I live in Sun Valley.

I'm also the Sun Valley Chair for the CAB, even though I'm not here representing the CAB.

I am representing citizens that have spoken to me and given me facts I'd like to give to you about the master plan and zoning changes for Sun Valley.

Chris Baker from Manhart Consulting spoke to the Sun Valley Cab at our November meeting and explained what happens to 18 acres between 1st and 2nd Street and Sun Valley.

There was no development planned at that time.

The current approval is for 48 single family dwellings, three dwellings per acre.

The amendments result in 10 to 14 dwellings per acre with open space.

This creates another two possible 252 apartments in conjunction with Chocolate Drive LLC, which is north of 2nd Street and is supporting 240 more apartments, creating 492 dwellings with a possible 984 more cars coming down First Street, Second Street, and West Kepford.

And this does not include the apartments already built on First Street.

At this time, this is unacceptable.

We need to improve the infrastructure before adding 492 new dwellings to the area.

We have one inadequate main boulevard, one fire department, one paramedics team, finally one new ATM from Wells Fargo, no grocery store, no medical facility, and over 22,000 residents that live in the valley.

We don't need, nor can we support another possible 492 dwellings.

That's a possible minimum of a thousand more residents.

And that doesn't count the additions being made to Highland Ranch.

The Planning Commission approved this request, even though they had two abstentions.

A gentleman on the commission said that Sun Valley has no traffic problem.

Right.

I suggest that he and anyone else who disbelieves drives the road during peak hours.

Be sure you don't have any place to be at a certain time because you're going to be late.

I humbly ask that you consider this information be a for approving the master plan and zoning changes requested.

And I believe it's number 14, but I wouldn't swear to it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nicholas St.

John, followed by Cliff Nellis.

For the record, Nicholas St.

John.

We are not a nation of nation, state, county, or city of rules.

We are not governed by rules.

We do not have a rules enforcement officers.

We do not have, we do have law enforcement officers.

We do not go into a court of rules, we go into a court of law.

The Supreme Law of the United States of America is the U.S.

Constitution that you each swore an oath to uphold.

No state, county, nor city may pass laws, statutes, ordinances, create policies, procedures, or have parenthetical clauses that undermine the U.S.

Constitution that would diminish our God-given constitutional guaranteed rights, period.

The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees our freedom of speech.

And while this is case there is case law against yelling fire in a crowded theater, there is no case law that limits the size of a sign that may be displayed in a public meeting.

While a case could be made that impeding another person's view should not happen, every opportunity should be made to allow signs of any size into public meetings, but placed so that it does not impede someone's view, not simply to infringe on our rights to have them and create policy to not allow them at all.

We demand the removal of the sign in the lobby by the next metal by the metal detector forbidding us from bringing in larger signs by the next meeting.

It also guarantees the right to have our signs broadcast over the stringing service at public meetings and is a violation of our rights by changing camera angles so that they are not in public view on camera.

Every time a camera angle is changed is a violation.

Knock it off.

The First Amendment also guarantees the right to peaceably assemble.

That does not mean that we cannot be upset over actions the BCC may or may not take.

It also guarantees the right to have a redress of our grievances and in no way may be restricted to forcing us to address the entire board and not singling out a particular commissioner.

The commissioners complain that meetings can and sometimes do go long.

This is primarily due to our lack of opportunity to discuss many of these contentious issues with our public servants.

We are asking for a policy that each county commissioner is required to have a public town hall meeting at least every two or at most three months, where we can actually dialogue and better voice our concerns and opinions without the restriction of three minutes.

Alexis Hill has denied our request to meet with her for five years, now having held exactly zero town halls or public forums that is not representing her constituents and has willful misadmin maladministration.

This is the head of schedule, but congratulations to the new chair.

However, we are hoping that it is not just merely a proxy to continue the aforementioned rights violations if you do expect us to take necessary action to hold you accountable as well.

Cliff Nellis, followed by Jane Swartley.

Cliff Nellis for the record.

The U.S.

Fourth Amendment and the NV Article 1, Section 18 guarantees that persons are to be secure or protected against search and seizures.

The use of metal detector only during BCC meetings meets the criteria of generalized suspicion, which goes against the 1999 ruling of the U.S.

Supreme Court stating that a generalized suspicion would be unconstitutional.

It must be individualized.

The majority opinion written by the late Justice Skinsburg.

We demand the removal of an unconstitutional metal detector coming into these meetings.

Need be because some of the county commissioners have denied the right to put items on the agenda because Alexis Hill unilaterally decides not to put them on items.

She apparently does not want to discuss nor make it available for public input.

Nicholas has met with the new county manager about this issue.

According to the BCC rules, the procedures 5.4.2.1 states that in part may decline to place an item on the agenda if it is determined the item substantially conflicts with the law or the ability of the county to effectively conduct its operations.

Thus, your rules state that the only true reason an item would be declined is if it conflicts with the law or the ability of the county to effectively conduct its operations, meaning their ability to enforce it.

Alexis Hill has unoratively declined to put other commissioners' items on the agenda without meeting either of these two criteria and is guilty of maladministration.

We expect the new chair to adhere to these two, adhere to these two criteria and request that they inform the commissioner of which criteria their agenda item does not meet if declined.

We also demand that the statement preceding opening and closing statements threatening to remove anyone that violates NRS 203.090 or 19 or disrupting or disturbing a meeting.

Um as this is a violation of NRS 207.190.

Coercion, as what could be deemed disturbing or disrupting, would be pure purely speculative and has been abused by Alexis Hill in the past.

Attempt to intimidate the person by threats or force, paragraph two, where physical force or the immediate threat of physical forces used for a category B felony by imprisonment in the state prison for a minimum term of not less than one year and a maximum term of not more than six years, and may be further punished by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars.

We expect to have these issues remedied by the next BCC meeting.

Thank you for your attention to these matters.

I'm really here today just to say thank you.

Cold Springs Family Center's outreach program has skyrocketed.

We've been able to do so many things, and I thought it was time that we tell you what you made happen for us, Commissioner Clark, by all your generous donations.

Everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner provided for them for the Christmas area.

We had a wonderful outsetting from our family and friends in the community, and they gave presents to all of our seniors, which was wonderful.

We also, though, did take on a new responsibility, and it is of a little concern, and I thought maybe you all for all of your districts would be interested.

We took on uh doing the Northern Nevada Food Bank senior boxes, so that the food bank basically comes, drops it off, and we take responsibility for getting it out there.

I'm going to assume there's a lot of other areas that are doing this as well.

But in doing so, we've now found people that we would have probably never had come to us.

They don't have transportation.

Um, some of them don't have telephones.

So as you talk with people about the food bank and different areas of your own that you have.

Um, be careful that there are people out there that really, really, really need us.

And I just wanted to bring it to your attention.

I know everything that you all do, and especially Commissioner Clark again.

Thank you so much for everything you do for us.

But we want to make sure that we're reaching all of our seniors.

So very important.

And have a wonderful new year, and thank you again.

Thank you.

Thank you for your work.

Jill O'Leary, followed by Cynthia Perrine.

Ms.

Leary gave documents to distribute.

Go ahead.

Good morning, Commissioners.

My name is Jill O'Leary.

I'm a 63-year-old resident of Washoe County.

Beginning October, I came before this board requesting oversight of the recorder's policy that allows a non-statutory legibility notice to be used to record documents as liens.

Nevada law does not authorize this practice, and despite multiple requests, I've received no response or indication that the issue is being reviewed.

Today I have formally delivered for the public record.

My district attorney request for criminal review with a companion attorney general request for review and action attached for follow-up.

These referrals outline serious concerns involving elder exploitation, fraudulent court filings, altered medical records, misuse of civil processes, and the unlawful release of more than a thousand pages of my private financial information through an undocketed and legally defective writ of execution.

Based on that same undocketed and defective writ, fidelity has restricted my withdrawals from my checking, IRA, Roth IRA, and HSA accounts, retirement assets expressly exempt under Nevada law.

I have been denied access to the courts to correct this, leaving my exempt retirement account assets restricted without legal authority.

These actions implicate NRS 200.5092 through 5099, NRS Chapter 205, NRS 21.075 through 090, NRS 31.291, and other statutes governing proper use of judicial process.

They also demonstrate how the recorder's acceptance of a non-statutory legibility notice enabled a proposed judgment, not a final judgment, to be recorded as a lien facilitating further unlawful actions that could affect any resident subject to similar filings.

And to provide clear response regarding your oversight of the recorder's policies that enabled these events.

These issues raise countywide concerns and allowing them to go unaddressed, undermines the public confidence in the integrity of Washoe County recording systems and the judicial processes that depend on it.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Cynthia Perrin, followed by Janet Butcher.

Good morning.

My name is Cynthia Perrine for the record.

I am a resident of District 5 of Washoe County.

I'm also a precinct captain for the Northwest Reno area.

And it is only a matter of good practice, of probity, of proper management, of common sense to do so.

And in all fairness, in that I am a tax-paying citizen of your area, and I indirectly I do pay for your salaries.

I certainly am grateful for your consideration of this request.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Janet Butcher.

Good morning, Janet Butcher for the record.

I'm was surprised that there weren't a few more people that were bust in here this morning to talk about some recent events.

But I anyway, I'm gonna read what I prepared.

I love my family and friends and neighbors and want them to be safe.

It appears that some on this dais may not.

I support ICE and any other law enforcement.

ICE has provided a list of most egregious criminal aliens they've arrested during their surge in Sanctuary State of Minnesota.

And it's the most disturbing list I've ever seen, including numerous convicted child rapists, sodomizers and convicted killers, most with deportation orders going back many years, several several from Laos, Somalia, and Sudan.

I am very grateful to our governor.

Governor Lombardo, unlike Democrat governors, has the correct policy in place.

Please note ICE does not bring the chaos to the area.

The Democrats' open border policy brought chaos.

A statement from the ICE director, Todd Lyons, regardless of staged political theatrics, ICE is going to continue to arrest the worst of the worst.

Criminal illegal aliens in Minnesota and elsewhere.

Why you'd want them here, I don't know.

They're not my neighbors.

Some of these criminal aliens have had final orders of removal for 30 years, but they've been free to terrorize.

ICE arrest pre prevent recidivism and make community safer.

Why wouldn't you all want that?

Other than the fact that you just want to go against anything that President Trump is putting forth.

That's obvious.

I wonder if he'd stop breathing if he said breathing was good for you.

Um there is a simple solution to avoid chaos and avoid going to jail or getting shot by any law enforcement as they do their job.

Demonstrate by standing on a sidewalk with a sign.

Don't throw things at them.

Don't stand in front or kick their cars.

Don't ever charge or get in their space.

Avoiding all these acts will keep you safe, and they can do their jobs without any entanglement.

They have better things to do and could care less if you demonstrate sanely and responsibly.

ICE says these criminal aliens always I practice at home and I don't run out of time.

I have a list of the a of the egregious things that they're nobody else signed in in chambers, but we do have emails that were submitted, and we have um Elizabeth Gambrel in Gurlock.

Thank you.

And audio.

Good morning, Elizabeth Gambrell, Gurlock, Nevada, 170 El Rancho Avenue.

I'm um speaking now on item 13 and 14, which are dealing with hazardous material on a property located out here in our area.

Um there's been a lot of public meetings.

They've gone through the entire process property or process of getting it through the Planning Commission, all rules, regulations, and laws.

And they've talked openly to the community here about what they're going to be doing, how they're going to be doing it, and what kind of actions they're taking in order to make it safe, um, wildlife friendly, um, fire hazard safe, all the things.

And there's still some people who do not live here year-round, but have an event out here.

I think you're probably familiar with Burning Man, that are a little upset with what they're planning on doing out there.

And I'm having some difficulty with that because at their annual party, most of the things they are upset about happen with them.

Um I'm speaking in full support of item 13 and 14 being approved as currently written.

The staff has done a wonderful job on looking into whether everything is, you know, dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's.

Um, and I don't think there's been a misstep anywhere.

This company is bringing well-paying jobs to my area.

They're bringing things with a retirement plan to my area, medical.

They are employing people who live here, which is a very rare happening out in Gurloch.

Um Matt, you guys may remember we fought before because they wanted to spend a lot of money up here, build a great big old thing, and then walk away and not employ anybody.

So I am definitely definitely saying yes to number 13 and 14.

I'd also be speaking on 16, which is housing for workers because we are desperately short of housing in Gurloch.

We have nowhere for people to live.

I have fire um protection people and school staff living in hotel rooms because we do not have enough housing.

We've been working on that for years with the county, and thank you very much for all the people in the county helping us with that.

But these people are gonna need housing on that ranch at all as well in order to keep these people here and employed.

Thank you very much for your time.

From Gurlock.

Thank you.

There's nobody else signed in.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

We're now going to move into item four, Manager Thomas.

Item number four is commissioners and county managers announcements, reports, and updates to include boards and commissions updates, requests for information, or topics for future agendas.

Thank you.

I have two items if I may.

I am um it's unfortunate, but we are going to have to pull item eight E4 from the consent agenda today.

That item um unfortunately included an incorrect attachment, and so the substantive changes were a version that was several iterations ago.

We apologize for that.

I've just been notified that we'll be appearing on the January 20th meeting, so that um those that are interested in that item can return next week for that.

And I do apologize for any inconvenience that that has caused.

Um, the second thing is a little bit more positive.

So let's uh let's jump into that, which is um July 4th of 2026 marks our nation's semi quincentennial, which is the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

And so we're going to kick off the Washoe County Courthouse Historical and Preservation Society will kick off the celebrations with a special event tomorrow.

Um there's uh going to be one each month of the year, but tomorrow at 8 a.m., the first moment of honor is going to occur at the historic courthouse.

So the Virginia Street entrance, which is typically not available to the public, so that's exciting.

That'll be open.

And our own county commissioners will lead this very first celebration.

So we're excited to have everybody join us.

We'll hear some traditional patriotic music from a renowned violinist from UNR.

We'll hear a little bit of living history about um from our Eiley Bowers and Bowers Mansion, and then each month, like I mentioned, a different organization or a dignitary will lead the celebration.

So we've got a few of our upcoming hosts that include our own public defender, Kate Hickman, Sheriff Darren Baylam, district attorney Chris Hicks, and public defender Evie Grosnick.

So again, we'll see you tomorrow at 8 a.m.

at the historic courthouse on Virginia and Court Streets in downtown Reno.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Yeah, that's gonna be so fun tomorrow.

I appreciate the announcement.

Vice Chair Herman.

Whoops, sorry.

Am I okay?

Great.

It's hard to tell sometimes.

And my eyes are pretty good.

So I have a wild idea.

Um I've been talking with quite a few people about the coming election and all that, and ways to make it better and that sort of thing.

And so this is one idea that's people come up with quite often.

They still lament the time when we voted in the precincts.

You know, we had paper ballots, and it was counted in the precinct.

And those are three of the main things that people, you know, really felt close to an elections.

You know, it was uh it was it made them feel more a part of it.

So I'm thinking, since we have, I mean, this is just a wild idea, but I'm thinking that you know, I know we have a lot of precincts and all that, but some of them could be combined.

And it could be handled similarly to the way it used to be handled.

If we um set different sections up in the new big building, and people would feel like they're going to their personal voting place again.

Just just a wild idea, but I think it could work.

Okay.

Thank you.

Commissioner Garcia.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Just a quick update from one of my regional boards, EDON, um, in celebration of the US's 250th anniversary this year.

They are not EDON, but there's a night nationwide um launch uh to support American entrepreneurial spirit.

It's called America the Entrepreneural.

It's um going to be kicked out throughout the country, um, and EDON has already made efforts to connect with NACO.

Um so for those of you in the room who don't know, Nevada was the first state in the U.S.

to enact the right to start act, which was AB 77 to support the growth of entrepreneurship in Nevada.

So that legislatively happened.

Uh, the Office of Um Entrepreneurship with Goed now exists.

There's a few staff, it's written in the budget.

So it's already happened at the state level.

All I'm asking is for us as a board to jump on this campaign.

Um I'll get the county manager some information.

It's not a very heavy lift for the county in terms of communications or efforts, but really it would be nice if we, City of Sparks and City Areno could come together in efforts to uh support our um entrepreneurs in the state of Nevada.

So I'll get you the information.

And if any of the my fellow commissioners have questions, I'll um forward them that information as well.

That's so great.

Small businesses are our biggest employers, so uh it's great to support that.

Now, Commissioner Andriola.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

I'm sure NACO will be bringing that up, and when we have a board meeting, I'm I'll be anxious to share any information as well.

Um I really want to thank the staff for hosting the first of three public meetings for the Washoe County um equine code update.

Uh one was held last night at the South Valleys, and um the comments uh received from several folks attending was that that they really liked the format, they really liked the um the way that the presentation occurred, and they're looking forward to uh this process as well and participating.

Everyone, I hope will be participating.

There's a meeting on Jan twenty January 22nd, which is a Zoom meeting, and there's another scheduled public meeting on January 27th in person at the Spanish Springs Library.

And if people need more information, they can go to Washoe County.gov and it's under the planning uh department.

So again, thank you for giving attention to this and untangling this layer and layer of I I say Christmas lights, but it's really regulation.

Washoe County can only do so much, but um I've certainly been committed to even going outside of Washoe County and seeing if we can get some things squared away, not only for the county but for the state of Nevada.

Moving to the next request is to the county manager.

So we all know that over the past decade, hundreds of government utilities, cities, counties across the nation have suffered cybercrime incidents.

Everything from wire fraud by organized criminals to ransomware that shuts down critical systems to cyber stalking, even employees, which is a terrifying prospect in and of itself.

But it's real.

And as a proactive measure, I am asking the county manager to conduct a health check on our defenses against these crimes.

Like every modern entity, public or private, Washoe County and its customers, our taxpayers rely on digital systems.

We must assure them that we're protecting our digital systems through sound data governance.

This obligation is also codified in state law through NRS 603A.210 and mandates certain operational standards for public bodies throughout Nevada.

I'm requesting that the county manager oversee our county departments in a review process to ensure compliance, to strengthen our digital systems, and to bring back any applicable data governance policies for review and consideration by this board.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Great um idea.

And yes, we want to make sure that our systems are safe.

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I've got a few items that they're not really related, so I'm gonna be jumping around a bit.

But I wanted to first uh talk about uh uh Marcolino's uh the former Reps Gallion uh restaurant uh that had a difficult time getting their business opened.

Um they couldn't seem to navigate uh the health department, the city of Reno, whatever the county had involved if there was any involvement and and I want to thank the uh staff uh of the health department for for stepping up and and helping this person get their business open so they didn't have to move twice.

I want to thank the county manager for helping.

I want to thank the city uh manager and Reno and uh uh the folks over there in the licensing.

We were able to uh, once we got to work and found out what the real problems were, we were able to get that business uh license issued in about 26 hours.

We got the plumbing signed off, we got the electrical signed off, we got the health department to sign off, and we got the business license issued and allowed this business, and we're talking uh, you know, segue right into what my fellow commissioners were talking about, the backbone of America's small business.

