Recording in progress the time is one thirty-one.

Uh the Washoe County Open Space and Regional Parks Commission Board is now in session.

Call to order.

Mr.

Roman.

Neil Jones.

Present.

Sean Hill.

Present.

Chris Baker.

Tim Dake.

Present.

Miles Kinsler.

Miles, I see you're online.

Just quite unmute.

Just a moment, Miles.

Okay, Miles, go ahead.

Yeah, can you hear me?

I can hear you.

Oh, great.

Jenny Uvera.

Hello.

Thank you.

Kevin Joel.

Present.

Thank you.

And Tracy Kacinski.

Present.

Thank you.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

Moving on.

Nicole, excuse me, Nicole Flancas.

President, thank you.

Thank you.

We have a quorum.

Thank you.

Pledge of allegiance.

Commissioner Dake, would you lead us, please?

I pledge allegiance to the United States of America.

And Central Republic, which it stands.

Indivisible with liberty as you, Commissioner Dake.

Moving on to public comment.

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.

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

Comments are to be made to the commission as a whole.

No discussion amongst commissioners may occur during this item.

Do we have any public comment?

I have no public comment in chambers.

I have no public comment on Zoom.

Thank you.

Moving on to item four approval of the draft minutes for the open space regional parks commission meeting of March twenty-fifth, twenty twenty-six.

This is for possible action.

Please take a moment and review.

Very well.

Motion has been made to approve the minutes as written.

Very well.

Motion has been made and seconded to approve the minutes as written.

Do we have any public comment?

We have no public comment in chambers.

We have no public comment on Zoom.

Very well, thank you.

Motion has been made and seconded.

All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

Motion carries.

Moving on to item five, acknowledgement and recognition of park operations.

Staff Christopher Smidchek for his outstanding service and contributions to Washoe County.

Hello for the record, Brian Herward, District Park Manager.

So I've had the distinct pleasure of working with Chris Smich for the past five years.

He's always quick to respond when our parks need attention and is consistently one of the first to volunteer when a coworker needs assistance with a project.

Chris takes pride in providing an enjoying enjoyable programming and also amazing educational opportunities to the citizens of Washoe County.

He demonstrates a strong sense of community and is deeply committed to doing what's best for the citizens of Washoe County and our shared public lands.

We're proud to have him as a valued member of our parks team and as a representative Washoe County.

Congratulations on the five years, Chris.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Brian and Christopher.

Thank you.

Moving on to item six presentation by Nolan Yant of his Eagle Scout project at Davis Creek Regional Park.

Good afternoon, Commissioners for the record.

Nick Steuer, Park Ranger based out of Davis Creek Regional Park.

It's my pleasure to introduce you today to Eagle Scout Nolan Yant from Troop 10.

He recently completed his project in the park.

This project is definitely going to add to fire safety for the park, which we really really appreciate.

So without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Nolan.

Thank you very much.

Hello, everybody.

As you said, I'm Nolan Yant, and I just recently completed my Eagle Scout project at Davis Creek campsite.

Oh, all right.

Just a little overview.

So there were 10 sites that needed new fire rings.

Uh the top and bottom pictures right there both show the old fire rings.

It's um the main problem with them is that they're very shallow and not great at containing fire, which is one of the main problems that caused the Davis fire from two years ago.

Um, but they are encased in concrete in the ground, and we had to extract 10 of these and put two or and put 10 new rings in in their place.

Um the new rings came from a welding class at TMCC who donated the rings.

However, they did need to be wire brushed and coated with a heat resistant paint before they could be installed.

Um my first work day.

We we got to the site in the morning.

Um the third picture is all 10 of the fire rings out in the yard before any prep work.

And you can see some scouts on the tarp in the second picture beginning to wire brushes off with some handheld wired brushes.

Um this was site one while they were doing this.

We also had some more people at site two going around the campsites with some sledgehammers and pickaxes and extracting the old fire rings out of the ground.

They used the sledgehammers and picks to get them out, and then we had a trailer to throw them in, and then we ended up dumping all of the concrete and metal chunks into the dumpsters.

Luckily, most of them were fairly worn down, so they weren't too hard to get out.

And we got all of this done on day one.

We got all of them out of the ground and ready for installation.

Um painting.

This was all so the first two are from day one.

Um we had some adults per scout rules.

Um, scouts cannot use a grinder wire wheel attachment.

So they were going at the fine details with the wire, that they're manual wire brushes, and we had some adults with grinder wire brushes uh cleaning up the rest of the metal, and we got most of those done day one and loaded them up in a trailer and took them back to my house.

And then a few days later, we had a small crew come into my house and paint up all the fire rings in my garage.

Um, this only took a couple hours.

This went a lot faster than I thought it would go.

Uh and then the following Sunday, we went to work on installation.

Again, this only took a couple of hours.

It was really easy to work with, and the ground had already been broken up from the previous week.

Um, so you can see we used a piece of wood to kind of protect the metal surfaces and pound them into the ground because they each have three little stakes on the bottom that you pound into the ground and make sure they're secure.

And then we had a crew come behind them and do some touch-up work with some paint and just make sure that they were all up to snuff before we uh handed it off.

Um, so here you can see all 10 of the finished rings in the ground.

I'm really glad I got the opportunity to do this project at Davis Creek.

Um, Davis is a really special place to me.

It was the place where I first ever camped.

It was my first ever scout camp out, was at Davis Creek.

And I still remember like where I was during the Davis fire and how a bunch of people had to evacuate.

I had to help my grandparents evacuate and all the structure loss.

And I I'm really happy that I can make it a safer place and help prevent future wildfires.

Uh, does anybody have some questions?

Well, thank you, Nolan.

That's um really fantastic that you're doing this.

And uh, I don't know if you are now an Eagle Scout or you're on the path, but uh thank you for this work.

Um, it's definitely work that needed to be done, and fire safety is incredibly important in our forest.

So, with that, uh, do you have any questions, comments from the commissioners?

Uh Commissioner Hill, just wanted to say thank you, Nolan.

Great work, uh, really important work and just really impressive that you put this all together.

So we appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Yeah, Commissioner Daig, um, no, I could repeat what everybody else is saying.

This is great project.

Thank you for doing this.

Uh Davis Creek Park is kind of near and dear to a number of us, and and uh it's just adds to getting it back in shape again and and ready for camping and ready for enjoyment again.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Uh yeah, Commissioner Baker.

Just uh just want to point out that I thought it was a great uh that you went full circle.