We should be there to help people navigate through this.

Most small business people want to specialize in what they're doing.

In this particular case, it's a restaurant.

So he's interested in cooking food and and serving serving customers.

He's not interested in understanding how the inner workings of the county work.

Uh if you do this thing once in your life or twice in your life, you're never going to be an expert at it.

And I think it's incumbent upon us to have our staff act as interpreters for for folks.

And again, not give out legal advice.

I I know that's the first hurdle that we always hear about, but I think it's important that we have success stories.

And I've asked the county manager if we can start asking some folks who've actually succeeded in getting a business license, if if they agree to film their experience and explain what took place.

And in the future, if somebody wants to open a business, they'll have a kind of a video uh uh story of how to do it, kind of a YouTube on how to do this and how to do that, different type of businesses.

We should have a a library show showing folks how to get through the system because uh this is like one of those uh what are those uh houses, those escape rooms where people get in and and can't seem to figure their way out without uh an interpreter or a navigator or a guide.

And and that's what that's what similar thing that that folks uh encounter when they're trying to open a business here.

So our job should be how do we help people figure this out?

Because they're never going to be subject matter experts on that.

We are, we've got the knowledge.

Let's help people get through the process with the least amount of uh aggravation.

So uh I want to just share that with you.

Uh I talked to the mayor, uh Mayor Hillary Sheavey about this very issue at the uh grand opening of this restaurant, and she thought it would be good to have a regional view on on uh granting these uh business licenses and uh make all the entities sparks Reno in the county uh uh and I don't know how how far off we are, but but have a united front where every everyone can figure this out with the other municipalities and the other uh regulatory bodies.

Next, I uh got a chance to go on a uh write along with the sheriff's hope team.

I guess I'm the last one to do that, and I couldn't be more impressed with with the good work that the Sheriff's Department is doing.

Uh they pointed out a lot of things, things that I I wasn't really aware of, and you know, uh many times uh us as commissioners are kind of focused on our own district and and uh obviously we get wind of what's taking place in throughout the county, but in this particular case, uh the sheriff, and I and I brought it up to the county manager, may have some institutional knowledge, it may be just urban legend, you know, uh uh uh what I'm talking about specifically is is Sun Valley and and who owns some land there.

The Sheriff's Department was is under the understanding somewhere in the the 70s, uh approximately 37 parcels were deeded to the county, and then at a later time she thought in the 90s that the county deeded these back to whoever deeded them to the county, and many of those folks that unfortunately had passed away, so the deeding went to their heirs, and the heirs maybe didn't want to accept it, and and so I I I understand it's gonna come up a little bit later.

Uh and I'd like to get that a report on on what really what what's the accurate history?

I mean, we've got a recorder here, we've got the assessor, uh, we've got uh institutional knowledge, the county, if there were recorded deeds, I'd like to see what those were, and I'd like to see the number of pro properties that were involved in this.

I hear the number of 37, but I don't know if that's an accurate number.

And again, I'm just bringing this up to what I heard, and I I'd like to get accurate information uh on that.

Uh next, I'd like to talk about uh uh safe place and and parking cars with with folks that uh need to sleep in their car.

Uh you know, I I was an advocate of that all along for folks sleeping in their cars, if they're still working and uh and uh understand if they're going to school as well, but uh we need to find out who's sleeping in these cars, uh, who who are their guests that may be sleeping in their cars with them.

Uh if we're going to have this at at uh safe place where we have some of the most vulnerable uh folks that are uh unhoused or or living in uh government uh housing, uh children, single women, married women, mothers, and uh find out do we do background checks on on who's sleeping in in these cars with whoever's uh signed up to do that if we're allowing extra people to be in the car, how many extra people in the car?

Why was of all the properties that the county owns?

Why was this allowed to happen on this particular parcel with children and women there?

I mean, we we we own the sheriff's department.

There's lots of overnight parking there.

Why don't we have them sleeping in the sheriff's uh department uh parking lot overnight?

Uh plenty of security there with the sheriffs.

But why, and I see that we have uh uh Mr.

Gufs is in here in the room, and I maybe we can uh address that at a later time, but why was that particular parcel in the county picked over other places?

It didn't seem to me, and just an observer here in this case, finding out why it happened, why that place was was chosen uh with a vulnerable population there in the in the property.

So I'd like to have those questions and answered.

Uh Ms.

Jane uh Swartley uh showed up with her report about uh the Cold Springs area.

You know, I I'm gonna work with the seniors throughout the county and in that particular part of the county.

They can't vote for me if they wanted to.

I'm not doing this to to uh uh buy votes out there, but that particular part of the county, others may be doing a good job, but that's the best one I've seen.

Jane is is the absolute uh glue that holds that whole operation together.

She's got the food bank coming out.

She's got Katie Grace coming out.

She's got uh folks every Friday there.

They've got food, they've got clothing.

It isn't just canned goods.

It isn't just it's it's fresh vegetables, and uh she's got an organized organized way to distribute it to make sure everybody gets uh uh this uh this food.

And and there are a lot of homeless folks, not homeless, but food insecure seniors uh out in that area that really don't have transportation to get into the food bank here, to get into distribution centers here in the county.

That's a that's a long drive for for seniors, even if they have a vehicle.

And she mentioned some of the folks don't even have vehicles.

So I think that they're doing a good job, and it's a model, and I think that uh the county should study what they're doing and and see if we can emulate that throughout the uh the county, just doing a fantastic job, organized distribution.

It isn't uh uh uh uh it just well run on and on every level.

So I wanted to thank her.

Unfortunately, she's left.

Uh I keep hearing from Ms.

O'Leary.

Uh, can we get an update as commissioners on what's taking place with her situation?

We hear about this, it seems about every meeting, and and uh I'd like to have an update from the county on what's taking place with her situation.

Is that something you could talk about now?

Uh Mr.

Large?

I can talk about it briefly.

This is not agendized, but uh, Ms.

O'Leary um on December at the you know one of our December meetings submitted a letter uh that was forwarded three 311 that my office responded to in terms of a public records request, seeking documentation from the second judicial district in regard to several cases that she's been involved in at that point.

Um an order has been issued by the second judicial district regarding her as a vexatious litigant in two in one probate case.

Um this commission does not have oversight over the second judicial district court.

Any of her issues that she needs to deal with in terms of ongoing litigation, need to be taken up with the court.

Thank you for for putting that on the record, and then uh hopefully Ms.

O'Leary heard that and uh can understand that us as commissioners can't uh uh intercede for her.

So uh thank you for uh clarifying that.

Last is coming up on the uh later in the agenda, but I want to get this on the record before uh folks leave, usually in the later part of the uh meeting, the crowds kind of thin out.

But I am I am as well in support of Commissioner Herman being the chair in in the future.

Uh Ms.

Herman has been on the uh here on the county board for longer than any of us, probably could be uh argued that longer than all of us put together.

Uh she's been here as an elected in this county longer than the sheriff, longer than the DA, longer than the assessor, longer than the treasurer, been here longer than the clerk, the recorder, and the public administrator, all seven elected offices in the county.

Been here longer than all of those folks put together.

Um as long as the the mayor of Reno, maybe as long as Miss Bibe over in Spark.

So this is someone who's got seniority and institutional knowledge.

And and this again, this is not just about Commissioner Herman.

This is about the district that she she represents.

So some 100,000 people approximately in the county for the last 12 years or 11 years plus, have not had their elected, duly elected uh representative, become the chair of this body.

And I think that's uh that that's failing the folks in her district as well.

Many times the director or the excuse me, the chair of the board has uh personal knowledge and and wants to do certain things in their district.

We see that now with uh uh the our current chair working up in Incline Village, and rightfully so.

That's her district.

She should be focused on those things.

And I think there's certain things in uh Commissioner Herman's district that should be focused on as well.

She's got one year left approximately, and I think it's important that we send her out of here with uh the opportunity to be the chair.

Others have said last year in this very room that that she didn't have enough experience.

And and yet I pointed out she's uh been elected longer than any other elected official in the this county at this point in time, uh, at least in the in the county.

And uh so I I'm uh I'm gonna support uh Commissioner Herman uh to be the uh the chair for the next year.

There's certain things that she's tried to get on the agenda for years and years and years and years, and she's been blocked by other folks, and uh, and I think it's an opportunity to uh honor her and uh allow her to be the chair for the final year of her her term in office.

She'll be termed out.

So that's that's my comments.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Well, with that, if there's no other announcements, we'll now move into our presentations.

Manager Thomas.

Thank you.

We have an update, and thank you, Vice Chair Herman, for recommending Leslie Mix to come before us.

She is here with her students to discuss the life-changing impact of job core programs for students and for the Washoe County community and why it's important to Nevada.

Uh if we can after her presentation, I know we were hoping to take a quick picture with the commissioners.

That would be wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you for the reminder.

Welcome.

Thank you so much, Commissioner.

And uh Chair and Commissioners.

We're so delighted to be back here, and we're so delighted to have the support of this austere body.

Um it's been very, very important to us in the last six months to have the support of our elected officials broadly across the state of Nevada in understanding how important the Job Corps program is in normal times.

About 750 certified and trained workers for the state through the trades and a number of other things that we do on campus.

So today I have brought two of our students, um, Mr.

Samuel Taylor and Mr.

Um Nick Duncan, and they have some fabulous stories to tell you.

And right now, my quick update for where job poor stands right now is in the budget, in the federal budget.

So initially we were redlined and told to close down in a week, and any of our students didn't have anywhere to go in a week's time, much less for the longer term, and taking away hope on opportunity.

So the state of Nevada really pretty much rose up to the occasion and objected to that.

Um there was some uh legal some legal proceedings that indicated that the job court program need uh was was illegally being paused, and so we've we've balanced that in court, and now it's in the budget.

Initially there was zero for the job corps program after um having 61 years of nonpartisan support in the country, and um we have gotten that from the last that we heard, and this can be a very moving sort of time, was that um uh Congress had put in about 50 percent of the budget to be allocated to the job corps program.

We recognize that there's some changes that can be made in efficiencies that can be done to improve the program.

In my personal opinion, having worked there for four years, we should have job cores all over the country because this is an amazingly productive program with an 82 to 93 typical um certification graduation rate.

That is far exceeds most programs, and certainly not government programs.

So this program works as many of you know.

On the Senate side, they have put in at least the last, once again, the last we heard, um, almost 100% of the budget to be allocated back to the Job Corps program.

We don't know where that stands.

We stand with the rest of the country and seeing where the budget might fall out towards the end of the month, or if we're even going to get to that budget.

Meanwhile, um we are bringing in just under 20 students per week.

We serve the entire state of Nevada.

Um many of our students come from the rural counties, and a lot of students come from Clark County.

Um Job Corps is the only residential training program in the country, and that's part of what makes this work.

Now, um for those of you that have been out there, you know that our dorms are a little on the older side, pre-World War II, but we manage and we manage because it's important.

We have many, many um employees and staff that have been there for over 30 years, and it's um it's not because we get paid so well, but it's because we see what Nick and Samuel are able to do with that time and take it on forward.

And with that, I would like to introduce to you uh Samuel Taylor.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Timon Taylor, 19 years old.

Current um currently student for student series at JobCore.

I'm in the MEA um vocation.

I just finished office administration.

Um here a year uh since last October on October 10th.

Um since then I had zero credits to my name.

Um I just graduated uh high school.

Um since then I've been doing leadership classes, um, being an SG uh student government association, got to be the president of campus.

Um is doing a lot of things that will help the campus um thrive and coming back to the community the community.

Um really thankful whether that they're done for me.

Um past six, eight months of 40 when JobCore was was being shut down, shut down.

I was doing everything in my mind set in my mind I could to help and to save JobCore from being closed down, being on a news news interview and sending out emails to the political deal leaders and calling different ones, um, including sending a letter to Jackie Rosen who who read it.

Um I do want to have Job Core stay even after I leave.

Um it's a really good program, and it teaches a lot of kids responsibilities, leadership classes, and get along with other people their age.

Thank you.

Wow.

Congratulations.

That was beautiful.

And I'd like to reiterate the Samuel has been extraordinary.

He came to us with no credits, as he said.

He had uh kind of a complicated background and history, and he managed to complete his high school in one year, managed to complete his um trade in a year, and is now taking on a second trade.

In addition to that, on the leadership side, he's president of the student government association that represents the students on campus.

So as a job corps representative, we are incredibly proud of Samuel, how far he's come.

We know that he's gonna be an independent um performing tax paying citizen at some point, and it gives me shivers on how much he's done.

So on that, I'd like to introduce Nick.

Follow that.

Nick.

Good morning, everyone.

I'm Nicholas Duncan, 25.

I've been a student at Sierra Nevada Job Corps since uh May of 2025.

In the past nine months, I've made a lot of leaps in my education and uh potential career in electrical education.

I was able to graduate high school.

First uh one of my mother's children to do that.

So that was major for me.

Wow.

And um electrical has given me a lot of opportunities that I thought I would never have, especially coming from uh not being able to graduate high school before.

So having opportunities to go to advanced training in New York after this for Linemen is something that I've always dreamed of, so this is huge.

Um people like Samuel really have uh made a really good uh community feeling there.

Everyone pushes each other forward, and people accomplish a lot.

Um JobCorps given me a lot of opportunities that I thought I would never have.

So it's really important to me that this stays open, and other kids get the same opportunities that I've had.

And thank you all for your support, seriously.

It means a lot.

Thank you.

Amazing.

Thank you, Nick.

So one of the things that JobCore programs offer is advanced training.

So Nick was able to accelerate and and um shine in his electrical trade so much that he was admitted into the advanced training program.

And like all of our programs, the onus of paying for that is not on Nick.

Um there will be no debt to he or his family coming out of it.

None of our students ever do, and that is part of what makes the program work because they're able to hit the ground running.

And in Nick's case, boy, is he gonna make the money?

Yeah, absolutely.

Nick, are you gonna try to work for MV Energy or what's the dream?

That would be awesome if I could.

Yeah.

Okay, well, just put that out into the universe.

And Samuel, I see a future county commissioner with your leadership.

I'm very inspired.

Well, thank you so much, and uh thank you for persevering.

I know it's been really stressful.

Your passion and your leadership and resilience has been really inspirational to all of us.

So thank you, and your dedication to these students, and we're here with you, whatever we can do.

And so um we we just appreciate you you changing people's lives.

And so we'll give you one last round of applause and we'll take a picture.

Thank you, Ms.

Nix.

All right, we'll take a quick break for a picture.

Great job.

Nice to meet you.

Nick, nice to meet you.

Congratulations.

Congratulations, Samuel.

So my hands are so cool.

So I apologize.

Congratulations.

It's a great way to start the meeting with Samuel and Nick's stories.

We'll continue and carry that through the rest of the meeting.

Thank you so much.

All right, we will now move into our next presentation.

5A2, Manager Thomas.

Thank you.

This is a presentation and an update by Kara Steelen with the Trucky Meadows Water Authority on Tumwa's 2025 to 2045 water resources plan for the Trucky Meadows.

Welcome.

Welcome.

Well, uh, we've been trying to inspire you to that presentation.

But it's water, so try not to fall asleep.

Umder, I'm the assistant general manager, and I'm gonna quickly get out of the way so that Cara, uh, the smarter one of the two can talk to you on this.

But um, we just wanted to kind of make the rounds to each of our jurisdictions and give you a brief summary of our resource plan, um, what that means for our communities uh and for the Trucking Meadows.

So our 2045 resource plan is the fifth version that we do every five years since Tumwa's inception.

Um but the key thing about this year is that we've developed an at-a-glance report.

So that's a little bit different than we've done in the past.

And there's gonna be a QR code and a link at the end um for you to take a look at that.

But that's really the number one place to go.

So for elected officials in public, start there for any of your questions, and then you can dive deeper as you wish, even to 100-page documents on climate change and uh river forecasting if if you so choose.

So this is part of uh what Tumwa does day in and day out.

We're always planning something.

And so if you look at this uh comprehensive planning circle here, we have our resource plan that does 20-year and longer projections.

We update that every five years, which we just completed, and we're gonna talk about.

Then we roll into our facility plan.

Where does that water need to go?

How do we get it out to uh the North Valleys and the North Spanish Springs and South Truck Eye Meadows?

Um, and that is another 20-year projection.

Updated every five years.

Uh and then we also have our funding plan, which we update annually and we do a strategic workshop with our uh directors every every year for a five-year projection.

And so all of these things at the end of the day tie into customer rates and facility charges to development.

And so that's kind of giving you the high-level picture of where we're at.

We're gonna take a look at the upper left piece of this, the resource plan, and I'll hand it off to Cara.

Thank you.

Thanks, Danny.

Good morning, commissioners.

Cara Steelen for the record.

Um, again, again, like Danny mentioned, kind of just a really high-level overview of our plan.

I know some of you are more familiar with this plan.

Um, and so this looks at our plan goals and objectives.

Really, the main goal of the plan is to ensure that Tumwa has adequate water resources to meet the community's needs over the next 20 years and beyond.

Um, to be able to do that, we evaluate and implement uh innovative solutions to best manage water resources, and a key part of this process is maintaining community confidence in our planning process so the public is aware of how we're gonna meet the needs of the community in terms of water over the next 20 years.

So uh starting in the last plan in 2020, we started to look at a little bit more customer feedback and and how we could incorporate people's concerns into the plan to make sure the plan addresses those concerns.

And so this is from the customer survey that we do semi-annually, and you can see here some of the concerns that our customers have are maintaining a high quality of drinking water, keeping water affordable, of course, having sufficient water supplies during droughts, and uh as we commonly hear, is the concerns about growth and how we're gonna meet the needs of a growing population.

So the plan addresses most of those uh issues.

Keeping water affordable comes more in the kind of bottom part of that planning process with the the rates, but um the rest of it is is um highlighted in this plan.

So looking um, we've got some key figures that you commonly see when we're talking about water here.

Looking at Washoe County population and water production, you can see the blue bar chart is Tumwa um production and the green line chart is population.

So, as we all know, the population's been pretty steadily increasing over time.

But you can see actually we had a pretty drastic decrease in water use in kind of the mid-2000s, um and now we're actually just back up to the same, about almost the same water use we were at in the early 2000s.

A lot of that is due to conservation programs and efficiencies that I'll talk about in a moment.

So the the kind of the heart of their plan is the 20-year water demand projection.

So what we're doing here is we're we're projecting out based on historic growth patterns and what we think we're gonna need in our service area over the next 20 years, and our goal is to ensure that we have sufficient resources to meet that need.

So we are currently at about 90,000 acre feet of water for our whole service territory and expected growth of about 107,000 acre feet.

That's a fairly conservative projection.

We usually end up um uh coming in quite a bit lower than what we've been projecting over the last four water resource plans.

And you can see that's about a 1.8% growth rate annually in terms of water use.

So looking at our sources of supply, this is how we've historically met demand and how we're projecting to meet demand into the future.

We're a uh mostly surface water-dominated system, so we usually use about 80 to 85% surface water from the Truckee River and tributaries, and then the other portion is made up of groundwater.

We have about 90 production wells across the service area, and then you can also see the purple color there that's um represented in just six years.

That is during our drought years.

We have privately owned water supply and credit water under the Truckie River operating agreement that we store in the headwaters that we release during droughts when the river flows drop off.

So we've been fortunate to not need that in many of the years, but we do have that as a backup supply for um drought years.

This is a water rights graph, just kind of showing you that we do have that mix of surface water and groundwater rights across nine hydrographic basins, and we're anticipating having sufficient water rights moving forward.

Looking at Truckee River water rights, the based on the ore ditch decree, there's a specific amount of Truckee River water rights.

There's about 226,000 acre feet.

There are new no new Truckee water rights that can be created.

And so really, if you look at the bright blue and kind of the darker green here, you can see that what we've relied on over time is as the region has developed.

We have, as developers have brought in agricultural water rights.

They've basically dedicated those to Tumwa, and they've been converted to municipal and industrial rights.

And so there's about 40,000 acre feet of truckier water rights left.

And so again, as the region develops and continues to develop, we're relying on those water rights being converted to MI use.

We have our water efficiency codes, which include assigned day watering, and our great seasonal water conservation consultants that patrol the area and make sure that people are following those rules.

We have our tiered right billing structure structure to incentivize a lower water use.

And we've also just finished one of the main reasons for that decrease in water use was we metered all of our customers in the mid-2000s, and now we've just switched them all to advanced meter infrastructure so it allows our customers to have real-time use data and identify leaks and other efficiencies.

We have robust education and outreach programs and our water usage review programs where we help customers identify ways again that they can be more efficient with their use or fix leaks.

With that, uh this is a slightly different look.

This is residential per capita water demand.

Apologize, it's a little hard to see, but you can basically see that the lines show basically total water use and consumptive water use, and the consumptive use takes into account water making it back to the river through the water reclamation facilities.

So that's why it's lower.

And you can see that popular or that water demand has decreased over time and really stabilized due to those conservation programs.

We do this is a really high-level overview of this, but we do fairly robust climate modeling in the plan to look out into the future to look at what potential conditions there might be.

We use a range of scenarios.

This is one scenario that goes out to 2098.

Again, the plan is really for 20 years, but we want to make sure that some of the you know future resources that need decades of planning, that we're doing those ahead of time.

And so you can see that you know, going out to the end of the century with increased demand, we still are able to meet that need.

There are a few shortages kind of in the more extreme scenarios out in the further months or in the further years, apologies.

And why that's important for us is that makes us think if those are really gonna exist, what can we do to alleviate those in the future?

And so this graph shows that by expanding our aquifer storage and recovery program where we take treated surface water and inject it into our groundwater aquifers, we can alleviate future shortages.

So it's just one future resource option among many others that we're considering to make sure that future generations have sufficient supplies.

Um there's a in chapter five of the resource plan, it describes those future resource projects, um, including a range here, and they all have kind of potential benefit and challenge tables.

Again, this is not an infrastructure document.

This is not our infrastructure plan.

This is basically more theoretical, high-level ideas, and over time we would implement those.

So some of them are more conceptual and some are being enacted, such as the Advanced Purified Water Project at American Flat.

We also have um, you know, a pretty robust program to protect the watershed and environment.

So we have various partnerships shown here, and really the goal of that is to ensure that our source water quality is um you know remains as good as it's always been.

We also have hydroelectric plants that provide sources of renewable energy.

So the key takeaways from our plan are really that Tumwa has sufficient water rights to address the region's growing water demand over the next 20 years.

That's what the goal, like I mentioned, of the plan is is to prove that, and and we do that through our modeling.

We really have a resilient, reliable water supply due to decades of prior planning, like the Truckie River operating agreement.

It also includes a recommended strategies and near-term actions to guide us over the next five years.

And then lastly, um, you know, we're constantly analyzing future options, and it's an evolving document.

We update it every five years, but we're constantly assessing how we can better meet the region's needs and identifying any changes that need to occur.

And with that, um, Danny and I are happy to take any questions and the resource plan and at a glance report are available at Tumwa.com/slash WRP2025.

Thank you.

Well, um, it's great to see you here at the commission chambers.

I'm glad you're taking this on the road.

Um, you've been working on this for quite some time.

And um, so I want to make sure that the community understands all about this plan.

Our chair of Tumwa is sitting right next to me, so I'll have Commissioner Andriella go first.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um as the chair of Tuma, I can just say that I get to uh truly have the pleasure of working with staff, not only the you two, but many others, and the quality of the um evolution of Tumwa in terms of its concept 20 years ago, it's a kind of a new anniversary, right?

It's not that long ago that we had 20 years we didn't have Tumwa, and we're seeing the benefit of that regional approach.

And um, I know that I have shared at Tumwa meetings and the balance of saying uh campaign we have water because we get a lot of we don't have any water, we have water, but then there's a balance of continuing being conservative and continuing going down a path of real strong planning.

And so um I know that you have been very good about curtailing my idea of campaigning of we have water.

We do.

However, we still need to acknowledge the great work that you all have continue to do.

The fact that you're showing, for instance, in 2098 that we have water, however, being careful about what that approach is and being diligent.

I also would like to extend the opportunity is not just what we see externally with water, but the internal operations reflect what we're seeing.

So whether it's financial planning and being very, very cognizant of being a good steward of the taxpayer dollar, as well as many other things operationally, internally, trying to be the best, continuous process improvement in every aspect really shines in Tumwa.

So thank you so much for sharing with everyone.

I would encourage uh everyone as well to read the plan to look at the QR code, and when you do have community um outreach to participate, because the educational components in that are really um helpful in understanding facts because facts matter.

Um I guess I would just ask is there anything that we from a jurisdiction can do to support these continued efforts of moving forward in the direction of being the best we can be for our community.

Danny Roder for the record, I think you hit it best is that facts are facts, and if you can point people to this to start the conversation, it's why we created that at a glance.

Um so when there are concerns, there are questions uh that we can have a conscious discussion and and really talk about solutions based on what we what we see and what we're projecting.

That's the biggest biggest thing we see is is just trying to be clear.

Here's the projection, here's how we meet it, here's what we're doing.

Um, and if you have other questions, we'd be happy to talk through them.

Thank you.

And I would encourage everyone to look at the at-a-glance.

We've seen the out of glance, those of us that serve on the Tumwa board.

And um it's very, very well put together.

So thank you again.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for the opportunity.

And you also serve on the Tumwa board um along with Commissioner Garcia, I believe, right?

Oh, the Western Water Regional.

Okay.

There's a lot of water commissions that we serve on.

Anyway, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Herman, do you have anything?

Um I used to be on Temwa.

I really enjoyed those meetings.

We did a lot of stuff back then.

Yeah.

Um I uh was at a meeting where the regional planning governing board where they were discussing AI and all that scared me to death.

What has been what is the outcome of all that and how did you answer them as to water supply.

I think what you're asking about is the large water users related to data centers and the conversation about um how regional planning governs those.

I think is was the discussion you're talking about.

I didn't see the whole meeting that you're talking about, but um shortly after that, I believe we met with regional planning.

We attended one of their um community conversations, I believe that Jeremy called it.

Um and we've continued to talk with him and how um regionally we're addressing that.

Um it's one of our in the plan, one of our near-term strategies to work with EDON, GoED, um, regional planning, and the and all the jurisdictions about how we're doing uh how we're handling that regionally, and so it's ongoing.

And so it's ongoing.

And I think Jeremy's done a great job of that through that community conversation.

So I hope that answered your question.

Yeah, it helps.

Okay.

Sounds good.

Commissioner Garcia.

Thank you for being here.

No questions.

I just um, in addition to having amazing drinking water here in the region, I feel spoiled, especially when you travel to different parts of the world or even here in the United States, you can tell a difference, just the quality that we have.

Um I uh really like what you pointed on the uh key takeaways bullet where you said um that there had been so much work done, you know, 20 years ago to um improve the planning moving ahead and like things like TROA, I didn't know about until I sat on the board and and learned about that.

But those were such key moments in our history regionally where you had you know folks at the federal level, the states, the local government, and Tom all had a seat at the table.

And so I just like to thank you and your organization for for having that um that long-term uh perspective uh because we as Nevadans, if you're a born and raised Nevada, it's ingrained in you to conserve and to take care of this precious resource that we have.

We're in a very good position, and I thank you for the education and outreach.

But um, more than anything, just the long-term strategic planning that you guys do is something that should be uh recognized.

So congratulations.

Thank you.

And Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you for uh your informative report.

Thank you.

And um we we have many partners in this program, and Dr.

Pitya is here on another item, item 10.

But um I know that we work really closely with him at Temua as well, so I just wanted to recognize his presence.

But uh thank you both for your leadership in this space, and I think that we'll continue to work regionally on all of these challenges, and as we grow as a community, we're going to be tackling all sorts of issues from data centers to figuring out how we're going to modernize our water system and potentially even look at our water reclamation system as one system.

It's it's kind of an exciting time to be in the water space.

I know I know Danny, you talked down about it, but it I think water is the coolest uh issue, just like Vice Chair Herman.

So thank you both.

And um is there anything else you just want us to take away from today before you go?

Oh, I just want to say thanks.

I was just saying we're a bunch of water nerds, and we don't expect everybody else to be watered like us.

But I just wanted to say and acknowledge Cara for all of her hard work on this.

The document precisely explaining all the information in that document, is a lot of her doing.

Uh and so good job and and thanks.

Thank you.

Have a great day.

We'll be talking soon.

Okay, thank you.

We'll now move on to our proclamation, and I've asked Commissioner Andriola to help us with this and Manager Thomas.

Thank you.

This is a proclamation for the month of January as National Radon Action Month in Nevada.

And I believe we have you in our extension, yes, that's to come accept that on our behalf.

We're gonna share.

Okay, perfect.

Okay.

Yeah, we can go back and forth.

We're we're doing logistics really.

Of course.

Well, thank you for your support today.

Um, my name is Abby Pike for the record.

I'm here today representing the University of Nevada Reno Cooperative Extension with this proclamation declaring January 2026 as National Radon Action Month in Nevada.

Do you want I can read the first one or do you want to?

So let's make it official.

Okay.

That this is the Board of County Commissioners proclamation.

Okay.

So thank you, Madam Chair.

So whereas the state of Nevada, known for its natural beauty, is also home to abundant uranium deposits that while beneficial in certain applications, naturally break down into radon gas, a colorless, odorless, radioactive gas that can pose serious health threats to residents and whereas radon exposure is the leading cause of lung cancer among among non-smokers and the second leading cause among smokers.

Contributing to an estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths annually in the United States, disproportionately affecting women and posing an elevated risk to Nevadans compared with the national average.

Whereas, in addition to lung cancer, emerging research has connected radon exposure to an increased risk of stroke and post-menopausal women, as well as a potential link to childhood leukemia, underscoring the broader public health implications of radon exposure and whereas an estimated one in four homes in Nevada has elevated radon levels and radon concentrations can vary widely between neighboring homes, making community awareness and individual testing essential.

And whereas testing is the only reliable method to detect elevated radon levels in homes, and this simple low-cost process can lead to effective mitigation efforts that significantly reduce health risks and improve the safety of Nevada households and whereas the University of Nevada Reno Extensions Nevada Radon Education Program in partnership with the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency continues to support statewide initiatives to educate Nevadans about radon risks, promote mitigation, and encourage radon resistant new construction.

Now, therefore, on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners to does hereby proclaim the month of January as National Radon Action Month, dated this day, the 13th of January 2026.

And Madam Chair, that's in the form of a motion.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Abby.

Did you want to say anything else?

Um, I don't have anything.

I appreciate the commission's support.

Um, and thank you for all that you do.

Thank you for educating our public about this issue.

We appreciate it.

Okay, that is a motion.

I'm looking for a second on the PROC.

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

And Madam Clerk, isn't there is there any public comment?

There is none.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

And I'm assuming Commissioner Andrea is an aye since she made the motion, and it's up on your screen.

I'll ask her when she's done with the picture real quick.

There we go.

Five.

Thank you.

Thank you, Abby.

All right.

We're now going to move into our donations.

If Commissioner Garcia could help us with that.

Yes, of course.

Um today I'd like to thank the original vendor LIT or LIT workshop for donating three brand new mod pods to be used at SafeCamp in the amount of $58,000 425.

That thank you so much.

And I'm looking for a second on that.

Second.

Okay.

Thank you.

Uh I'll take it from the vice chair.

Um, and I just want to say um this manufacturer, at least according to manager Thomas, did this because we've been a great partner of theirs.

They're really impressed with our program, and they're supporting us by giving us additional resources for the SAFE camp.

So uh I think that just shows how great our team is and how well we're doing with that program.

So I just want to commend um the whole county team and as well as Karma Box on that.

So thank you.

Motion and a second.

Uh any public comment on that, madam clerk.

There's none.

Okay, all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Okay, we are now moving to consent.

So you heard from Manager Thomas, we're going to pull 8E4, and that will come back next week.

Any other um comments or questions?

Yes, go ahead.

I have a uh I'd like a further explanation on the record for the folks in the audience and the citizens to understand.

Item eight one uh I one, please.

Eight I one.

Okay.

Any other commissioners have questions or comments?

I'm not seeing anyone.

So um, do you want uh we'll pull that and then um we'll do a motion for the rest.

Okay.

Um so yes.

Madam Chair, does any commissioners have any disclosures they want to make at this at this time?

Thank you very much.

Thank you for the reminder.

Yes, uh we are going to be donating some money to the Areno Elks Lodge, and I am a member of the uh Reno Elks Lodge.

Uh I don't think this will affect my membership in any way or anything that I do with the Elks or here at the county.

So thank you for reminding me.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

So we have a request.

Um, I'm sorry, Commissioner Clark, do you mind just making the motion because I forgot which one you just pulled?

The one I I wanted to pull was uh eight I1.

Okay.

Is that in the form of a motion?

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Looking for a second.

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

So uh we have a motion and a second.

Any public comment, Madam Clerk?

There is.

First up, we have Andrew Solz, followed by Sarah Bates.

Okay.

Good morning, Chair, Commissioners, and members of the public.

My name is Andrew Soles, and I represent uh represent Green Vibe World.

First, I would like to sincerely thank Commissioner Garcia for the proposed $2,500 donation and the board for the opportunity to briefly speak today.

This support is meaningful to our organization to the communities we serve.

Green Vibe is a community focused organization dedicated to environmental stewardship, workforce development, and youth mentorship.

Our programs are designed to create real world opportunities for individuals, particular particularly at risk youth, to contribute positively to our community while gaining practical skills, structure, job readiness, and a sense of purpose.

Through initiatives like our Green Vibe Guardians program, we align with local agencies to engage young people in supervised community service projects such as environmental cleanups, excuse me, environmental restoration and education, and most recently creating defensible space on municipal property to help protect homes from wildfires.

These efforts not only improve public spaces, but also support accountability, personal growth, and long-term community reintegration while at the same time working to reduce recindivism.

This donation will directly support program materials, supervision, and expanded service opportunities.

We are committed to transparency, measurable impact, and being a responsible partner to the county.

Thank you again for your consideration and for your continued investment in programs that strengthen our community from the ground up.

Thank you.

Sarah Bates.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Sarah Bates, Washoe County Law Library for the record.

I would like to take a moment to highlight the work of the Washoe County Law Library and our role in supporting access to justice in our community.

In 2025, the law library assisted a record number of 1,699 participants through the lawyer in the library program, while also reducing the program's wait list numbers by 30% from 2024.

This reflects both growing public demand for free legal assistance and meaningful improvements in program operation and efficiency.

The law library is also working closely with the court to meet upcoming EDA digital accessibility deadlines by remediating court forms and packets so they are accessible to all users.

In addition, staff continually review and improve packet instructions to make court processes easier to understand for self-represented litigants.

Beyond these efforts, the law library provides a vital public space where community members can conduct legal research, attend remote court hearings, electronically file documents with the court, and receive help navigating the justice system.

These services continue to strengthen legal access for our community.

We truly appreciate the continued support of the second judicial district court bench, the law library board of trustees, the board of county commissioners, and the and Washoe County.

Thank you, Commissioners, for the opportunity to speak about the law library today.

Thank you.

There's nobody else signed in.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Okay.

Um we have a motion and a second.

We've taken public comment.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And I think that passed unanimously.

Great.

We'll now bring up eight I1 to Manager Thomas.

Thank you.

Eight I1 is a recommendation to acknowledge and approve effective February 1st, 2026 for Sparks Justice Court, a waiver of the six-month cooling off period for Judge Kevin Higgins.

This is the Sparks Justice Court item.

I will point out that in the item in the packet, there is a Supreme Court recall, an order that recalls Judge Higgins to service back as senior justice of the peace, but the action before the board here is the waiver of the six-month cooling off period.

We have typically done this, and uh my understanding is that Judge Higgins would be available to serve in any of the justice or municipal courts in the state of Nevada for temporary service, um, provided that he served at least two years in office, which of course he has.

We also have um the honorable Chris Wilson, who is our chief judge of the Sparks Justice Court here if there are additional questions, Commissioner Clark.

Thank you.

And the purpose of my asking for this to be on the record is is reading this, the public reads this, and and the there's underlying issues.

They may not have access to the packet, they may not understand what's taking place.

This judge is retiring, and yet he's gonna go right back to work.

So is that in a nutshell?

Is that an accurate description?

Yeah, my understanding is that I think it's two days up to two days a week.

Um, we do this in the courts to allow for the judges to um help out if there are additional caseload needs.

Um you have a judge that served this long that walks away with a lot of institutional knowledge that is a benefit to the to the courts um as new judges or other judges are either indoctrinated or whatnot.

So it's just a continuation of that service.

So I I can certainly defer to the Chief Judge if there if there's anything that I miss there, if you'd like to add anything, I'd certainly invite you up to do that.

Certainly.

And again, I want to just emphasize that someone's retiring.

Uh there's an opportunity for us as commissioners to fill that position.

Is that is that a correct statement based on what we talked about the other day?

So we did receive the notice of retirement um effective the end of this month for for this judge.

Um the next step would be that the board would either choose to hold the seat vacant or to appoint another judge into that um open seat.

If I think I got that right, DA Large.

Thank you.

So we have the ability, if there's a vacancy, that we can fill that position uh as a board vote.

Is that is that correct?

Yep.

Thank you.

Michael Large, Wash County District Attorney's Office for the Record.

Pursuant to NRS Chapter 4, once a vacancy becomes available on the Justice of the Peace, if it's outside of um the election time period, which hit Judge Higgins's um retirement would qualify.

Um the board has the discretion to whether to hold that seat open as the chair said, or to appoint an immediate um replacement for the interim until the next um election.

Very well.

And and the reason I'm bringing this up is I understand that we've had a judge, another judge retire in the last couple of years, and uh and now I understand that judge is gonna run for an open seat now on from another judge who's retiring.

So it just looks like you know, I just I think the public has a has a right to understand what's taking place with uh judges retiring and then still working and and other judges sharing and uh sometimes not necessarily in this case, but maybe in other cases, then the other judges are sharing and uh and the uh savings, the alleged savings of judges retiring.