Um, first place you camped, uh, near and dear to your heart.

And then that was obviously the first place you probably looked to uh to conduct your Eagle Scout project.

So I I appreciate that, and obviously the community appreciates it.

Thank you.

Commissioner Flangus here.

Um, I also wanted to give you pointer or give you points on your presentation.

You did a wonderful job representing your project and representing the team that you probably worked with.

So thank you for your great work.

All right, thank you very much.

If that's it, um once again, uh thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you guys.

Okay, with that, uh moving on to item seven presentation by Nevada Firearms Academy on the updates and operation of the Washoe County Regional Shooting Facility.

Hello.

Um, Stephanie DRC Parks Operation Superintendent.

Um, so item seven will be an update for the commission uh to the operations of the Washoe County Regional Shooting Facility.

Um, as some of you may remember, back in 2024, uh, Washoe County entered into an agreement with Nevada Firearms Academy for the operations and management of this facility.

So much like golf, um, the county was unable to continue um offering these services to the public, but the community made it very clear that there is a great need and um desire to utilize those.

So this agreement is a great example of um a partnership that allows us to offer additional services beyond uh what we're able to do.

Um, and Nevada Firearms Academy is here today to um update you on their progress and their plans.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for having me, Commissioners.

Uh for the record, Scott Catron, uh Nevada Farms Academy and Range.

Thank you so much.

Uh, just want to go over some of the stuff that we did.

Also, first, I know he I think you just left it.

Congratulations to Nolan.

Uh, I too am an Eagle Scout out of Reno Nevada Troop 4.

Uh, and I cut the ribbon at this range in the early 80s as a Cub Scout with my father.

So when the thought was of this place closing down, it was something we felt very passionate about.

Uh so thank you very much for having me.

Thank you for let me tell you a little bit about what we're doing because we're very excited about some of the some of the stuff we've been working on.

Was there a PowerPoint somewhere that I'm looking for?

Okay.

Uh maybe we'll go here.

We'll just see.

I'll just start talking.

I think I can get that slide to pop up here in a second.

Do I need to point this somewhere?

How did he do that so easily?

Yeah, same puncher.

We didn't have a magic turn off one.

Well, I'll just tell you some stuff while we work on that.

Sure.

Uh so a couple of four big focuses that we that we decided to do instead of trying to you know eat the whole thing, we just take some small bites.

User groups is kind of our first part uh as to what we were uh super focused on driving.

There was a lot of concern when we took this over from other user groups that we would immediately price everyone out of being able to use this facility.

We would eliminate training for folks.

Uh we'd make it kind of our little nugget, and that was never the intention, never the case.

Uh groups like Sarah Firearms Academy, Palamino Valley Gun Club, Western Nevada Pistol League, the folks that all shot there for years uh supported us and we're, I think we're very pleased to hear that we didn't do any of that stuff.

Uh, we've also welcomed in uh SAS, the single action shooters.

Uh, they are out there now, part of our program.

Um Reno Rodden Gun Club is now a current reoccurring member with us.

Uh, they're out there as well.

Uh as far as some other things that we're doing, event-wise for the community.

We have opened up relationships.

Uh, if you didn't see it on the news recently, uh Sig shoot was out there this weekend.

Uh SIG shot, uh brought a bunch of guns open to the public.

Everyone come take a look at these.

Uh, we're working with Glock and Bagara, they'll be out on uh next month to open up their arms to everybody and introduce them what to the events that the things that they have.

Uh Winchester and Remington are working on currently uh in discussions with Barrett to bring Barrett weapons out as well, just kind of giving a place for everyone to kind of get their hands on some of these things and kind of see what we're doing.

Uh, a couple of big pieces that we really really feel like we want on.

Uh, tactical games, an international shooting competition, uh, came and visited us last year and spent some time with us and held an international event at the range.

Lots of lots of promising uh positive energy that came from that.

We have just did a handshake deal with uh Sheep Show.

So if you're familiar with Sheep Show at all, we will host the first ever range day for a sheep show.

Uh so the day before Sheep Show actually opens.

All these vendors can come to the range, let everybody shoot uh what they brought to offer, not just shoot.

I should say there's an individual makes hearing protection, she'll be out there.

Anything in this industry, we're gonna host out there.

Let people come talk about it, sign up for Sheep Show, get started.

Uh the Reno Rodeo Foundation we work very closely with.

We have a couple of really cool events we've done with them.

Uh, we're working on one now that kind of entails uh kind of a mystery theater dinner that we want to put on uh that will involve being able to go and shoot the cardboard cutout of the bad guy after the show's over, right?

So lots of really cool events.

When we took over the range, there were I want to say 15 steels maybe on the main high.

We have 47 steels now uh on the hillside to allow uh individuals to really train.

Uh we're a we're a training company.

And so we'd when we tell people come out, we don't say, Here to have fun, we're here to train.

Like that's our that's our goal.

That's our measure, right?

So we've given them some things to shoot at.

We've given some things to really build their skill sets with.

We also have a fun game.

We have a we have a um Bobcat, steel bobcat on the hillside, painted much like a bobcat.

Show up, find him, and hit him with a cold board shot.

We throw you in a raffle for a Bagara rifle or range time or whatever it is you're looking for.

So trying to trying to drive that community piece back to there.

Um and then as far as some of the future stuff we're looking at from uh what we're building right now, five stand.

We have a customer of ours, bless his heart, who bought us all of the equipment for five stand shotgun.

If you're not familiar with what five stand shotgun is, um we needed five machines.

We need several machines and five shooting platforms.

Uh, one of our members of the community graciously blessed us with the equipment to throw the clays for this service.

We're just in the process now of trying to build the stands that people would shoot out of.

So we look just hopefully have uh five stand in play within the next couple months.

I know that we've the folks from Sheep Show have offered to give us some funds to build one of them.

Uh so we're just kind of digging in now to try to figure out what that looks like.

Um tons of children, firearm safety fire children are kind of our where we hang our hat.

When we took over, there was some talk about making us range raise the price to the range.

So we did.

Uh adults went up five dollars and kids went down five dollars.

It's still the same cost to bring your child out and shoot.

Uh, we want the kids out there for sure.

Uh, we've written uh children's curriculum that has six phases, six parts to it.

Uh three to six-year-olds, six to eight year olds, eight to eleven year olds, eleven to thirteen year olds, fourteen to six-year-olds, and sixteen to eighteen-year-olds.

And it simply starts with uh toy guns, coloring books, uh, and and young children.

And it transitions to high schoolers that are actually shooting a course of fire eventually.

Our concern is your child will find a gun.

Will they be four-year-old, four years old?

Will there be 14-year-olds?

Will they be 24 years old?

And will they know what to do when they find it?

So we desperately hang our hat on youth uh and engaging the loot, the youth and developing them.

Um we offer as well at the uh regional shooting facility.

Many, many many mini classes.

Sorry, it's hard to say.

Uh protecting your house of worship, navigating, uh, the shopping season situated situational awareness.

Protecting your house of worship, navigating uh the shopping season situal situational awareness, um, encourage uh encountering a mass shooter, conflict avoidance, uh, all free.

These are all free classes that we offer to the community.

They're on our website, they're on a website for the United States Concealed Carry Association, and we're very excited about that.

As you can see by that slide there, we have changed our hours.

We have increased 162.5%.

Uh, we went from four days a week, 32 hours.

Uh, we are seven days a week, seven hours, uh, 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

When we get into the winter and the sun sets earlier, we're set up to sundown.

But essentially that's that's the hours we shoot for.

Uh we have had great success with that, and a lot of people are very happy with these getting rid of kind of the limited hours for those at work weekends and have a hard time getting out.

Um we are, if you guys don't know, I wish Nolan was still here.

Uh, if you don't know, we lost our Boy Scout camp several years ago, Camp Fleischmann outside of Chester, California, camp that I was raised at.

Uh, when we lost that camp, we lost the opportunity for a lot of kids to get merit badges.

Our goal is to put 14 or 15 merit badges on property as well.

Obviously, the rifle, black powder, first aid, some of those that are very archery.

Some of those that we can do there in the classroom or do there on property, maybe some orienteering, right?

Set up a course, let them go oriented here, orientate the property.

Uh, we're very focused on that.

We think we'll get it, we think we can get a bunch out there and help these kids that maybe don't have the ability to go to some of these camps that are much further away, and there's a lot of a lot of cost involved.

So we're working carefully with that and closely.

We've brought the Girl Scouts back, the Boy Scouts are back, uh, Youth Rodeo is back, uh, YMCA uh is back.

Uh, and we're very proud of just some of that community stuff that we've offered, and some of those folks we've had come back.

There's our coyote, by the way.

We used to shoot that white coyote, but um we're afraid of real coyote walks by, so we're like, stop that.

So we have a bobcat.

Uh so some of the things we do on the range.

As you can see, we built prone pads at top right picture.

We added prone pads.

I think I actually did that when I was a county employee because I did I did work for Brian for a while.

Uh, and we put in some some of those features as well.

Um planting trees, growing trees, and doing all sorts of good stuff in that regard.

As far as us uh and the community, we we've been super blessed.

We have a ton of people who have really helped us kind of get to where we are uh that we couldn't do without them.

Some folks at like Earthworm Excavation that came out uh and rebuilt the berms on the public line for us.

We are a little bit behind the eight ball when it comes to equipment.

When we took over, all the equipment went away.

So we're really kind of working hand over fist to try to get things done.

Fortunately, we're blessed with some people in the community that have access to this equipment, and they've come out occasionally and helped us build some stuff, but um we're we're working closely with them.

Uh some local companies, Shields, uh Rightful Liberty Arms, um, other uh Sparks Black Rifle, some other other great companies in town.

When you buy a weapon from them, we give you a free range day.

Please come out and learn.

Just take a fundamental basic understanding of how that weapon works.

Sending people out into the community and into the world at large without any sort of knowledge about how these weapons work, I think is an opportunity that that is not helping us greatly.

So we work very close with those individuals.

Uh we uh hope to do more in the immediate future, but that's kind of where we hang our hat currently.

Uh, if you make a large purchase, I think 150 dollars, I think it is at 5'11 tactical.

We also give you a range card to come out.

Uh, we work with folks like lag tactical.

Uh, any students of ours have an opportunity to go to lag and get holstered up so we know people are carrying properly in the community.

They give them a discount for having come through the county range.

So we're super excited about that.

Uh as far as cleanup and growth at the property, we've done a ton to kind of remove just kind of some some dead areas that didn't really offer much to the community uh or to our shooters, and we found that uh opening up other areas and open up like the east side of the range to where we can monitor it and we can allow growth has really helped us.

That's kind of where SAS went, the single action shooters, and that was a big blessing for us to be able to give those guys a place to hide uh and shoot.

We are kind of uh in a bit of a a bit of a uh, as you'll see on the next slide here, a bit of a hands-tight situation currently.

When we look at um, this it'll pop in a second, I'm sure it's got it's not a timer, so it should pop right now.

There you go.

When you look at the picture on the right there, if you see the blue um paper on that on that page there, that those are potential future berms for us.

If we build those berms, we can then protect those bays.

There's 12 bays on that side.

As it stands now, if you use the thousand-yard range, which is just at the lower half of that of that paper, just above that first blue line.

If you uh shoot at that thousand-yard line, you have visibility to those bays four through twelve, which means we can't use those.

So it's it's one at a time, right?

So we either use a thousand-yard range or we open up these bays to community events.

So it kind of hand ties us a little bit.

We're trying to get dirt currently to build those berms uh to protect the shooters, much like on the left side, you can kind of see berms there.

Those are designed to protect the main the main line uh of range as well.

So uh we guys we we have dirt, we just can't get it over there.

So we're working with a couple of people in the community.

Um, open up our archery as well and and kind of drive a ton of more opportunities for training education and development at the range.

Um I will tell you just from a braggadocious moment here.

Uh, when we took over the range, we were in the threes with you know what people thought about us, right?

So we we had some opportunities to be better.

Uh, we are now currently at a 4.8, and our reviews are great.

We haven't had less than a five star review, I don't believe.

Um, but we're doing the we're doing what we feel is the right thing.

We're trying very hard.

We're still super blessed.

I can't thank you guys enough for supporting us.

Uh this has been just an amazing ride, and and we truly are grateful to be here.

That's that's really all I got it.

I will I will promise you that I will come back more often.

I'm sorry that that it's taken us a year and several months to get here.

But man, it's it's it's been a ride.

So uh we've been super busy.

So with that, I I would thank you for your time.

I really appreciate being here and I appreciate everything you've done for us and support.

Well, thank you, Scott.

Yeah, um that's a tremendous amount of information there.

Um just off the top of my head, you mentioned a couple of things.

Um your classes are free, which that's fantastic.