So but yet the judges retire and yet they're still called upon and they're still working in in the in the sense that they're still gonna get paid and and they'll have their retirement.

So I I think the public just has to understand what what's taking place in in the courts and uh and uh again I d that's why I wanted to have this discussion versus just a block vote.

So in the future, people can look at uh look at today and understand uh what was discussed here.

So if the judge wants to share some ideas, uh I'm happy to hear that and get it on the record.

Thank you.

Yeah, I'm Judge Chris Wilson.

I'm the chief judge in Sparks, just got uh uh elected to that position.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Um yes, Judge Higgins is retiring on the 31st.

He has 22 years of experience.

He knows our caseload, he knows our procedures.

Our court um, if you did decide to do this, if you want to uh leave the position open until the next election, the three remaining judges are more than willing to cover the caseload.

The savings of the county is huge.

Um we believe we can do it, but periodically we would need uh a little assistance and having Judge Higgins available would be wonderful.

Um the Supreme Court's already approved him to be a senior judge, so he's gonna be his services are gonna be wanted throughout the state, and it would be nice for us to be able to utilize him for the next six months.

Like I said, he knows our procedures and policies, he knows the caseload.

He can even cover our specialty court, he knows the people that are in that program.

Um it just would be uh a smooth transition for us and the court, and it would leave any potential court congestion having a reduced uh bench.

So any other questions.

So he got that close to retiring, and just on the way out the door, somebody hooked him and brought him right back in.

Is that the same?

I think that I did that.

Um and uh it's uh the amount of institutional knowledge he has is phenomenal.

We're not talking about him being in every day.

He is gonna be retired and he plans on.

He's got big plans for um lots of trips for him and his wife, but we would like to bring him in periodically as needed if he's available, obviously.

Sure, sure.

Yeah, I just uh just wanted to get this on the record.

And and again, I'm I'm smiling when I say this.

I mean, this poor guy gets this close to a retirement and somebody who drug him right back in there.

Yes, sir, and that's me.

You can blame me.

Um the other judge.

Why even retire, I guess is the the logical question.

And uh the other judge you were talking about, that's uh retired judge dryling, and he's going for a district court seat.

So that's a higher court level that he's running for.

He's actually running for district court.

So for for most of us people in the in the real world, retirement means we're done working.

That doesn't mean we're positioning ourselves to run for a higher office.

I get it totally.

I mean, uh you you you retire, you quit, you you leave, and then the next thing you know you want to go right back to work.

Well, he's my agent.

I guess he figured he wasn't done.

He had more to offer.

So again, it's just just a question that that many people have is when somebody says it says they're retiring, and I understand a lot of folks that I know of retired and uh and couldn't wait to get back to work because they were busier when they were retired than they were working.

They went back to work so they could relax a little bit.

But you know, and I'm saying that as a joke.

But uh just wanted to get this on the record.

So thank you.

Any other questions?

No, thank you, Chief Judge.

Good to see you.

Thank you.

Okay, so um any public comment on this item, Madam Clerk.

There's none.

Any other commissioner comments?

Not seeing any.

All right, I'm looking for a motion.

Commissioner Clark, do you want to make the motion?

You can.

Madam Chair, I'll move to approve item AI one as presented and on the record twice, once with the data that we've already received that's always available, and to with the the Chief Justice helping to confirm everything.

So thank you.

Thank you.

I'll second.

Thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

We have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Okay, that motion passes unanimously.

We're now going to move into our recommended block vote.

Madam Vice Chair, do you have a block vote for us?

This is easy.

Great.

10 and 11.

Thank you.

This is in the form of a motion.

Thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

Madam Chair, thank you so much.

I'd like to make a quick disclosure on item number 10.

Um, as you know, I'm an employee of the Nevada System of Higher Education at the University of Nevada Reno.

And in no way, shape or form does this interlocal research agreement impact me and my position, and I don't have any precurrent interest in it, so I will be voting on this item.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm looking for a second on the motion, Commissioner Garcia.

I'll second.

Thank you.

All right, Madam Clerk, any public comment on 10 or 11?

There's none.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And that sounds oh, it's up on your screen.

Commissioner Clark.

Thank you.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you so much.

Now we'll move into item nine, Manager Thomas.

Item number nine is a recommendation for discussion and possible action in regard to the appointment and or reappointment of commissioners to boards and commissions.

Alteration of terms or of service on boards and commissions where legally permissible, and other such action as the board of commissioners may desire to take in regard to those administrative matters.

Boards and commissions for which possible changes to appointments could be made under this item include all of the boards and commissions listed at the end of this agenda as the various boards and commissions that commissioners may be members or liaisons to.

I think that's a good important reminder for folks that we always list all of those boards at the end of the agenda.

A lot of folks don't make it that far in the agenda, but it's a good area if you're curious on who serves in what board.

Thank you very much.

Um good morning, members of the commission.

Um Alexander Wilson here for the record.

Um, this is our standard item that we do annually as we have appointments that expire um every year, um, some two to four years.

Um I did want to note, and I had a couple comments to put on the record before we proceed.

Um, there was a question in regards to um uh in selecting the new chair if there were any positions that transfer.

Um and then we have concluded that the only seat that changes is with our investment committee, the Washic County Investment Committee.

Um in there uh in Washoe County Code, the chair of the commission is the chair of the investment committee, and they appoint the um second primary member on that board.

Um in addition to that, I know that we had some questions as far as the TRPA um for the alternate.

Um I know that in talking with the DA um he did want to do uh additional research on uh whether TRPA allows a lay member who is serving on our uh advisory planning commission, which will come before the board next meeting.

Um so if we want to keep that um if we don't want to select that member today, we can do that and bring it at a future agenda item, but that's an option that you have.

Okay, thank you so much.

All right.

Um I have a few changes I'd like to make, but I want to open it up to the board members, Vice Chair Herman.

Do you have anything?

Or do you want to stay the same?

I would be happy to stay with the ones I have.

Great.

Thank you so much.

Commissioner Garcia.

Likewise, I'd like to stay with the same ones I have.

All right, wonderful.

Uh Commissioner Andriola.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair.

I too would like to stay where I'm at, but I would like consideration for the RSCBA.

All right, thank you.

And Commissioner Clark?

I'd like to hear what your comments are before.

All right.

Yeah.

Uh thank you.

So for TRPA, um, after talking to DA Large, I'd like to um have a layperson be my alternate who also serves on our APC committee because he's doing the good work of Tahoe every day.

Um, and I want to make sure that um if I can't make the meeting, I have someone who understands.

Not that any of the people at this board wouldn't understand, but it is in ingrained in the issue.

So I think what I would like to make a change is the alternate on that and leave it open for our next meeting.

Is that right, DA Large?

Michael Large for the record.

Yes, um, madam chair, if that's the way the appetite of the board, my recommendation is that we appoint a primary um and then we hold that in abeyance.

I need to I have call into TRPA's council um and regarding whether someone can serve in both the on the advisory board and then as an alternate on the regular board.

Okay.

And I just need some clarification.

I didn't have time to get that research fully researched, and I want to make sure that we have the right thing.

And so for the next meeting, we should have that done, and we can appoint if if the appetite of the board is to do so, we can appoint a lay person to that position.

Okay, I still want to may maintain my role as the main person.

I just that's the one change I want to make on that.

And then uh for the RSCBA board, um, I would like to recommend Commissioner Andreola to that position.

So those are the two changes that I'm recommending today.

Um if there are no other changes, I'm happy to make that motion.

Any other board members?

Not seeing any.

Um so I will make that motion to thank you.

All right, we have a motion and a second by the vice chair.

And Madam Clerk, do we have any public comment?

There is none.

Okay.

We have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

All right, that motion is approved.

We'll let's see.

It's gonna pop up.

There it is.

On your screen.

It po uh is approved unanimously.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms.

Wilson.

Okay.

We'll now move into item 12.

Manager Thomas.

Item number 12 is discussion and direction to staff for the possible use of more than four hours of staff time as requested by Commissioner Mario Luis Garcia at the October 14th, 2025 Board of County Commission meeting to determine if individual parcels of land not owned by Washoe County and not currently being assessed taxes can and or should be reviewed for ownership by Washoe County or adjacent property owners.

The current issue is that many of these parcels of land have no responsible or responsive owner to manage the properties, which leads to illegal dumping or illegal camping without the ability for adequate enforcement.

We've got assistant manager Dave Solaro here to walk us through.

I know he's got some information on the um item before you.

Welcome.

Good morning, Commissioners.

Uh for the record, Dave Solero, assistant county manager.

Uh first off, just a little stage setting.

Some of you are probably wondering why is this item coming before the board.

I think maybe some of the community is is wondering that as well.

Uh as you will recall, you have board uh rules of procedure that govern kind of the way you all operate.

One of the items in there, uh, item 5.8, uh more specifically 5.8.1 actually requires that the entire board weigh in on any item that is uh a change in direction for staff of four hours or more.

And this is important because it came up during the assessment of the office of the county manager.

Uh and quite frankly, uh staff across the organization have gotten a little loose uh in that when you say something from this dais, it means a lot to the staff that are watching this, you know, these proceedings.

And sometimes they will just jump on whatever the request is and start going down a path.

Um our department heads uh you know they're the ones that really need to to make sure that the work of the commute of the of the uh employees is done uh to implement your policies.

And sometimes the requests are simply requests for information, and that's great.

They take a little bit of time.

We just rip through those.

There's a section of that covered in your rules of procedures as well.

Other things, however, take quite a bit of time.

Uh in this instance, we've got a request from Commissioner Garcia.

Thank you very much for being the guinea pig on this new process.

Um hate to put it in those terms, but really this is a way to kind of reset the way we do business within Washoe County.

Uh operationally, we are implementing the policies of the board.

Sometimes we need to make sure that the uh the resources we've got are focused in the right locations.

That's why we have a strategic plan.

That's why we follow a strategic plan.

Uh but things do come up outside of that strategic plan, and this is a way to get those things uh focused.

Uh you are all very aware of the priorities in the planning world.

So we've actually implemented this a little bit differently in the planning world where we're actually asking you for the priorities so we can focus our staff on those certain priorities in a way that is meaningful to you all.

Uh you also understand when we when staff wants to request a change to county code, we bring you an item.

Uh it is a request to initiate a code change.

It's very similar.

Uh so this is really the the third part of that, which is you all looking for things to be done uh in Washoe County by our staff uh that are outside of the strategic plan or outside of the work, the day-to-day work that we are working on.

So that's why you're seeing this.

It's not that we're you know upending the cart, but we are getting to the point where our resources are stretched pretty thin.

Uh and so our ability to be uh responsive to you all is getting more and more difficult.

And so this is a way to help our department heads really focus on the work at hand.

So, specifically what the ask today, uh, there are a lot of departments that could be involved in this process from the district attorney's office, the assessor's office, the treasurer's office, community services, uh, lots of different departments are going to actually have to be involved.

The public uh administrator is another one uh in this specific request.

So, with that, I will jump into the request.

Um, and Commissioner Garcia, feel free to jump in at any time uh if I'm getting this wrong.

Uh however, uh, throughout Washoe County, uh we have instances uh in a couple of different ways where essentially the property becomes abandoned.

Whether that's a deceased owner and no probate action has started, or uh in some instances, a specific Sun Valley.

You know, here's here's a good example here where we have this highlighted pink section of roadway.

When it was developed, when it was parceled out, that section of roadway was actually a separate parcel owned by a property owner.

That property owner has since become deceased.

This goes back to the question that uh Commissioner Clark had uh in his ride along with the Hope team.

We end up in locations like this where we essentially have a roadway with an owner that is not uh of around.

There is no owner.

These properties over the years had gone into uh uh trustee ownership of the county, so with the treasurer became trustee of these parcels, but they are not the owner of the parcel.

We had some instances in uh South Reno, uh the toll road area where someone needed to get an easement across one of these properties.

Washoe County was listed as the trustee.

The treasurer was listed as the trustee.

Uh, however, we can't enact a property right on that property.

It is not ownership of Washoe County.

And so uh the treasurer's office actually went and reverted all of those deeds back to the actual owner.

But now we have a problem that there is no owner, right?

There is and so things like this start to occur.

People start to squat on these properties or illegally dump on these properties, and there's really not a clear mechanism in the past.

Washoe County uh would pick these properties up and they would become a roadway.

Uh that also then comes with um expectations of the community on the the, you know, how do we actually maintain those roadways?

Uh, what does that really look like?

We don't have the resources to then you know create a lot of these are our dirt roads access.

Um, a lot of them, you know, when someone buys a piece of property, they buy the property with the access as it is.

There's an expectation, oh, if Washoe County owns this, it should be paved, it should be brought up to the standard.

As you all know, we require developers to bring that up to standard before those we accept those streets.

And so lots of different issues.

This is one again of a property that's a roadway.

Here's another one that many of you are uh aware of.

This is court's lane.

Uh we've actually done abatement proceedings on this property.

Uh we have gone through the nuisance process and created this as a public nuisance.

Um about five or six years in the making.

Uh, we've been out to this property at least three different times to clean it up.

Um, these are the types of things that occur.

We also have this is an example of a property where it really needs to go through probate proceedings.

There is a deceased owner, there's someone squatting on the property.

Uh, Washoe County has no legal right to go on and clean up this property.

And uh, you know, Commissioner Garcia uh definitely has sees sees this as a public nuisance.

This is a fire hazard, it is a safety issue.

Uh again, this is not all specific to Sun Valley.

We have this in South Reno, we have this in areas of Horizon Hills, North Reno.

There are locations that through whatever occurs, uh we have these properties, and it's very hard for Washoe County staff to actually step in through either the sheriff's office or current code enforcement to do anything with these properties.

So we're proposing uh that we ask the board to take staff time from various departments to really understand case-by-case properties.

We do have a list from the Hope team.

We have a list through community services and the code enforcement on properties that are problematic for us to really see if we can dig down on each of those properties and solve the problem of this public nuisance uh within the community.

And it's not a quick simple solution.

Some might be, uh, but each of these will have to come back to this board for action of some sort.

Um but we really want to be able to understand from you, your perspective as a board as a whole.

Um, is this something that we should expend staff time uh to take care of?

So quite a bit of information in the staff report, but uh maybe I'll turn it over to Commissioner Garcia if there's anything.

Commissioner Garcia, thank you, ACM Solero.

Um, first, thank you to the county manager's office, the DA's office, and staff, all of you have been putting up with me for quite some time on this issue, and I I thank you for your patience.

It's really important to me because these quality of life issues um not only impact to the surrounding neighbors, it impacts you know the church next door and the elementary school two day doors down, and it's really um it's awful when you see it uh with your own eyes.

You can hear about it, you could talk about it all day long.

But I'm glad that Commissioner Clark did the ride along and saw it with the zone two eyes because it's hard to describe the amount that has accumulated um over the last three years.

So you know, when I first got elected, I I immediately started honing in on the illegal dumping, the abandoned vehicles, and the neighborhood blight.

And thanks to you know, um staff working with me in my discretionary funds, I started putting forth a tremendous amount of my own discretionary funds to do those community cleanups, and just to give you an idea, there is some proactive work that goes along with this, and I'm happy to do that proactive work, but at some point we need some systemic change.

And so the proactive work, and you know, in the three cleanups that we've done together here at the county for Sun Valley, over 4,000 tires, over 12,000 pounds of e-waste, over 23,000 pounds of household hazardous waste, um, uh 136 large appliances, uh 75,000 pounds of general waste, and these are drop-off locations.

These are community members that are willingly giving us their stuff to help them dispose of.

Now, the flip side of that coin is there's many people who um would like to get rid of their stuff, but they don't have you know access to transportation to get it to the drop-off site or to waste management.

So I've also pitched, you know, doing private property cleanups with landowners that are open, prioritizing low-income seniors, for example.

So that's also another proactive approach that I've been talking about.

But this issue is systemic.

If you could go back to the picture of the slope drive roadway parcel, please.

Um, for those of you who aren't familiar, you know, the roadway parcel, you know, the if you look at the residence that's like right in the middle of the red rectangle, that is an 80-year-old senior citizen who lives alone.

She stares at this every single day and she's afraid.

She's in her home, she watches from her front porch, and it's the most disheartening thing in the world when someone, you know, that has worked her whole life to build up in that home is now her property goes right up to that invisible line.

So she actually owns part of the private property road.

It's the brown right next to the red.

So she owns right up to the red line, and this gentleman who's there knows exactly where the invisible line is and the amount of debris, it just is it's bus lengths long.

Um it's not fair to her, it's not fair to the adjoining property, and what it does is it instills this this notion that they're not cared about.

But at the end of the day, code enforcement can't enforce, Washoe County Sheriff's Office can't enforce our hands are tied because of this loophole.

And then if you show the picture of the Fifth Avenue property.

This has um increasingly gotten worse.

Uh, again, that private property owner who lives at the back end of that road, it's one little way in, one way out.

Um, she's now staring at 14 trailers and RVs in that middle parcel.

And it's gotten so bad it's now spilling onto the Fifth Avenue parcel.

Um it's you know, when you tell her call the fire department because she sees embers and flames coming out of the tops of these trailers and they get there and they don't have any enforcement possibility.

Like this is beyond um uh devastating for these folks, and they're hopeful because we've got the conversation going, so not to make it all doomsday.

I really am looking for my fellow commissioners' support on this.

I you may not see this in your neighborhoods.

I do.

Uh it almost becomes normalized in Sun Valley, and I'm not okay with that.

And so I know there's some creative solutions.

I know that we can engage as you will see in the staff report.

I know that we can engage as you will see in the staff report, there's different opportunities, even fiscal opportunities for us to look at the Affordable Housing Land Trust or to do land banks like they've done in other communities.

Um so there's a lot of potential here.

It is gonna require some staff time, but I do think it'll be well worth it.

And um, it could provide us a really nice playbook to move forward so that we can respond quickly and efficiently where it makes sense for our taxpayer dollars because at the end of the day, it's the taxpayers that end up cleaning for these abatements when they get to that public use this stage anyway.

So we might as well be proactive in in our efforts.

So I'll get off my soapbox.

Thank you.

Well, thank you for your passion and hard work on this.

I know this has been literally years in the making, so I'm glad that we're finally here.

So uh I just commend you for working so hard on behalf of your constituents.

It's an inspiration.

Any other board member comments or questions?

Commissioner Andrew.

Thank you.

I uh have mentioned several times that I've gone out with the Hope team on several or several occasions and seeing this, and so thank you, Commissioner Garcia, for bringing this up because it is a loophole and it needs to be closed.

And the fact is is that during one of the cleanups in Spanish Springs, they called it in terms of the organiz uh organizing of it is the the old um Spanish Springs Airport.

It is not old Smarley Springs Airport, but where we went, the dumping that occurred, and I could see that this would be a possible place of exactly what is been described here.

And so I think looking at a proactive solution and knowing that there is a loophole and not giving the hope team as an example and law enforcement and code um enforcement, the ability and authority to quite frankly um be able to um keep property safe and clean.

I mean, driving by this was more than eye-opening and disturbing.

Um one of the residents when I uh went on the Hope team, like I said, I've gone several times, uh a resident um stopped uh the vehicle that we were in and spoke with the officer and said, um, can you look at what's underneath that trailer?

And I'm gonna I'm pausing because I don't want to describe what was underneath that trailer.

The excrement is the best way I will I will describe it.

The unhealthiness is unbelievable.

The fact that the folks that are squatting or whatever the illegal term really is, they know they were waving to us.

The people who were actually in these areas were waving to the officers as we were going by.

And there's nothing wrong, they're friendly folks.

But it was as if they really knew that there was nothing that law enforcement could do in this case.

And so again, Commissioner Garcia, I'm gonna a hundred percent support this, and it isn't just for your district, it's for all of the community, and thank you for all your hard work on this.

Thank you.

And Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

You know, uh the right along.

I I thought as as a former assessor, I thought I'd been on every street in the county at one point or another, but there were some areas that apparently I didn't get to see in the past.

And so I'm gonna support uh Commissioner Garcia on this, but you know, I I've got some expertise in this, and and I don't know what I'm hearing you say, or there's some there's some shortcuts here, and and so uh we need to define the scope of our work.

I think the first thing that we need to define is who owns these properties.

How long they've owned them.

Well, there's companies in town, they're called title insurance companies.

They get the information from us, the county, the recorder, the uh the assessor, the uh the clerk, uh, the treasurer.

We have all of this information at our fingertips.

Uh there's 3,000 realtors here in town.

And if and if you called them up and said, hey, I own this property and give them the assessor parcel number, they would track down, and and we're thinking about listing it, they would be able to find this within five minutes.

So uh my first request is how many parcels are there?

Uh the assessor, our assessor is tasked by the state of Nevada to list, discover, and value everything of value in this county.

So the assessor's office, I guarantee within 99.99% knows exactly who owns these folks.

The treasurer knows who where the tax bill goes.

So if somebody's passed away, and then I understand that's kind of a you know, not uh not every one of these somebody passed away, but title the the chain of title is what it's called.

And it sounds like it's a big task, but it isn't.

This is this is one one or two keystrokes to plug in the assessor's parcel number, and one of those entities, either the assessor, the treasurer, the recorder, the clerk, would have who who owns the property and how long they've owned it.

If I said I want to go back 50 years, it might only be one or two, it sounds like a big number, like I'm gonna kind of relive 50 years, but 50 years going back in a title might only be two or three or four, maybe five transfers of property.

Average person lives in their house 10, 12 years.

Some of these probably owned were long longer, so 50 years is not a big search.

So there's ways to sh to shortcut this, but the first step is who owns it?

And if the taxes haven't been paid, then we have to take it over as the county.

And if we take it over at the county, then we sell it.

We sell it to somebody else, and then we know that somebody bought it, and I don't care if it sells for a dollar or fifty cents or two dollars and fifty cents, get it back on the tax rolls, and then whoever owns the property from that point forward can engage us as the county at code compliance, we can be involved and and help clean this up.

But so that's part of the problem.

The real problem is who in the heck in their right mind, who isn't tweaked out on something is collecting 950 bicycle rims and 450 used pallets and and uh human feces and and uh on the ground and lives that way.

Uh I got I look I have farm animals that don't live that way, okay?

So this is this is we've got five or six different problems.

So I think what first thing we need to do is define the the scope of work and and the and to me it's who owns the property, why aren't they paying taxes?

If they own the property, it's their responsibility to clean it up.

And if somebody buys it at uh at a county auction and has the opportunity to view the property and and know what the what the property is worth or what it's gonna cost to clean it up.

I mean, these are these are all things that we need to to be looking at.

And this is a big problem, but the the biggest problem is getting people to clean up after themselves.

And and that's that's the issue.

If this was just raw vacant land with nothing on it, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

But somebody's gaming the system.

They figured out, hey, the county's afraid to do something, the sheriff can't do something, so we're gonna run amok out here.

So let's identify who owns the property.

So I'd like to know who how many parcels there are and who owns them, and how long have they owned them, and how do they acquire them, the the chain of title.

Somebody sold somebody something.

Uh some of it was given to the, you know, the sheriff's department thinks some of this was donated to the county.

Did that happen?

So for the commissioner through the chair, um, you know, you are correct.

That is the first thing is to figure out who owns these properties.

These properties specifically uh, you know, through our code enforcement, if we have a an owner, uh we work with that owner, and probably 90 percent of the time that owner is compliant, and we we get to the point where we can help them clean up their properties.

These are specific instances where um, you know, for the roadway parcels, they were parcels owned by someone, and you're right, they stopped paying taxes on them.

They went on to the the sale list, nobody's nobody nobody purchased a parcel that is.

I'm ready to buy something right now.

Put it up for put it up for auction.

So again, there are there are policy implications related to picking up those properties and what what needs to be done.

There's an example where we have um uh Chocolate Drive in unincorporated Washa County in Spanish uh Sun Valley, uh, where over the years Washa County picked up various pieces of these things off of the treasurer trustee list.

Uh now we are out there uh, you know, grading and and updating a a roadway um for all the right reasons, but the you know, all taxpayers of Washa County are paying for the access rights for you know these these individuals that maybe didn't pay in fairly, we'll say.

Um just the way we treat everybody else.

And so uh you're right, finding the finding the owner is the first thing, and majority of those when we find the owner, we can get to compliance.

What we end up with are these parcels where uh this instance on on Fifth Avenue, uh, we know who the owner is.

That's so that's a one-off.

Can you go back to the one where it's a long elongated rectangular?

Yep.

All three of these examples are diseased.

Okay.

Okay, so that long elongated one.

So that's deceased.

So do they have any heirs?

And if they don't, then the county needs to foreclose for lack of a better word.

Take that parcel back and auction it off.

Or go to those adjoining contiguous properties next to them and say, Hey, do you want an extra 40 feet on your property and divide right down the middle of that rectangle?

And homeowners, property owners on either side, offer them the opportunity to uh to take that property, and then they can they can fence it in and and and get rid of the the squatters on that.

So there's there's lots of it's not gonna be a one-size-fits all.

Each of these properties is gonna have to be analyzing what's the best way to get rid of a button.

And I think that's what we're doing.

We're giving staff directors.

So I'm bringing it up.

I'm bringing these items up, and I hope that they're uh they're viewed as uh a valid concern.

So I guess the first question is how many do how many properties do we know that are of the.

Sorry, just really quick.

DA Large, I are you wanting to pop in?

Well, I was I was I didn't want to interrupt the the commissioner.

I what I will say is they as is we're well aware, you know, property is property is unique in each one of these 37 parcels, whatever, however, we're gonna have to put together a task force involving all of these teams.

This board's job on this item is to look at whether we're gonna exceed four hours, because it will take a long time.

You're absolutely right in terms of the chain of title.

I've been running chain of titles on the 37 parcels that were sent to me.

Each one of these is absolutely in a different spot.

And we've got to put uh a task force together to really get to the bottom of what's the each on each of those parcels.

What's the best move?

How do we get it cleaned up?

What's the most expeditious way, and what's the legal way?

Sure.

And that's what we can do with her property without due process.

That's what I'm trying to get on the record, is is so the public understands what we're doing.

I fully support doing this, and I'm not trying to say we shouldn't do this.

I'm just trying to say that this can be done, and it should be done, and and uh it should be done uh in a way that uh is faster than the speed of government, is what I'm getting at.

Make this go a little bit faster and and uh dig into this and and move work on it.

But yeah, I'm totally supportive.

Thank you.

Commissioner Garcia, thank you.

I was just gonna say this discussion is gonna take longer than the actual item, so four hours.

Let's go.

Okay.

And by before we move on to public comment, Vice Chair, do you have anything?

The whole thing will be based on what we can afford.

There you go.

That's how successful it'll be.

So yes, live within our means.

Thank you for that.

Uh Madam Clerk, any public comment?

We have Heidi Soper signed in.

Thank you.

And after that, Catherine Yarte.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

It's Heidi Soper again.

Uh that was very interesting.

And so I hope what I have to say kind of does that in more.

Um I'm sure you are all aware of the terrible problem we have with illegal dumping and homeless camps, particularly on Fifth Avenue, Slope, Courts, and Carnes Drive.

Commissioner Garcia is working hard with the DA's office on increasing enforcement of illegal dumping and camping on private property where the owner is deceased or the LLC no longer exists.

I am asking that you approve her request for adequate time, a lot more than four hours staff time to address these encampments and possible fire risks and find a legal way to fix the problem.

These properties are not being taxed, and possible ownership by the county or property managers should be reviewed.

We've already had a major fire where the entire property was destroyed.

And thankfully did not take other properties with it.

These properties need to be sold to responsible owners who will take care of them, thus avoiding the dumping and camping problems.

As it stands right now, the situation leads to no enforcement of the problems.

We need to find a way to fix this ASAP.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Catherine Yarte, followed by Veronica Cortez.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Catherine Yarte for the record.

Um I am here just to, in full support of Ms.

Garcia and uh this proposal.

I just wanted to add an additional property.

Uh does not belong to me.

It actually belongs to a dear friend of mine who is a large animal veterinarian, so she cannot be here.

She's working currently.

Uh she's in District 2, and she is down on Pinion Drive.

She has done the research to find that it is also due to a deceased owner.

Part of her road itself, the road is owned by someone.

It is not an HOA.

And so their road is nearly impassable after the rains.

And so for her being a large animal vet who works emergencies, she needs to be able to get out of her home quickly when she's on call.

She said it would be almost impossible to even get a fire truck to her house if there was actually an issue.

There are several elderly people that live on that street as well, and they've just kind of learned to live with it.

And she is a new owner, and she's trying to do right by her neighbors.

Um, that APN is 017-072-19, and she has confirmed with the assessor's office that the owner has been deceased and the property was never needed to another owner.

So it is abandoned.

So I just wanted to get on the record that that property be included in this process.

I think this is a great initiative, and it probably affects every district in the county.

Thank you.

Thanks.

What was that APN?

One more time.

017-072-19.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I I also think that we can if uh there are additional properties that folks uh come up with because I know there's one in Verdeye I want to get on staff's radar.

Um, and go to Reno Direct, or excuse me, Washo 311.

What a what a flashback.

Um, and um they'll add it to the list for this uh this work that staff is doing.

Okay, Madam Clerk, Veronica Cortez.

And as she approaches, I do have an email to place on the record for this item.

Thank you.

Are we morning?

Are we afternoon?

I don't know where we are.

We started in the morning, but apparently we're gonna finish in the afternoon.

My name is Veronica Cortez.

For those of you who don't know me, I've seen various phases of various meetings.

I hope you can hear me okay.

I did want to talk about this because even though I am in district five, and I support district five, and I'm on the cab in Sun Valley, and I own a pizza place out there, and I'm a mobile notary, and I'm a lunch lady in Lemon Valley, so I live District 5.

However, Garcia and I have been working years on homeless camps.

And I know it sounds like a big deal, but in all reality, Garcia and I cleaned up the homeless camp that was 50 feet away from my personal family's property in Sun Valley.

How long did it take us?

A couple weeks, maybe a month or two.

The one down on Stella.

It was a complete homeless biohazard area, and she stepped out of her area, out of her district, to go ahead and work on this project for the people, for me, for my family, for my community.

I was on contact by text, email, in person, and I didn't take not one dime.

So I'm tired of hearing that we have no money for this stuff.

Where's the money?

I've been paying taxes since I was 18 years old.

I went Virginia Palmer, Billinghurst Street and graduated out of Washoe.

I've been working at McDonald's for 350 an hour since I was 16 years old.

I would go to school to read and then go to McDonald's and work.

I would go to band camp.

I would do band-aid.

I even went to London for the Queens ban when I played the flute.

That's how much I love Washoe County.

I was born at St.

Mary's.

Where's the gas tax to fix our roads?

I work for the school district.

We have zero funds for the school districts.

We have kindergarteners kicking teachers in the face.

Okay, we have to work on the community, and it has to not be always focused on money.

If you know me, you know how many meetings I go to for free.

For free.

I have a whole book out there.

I'm going through meetings because I'm running for county commissioner district five.

And whether I have the support or not, which I hope I do because you see my face, you know I'm trying to do the right thing and get the wrong people in out of where they are because they're not doing the right thing for the people.

I'm not here for me.

I'm here for the people, and this homeless issue that we have needs to be worked on.

If we could get more involvement by the community, then I think that would be better.

We have a lot of volunteers out there that love where we live.

They love this place and they want to help us.

So maybe we can reach out to more public volunteers.

And then we can get this fixed up.

I love Sun Valley.

I've been out there since 77.

My grandparents came in the 50s.

My district representatives, they know me.

I do stuff outside.

I do stuff all over Washoe County just because I love horses, I love the kids, I love where I'm at, I love my family.

But we got to get better representation of the people.

And it's not just this board, it's the boards down below.

It's the planning, it's the developing.

It's all these corrupt people that are taking payments on the side by all these developers, and they don't care what's happening right now.

And when we do come to meetings, they blow us off.

Like unionized kitchen workers are, oh, that's a good suggestion.

It's not a suggestion, it's what the people say.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There's nobody else signed in.

Thank you very much.

Well, uh, that was a great discussion.

Commissioner Garcia, I'm going to have you help us with the motion.

Madam Chair, I move to approve uh that we allocate more than four hours of staff time to item number twelve as outlined in the staff report.

Thank you so much.

Looking for a second second.

Thank you, Commissioner Andreola.

We have a motion and a second.

We take in public comment.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And that motion passes unanimously.

It's a great day for um Commissioner Garcia and the county.

Thank you for your leadership on this.

Okay.

Yes.

Um, just for the record for people who are online.

Um, we are going to have for item number sixteen, we're going to keep um public comment open in Gurlack.

Thank you.

Um, for so please stick around in the room.

You would be able to talk about thirteen, fourteen, and sixteen.

Um, but public comment is available in the Gurlach area.

Thank you.

All right.

We're taking a break.

See you at one.

All right, everyone.

It is one oh five.

I will call this Board of County Commissioners meeting back to order.

And we will be starting with our public hearings.

So I'll be opening up our public hearings, and uh we will start with item thirteen, which is an appeal.

And so uh Manager Thomas, if you'll just read a brief intro.

Thank you.

Of course.

Yeah, this item is an appeal of the Washoe County Planning Commission's approval of special use permit case number WSUP 25-0018 called Iverson Ranch, Ives and Ranch for a high technology industrial use type for drone research and testing, and for a private airstrip use type and appeal of the Washoe County Planning Commission's recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners to approve a hazardous material special use permit for a general industrial heavy use type to include explosives testing and use of storage of certain hazardous materials in the high desert planning area as required by a state law and Washoe County Code.

Thank you so much.

We will start with a brief staff uh presentation and then we'll have 10 minutes for uh both the applicant and the appellant and uh so welcome.

Thank you.

Uh Chris Bronzik, Washoe County Planning.

Um this uh presentation does cover both this appeal as well as the next item, which is the hazmat uh special use.

Okay.

Well, just a moment.

Uh DA Large, do you want us to open up item 14?

I would open up item 14 as well.

Great.

Well, we're gonna open up item 14.

We got both public hearings.

Thank you.

The planning commission made a recommendation on item 14, but the board of county commissioners has um original jurisdiction to approve hazardous waste special use permits.

So that would have to come before you anyway.

Okay.

But this is an appeal of both of those, the rowth recommendation and the approval of the SUP.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh yes.

DA Large would like me to read 14 in the right.

Okay.

Yes, please.

Item number 14 to be heard in conjunction with 13 is a public hearing where we will consider a hazardous material special use permit for general industrial heavy use type to include explosive testing and use of sort and storage of certain hazardous materials in the high desert planning area as required by state law and Washoe County Cup.

Thank you so much.

All right, welcome back.

Thank you.

Uh Chris Bronzik, Senior Planner, Washop County Planning.

This is for WSUP 25-0018, which is the Iveson Ranch Project.

This is an overview of the location within the high desert planning area.

This is a more zoomed out uh vicinity map, but it's 26 miles north of Gurlach, and it is located off of County Route 34.

It's 320 acres, and it's uh zoned general rural.

There's an appeal before you.

This appeal was brought by uh the Burning Man project.

Their appeal is for the entirety of the project.

And part of that appeal request was including two key conditions that were not approved by the planning commission, but they were intended to limit the frequency and intensity of the explosives or energetics.

The appellant does contend that the issuance not detrimental finding cannot be made without these conditions.

The applicants and the appellant did have multiple meetings, and they did bring Washoe County staff into these meetings.

Uh follow-up meeting did occur, and Washoe County staff was able to draft a condition and modify another condition that was agreeable upon the applicant as well as the appellant.

And that will be later on in this presentation.

The first one is that modified condition.

This one is clarifying the five Sundays as well as except uh making an exception for medical evac flights related to the private airstrip.

And this one's a uh substantial condition, and this one limits energetic testing to no more than 12 pounds, and it gives a number limitation on detonators, uh charges, uh, and solid rocket motors.

I'm not gonna read this one into the record, but this one was uh drafted and agreed upon by the appellants and by uh the applicant.

The current approved Iveson project is for high-tech industrial for drone research, for explosive testing, which is that general industrial heavy use type, and for private airstrip use type.

It also includes modifications as well as outdoor storage.

Uh this is located in the high desert.

And so one thing that's unique about the high desert is there's modifiers that allow certain use types within the general rural regulatory zone that is not normally afforded elsewhere in the county.

Those use types listed above do all require special use permit with the general industrial heavy, the hazmat explosives, requiring additional public hearing before the Board of County Commissioners.

The applicants state that the size of the drones that are associated with this use type will be the size of dinner plates, and it will take place over the IFSIN project as well as adjacent uh BLM land.

There's an existing airstrip on the property located at the north end, and it does span two parcels.

The applicants state that 75% of access to this proposed project will take place via uh air travel.

This is that air strip in question.

The yellow is over BLM land, and the blue is over the Ives and project land.

One of the conditions of approval is the applicants will be required to get written BLM approval before use of this airstrip.

Uh they've indicated outdoor storage areas, no explosives will be stored within this area.

But things subject to the operations of their project will be stored in this area.

So explosive testing and general industrial heavy.

Before you, that blue area is where the overall Ives and Ranch project, the living area, the existing ranch buildings are, and that yellow area to the south of the pro that living area, that's where the explosive testings will take place.

No explosives will be dropped from any drones.

They will be uh done in a fixed location on a secure range.

And as part of this, there is hazardous materials associated with it, and there are state laws that regulate how we go through this process.

The energetic material that is subject to the hazardous materials is uh listed on the screen, and there are six uh there are five total regulated materials.

So there's ATF is heavily involved in this project.

I'm not going to go through each of these, but ATF does regulate the licensing, the storage and the record keeping of the explosives.

So any times the applicants will remove explosives or store explosives, there's a record that they have to keep to uh stay in compliance with the ATF.