Uh some of the other uh vendors in the Reno area, like Reno Guns and Range.

Uh, are they okay with you offering free classes or they don't offer these classes?

These are USCCA written curriculums that um they don't they don't dishonor, they can offer them too.

They're they're mini classes that the USCCA recommends to be free, so they can they can do it as well.

Yeah, we're we're not conflicting with anybody else.

Oh, okay, good, good.

And then the five shot is that something like Skeet?

Five stand, very similar.

I don't know, I don't shoot it, uh, but it's very popular.

Uh there is a stand that you you actually stand in it with your shotgun out.

And so then there's there, so you can't move too far too far left.

Uh, and then you uh would shoot at Clays as they're throne, yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

And I'm I'm not five, I'm not shotgun guys, so I just excited to see it.

Everyone else in this community is apparently because I get a call every day about it.

Okay, well, thank you.

Yeah, all right.

I'll open it up to the other commissioners for questions, comments.

Uh Commissioner Baker.

Um what's the what's kind of your public outreach?

And and I kind of ask more from a it seems like I'm familiar with your facility.

I I think it's great.

I just want more people to use it as opposed to going out in the canyons and and shooting, although permitted depending where.

Um, obviously we had Nolan uh before with fire risk and other things.

I mean, you have a great facility, and unless you have a waiting list every day, um, I feel like there's a pretty good appetite for the facility, and I'd love for more people to use it.

We don't disagree.

I will tell you this.

Uh and I I hesitate to speak ill of anyone, but I will tell you this.

There were some, there is a there's a bit of a of an address reputation that we're dealing with.

It was it was not there were some personalities that conflicted greatly before we took over, and a lot of people are still pretty upset about that.

And so just getting people to understand that we are out there now and we're trying to do the right thing.

So when we talk about these events, the majority of them are open to the public because we just want people to come.

We just open, we have a voter registration out there now.

We're people are voting in with us, right?

Currently, uh, we just want people to come out and stumble onto us, and then we'll keep you like my told my team, I don't care how somebody gets here, how do we get them back, right?

So we're trying with this with Arena Rodeo and these events and the dinner and the all these other things.

We do a ton of giveaways.

We we donate weapons to almost anybody in town that's asking for a uh uh NRA event or uh youth shooting event.

If they want guns and training, we we give it away.

We're just trying to get people to come out.

If you've got an idea, I'm in, man, because we're trying everything short of renting a hot air balloon at this point.

How about an off-premises sign behind Eagle Canyon softball fields?

Yeah, right.

You're you're not wrong.

We have gone out to moon rocks in the past when they've had shooters out there and give them free.

We carry a stack of free range cards.

We give about a ton of range time uh to people just to get them out and see what it looks like.

But I'm open to any ideas you have.

We we have a pretty decent social media presence.

And whenever the sheriff makes an arrest or they make a statement, we blast it all over our page and tell them look, there's a place where it's safe, there's a place where it's cheap, there's a place for it where you're secure.

Uh, we have a water buffalo county, it was nice enough to leave us a water buffalo.

If we run into a problem, we can treat a fire.

Uh, we agree with you wholeheartedly.

And I will tell you this just about every class we teach, we have somebody that is court ordered to sit in there because they got caught shooting somewhere in the community where they shouldn't be shooting.

So it's not an uncommon practice, and we work very hard to try to fix that.

So yeah, I'll hang something, Golden.

You want I've I've told the deputies even that patrol after we sat through a cab meeting.

We offer that we host the cab meetings, we host the GID meetings at our place.

And we have told deputies we'll give you range cards, just tell them a free free range, get out of here and go shoot it at a free range.

I think I think they'll continue to come back if you based on our reviews and what people say about us.

I think that's a start.

Yeah, I appreciate it.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Let's get on that sign.

I'll help you.

We'll blow the sign on town.

Commissioner Flengus here.

Um really wonderful presentation.

I am not familiar with your facility.

Um, I know, shame on me.

I am familiar with a lot of archers, though.

And I know there's a really big um archery tournament tournament in Westlake at Tahoe this weekend.

Um, and so I'm just thinking along the same lines of voice to outreach in different communities that maybe haven't heard about it.

They come up from California, they look to practice before they go after the tournament.

Love to connect you with some of those people.

Yes and they do a lot of youth outreach too.

So they sponsor a local nonprofit with their competition as well.

So it sounds like y'all have a lot in common.

We do.

We're working with uh we have a we have an individual with this Tyson Snodgrass has been with me for 25 years or so, who's a great friend and a great instructor, and he is an archery guy.

He at one time was the archery coach with UNR, I believe.

Because he brings all those folks out.

So we we are trying to grassroots it, but it's very difficult.

Archery's tough in the wind.

If you've been out to the regional shitty facility, you know that we got a lot of wind.

Uh so it's a little bit difficult from time to time, but we are looking at building once we can put those berms up and we can protect shooters, we'll put them on that right side and we'll put a 3D range up and allow them to do some walkback tournaments and things like that.

So, yeah, definitely in our future.

Thank we just got to move dirt.

So thank you.

Very good.

Well, thank you, Scott.

Appreciate it.

Uh, you're doing great work out there.

Keep it up.

Thank you very much for your presentation.

We're very blessed.

Thank you very much for your time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

Moving on to item eight presentation, discussion, and recommendation to approve the revised parkland easement policy to be effective immediately.

This is for possible action.

All right.

Good afternoon, commissioners.

For the record, Famerie Picard, Park Planner with Washoe County.

Uh, item eight before you is as stated, a policy update to our existing parkland easement policy and procedures.

Um, if I can have my PowerPoint, thank you.

So, just to give an outline of what I'll be going over today for this uh presentation, we'll give a quick background of our parkland easement policy itself, uh, the reason why staff is recommending updates to the policy language, um, the goals of the updates, as well as an overview of the language changes in additions to the policy language itself.

So the original parkland easement policy and procedure was created in February of 2008.

Um it was adopted by Board of County Commissioners in March of that year.

The last revision for the parkland easement policy itself was done in 2012.

The language update during this 2012 update was for uh making sure those funds that were being received from those easements and the uh appraised value and fees that we are collecting from that were being brought back to parks through either our district um park districts or park projects or maintenance expenses rather than going to uh allocations to the general fund.

So since that time, it's been quite a while since there's been update uh last done for this parkland easement policy, and some of this is driven from feedback that we've received from commissioners in the past, um, feedback that we receive from applicants themselves for when they go through this process, as well as uh staff and their uh view as we go through evaluating easement requests that we receive.

So the goals of the revised policy is to really streamline staff review and commission considerations for when we get easements for parkland policies or parkland property.

It's to improve our transparency and consistency in the review process, uh by being clear in our policy language what we're expecting from the applicant to provide us with information, um, but also have that information upright before going through the application process so that way they can self-evaluate whether this is a good choice for themselves to move forward with or not.

Um, we also want to recognize our property has some of our parklands have um deed restrictions that are associated with it and RPP patents.

So based off of how the county received lands, uh there may be restrictions for how their easements can be approved or limitations, or there might not be a no-go at all within these easement reviews.

Um, although that's something we consider in our review process, it's something that we want to make sure the policy language reflects that.

Again, trying to be more transparent with applicants as they move forward.

Um, we also want to align our application fee to the approved fee schedule as it's written in the 2012 update.

It states it's a hundred dollar fee, which has not been increased or changed since 2008.

We're trying to align that language to the existing fee schedules, though, in case updates do change to that amount, it's reflective for what's adopted within the fee schedule and not what's written in the policy.

Um, and lastly, uh, probably the biggest change to this is establishment of annual rent requirements for our easements.

I'll go into that a little bit further in my presentation.

So just giving a quick outline for what our current policy states and the change proposed um the proposed language changes and the new changes to the language that we have.

Right now we have pretty limited application requirements.

And on a staff level, that really gives an incomplete application and it makes it have a longer time to turn around by asking the applicant for more information.

So some of the things that we're asking for is required proof of alternatives that do not impact parkland, or if it's a minimum uh impact to our park property.

Additionally, in the application itself, we're asking for additional environmental impacts.

So not only from what we have right now within the policy of impacts to natural resources, um, to any historic resources, but we're also wanting to know impacts to our existing trail systems, anything that's impacting our vegetation, existing trees, or existing park structures like irrigation, things that you don't really think of that might be impacted by this request.

Um for the deed restrictions, again, just to highlight a lot of this property that the counties received in the past could be land water conservation fund restricted, or if we got certain pieces of property from BLM, there are RNP patents.

It's the recreation and public proposed act patents that are imposed on this property, which limits a lot of what can happen on these properties to outdoor recreation use only.

Easements sometimes can conflict with that language, so it's just acknowledging that there may be additional review processes outside of Washoe County jurisdiction that may involve state also evaluating the easement request, which could be a no-go or a pass as well.

Um we want to clarify that we get in our emails a lot when we explain the policy process or our review process is just outlining the steps of what this looks like.

So there's a clear timeline for approval process.

Um part of that is not stating that this goes to the Open Space and Regional Park Commission and then to BCC, although we know that it's not in the policy, so we're making sure that language includes those changes as well, just to clarify and give more transparency.

Um again, the fixed cost for the application fee, the old process refers to $100 application fee.

Rather than that, we're changing the language to be reflective of the fee schedule in case there's changes to that in the future.

Um, and lastly, there's no annual rent.

So when you think of rent, it's just like the word that you're thinking of.

It's an annual fee that we'll collect for the easement use itself.

It's an addition to the value that we have, appraised value that we have for the property.

Our current policy does not include annual rent, um, but we do want to have that as a new addition to our policy information.

Oops, let me go back one.

So just to highlight where there's changes within our policy language in section two for policy, we're just acknowledging that deed restrictions do exist.

We're asking for alternatives.

In section seven for procedures, we're acknowledging that we're tying our fee for the application to the fee schedule.

Um, and then in section seven for procedures again, we're just outlining what that process looks like from bringing in this item easement items to open space and regional park commission to then BCC approval and that timeline.

Honing in on the biggest change that we have within this policy language is the annual rent.

So for annual rent, the intention by this is to have a balanced approach that recognizes that ongoing non-park use of public land is occurring while remaining reasonable, predictable, and administratively manageable while we provide these easements to those that request them.

So part of that is making sure that we're doing fair, predictable and feasible rates while keeping in mind the long-term stewardship of the property.

For the annual rent that's being proposed, it would be only affected to any new easements that occur after this new adoption revision of the policy or anything that becomes modified.

So if there's already an existing easement that we've already previously approved, it will not have an annual rent fee associated with it unless there's a modification that comes in for a request for that easement.

Um the annual rent rate we're having right now is for 3% of the adjusted value or the appraised value.

Um that has to do with again being predictable and feasible for the applicant.

Um we also want to make sure that that flat percentage ends up being a predictable framework for applicants with the requesting easements.

Um it also avoids us having to do case-by-case negotiations by having a flat rate associated with the annual rent.

So to give an example, we have this language within our policy, but I just want to explain it a little bit more in Lames terms.

Um, for example, if we have an easement request coming in from a utility company, and that appraised value that we received for that easement is 10,000.

So that's $300 a year.

The intention is to have that same $300 be the annual rent fee or the annual rent payment for five years, and we can renegotiate or reevaluate at five years or sooner.

But in this example, we're doing it at five years.

So in five years' time, the adjusted value for that 10,000 uh valued uh 10,000, I can't say it dollars.

There we go.

10,000 dollar uh easement, the adjusted value is increased by 16.5% or 16.05, which ends up being $1,000, $1,605.

So all that to say 3% of your adjusted value that's now at 11,600 ends up being an annual rent rate of $348 continuing forward.

So that's how we're trying to establish the annual rent.

So in summary, just to provide the benefits of the revised policy, we're really trying to improve our parkland easement policy and make sure we're being advocates for long-term long-term stewardship of the land while also still being able to give the ability to provide these easements and not be a hindrance, but also make sure we're getting some kind of reciprocation for the easements that are being used on our public lands.

Uh we want to provide clear expectations to the applicant for what we're requiring for the applicant itself and also include that within our policy language.

We're acknowledging that some of our lands have restrictions on them that may or may not make it uh feasible or pretty limited for what can be approved, especially as more of our public land becomes more and more cumbersome for use of easements.

Uh, we really want to make it clear that it may not be the best fit based off of those deed restrictions.

Um, and lastly, we want to make sure we're being uh financial financially sustainable and stewards of our land.

That comes from increasing the applicant fee from the fixed cost to the actual um uh annual uh structure for our cost for what we have for our annual um applications and then also for applying that annual rent as well.

Um and with that, oops, let me go back one.

I do have a recommendation for the commission for what could be approved if you agree with this.

I do want to add one caveat though, that part of the changes that happen within the edits with our language, we ended up um leaving out a section for the compensation and mitigation.