Because this does contain uh explosives and hazardous materials, the applicants do have fire safety on site, including two 4,000 gallon water trucks, three utility vehicles, as well as coordination efforts with Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District.

So there's a lot of consultation that went through this project, and that's dictated by state law.

Everybody that is listed before you, including uh the emergency management, homeland security director, as well as uh the state fire marshal and DEP were all consulted as part of this project.

There were multiple neighborhood meetings that the applicants did hold, as well as taking this project to the Gurlach Empire CAB on November 13th.

There were concerns related to the hazardous material as well as the overall explosives and impacts to wildlife.

And staff was able to make all the required findings associated with the special use permit.

This is possible motions related to the uh appeal.

So you can affirm the decision of the planning commission uh with the amended conditions.

You can reverse it or you can affirm as is.

And then I've also put the hazmat special use permit motion before you as well.

I'm available for any questions.

Thank you so much.

Do we have staff questions from board members not seeing any?

Okay.

Um the applicant, if they would like to come up.

If they don't want to come up, they don't have to.

Okay.

All right.

Uh thank you for your time today.

Thank you to the staff of this county for their time over the uh last several months as we've reviewed this application.

Um I am the general manager for BRDR properties.

I'm a uh former Air Force uh special operations pilot.

I've got about 10 years of experience operating drone systems and uh working in our national security environment to try to provide important technologies to enable this nation to succeed in the years ahead.

This project is one such example of that effort.

And I'd like to share with you some of the details both that are pertinent to the votes that you'll take today as well as the broader context for this project because I think it's important for the community to understand what it is that you're supporting here and all the ways that it benefits both our nation, this county, the state, and the Gurlach community.

So to begin with, uh drones as systems have been seen over the last few years, especially in Ukraine, but they've been used by our military and by uh private law enforcement, uh, private entities, road survey, agricultural uses, and other important economic benefits across the world and in this country.

Uh unfortunately, the vast majority of those systems are made in China today.

Approximately 90% are of Chinese origin as sold around the world, and companies like ours intend to change that balance.

And we'd like to do that work right here in Nevada, if you'll if you'll allow us.

Uh for the for the county here, I think you all have an important opportunity.

Washoe County extending north into uh the northern county reaches in the Black Rock Desert is an important test asset for businesses like ours.

So while the military operates many uh test ranges, the the vast tracts of BLM land, open air space, and uh lack of electromagnetic uh uh frequency spectrum allocation in those kind of northern reaches of the desert here is an important benefit for a company like ours that needs to test our systems.

So we do all that test in coordination with the FCC, we do that test in coordination with the FAA, we do that test in coordination with the ATF.

But for this county to grant this permission to our business is uh important to sending a signal that you all are open for business in a growing uh technological vertical that I think has a lot of economic benefit to both this county and the state.

For the Gurlach community, we intend to bring eight to twelve jobs.

These are jobs that will average between 80 and 100,000 a year in pay with benefits allocations.

You're talking about you know, 125, 130,000 of expense for our business per job.

Those benefits are health care, matching 401ks.

Uh a concerned employer who treats their employees well and uh integrates them in a in a growing business that provides opportunities like equity compensation.

Uh, this is unusual for Gurlach, and I think it's something that uh this board um and this county should give good pause to and think about whether or not those are the kinds of jobs you want to bring into rural America.

Uh they can also those jobs can function side by side with traditional industry in Gurlach.

So we do not conflict with the mines, we do not conflict with cattle grazing rights.

So there's a future for Washoe where we can demonstrate this blend of high tech and uh historically precedent jobs and opportunity and have those demonstrated side by side.

And I think it's a really exciting opportunity uh to both safeguard the environment, work with a business like ours that's well-intentioned, transparent, and ethical, and provide new and exciting economic opportunities for this community.

I do have some slides.

I'll step through quickly here.

I know you all have had a chance to review, and I'd I'd like to answer any questions, but we've got advance to the next slide.

The clickers right on the process.

Oh, I have that.

All right, I have the technology.

All right.

So this special use permit is pertinent, although we talk a lot about drones.

This is about really fundamentally granting us permission to make right the runway, uh, which was built by the previous landowner, but uh segregates BLM land and and our uh privately owned property.

Additionally, it gives us the ability to store in a non-obtrusive way uh some of the equipment that we need to use.

And it gives us permission to use energetics, which I think is the main focus, uh, obviously for the Board of County Commissioners, but also for much of the public interest in this project.

We also ask for variance to some standards.

As has been previously discussed, we are about 26 miles north of Gurlach.

We're about two and a half miles from our nearest uh inhabited neighbor.

We're about six miles from the Fly Geyser and Fly Ranch project that Burning Man operates.

We're about 11 miles from Black Rock Playa and about 13 miles from the actual site of the Burning Man event on the playa.

And we're quite quite a ways from from Gurlach.

I think at some point in this project it came up that our distance from Gurlach is about the same as the distance of Reno from Carson City.

Um, although many of our employees live live in Gurlach.

Uh the outdoor storage, I don't think is of question, but just uh this is an important part of the project for us to uh do things legally, and I think I bring this up because you know, this is one of the things that uh a business like ours could probably pretty easily get away with not asking for permission to do out in that part of this county.

Uh we intend to be fully transparent and compliant with the guidelines and responsibilities that we have to the county and to our to our neighbors, and so we're gonna do that throughout this project and uh and demonstrate our commitment to being an ethical operator.

And so we're gonna do that throughout this project and uh and demonstrate our commitment to being an ethical operator.

We discussed the runway.

Um I do think it's important to note the size of the aircraft operating on this runway, very small.

It's a gravel strip, about 3,500 feet long today.

Uh we will make improvements to it once we have permission to do so.

Uh the aircraft operating are quite quiet, uh, but we do ask for some noise variants to enable us to uh to cross over the the uh section line defining our property from the BLM's property.

So in that moment, the aircraft is making more noise than you're supposed to have an aircraft making noise on a property line.

Um we are not asking for a noise, uh variance from noise for the munitions activity.

And this is a distinction that I think that has come up with the public a bit.

Uh, there are concerns about noise.

I'll describe to you why we think those concerns are a little bit overstated.

Uh, but under counting noise ordinances, the munitions activity does not come anywhere close to violating uh standard noise levels.

The aircraft, as it's on takeoff roll, will be making more noise at that moment that it's crossing from the two-thirds of the runway that is on our land to the one third that is on the BLM land.

And so the BLM could bring a noise complaint against us under county code, and we're asking for variance from that that very narrow section.

The energetics, uh so ours is a drone company that makes a lot of different kind of product, and we have intention to make a vast array of products that can support conservation efforts, agricultural efforts, law enforcement, the military.

Some of our existing customers do have use their drone product to uh fly munitions.

And because of that, we would like to have a better understanding of some of the electro uh or the uh electrical circuitry in our drone, up to the point of of using a uh blasting cap and demonstrating that the blasting cap can be charged and armed from uh the drone uh the drone electrical systems.

So, to that end, we've procured a magazine.

Uh we would like to store in that magazine uh the equipment that would allow us to test up to 10 pound charges.

Uh burning man in the condition that we uh jointly agreed upon.

We increase that number to 12 pounds just because we don't always know exactly what's around the corner.

But uh the vast majority of this activity is actually blasting caps, which are about a gram of explosive material, still regulated by the ATF, still required for us to appear before you today.

They are hazardous material.

I don't want to minimize uh that, but this is approximately the same kind of size charge as as in a uh a 22.

Um it makes about the same noise signature.

So we're talking about a very small trace amount of explosive material.

We're not testing new materials, right?

Uh we are not testing uh liquid rocket motors like the rocket dyne incident.

We're testing solid rocket motors, we anticipate.

Uh and we're not flying munitions on drones at this site.

As has already been discussed, it's uh in the southwest corner of our property and about a mile, or sorry, about half a mile from 34, about two and a half miles from our nearest inhabited neighbor.

Now I don't think I can press play on this video, but I just wanted to kind of show what we're talking about here.

This is a blasting cap.

And I apologize, but it's not very exciting.

Okay, so this is about 75% of the activity we're doing.

So I apologize to the to you all in the county that this is something that the ATF requires and the state of Nevada requires that we talk about today.

Well, how big is that um piece of material?

How big is it?

Uh-huh.

Like, is it like a foot or just not a key?

Yeah, this is basically a fuse there in that particular application.

The actual blasting cap material is only about you know an inch long.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

And then we do intend to do some solid rocket motor testing.

So uh before we play the video, this is uh, you know, the the triple E test site uh for uh hobbyist rocket motor testing and and rocket launches is about 12 miles from the Ibison ranch.

For hobbyists to do this, it's perfectly legal.

For us as a commercial business to do this, we need to appear before you today.

Um additionally, we would like to fix to the ground a test stand to enable more scientific measurement and testing than is possible when you actually launch the rocket and it's uh moving up pretty quickly away from the earth.

So we can play this.

These are a little louder, more exciting.

Would you be able to play that video?

Nope, no sound.

Okay.

Well, at about uh we're talking about about 80 decibels at about 300 yards.

Uh so by the time we get to Route 34, based on the depression that uh the bowl that we sit inside of, we believe that very few people will ever hear, certainly not from inside of a of an automobile, not standing next to an automobile, not standing in the open terrain with wind in your ears.

Uh but on a calm day, on a cool day, you may hear these rocket motors if you're standing on a neighbor's property.

We'll do about 40 tests like that per year at most.

And then if you guys could turn up the volume on this one, just uh not too loud, but this is a 12-pound charge, which is larger than anything we intend to test, but uh the best video we had.

Okay.

Audio is not quite working today, but again, this is uh at a few hundred yards, you'd probably mistake this for a 12 gauge going off, which many people uh fire on the BLM lands around the Iveson.

And uh just like to reinforce before taking any of your questions that over the last six months we've met with a number of folks in the county, and I I stand ready to continue to have those engagements just because we get a vote in favor of this project today.

If you're so kind as to grant us that, uh our business will be one that intends to be a member of this community for many years, and with that comes a responsibility to be engaged in the community to meet with those who are concerned and to continue to work with them to understand both the things that we are doing, the things that we're not doing, and the things that may continue to legitimately be concerned, and we want to be sensitive to that.

We've spoken with members of the Gurlach community about uh some young uh uh folks driving through town a little bit faster than the 25 mile per hour speed limit.

Those behaviors we will address, and I will all be proactive.

I spent uh about 18 years in the military now.

Uh, and and we have a variety of employees.

We have employees who are 19 years old, and we have employees who are 75 years old, and all of those individuals in between will will take care to ensure our concerned members of the community uh in the in the year that we've owned the property.

Many of them have joined the volunteer fire department in Gurlach.

They have uh sought to get involved in some of the community service organizations in the town.

Uh they have sought to educate their neighbors and invite folks over for ranch parties and and Christmas parties.

Um that's not going away after this vote.

Uh I want you all to understand and anyone who might be listening that we we uh want to be a part of this community for many years, and uh we intend to uphold our promises and we intend to talk with anyone who who has concerns.

So, with that, um thank you for your time.

I put my email up here.

Uh please feel free to email me any time, night or day.

I will get back to you within 24 hours and I'll address your concerns.

Uh and today, if any of you have questions, I'm I'm excited to uh to speak about drones, munitions, uh, Ibison and the beautiful deserts of Nevada.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions for the applicant?

I'm not seeing any.

Okay.

Uh thank you very much.

And then the appellate good afternoon.

Marissa Furman, on behalf of the appellant Burning Man Project.

For some background, Burning Man is a nonprofit that has held the Burning Man Arts and Culture event year after year, nearly drawing uh 80,000 people from around the world uh to the Black Rock Desert.

Burning a man owns several properties within the immediate vicinity uh to the subject site.

Um, as you've heard from the applicant, um, for example, as you can see here, we have uh three properties in different colors.

You'll see fly ranch shown in red, um, and then looking at this next map for context, you can see uh the Ivison Ranch in red, and then Fly Geezer, uh, just to the southeast there, um just about six miles away.

The protection and preservation of the subject areas at the forefront of Burning Man's involvement with this application, and which has sparked several uh conversations in collaboration with the applicant.

Um I won't belabor the point, but as staff mentioned, um, some conditions were put forth uh jointly at the November 20th Planning Commission uh meeting.

Umly two of those conditions were actually incorporated into the approval.

Um so as a result, uh Burning Man quickly appealed.

Um, and that is why we are here today.

Um after that appeal, um, those collaborative conversations continued with the applicant and with staff.

Um as a result of these um conversations, um, we have uh come up with two additional agreed upon conditions that you um have heard I'm sure a lot about in the last few weeks um and earlier today in the presentation.

Um as of now, we are happy to report that burning man, the applicant and staff are now aligned on the two conditions set forth in the staff recommended modified conditions.

Um I believe uh set out in attachment H of the appeal documents.

And just for the record, um, I would like to go through both conditions.

Um, first proposed condition one Y, which reads applicable to energetics, the applicant has proposed and consents to conditioning the hazardous materials SEP on the following limitations, which shall also be reflected on the operational plan submitted to the fire district for any explosive permits.

Energetic testing of no more than 12 pounds of explosive and or detonative material per test.

Energetics test frequency is limited to five tests per day and no more than 375 tests within a 12-month period, including up to 260 detonators, up to 41 gram to five pound charges, up to an additional 401 gram to 12 pound charges, up to 40 solid rocket motors, total tests not to exceed 375 tests within a 12-month period.

I'll move on to the second modified condition applicable to private air strip.

And again, this is uh modified condition one V.

Airplane and drone flights on Sunday shall not exceed five Sundays per year at the applicant's discretion, with the exception of medical evacuation flights, which shall not be included in this limitation.

So these two conditions they fit squarely within uh Washoe County statutory duty to specially appraise these special use permits involving hazardous materials.

These measures seek to protect uh the health and safety of Washoe County residents and further mitigate any potential impacts by the proposed use.

It appears at this point, all parties are comfortable moving forward uh with this approval based on uh the addition of these two conditions.

Um so based on that, Burning Man respectfully requests that this board affirm Washoe County Planning Commission's approval of WSUP 250018 and recommendation for approval of the hazardous material special use permit with the modified conditions of approval to include the above mentioned staff condition one y and modified condition one V.

Lastly, on behalf of Burning Man, I would just like to extend uh my gratitude to both staff and the applicant for being so cooperative and collaborative throughout this whole process.

And um ultimately uh we reached a resolution and um it worked out well.

So with that, I will conclude my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions for the appellant?

Not see any.

Okay, thank you very much.

All right, uh I'm now opening it up to board discussion.

Any board discussion on this matter?

Commissioner Andriola.

I I don't have any board discussion, but I definitely uh really think you are a model of working together and um for the benefit of everyone, and for full transparency, I've met with both the applicant and the appellant, and I think it's important to disclose that.

And I know I shared with both of you, the applicant and the appellant during those meetings.

That again, um, I don't know if it's uh the burning man wish that you can put into place during uh before the the burning man or the man is sent on fire or what.

But if you could do that for every appeal, that would be wonderful because this is an example of how coming together and working together can have a benefit for all.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Any other board members?

Yes, Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, madam chair.

I I've met with the uh applicant and the applicant's uh staff, and and I think that they uh they're approaching this in the right way.

They're going to conduct some very important research there, and they're also gonna I think they're gonna be very good neighbors to the Gurlach community, our rural community out there needs some some fresh ideas and some fresh blood and and and some new jobs, and then these aren't just jobs, they sound like careers, and it'll be a good opportunity for for those folks out there.

Uh, I believe that they'll they'll be involved with uh many, many uh things out in the gurlock area, firefighting and just the whole community.

So I I think it's a a great opportunity for us to support them.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, with that, um madam clerk.

Is there this is a public hearing?

I will open up the public comment, public hearing portion.

Is there any public comment?

First up, we have Catherine Yarte.

Okay.

Good afternoon, Catherine Yarte for the record.

Um, I had the pleasure of attending the Gurlock CAB that they presented out with uh the Iveson Ranch.

And I just want to say I agree with uh Commissioner Andreola.

It's great to see that they were able to come to an understanding.

My intent to speak today was actually to advocate for the residents of Gurlach, that if they are in support of this, that's who we represent, and who you have been elected to represent.

And um as if the Gurlock residents are in support of this, and I think it should move forward with their wishes in mind.

Is this going to affect them directly every day of the year, as was mentioned in earlier comments?

Uh, the opportunity for uh employment is also a huge benefit for such a small town, and I think it also shines a light on the responsibility of the county to start looking at the potential for getting more housing out there.

Housing is a huge struggle for that region, and finding using this as an opportunity to maybe encourage some builders and contractors to look out there to get some more housing for those residents is something that we can hopefully leverage this development for.

So thank you.

Thank you.

That's everybody in chambers, but we do have Elizabeth Gamble and Gurlock.

Thanks.

That worked well.

Um, not to beat it, dead horse Elizabeth Gambrell, Gurlock, Nevada, and yes to everything that went on here today because it has been a beautiful process.

Burning Man is very aware of how difficult it is sometimes to operate out here, and they have a fabulous staff looking into all of this.

Um we do a lot out here with handshakes, and that's pretty much what happened between the staff at IvesN and Burning Man in the community, is because they agreed to everything we needed in order to be comfortable, and they worked with Burning Man and they got comfortable.

So I do believe that um approving this with the proposals that were made by the appellate appealer, um, would be great for everybody in my community.

Thank you to staff for all their hard work as well.

Thank you, Ms.

Gambrell.

That's everybody who signed in.

And I do have one email to place on the record.

Okay.

Thank you.

So I'm not sure if we can put that motion back up on the screen.

I don't do you oh it's in the presentation.

Chair, I I'm happy to make the motion based on the staff report that we all work hard to read.

Um I'll move and I'm gonna ask for legal.

Would you like me to make it one big motion and I can if you'd like?

I would make it two separate motions, one on the appeal and then one on the approval of the SUP for um the hazardous material.

So we'll vote for each one of those motions just for clarification.

Yes, thank you, madam chair.

Absolutely.

Move to affirm the decision of the planning commission approving WSUP 25-0018 Ives and Rant's ranch and recommending approval to this board of the hazardous material SUP.

Thank you so much.

Looking for a second.

Thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

Yes.

Um I apologize.

So there's uh Chris Brown's like Washoe County planning.

So there were three motions.

Yep.

Um, and one of those motions is to approve as is.

To uh that I just stated.

I just I knew I knew the vote I was gonna restem.

I got it.

You got it.

I got it.

I promise.

The amended condition.

I promise.

Did we have a second on that?

I did, but I can take it back to include the conditions.

Okay.

Here we go.

Ready?

Yeah.

Move to affirm the decision of the planning.

We were making sure staff was paying attention.

That's really what we're doing we were doing, sir.

And thank you.

Move to affirm the decision of the planning commission approving WSGP 25-0018 Iveson Ranch with the modifications set forth in the conditions of the approval, adding a new condition one Y and amending the language of condition one fee based upon the ability to make all five of the special use permit findings required by WCC, Section 110.810.30 and 110.810.42.

Paragraph D based on the record and evidence presented today.