So if I could make a correction for the record, um in the 2012 Parkland easement policy in section nine, there's a compensation and mitigation, which is items one, two, and three, and then it just discusses.

I don't know if you can show my screen or not, I have it highlighted, but we want to leave this language in that ends up showing um the process of using an appraiser for what we'll require and needs to be a mutually agreed upon appraiser.

It's in the highlighted section here.

Um, but we do want to leave this language items one, two, and three, uh, and carry that forward to the new policy language.

So that would be the only addition that I would add to that.

And with that, do we have any questions?

Okay, thank you.

That was um very informative.

And I I think it's excellent that staff is working on modifying and keeping these um rules, regulations, et cetera, up to speed.

And speaking as a land surveyor, um I can tell you that it's about 10 to one lawsuits involving easements over boundaries.

And so the fact that we're working on this and getting this up to speed and being transparent with the public, uh, I think this is excellent and an excellent presentation.

Um I'm all for it.

Uh, but I will open it up to uh commissioners for questions, comments.

Hi, Commissioner Hill.

Uh just a few questions.

Um, thank you for your presentation.

Uh does seem like it's uh this is a good time to make these changes.

Um can you give me, you gave one example of like a utility coming in and wanting to have an easement on um county land.

Can you give me any other example?

I'm trying to get an idea of like the diversity of types of easement requests that are out there.

Yeah, so majority of the easement requests that we receive through the county are utilities and it's mostly underground.

So it can be from Tumwa, um NV Energy comes through Southwest Gas.

If it's NV Energy, it could be a telephone um poll that comes through a transmission line.

So it's more utilities than anything that's requesting easements on our property.

Um, and some of our properties we do have access easements, but it's very rare for us now to allow those.

It's more to make sure that the requirements within the policy, it has to be for public benefit.

So when it comes to someone saying, I need a driveway to access my property and its parks, and you're the easiest thing, it doesn't follow what we allow to occur on our property.

So it's a it's an immediate stop.

Okay, perfect.

Thank you.

Um next question uh what is the typical is there a typical length of these contracts of these easements?

Is it so typically?

So I think what I want to differentiate to is between a lease and an easement.

Okay.

So thank you.

Yeah.

So at least you would think of as a fixed contract or you can renegotiate with the contract.

The intent behind the easement is for it to live in perpetuity or until it's abandoned.

Um and that's why the annual rent will come into place for that as well.

So rather than having it be like a fixed date when it ends, the intention is for it to carry forward.

Okay, perfect.

That's helpful.

Um so the three percent number makes sense in that it is standardized and that it's predictable.

Does it really did did you also maybe you covered it?

I missed it.

Are we confident that that covers costs?

Is that a realistic figure that will cover costs over time?

So compared to um adjacent land managers that also use an annual rent fee, it's comparable to what they have for their easements for rent.

Um minimum, we're asking also if that adjusted value doesn't get to like a certain minimum, depending on what happens with our cost index.

We are asking for a minimum of 200 for annual rent or to do the three percent.

Have you all thought about um and I don't know if this would be feasible, but another model as opposed to annual rent could be an endowment up front for these easements.

I don't know if that is makes sense in this kind of scenario, but it was just an another idea I had as well.

Yeah, I mean, I have to look more into what the endowment is, but we do for our easements, we do an appraised value.

So we'll get that initial amount right off the bat anyway, just like that $10,000 that we're talking about.

It depends on the easement too.

Sometimes if the amount of area that's being impacted is less than the amount that you would pay for appraisal for an easement, we won't move forward with it.

If it ends up being a very tiny change in it, but if it ends up being significant enough, we will get that initial appraised value at the beginning.

Um, in the staff reports, we'll write it too for uh example.

So I'm trying to think what we did recently.

CRSH golf course is a good example that we did with Southwest Gas or not Southwest Gas with the uh NV Energy for their gas main that they needed to do through the golf course.

Um we did get an appraised value for that easement area, and I believe it was around 10,000 or 12,000 for the amount for that appraised value.

In this example, if that ended up being done currently with this new um amount that we have, it would be three percent of that 10,000 that we'd carry on forward.

Okay, so it sounds like the 3% the annual rent was well thought out.

Um that was just another alternative example I had thought of, but I I think you all have thought this through.

Last question um mutually agreed appraisers.

Is this a an esoteric type of appraisal or is this a pretty common type of appraisal?

Are there a lot of appraisers out there?

So what we do for Washoe County is we have a pre-approved appraisal list.

So based off of that list will allow them to select who they would like to go through.

It typically goes through whoever hasn't been used next, or we go straight down the line of appraisers that we need to use next.

But they can use anyone within those guardrails.

You have an approved list.

Great.

I think that's all I have.

Thank you.

Commissioner Flanus, um, I'm looking back over at the section from the 2012 that you said you wanted to add back in here, the compensation and mitigation.

Yeah.

Um, I see in here that it says in big bold letters, which is great, a preliminary title report and appraisal expenses will be paid entirely by the applicant.

Could you explain?

Does that mean?

And I might not understand, but does that mean that each time this land is reappraised that the applicant for the easement is who is paying that appraisal, or is that just a one-time startup?

So it's it's a one-time.

The preliminary title report happens when you're not in escrow.

So it's just to give the value of the land.

Um, that cost typically ranges anywhere between a thousand five hundred and two thousand or more, depending on how comprehensive that title report is.

So we're just trying to make sure that if within this easement request, you're going to ask for you, we're gonna need a preliminary title report, and that cost is on the onus of the applicant, not Washoe County.

And so then following up, as you do this five-year review, so you evaluate and appraise the land.

Is that paid for by the county, or is that paid for by still the applicant?

Yeah, so good question for me to clarify on that one.

The the appraised value, what will happen?

You have your appraised value at the beginning.

So say we did a contract today for someone, the the five year change would be based off of the cost index.

Okay.

So um, and I don't think I was clear on that.

So thank you for asking that.

But we do have in my slide, if I can get back to it.

That's okay if we don't.

But it is it is based off of thank you.

Yeah.

But the um I'm trying to make sure I don't miss say what it is.

Isn't this this on the line?

Yeah, it's it's based off the U.S.

housing index.

Okay.

So and then if that ends up not being something that we can go for it with, there's another CIP index that we have highlighted within the policy to base that next value off of it, the adjusted value.

And just for just for kicks, um, it's I feel like sometimes in local government we put caps on how far we can raise, but we don't put floors.