Thank you.

Second.

Thank you.

We have a motion and a second.

We have taken public comment.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And it's up on your screen.

And that motion passes unanimously.

And now we're looking for the second motion.

I don't know if Commissioner Andreola wants to try to do that.

I'm ready.

I only have one.

I'm going to try to get this one hundred percent.

Great.

Move to approve a hazardous material special use permit for BRDR properties LOC for Ives and Ranch to allow a general industrial heavy use type to include explosives testing and use and storage of certain hazardous materials on APN 066-030-05 as required by NRS 278.147 and Washoe County Code Section 110.810.42 with the hazardous materials conditions of approval included in exhibit E.

Having made all five findings in accordance with Washoe County Code, Section 110.810.42, paragraph D, the hazardous materials that are permitted to be on site have the following CAS numbers 121-82-4 RDX 118-96-7 TNT 78-11-5 PETM 2691-41-0 HMX and 7790-98-9 AP.

Thank you very much.

Looking for a second.

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Garcia.

We have a motion and a second.

Any other public comment, Madam Clerk, that we've taken it all right?

Since the items were combined, okay.

Elizabeth signed it for both, so she got to speak.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh all those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And it's up on your screen.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thanks for working together.

This is an exciting day for the county, and thank you for your service to our country, and we're excited to be part of this patriotic project.

So thank you.

Okay.

We are going to our next public hearing, which will be item 16.

And if manager Thomas could help us.

15.

Oh, 15.

Excuse me.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

We're on item number 15.

It's a public hearing involving the master plan amendment for case number WMPA 25-0005 and regulatory zone amendment case number WRZA25-0006.

It's a long item, so I'm going to abbreviate.

But the first part is consideration of the one, the planning commission's recommendation to adopt amendments to the Washoe County Master Plan, Sun Valley Master Plan Land Use Map as listed under an item item one fifty item 15 subjection one on the agenda.

And two.

The Planning Commission's recommendation to adopt an amendment to the Sun Valley Regulatory Zone Map, which is listed as item 15.2 and 3.

Subject in consideration of subject to a finding of conformance with the Trucky Meadows Regional Plan by the Regional Planning Authorities to adopt a resolution resolution sponsoring an amendment to the 2024 Trucky Meadows Regional Plan to change land designation from uh of the subject partial from tier three to tier two.

And again, these are all listed on your agenda under item 15.

Thank you very much.

Would the team want a brief presentation?

No.

Okay, we're doing okay.

Um all right.

Well, with that, um, do we have any discussion from the board on this item?

Not hearing any.

Um, and madam clerk, is there any public comment?

There is no one signed in.

Okay.

Um do you have any comments, Commissioner Garcia, and since this is your district.

I do.

Um, I and I would like to hear from the rest of the rest of my colleagues on this one.

And I appreciate staff's time.

And Chris, thank you for the presentation that you gave.

It's Chris, right?

Um, to the presentation that you gave to the Sun Valley Cab.

I tuned in for that and was able to listen um to the questions and concerns um shared that evening.

So I know at that meeting you had um mentioned several times that it's changing the colors on a map and that it's land use stuff.

And um that said, I do feel that it's important that we um balance that growth with the infrastructure.

So we're looking at 10 square miles uh with over 20,000 people, and so I don't take this decision lightly.

It is my district.

I live um just a few blocks away, and so I get to hear and see and feel what it's like on a daily basis, and so maybe I'm looking at it with a little bit more stringent lens, but I did want to hear uh if any of my other colleagues had some things to say first.

Okay.

Um vice chairman, do you have anything?

And Commissioner Andreola Can we put in a condition of burning the burning man and putting in some time the amount of time that I think all of us spend in preparing for meetings is really important, and I think it reflects the questions and our dedication and being committed to really thoroughly coming with as much information as possible.

Um for full disclosure, the uh meeting in its entirety.

Um I even re-watched um many of the um points that were made.

The uh reality is is that um and we all feel it.

I feel it in my district in terms of uh traffic and growth and the balance of that, because it's hard.

You um want to ensure that all I's are dotted in T's cross, and we do have a responsibility to act in a quasi-judicial role, and so following the law is important for all of us.

The fact is is that there are a lot, there isn't a project in terms of this particular item in front of us.

This is a change or request, if you will, for um to adopt amendments for the um master plan for Sun Valley, and the awareness of some of the plans that are going to happen in terms of traffic flow with the RTC connector and with for instance again, because it it really butts up to my district, if you will, not that it doesn't touch others, but um even the um recent changes with um actually I was on the planning commission when that um Highland Ranch seven Fit Bridges went when um was approved and and seeing the traffic flow and how that traffic flow is being handled until there's a better corridor of um traffic, and what really you know took me to rewind and replay and rewind and replay was the number uh in terms of density.

It is um for everyone who has done their homework, they can understand that we are talking about a significant number of potential, even though this isn't a project.

But the fact is is that this could move forward, and even though it will go through a process, the reality is is that um it was really a struggle for me to make all of the findings, to be honest with you, and I um anxious to hear uh others who I know have done an immense amount of work in terms of looking at those 18 plus acres going to 14, some of it being designated to open space, but the density issue um and and that change of what that looks like where there already is an accommodation as it stands right now as it's zoned for development and the surrounding school and um how that is all put together is just um I think needs an additional uh rework in terms of thinking what we can do to ensure that we are meeting that balance of we all need housing, everyone knows that, but at the same time we have to balance that in terms of what um it can handle, and so I'm just struggling with this to be honest with you.

I I'm just really struggling with this particular item, and so I'm not sure if that's helping um or not, but uh that's where I'm at.

I'm just really struggling.

It's not it's not so easy.

Thank you.

Yes, Commissioner Clark.

No comment, thank you.

Okay.

Well, I'm I may be on my own here.

I can I I agree with staff in the planning commission on meeting the findings.

I think that if we're going to have better public transit, we do need denser communities.

Um I know the infrastructure comes after, and it's brutal.

I know that I have that issue in my district as well, um, as we're looking to make sure that we have adequate housing for our communities.

Um, and um we have a messed up tax system, and I know I talk about that a lot.

And um, but um I do think that um I to me I I feel like the the findings are there.

I I would move forward with um the recommendation from the planning commission.

But I'm also, you know, I may be alone in that today.

So looking.

Yes.

May I ask legal a question?

One of the procedural processes in this particular instance or in anything that's like this with a change amendment, is that if this moves forward, it would go through regional planning.

The item number um as outlined in the staff report, it does have to go to regional in item number three.

It's subject to their conformance review.

Um anything that we do on our master plan amendment.

And um planner Olander can uh speak to that as well.

Um Julia Lander with Planning and Building.

Um for the record, yes, this item, if it is approved by this body, that then it would move forward to regional planning, and they would review it for conformance with their their plan for the master plan element of this uh request.

And so what I find interesting is that cart before the horse a bit, because if regional planning, and I sit on regional planning past chair of regional planning, so in terms of the governing board, not the actual planning um commission.

But the reality is is that it sometimes fails, and I know this isn't necessarily to this project, but I'm just gonna make a statement, and I struggled with this because it's it's like procedurally, I understand legally that this is this the step, these are steps in the process, and and anything can stop to a certain extent, depending on what the situation is and what's found.

But um I'm just making sure it's gonna go to regional planning first.

Is that is that kind of its next step is to go to regional planning for conformance?

It the aspect of the master plan change.

If you were to approve that, that will go for conformance review.

The regulatory zone map would not go to would not go to um things.

So item one, the planning commission's recommendation to adopt amendments to the master plan, that goes to that goes up for conformance review.

Item two, the planning commission's recommendation to adopt an amendment to the regulatory zone map.

That is that decision is yours and yours alone.

Um but as you say, this board is making a decision on whether or not we you believe you as a matter of policy, you think the master plan should be changed.

That's gonna be reflected if it goes for conformance review to regional.

And I know this is a speculative question, but um why would the why would it not go to regional planning and then come back on the regulatory zone?

What is the what's the logic behind that?

I'm just asking.

Uh oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked.

That's probably the question for uh Ms.

Mullen.

Ms.

Mullen, but the issue becomes with master the the the way the law is set up, uh regional deals with the master plan, the big the big scope of the issues.

The regulatory zones are are the exclusively the province of this board in setting its own parameters of planning.

And I probably butchered that, but I'm I think Ms.

Mullen can probably speak to that a little bit more articulate than I could.

Thank you.

I I think it's important that we understand that distinction because there is two distinctions here.

So thank you.

Kelly Mullen Wash Kenny planning planning and building division director.

I'm embarrassed to have to ask you to repeat the question.

Oh, I'm wondering the first part of this that's before us, the next step, so to speak, is to go to the regional planning to ensure conformance for the regional big picture master plan and that conformance.

And then there's also a component in terms of the regulatory zone amendment findings, and I'm just wondering why would why do why are they both happening at the same time?

I'm just trying to understand that.

Thank you for the question.

Um so that's essentially standard practice when we get applications for both the master plan change and the zone change, um, that we do make that zone change subject to approval at the at the um regional planning board, and if they should choose to not authorize that master plan change, then essentially that zone change would die at that time.

Thank you for that clarification.

I think that's important because if it moves forward and regional does go through their legal process and they find whatever they find, if they do find that it doesn't conform, then our regulatory the action on the regulatory side would be moot.

Is that what I'm hearing?

Correct.

Okay, just confirming that.

Thank you.

I don't have any other questions.

Sure.

Thank you.

And I mean I feel like as a community as a country, we're going through a lot of changes.

And um we're trying to figure out how we're gonna evolve as a community.

And I feel like we as a board have discussed the housing crisis and how we need to do more.

And we have, we've done a lot as far as changing our zoning.

And I think that there's been some frustration from the time that I started on this board of this particular area where it seems like a great area to have the increased densities.

And so I that's where I'm at.

I again I can meet the findings.

I agree with the staff and planning commission.

Um, but I will toss it down the line, Commissioner Garcia.

Okay.

Well, I I cannot make the findings, and I I really did stick to the findings, and I respect staff and I respect the applicant.

Um I'll start with the yeses.

So if we look at the master plan amendment, um I was able to find two findings.

So I'll start with those.

Um so yes, it's consistent with the master plan.

I pulled it up on page 128.

You know, it's labeled suburban, but in the master plan, it clearly says it's mixed residential densities that are allowable in Sun Valley.

So I I made the finding yes there.

Um I found um that we do have the available facilities based on the GID's commitment for water and sewer.

So those are pretty easy for me to find.

I really struggled with uh combat compatible land use.

So as you know, the majority of Sun Valley is suburban residential, and so the surface streets um on these orange areas are already struggling with that existing zoning that has historically been there.

So we're talking about narrow roads, ditches and culverts, limited lighting.

Um, and I do believe that the increased density in this particular case will have adverse safety and welfare effects.

So I could not find the compatible land use um item.

And then moving down to response to changed conditions.

So to your point, um, Chair Hill, you know, there is a big push for affordable housing, but I do believe Sun Valley has delivered or is proposed to deliver in that regard.

So we've got the ridge on first AV that just put up 150 95 units that's adjacent to this property.

Um that's online, and they're filling those um units as we speak.

Chocolate drive is proposing 240 um just up the road, and so it kind of creates this like L shape right there.

So right in the western, uh the southwestern side of the valley that butts up to open space in a mountain, essentially, um, it's already creating a tremendous amount of density in a con in a concentrated area, and not to mention because we're not here to discuss other jurisdictions, um, but City Areno just approved 400 plus units on Dandini with no maximum density.

Um we've got other overarching conditions that are happening in the valley.

You know, we all know that 395 has construction happening, pyramid highway has construction happening, people are bypassing through the valley.

This is a temporary thing, but right now it feels like no end in sight.

So the increased congestion on that section of Sun Valley Boulevard is tremendous.

Um being on the RTC board, been fighting at the federal level for funding to come in to do the infrastructure improvements along Sun Valley Boulevard.

That's coming.

Hopefully, we've got a grant that we're submitting right now, but that's uh you know, looking at 88 million dollar project.

Um, infrastructure is coming.

I have my fingers crossed, but it's not here yet.

Um we've got five ridges, which is Sparks jurisdiction that made you know pretty big waves up on the Highland Ranch area, creating congestion going into uh Spanish Springs, and then we've got the unknown of Reno down by Scottsdale.

There's an open land right there at that intersection, and so the changing conditions I think have not played in that in your favor, unfortunately.

I think the timing, if you would have been two years ago, you know, and you're welcome to to answer address anything that I said.

So um, and then moving on to um desire to pattern growth.

I could not find this fighting either.

Um we have the existing suburban residential, and I think that is the appropriate zoning for this area.

And as I mentioned earlier, we've got this high concentration that's just putting more and more pressure on these county roads that we back up to mountains, so it's not like the traffic can fan out over large um city parcels and take creative routes to get there.

It's really first AV, second half, and then your back is up against the the mountain, and so I just feel like it's posing more safety concerns because it's not like we have great sidewalks and and and street lights, these are county roads, and you know, the first conversation I had with the principal at Lois Allen who was there before the this existing one was I'm scared that my kids are my students are walking to school in the ditches and culverts, and so that's the reality of the area.

And so that's the reality of the area.

And I I just had to put those things on the record.

I again I'm not I'm not opposed to increased density.

I happen to live in urban residential, not too far from this.

So I I love the product that I bought and moved into.

It's not that I have a bias against that.

I just feel like that particular area is making it difficult for me to find the findings on the master plan amendment.

So I welcome any.

If I have misinformation, please I'd love to hear your thoughts and and and uh address any of those questions or concerns I had, Chris.

Do you want the applicant to comment on that?

Chris Baker here on behalf of the applicant.

Can I actually have my PowerPoint queued up?

I think that might help a little bit.

It sounds like infrastructure and change in use are kind of hurdles here.

Yeah.

Um obviously throughout the process, it was a lengthy process.

Um we did have a voluntary neighborhood meeting.

We did also volunteer to go to the CAB, uh, which Commissioner Garcia, I know you were uh at attendance virtually.

Um there was a lot of public comment.

Um so kind of going through this, uh, maybe presentation might might help you understand kind of the big picture and the thought process behind this.

Um, and hopefully, like staff and the planning commission uh lean towards making those findings.

Okay.

That one's not mine.

That's staff's.

Unless you work for the county now.

Nope.

Yes.

Okay, that looks familiar.

Um I I'm gonna kind of zip through this and try to focus specifically on uh on some of the findings that uh that it seems to be a struggle to make.

So I think everyone's familiar with the location uh adjacent to the existing elementary school, Lois Allen, that's first street on the on the north or on the south and second street on the north.

Again, just kind of a redundant slide here.

Uh existing land use designations, uh, suburban residential and medium density suburban.

There is an existing approval, which was uh approved in 22 for 48 residential single family lots.

Yeah.

Since then, um a lot of stuff has happened.

So when we're talking about change in use, I want to talk about change in use, not project specific, but from a land use perspective.

So when we're talking land use, we're at a 10-year plan minimum.

Um you guys know how often you guys redo your master plan.

So a lot of these findings aren't actually what's currently on the ground.

They're what's planned to be in place.

That's very important for finding four.

It's not what's in place now.

So if your master plan doesn't match regionals, you know, 2040, 2050 plan, they're planning in a vacuum.

So you they're anticipating future growth.

And if you guys don't generally keep up, they're not gonna have funding for any of these things.

So when we're doing this, we're trying to mirror things.

So when we're looking at findings, we're looking at the very important part of plan to be in place, not currently in place.

So this approval will not, you say there's no project.

That's true.

Um, and there may not be a project until there's adequate infrastructure in place.

But if we don't keep up with lack of a better term, changing colors on a map, there's no point in planning.

Okay, so well, this is not a new one.

Let's see here.

So speaking of that, um area changes.

So on the left here, again, we have from 22, we have existing 48 residential single family detached lots.

What has happened, I don't know if I've got pointer capabilities, but no.

Um chocolate drive actually has gone through and did a master plan amendment and zoning map amendment that this board approved.

So they went from three dwelling units to the acre, just like this, to a minimum of 21 dwelling units to the acre.

The property that you also mentioned immediately to the east of the school also went through from a public um from a public facility zone also up to 21 dwelling units to the acre.

And then you also mentioned the city of Reno property to the south.

That's actually uncapped dead city, but I think there's about 400 residential units that are in process right now.

So when we're talking about changes to the to the area, we're actually specifically talking about this.

Colors on a map have been changed, and now we don't our puzzle piece doesn't fit anymore.

So it really the burden falls on if we were to try to move forward, even though from a financial standpoint, that 48 units is tough to pencil now, knowing that the plan's use is apartments to one side, the existing use is apartments to another side, and then the future use on the north now is apartments, which all before that was not the case.

So we have this donut hole where now we're supposed to try to continue with our existing development plans, whereas the county, this board specifically changed everything around us, which makes that nearly impossible.

And if it wasn't, we wouldn't be here.

When we're talking about plan to be in place, so what you see as recently, we met with RTC quite a bit on this.

Um before the conceptual alignment for uh the extension to 395 actually went right through the property.

Again, these are very conceptual, so conceptual they didn't realize that they were going through private property.

There's public property immediately to the west.

So they actually modified their transportation plan as recently as September based on the conversations that we had, because they see the increased density as an allowance to provide these access points.

If there's not density there, the funding again isn't really going to follow.

I mean, here's my take on the findings, um, which I think staff concurs their the report supports.

Um and the planning commission also found these findings.

Um I kind of want to go back to other infrastructure.

So you said you had no issue with the GIDs.

We did a discovery and it was based on a conceptual plan.

Um this is also in a HUD designated area, which it actually is one of the last undeveloped parcels that is available for federal subsidencies.

I know this board's goal is to have affordable housing.

Not being able to approve an increase in density in an area that the government has identified as appropriate for density and the transportation plans.

Your previous record of approvals in the surrounding properties.

Um again, I think it's it's gonna be difficult to achieve some of the goals that I've heard this heard this board speak of without agreeing with staff and agreeing with planning commission's findings.

So hopefully that gets you a little closer.

I'm gonna kind of defer my time to answer any questions you may have.

Um, but again, I want to focus more on it's not in place currently.

Yeah, very important is plan to be in place.

And all of the plans that support this um are actually all out there.

So we're just trying to keep up.

Thank you.

I remember when the chocolate dry project came before our board, which I think just uh vice chair and I were here for that, and it was controversial because um Reno and Sparks, we had heard weren't excited about us having the increased densities, and so there were a lot of negotiations happening, and now I think we're seeing like a planning through a new lens.

Um I think there was a bias about the county whether we should or shouldn't have densities, and I hear you on the roads, I hear you on the county roads.

I agree with you.

I also think that the way that we are set up structurally to fix those things, which we should.

I grew up with uh culverts and ditches in my neighborhood as well, and um it's you know, uh when you have high traffic areas that's not safe for kids, and we know that we discussed that at length at RTC.

I I just think that um we've got to think about how are we going to make sure that we can fix those issues and with without the property tax, honestly, it's gonna be really tough to do, and without the densities, we're not gonna have it's not going to be as easy to get the public transportation online, and so and it's gonna be harder to get the federal grants in the long term because I think they look at those densities when they're granting us these things.

And again, this is not my district, so I feel awkward.

I'm so sorry.

I'm not I'm I'm not trying to um go against your wishes, but uh this is just how I feel and um how I not just feel, I feel like um I don't know.

I just want to make it clear kind of where I'm standing with this and why I'm going to probably go against with the rest of the board, I'm not sure, but we'll we'll find out.

Um so uh that's where I'm at.

But uh it seems like Commissioner Clark, were you okay?

Uh Commissioner Andriola, thank you.

Um I concur with most of what you said.

Fair enough.

We won't go into everything.

But I will say that um it's unfortunate, for instance, the item that got pulled today, which um was special improvement districts um and and identifying ways to put infrastructure uh first.

Um that you know I I you know I worked and staff I know have worked really hard.

Uh communities worked hard on that for the last year and a half, if not longer, and so it's a struggle for me because I do believe that um housing is a priority.

Um I think attainable housing is uh priority not just for Washoe County, but for the state, if not all jurisdictions, if not the nation.

So I do think your point about um I was not aware, so thank you for pointing out, and I don't remember, maybe I didn't rewind it, maybe I should have rewind that uh planning commission three times that that HUD had actually identified that particular parcel.

I don't remember that being brought up, and I think that's an important point.

Um I think the fact that your point of things changed, even though there are 48 units that you could essentially build right now, and you're trying to um expand that.

I do think that we I really pride myself consistently on following the law and following the process that we are put into place in the quasi-judicial um seat that we sit in in these matters.

I think it was really helpful for the clarification on the regulatory zone that it will become moot if in fact regional planning finds the um something that isn't conforming with their master plan.

And I think that there does uh give a lot of uh assurance that regional planning, Dr.

Smith and his team definitely are the best and the best um in our region, and I think they are well equipped to go through making sure all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed.

And so um I am going to support this project.

Okay, Madam Chair, maybe I just not a project.

Let me clarify, it's not a project.

Yeah, it's not a project.

One step was actually not specifically described.

So in the in the planning process, so we're in for the master plan amendment and the regulatory zone amendment.

The master master plan amendment does go forward to regional.

Again, there isn't a project, but so much so that any future project will require a special use permit which Commissioner Garcia to your point.

The finding is different then.

Yeah.

So the finding is not planned to be in place.

That's not colors on a map.

That's actual trips.

That's that's faucets, that's toilets, that's trips um, you know, actually on the roads.

So again, that is something that would have to be required to come back in front of planning commission uh to be approved.

And those findings are are they actually compatible with the existing uses and is the infrastructure in place, not planned to be in place.

You know, we've determined that water and sewers is currently in place, but at this stage, the the traffic hasn't been analyzed.

It it's not from a project-specific standpoint, it's not required to be analyzed.

We're we actually went and took it upon ourselves because we knew traffic was gonna be a concern to just analyze second street because we know that this board had approved an increase in trips via Chopta Drive on Second Street, and that was gonna be the front door.

So we wouldn't have brought this forward if second street wasn't gonna work.

So we analyzed that.

We took that upon ourselves, but the region as a whole, that will have to be analyzed with any project specific approval, and we're just not there yet.

Um but that's that's a finding that has to be made.

And truthfully, at this point, without a traffic study, I feel that's where this this commission is struggling.

But that's not a finding for today.

That's a finding for any future project.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right, anyone else on this side?

Not seeing anyone.

Okay, Commissioner Garcia, do you have anything else?

Vice Chair Herman, do you have anything?

Okay.

Um great.

And we already did public comment, correct, madam clerk.

No public comment.

There's nobody signed in.

I just had an email.

Thank you so much.

Um I will try as your chair to make a motion.

We'll see if it goes anywhere.

Um, so um move to adopt master plan amendment case WMPA 25-0005 and amendment to the master plan, the Sun Valley Master Plan land use map and um as outlined in the staff report, and move to adopt uh subject to final approval of the master plan amendment and findings of conformance with the Trucky Meadows Regional Plan, regulatory zone amendment case WRZA 25-0006 as outlined in the staff report.

And is that does that work?

DA Large.

There's a third one.

Okay, and move to adopt and authorize the chair to sign a resolution contained as attachment C to the staff report to initiate an amendment to 2024 trucking budget of this regional plan to change the designation of subject parcels from tier three to tier two.

Second second, okay.

Thank you.

So I made the motion.

The vice chair made the second, and thank you, DA Large, for helping me through.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

Nay.

And okay, motion passes four to one with Commissioner Garcia as a no.

Okay.

I did not even read that right.

So there we go.

Um, thank you very much.

We'll see how that goes in regional planning, and we'll continue to work on these issues.

Thank you.

Okay, we are now going to move in to our next public hearing.

Um, item 16.

And if manager Thomas can help us with that.

Thank you.

This is Madam Clerk's second reading.

Right.

Yeah, thank you.

Uh, if adopted or if passed, this will be ordinance number 1752, which amends Washoe County Code Chapter 110 development code to establish standards for permanent employee housing in the high desert planning area and provide for increased density in the general rural GR regulatory zone with approval of a special use permit.

Thank you very much.

And do we need a staff presentation?

I'm not do y'all need a staff presentation?

Okay, great.

Um, and um is there any board comment before I open it up to public comment?

And it looks like we madam clerk, public comment.

We have Elizabeth Gambrell in Gurlock.

Hi there, Elizabeth Gembrell, Gurlock, Nevada, for the record, and thank you for spending so much time in Gurlock today.

Our pleasure.

Um we had a lot of things to get accomplished, and so far it's been going really well.

This particular change to the high desert and planning areas.

Um will it enable not just the Iveson Ranch, which is specifically decided um request requested this.

It's gonna help an awful lot of our ranchers, farmers, and other entrepreneurs possibly move out here by allowing more housing.

You have heard about it often and um vigorously, how limited housing is out here, and there's been a lot of discussion with planning and special use permits today, and how difficult it is to even get a house built or a trailer moved in.

Sometimes it can take up to two years to get a new abode out here.

So I am saying yes, we desperately need this, and it's a way of moving us further towards a better future out here if people do not have such a difficult time getting to build places for workers to live.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Gambrel.

There's nobody else signed in.

Okay, any other board comments or questions?

I'm not seeing any, so I am looking for um this is a second reading.

I am looking for a motion, please.

Or I can do it.

Are you gonna do it?

Okay.

See if um DA Large is going to allow me just to say I'm gonna I'm going to move to approve the adoption of ordinance number 15 or 1752 as presented in the staff report.

Thank you very much.

Looking for a second, thank you, Vice Chair.

We have a motion and a second.

We've taken public comment.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And it's up on your screen.

Thank you.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Okay.

And now our final public hearing, it's a second reading.

We'll throw it over to the clerk.

This will be ordinance number 1753, which amends Washoe County Code Chapter 110 development code to create standards for small lot and infill development and to modify provisions related to cottage courts, accessory dwelling units and common open space developments.

Formerly bill number 1943.

Thank you very much.

Do uh board members need a presentation on this?

No.

Okay, great.

Um, and any other comments, seeing none.

And Madam Clerk, is there any public comment?

There is.

We have Pat Davison.

Yay, Pat.

For the record, Pat Davison, resident of District 5.

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year.

Keep this short and sweet.

Um, let the record reflect.

Pat Davison gave a thumbs up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, if you get the stamp of approval, we feel much better.

So thank you so much.

We appreciate you.

Okay.

Um this is a second reading.

Um we've taken public comment.

I'm looking for a motion.

Um, and Commissioner Andreola is looking like she's stepping up to the plate.

One more public comment.

Oh, one more public commenter.

Come on in.

Oh goodness, Mr.

Snellgrove.

Dave Snellgrove.

Yeah, but when this was the planning commission, I was just about as late on that, and actually more late because I truly missed it.

I'm here in support of this.

I've I've been here for a number of items with the Iveson Ranch, and we were the ones that submitted the Ivas and the DCA that you just heard.

There's a lot of talk about housing.

I think this is a step in the right direction in the right direction.

Very supportive of this and these types of things to try to get some more affordable housing in appropriate locations.

So with that, I uh encourage you to support this.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Thanks for your service on the planning commission.

All right.

Now looking for a motion from uh Commissioner Andreula.

Madam Chair, I'll move to approve the adoption of ordinance number 1753 as presented in the staff report.

Thank you so much.

I'm looking for a second.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

We have a motion and a second.

Any questions on that from the board?

See none.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And it's on your screen.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Great work, Kat.

Congratulations.

Okay.

We are done with public hearings.

And um, as your chair, I'm going to open up item 18 and 19 together, and just um wanna say a few words of uh just take a slight uh personal um detour and just say thank you for letting me be your chair.

I wanted to make a comment too.

Okay, good.

Um I do that.

Go ahead.

Um I know that there were some rough times at the beginning.

But I have never seen anybody learn faster.

Or or change over and be such the opposite.

I mean, positive and just an amazing chair.

So thank you.

I agree.

While you're taking that other sip of water, I'll chime in.

It was when I first got sworn in.

I think those first six months were, I mean, it was a very very difficult time in Washoe County.

And um, you were able to bring that calm and the professionalism and keep us on track and um keep things light when it needed to be.

And um you have a huge heart, and you've you know, just gone above and beyond in your level of dedication and commitment and keeping the ship moving forward.

Sometimes we're not all rowing in the same direction, but the ship was always moving forward, and that takes your leadership.

And so I know you've had some very difficult days, and even on days where we were getting attacked, you you would you know make sure to uphold that decorum and hold that high standard so that we could conduct the business of the county.

So I commend you for all that strength, that positivity, and helping us move forward.

So thank you.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Commissioner Andrew.

Uh I'll echo vice chair's comments and Commissioner Garcia's comments.

Um, it takes a real leader to be able to adjust and to um really share with everyone the sentiment that we all equally care deeply about our community.

We all do.

And the fact that you are um you've grown in in ways that I think I'm thinking of um Miss Canduras when she uh retired and shared how much you've grown and and to vice chair's point about in such a short period of time.

Um I think that um we all can learn a lot from you in terms of being able to handle sometimes the most difficult difficult situation, but treat everyone equally, and that's the growth that I think I've seen.

And so kudos to uh your folks who raised you to be a good person and carer, and to really respect that even though we may have differences, and we all do, we do have differences, that um everybody's voice counts and everybody's points matter, and we'll work much better together if we recognize that.

And so thank you for allowing me to watch that.

And so that's I think been a gift that maybe you didn't intend to give, but I think that you did, and thank you.

Thank you for giving that gift to all of us.

I didn't know I'd be emotional, so I'm sorry.

Um, but it's been a joy.

So thank you for the letting me serve.

Yes, Commissioner Clark, go ahead.

Sure.

Uh I just want to say uh thank you.

I think there's been a vast improvement around here in the last since certainly since June, and I appreciate what's taken place uh in the uh interim.

And I I haven't been gaveled down in months, and and I appreciate that.

Thank you.

I think we're all getting along as much as we can because we're here for the to serve the people and not for ourselves.

And uh I'm I'm really excited about the future of the county, so I'm sorry.

Um I'm only crying because I'm just happy.

It's happiness.

Um I'm just uh excited for new leadership at the county.

We have a new county manager, and we have a new DA, and I'm just really excited about 2026.

And I promised myself I'd never cry at this diet, and I'm so sorry, I can't believe I'm doing this.

Um I would like to recommend as chair and vice chair, uh chair commissioner Andriola and Vice Chair, uh, Commissioner Garcia.

I'm really excited about new leadership.

It's been a joy to serve, and um happy to take comments that's in the form of a motion.

Any other comments from the board?

Vice Chair Herman.

I second that.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate that.

Uh we have a motion and a second, and um any other comments from the board.

All right.

Yes, I would also like to take a moment to to thank my amazing vice chair to my right, my colleague.

Um, it's been uh an honor to be able to sit next to you and get to know you over the years and um your institutional knowledge and uh the heart that you have for the county and serving the people.

Um you've been a pleasure to work with, and I appreciate your leadership.

And um one of my favorite things about uh Vice Chair Herman is when we go to NACO, she's just gone.

She's like zipping around and networking, and and that's when I really realized I was like, wow, this woman has a lot of fire in her belly, and she's got a lot of energy, and um, I just really uh respect you a tremendous amount and thank you for all this years of service, and um, I'm looking forward to finishing out this year strong.

So thank you for everything, Chair Herman.

I love serving with you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your commitment.

Yeah, you're in it for the right reasons.

I know that.

All right.

I've got another comment.

Yes, Commissioner Clark.

Uh I've requested and I've talked to the uh county manager about this.

Uh I I I'd like some history on why and what caused the uh the chair's position to be extended from one year to two years, and I think in the future we should revert back to what's been common practice in this county for a number of years to have the uh chair just serve for one term.

If we have a chair serving for two-year term, uh and there's there's little uh little likelihood that anyone else will ever get a get the position and chair in their elected cycle if they're only a they're here for two years.

There's five members on the board.

If each chair gets two years, then other uh other folks will never get a chance to be the chair.

And as I said earlier, my my commissioner comments earlier, it's it isn't about who's sitting in the chair, it's what district they represent, which citizens of the county.

So if we have a two-year term and that continues that way, there'll be times when somebody could be a commissioner for could be uh two elected cycles and still may never uh be the chair.

So I think we need to go back and then analyze why it was moved from one year to two years.

And I think that part of this uh uh new movement that we're looking at here, spirit of cooperation that we should move the uh chair's position to be one year and one year only.

They could certainly be re-elected, but I don't think the term should be two years.

So if somebody wants to re-elect someone time after time, I'm all for that.

That's that's the the election process, but just to have a uh a mandatory two-year position, I don't agree with.

So I'd like to see that as a as a uh future uh um a future agenda item.

And I'd like to be that that to be retroactive if if indeed that goes forward as a one year.

So how can we elect somebody now for two-year term and then uh retroactively change that back to a one year?

Can can you explain that to either either the county manager or uh the uh uh DA's office, please?

Thank you.

Um Commissioner Clark through the chair to you.

Um the Board of County Commission rules of procedure, um, section 5.3.1 outline the two-year term.

The change was made in 2021, I believe.

Um January 2021.

January of 2021, to be specific.

Thank you, DA Large.

Um, we can certainly bring back, as you're aware, we've been looking at some additional um changes or modifications, refinements to those roles.

We can bring that back if you would like if the for the board to entertain as part of a package to look through the rules of procedure.

Um, but as far as why it was done was the previous board.

I mean, Commissioner Herman, Vice Chair Herman, you were there.

So um retroactive, I'll let the DA talk too.

But um we would have to bring that back under the rules of procedure as a procedural change.

Sure.

So let me do a follow-up of that.

What exact meeting, what was the date of the meeting?

Can we can I get a copy of that?

And I would like to go back and review that and and hear what the discussion was at the time uh what took place when that happened.

It was Michael Large for the record uh for the district attorney's office.

Um it was January 13th, 2021, was when that motion was made.

Um much of the discussion was in terms of the two-year term, and this is um I'm basing this basically on uh the Madison AI spit it out, but I believe it had a lot to do with legislative sessions happening every two years and the change in leadership before legislative session.

Um this board's purview is to set its own rules of procedure if you want to modify it even retroactively in terms of that a chair serves for one year and one year only, with no automatic ascension from the vice chair, because I believe that was how it used to be.

The vice chair automatically ascended to the chairmanship, um, or traditionally it'd be done.

Obviously, this board has its it's it you guys set your own rules.

So you can we can we can modify this and we could put that on an agenda item in the future.

Very well, thank you.

Great.

We'll bring that our rules and procedures back.

Yes.

Um, I also want to take a moment just to say that Commissioner Herman, you have certainly also I think exhibited an amazing um commitment.

You've proven your commitment.

There's no it's unwavering.

It really is, it's unwavering in terms of your consistency and the caring of the folks that you represent.

And I think you should be to be honest with you honored in that regard, because um, you know, I I've worked with you prior to coming here a little bit, and I think that you've always been a listener and fair and really cared.

And so I just wanted to thank you.

As commissioner or vice chair Herman and I have discussed it's not really what seat you're in on how you can lead.

That's not what leadership is about.

So we'll don't worry.

So we'll don't worry, we're gonna still be in different seats and leading in our own way, right, Vice Chair?

Yeah.

Okay.

Uh we have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Yes.

Public comment.

I apologize.

Thank you.

There is no public comment for either item.

Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thank you, DA Large.

All right.

A motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, please say nay.

And that motion passes unanimously.

Thank you very much.

And does the chair now lead into item 20?

Is that what we do?

If you would like, we can certainly do that.

We weren't gonna switch seats at this meeting.

We were gonna make it effective following this meeting so that starting okay, say tomorrow morning at the 250 of the case.

So I'll sign the docs today, and then okay.

That'd be cleanest.

I was gonna bring up the signing of the dots for part documents need to make it official.

Okay, all right.

I'll I'll do the last um three items.

Yes, okay.

Um item 20, Manager Thomas.

Thank you.

Your final public comment is comment heard under this item limited to three minutes per person.

It may pertain to matters both on and off the commission agenda on news time, may not be allocated to other speakers, and please make your comments to the commission as a whole.

Thank you very much, madam clerk.

There's nobody signed in.

Thank you.

Now item 21, Manager Thomas.

This is your final commissioners and county managers announcements, reports, and updates to include boards and commission updates, requests for information or topics for future agendas.

Thank you very much.

Nothing else from you, Vice Chair Herman.

Anything?

Okay, Commissioner Garcia.

Just wanted to say thank you to my fellow commissioners for a great meeting.

I we had a lot of big stuff, heavy stuff, and again, thank you to our chair and our vice chair for their tremendous leadership.

And I'd like to keep the same chair I'm in if that's okay.

Yeah, I'm very comfy over here.

I like sitting next to Herman, so that's my only reason.

I'm stealing Andreola's chair.

Yeah, I'm I'm sitting next to Clark.

Thank you.

Yes.

Um Commissioner Andrew.

Uh I'll echo Commissioner Garcia's uh sentiment, and I also want to thank everyone for a unanimous vote.

So I'm gonna try not to get emotional either.

But um thank you.

It means a lot and um for Commissioner Garcia.

Look forward to working with you, and um, I guess I can pick uh uh commissioner uh Hill's brain a little bit in terms of a transition and certainly welcome any uh insight, Commissioner Herman as well.

So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Clark.

Yes, I I have uh just a couple of more uh items that I'd like some information on since the safe uh safe parking program started.

How many people have taken advantage of the six parking spots?

Um how long have they how long are they staying, and how many people are in the car, and how do we identify the secondary passengers?

And uh again, why was our place chosen as a pilot location?

I'd like that information, please.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Congratulations to the new chair and good work with with working with you and uh look forward to having you move over to this side for a while.

Yeah, hey oh uh, it's gonna be fun, a great year.

Okay, um, I don't have any comments, so thank you everyone for an amazing meeting.

It's 2 38.

We are adjourned.