Um so when property values drop, we then drop below that, and we can't build up to that value again.

Um, does yours include like a floor basis by which you like if it's a value and it were to drop in cost, so we have predictable rates moving forward?

Yes.

So again, good question.

So the basis that we have for it is it's minimum 200 for what could be your annual rent or based off of the three percent appraised value.

I'm trying to find that for you within the document itself.

I think I missed the I know you mentioned the minimum 200, but I think I missed the language.

Um so just clarifying that that language is somewhere because I don't think that I found it.

So it should be.

I'm just trying to find it real quick for you.

I think it's in section four that it mentions annual rent, but if I didn't see the 200 floor, yeah, I don't know if I'm I think we have it in the definition for the adjusted value.

Let me see.

The language might be missing now that you say that, but it should have been a minimum of 200 versus it dropping below.

That's all my questions.

One more question.

Uh Commissioner Baker, so is the revenue generated from the rent, is that prioritized with the park that it is creating the revenue, or is that just go back into the general park fund to be spent across the county?

Good question.

So similar to what we have from the 2012 update, that revenue stays with parks, so that would not go into the general fund.

Um part of the request is to make sure within our staff report that we have uh the annual rent would be going to one of our GL accounts from parks.

So I understand it's not going into the county's general fund.

I my question was is it staying in the in proximity or in the park that is generating the revenue?

So for example, if there's a power line easement that goes through Rancho San Rafael, is the $300 or whatever it is, is that being reappropriated to improvements within that park, or is that going somewhere else in the county?

Yeah, again, good question.

Uh so part of the policy requires or asks that whatever park is being impacted that those fees stay with that park.

If it's not viable for it to be used there, say there's no longer a need for improvements in that, it will remain in that park district, or within the action of the approved easement, we can ask for that funds to be allocated somewhere else.

Commissioner Dick, I want to thank you for the efforts to go through and update this.

I it it brings back recollection of a of an easement request we had, I don't know, maybe a year, year and a half ago on a gas pipeline out east of town, and we deliberated quite a long time on it and had a lot of questions about what we could and couldn't do and what we should allow.

And turns out the pipeline was for one customer.

Uh and and that pretty well set the stage for it.

But uh this this should help provide some guidance to us here in the future.

So thank you for doing this.

Thank you.

Uh Chair Jones, um a word popped up during this discussion, and that's abandonment.

And as you know, with uh written easements, mere non-use is not an abandonment.

The abandonment has to be in writing.

So that's gonna be part of this process that if there is an abandonment that it needs to be in writing somewhere.

Yes.

So abandonments will usually go to BCC level, and that's a recorded document showing that that easement is being relinquished and no longer in existence.

Okay.

So it does need to be recorded document.

It's not a verbal agreement.

Okay.

Good.

So any more questions?

Yeah, quick quick question, quick follow-up.

Don't only public right-away and access easements go to BCC, though.

So I mean, if there's a power line and that gets abandoned, doesn't have to get abandoned by a different mechanism.

That would be separate from parklands.

That's general easements like right of way and roads.

So that's not something that's that I know about because we're dealing with parks.

So I that's my prevy, but I don't know if Aaron's.

So any abandonment of these easements would have to go to BCC.

Just like the final approval for these easements go to BCC, the abandonment would as well.

Okay.

For the record.

For the record, Aaron Smith.

Uh, so any agreement that the county enters into has to be approved by BCC.

These easements will have agreement language in them, which will stipulate how these will be abandoned based on non-payment of the annual rent or other terms in that agreement.

Uh so based on that agreement language that is approved by BCC, we can abandon it without bringing it back to BCC because we're gonna put it in there ahead of time.

Very good.

Thank you.

Any more questions?

Yes.

Um, I uh Commissioner Flangas, I'm wondering.

So if we need to make the motion to kind of approve this, uh there's a couple questions I have with it, like caveats with it, because I know we want to include the language under the compensation section from the 2012 um version.

And then I wondered do in the motion, do we also have to include giving staff the ability to make the change to include that 200 minimum within the um I don't know, proposed policy and procedures?

Is that just for clarification?

You could do it by motion, yeah.

So uh it might be a wordy motion.

Yeah, that do your best.

That's usually how it works.

And then we'll we'll try to fill in the gaps where we need to.

Okay.

Hey, I have one additional question before we start that.

Can you guys hear me okay?

Please identify yourself.

Yeah, this is Commissioner Pinsler.

Um, so speaking of abandonment, is there a requirement in here for some like bonding or a commitment for reclamation?

Like, for example, if NV Energy decides uh, you know, to not use a power line right away anymore.

Is there a requirement for them to remove the power line?

Understand the question.

For the record, Aaron Smith.

Uh to the commissioner through the chair.

The I believe the question is what happens to the stuff in the ground when the easement gets abandoned.

Is that correct?

Yeah, that's correct.

Or if it's above ground, like if if you give an easement for an above ground power line.

Typically, those would be abandoned in place.

Um is typically how we've done them in the past.

Uh, we haven't had too many abandonments, uh, but we may in the future, based on what we're doing here and the annual rent.

So it's something to consider.

Uh typically with abandoning in place, it's you know, highly uh cost prohibitive to go out and and dig it out.

Uh typically we can work around it and deal with it if we need to.

Uh, but again, we'll take recommendations from the board.

And then for the record, Bamer Picard, uh, just to add to that too, part of the application process, our questions do ask for a reclamation um plan.

So if and when these uh utilities are abandoned, if they're underground, we have that information of what they intend to do.

Um, and likewise, if it's above ground, typically we don't want to keep those in place.

So we're looking for that information to be provided part of the application as well.

Okay, yeah, yeah, Commissioner Baker.

Yeah, so I think that answered my question that I hadn't even asked yet.

So good job.

Um yeah, essentially there is a reclamation plan that is part of the application process because yeah, depending on the timing, if if uh if an improvement's underground and the reved is in place and it's it's long standing, yeah, you can just abandon it.

There's really no negative impact to the public.

But you know, in the in the case of an overhead power line, um, yeah, it's pretty unsightly, and you know there could be some some um negative negative impacts to residents and what have you, and some safety concerns.

So yeah, hopefully that's addressed kind of in the individual reclamation plan uh associated with each request.

Commissioner Flangus, following up, are there teeth on that like provision regarding the reclamation plan?

Because if there's an abandonment agreement, like what's the is there like any kind of fees associated with not actually following through with reclamation?

No, I don't know how that happens with our parklands, but typically when we're doing permits, we will have some kind of bond or reclamation plan for that abandonment, um, but not through our parkland easement policies.

It's again typically we don't receive those abandonments.

These easements are intended to live in perpetuity, so we're not to that level.

Um, but that is a good question.

For the record, Aaron Smith, I just want to add to that real quickly.

Uh so I believe uh the biggest concern is is the reclamation during the construction.

And so there's uh construction agreements as well uh and construction easements that are temporary that that language would be included in, uh, which would be that you know they are financially responsible for doing these uh doing the reclamation and putting the the property back to the level uh condition that we are expecting, um, and those are in those construction easement language typically.

Okay, if there uh are no more questions, I don't want to rush anybody, but are there any more questions or comments?

Okay, we don't have a um motion language pre-brinted, uh pre-printed for us.

So uh somebody's gonna have to take a stab at uh how we want to put this motion forward, and it also is important that we incorporate um the item that is not in uh the print in front of us.

Two items.

Thank you.

I'll take it.

Let's take a shot.

Okay.

Um Commissioner Flanus, I move to approve the revised parkland easement policy with two caveats.

One to include the 2012 easement policy under the compensation and mitigation section.

There's three items under it listed under there to include in addition to this report, as well as allowing staff to make an amendment under the annual rent section to include a 200 minimum.

Commissioner Hill, I second very well.

Uh motion has been made.

Yeah, I won't try to repeat it.

And it has been seconded.

Uh, do we have any public comment?

I have no public comment in chambers.

I have no public comment on Zoom.

Very well.

Motion has been made and seconded.

All those in favor, say goodbye by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Oppose.

Motion carries.

And discussion.

Okay.

Moving on.

Um to item nine update on pros consulting work to develop a service plan for the possible creation of a park district.

Hello again for the record, Aaron Smith.

Uh so as dedicated public servants, we continually evaluate how we provide services to the community and and how to maximize community taxpayer dollars.

So in 2025, Washoe County, C of Sparks, Sun Valley GID partnered with City Areno and a consultant pros consulting to develop a uh parks level service analysis as well as developed a district service plan and proposal.

So a little bit of history briefly.

Uh you may have experienced this, but our population is growing in this region uh over the last 10 years.

It's about 14%, but our parks attendance at the same time is growing 66%.

So people are moving to the area, and those people that are moving are using our parks land uh more vigorously.

Uh at the same time, Washtoe County, uh, each citizen on average contributes 21 dollars and 28 cents per person per year to parkland in Washoe County.

So the amount of work that these amazing people do every year is is just uh amazing.

And a recent study found that every dollar invested in park and recreation yields three dollars in local economic benefit.

So those things make us want to look at how we deliver our services regionally rather than just individually, which is why we're moving forward with this.

So as you know, the uh parks level service analysis was completed earlier this spring.

Uh you can find the results on our parks NV dot org.

Uh and in quick summary that an uncovered needs in the areas of parkland uh trails, flat fields, outdoor pools, and recreation space.

Against benchmarks, uh, there are opportunities to uh expand what the community desires in parkland.

Uh this this study also showed uh strong public support for more consistent park service services across jurisdictions, equitable access, and dedicated funding.

94% of people said that parks are important to their quality of life.

That's just about everybody.

Uh customers regularly use facilities across jurisdictions.

Reno uses Washoe County, Sparks uses Wash County, Wash County Citizens Unincorporated.

So uh 78% of respondents believe that park services are not consistent across their neighborhoods.

Uh and this is an opportunity for a district to potentially step in.

Um reduce overlap between agencies, uh, have fair systems, equitable access, uh, improve the conditions, have dedicated funding.

So 72% of those folks surveyed said that they were supportive or uh very supportive or supportive of uh the formation of a district.

The next steps include developing a service plan.

So that would be the governance and funding models and district boundary analysis, staffing and asset transition planning, and preparations on the statutory service plan requirements under NRS 318A.

So that is the service plan step, is where we're at and is what's currently being worked on.

It's on schedule to be delivered uh later this year.

I believe November is the target, uh, if not sooner.

So with that, I'll take any questions on the parts district that you may have.

Thank you, Director Smith.

That's uh a nice wrap-up of all the things that are happening with this possible uh park district.

And as discussed at the last month's joint meeting, uh, I do believe that uh a bit of a speed bump is going to be all of the deed restrictions that are going to be applied to some of these parks.

Um in other words, if it's deeded for specifically how we're gonna get around that, and it almost seems like a lease is going to be better than trying to do a fee transfer over, but that's going down the road their ways.

So anyway, with that, do we have any questions, comments from the board.

Thanks, Aaron, for that.

Uh that was a great summary.

And uh, Commissioner Hill for the record.

Um I was hoping we're kind of uh the the commission here is a little bit public facing on this as our staff on what is this whole idea with the parks district and and everything that you just said with all those great stats.

I would love to have at my fingertips as I'm talking about this in the community.

Like, you know, this many people voted for this, you know, this the 14% growth in the last 10 years in this county versus what is it, 66% growth in parks attendance in that time?

That's insane.

So, anyway, all of those things together, I think would help us as we try to be spokespeople for this uh in the community.

So if you wouldn't mind sharing that stuff, that'd be wonderful.

Yes, absolutely.

I I would also recommend pointing people to our parks nv.org.

Uh that is would try we're trying to make that the landing page for this conversation.

Answering the question of why, how, what, all those things.

Those like the the full uh analysis is available for people to dig in.

Um I'm I'm not sure that the population numbers are on there, but that is a dashboard I can point you to and link you to.

Great.

Um, but uh yeah, I'll uh can commit to that.

Thank you so much.

And hearing no other uh comments, thank you again, Director Smith.

That was an excellent report.

Um moving on to item 10 parks reports.

All right, again, Stephanie DRC parks operations superintendent.

Um I'm here again to bring visibility to the immense amount of work that uh our staff uh puts in every single day, all year round.

Um I could stand here up here all day just describing the programs um and the opportunities that we have.

Um, but in the interest of time today, I'll just hit some highlights.

Um, first, I'd like to start by letting you know that for the first time in many, many years, we have all three aquatic facilities open um by memorial day.

So that's Bowers Pool and the splash parks, both in the North Valleys and at Lazy Five.

If anyone has ever worked in aquatic facilities before, uh know that they are tricky beast.

They are tough.

We've got aging facilities, construction timelines, um, staffing challenges.

Anytime you're hiring uh 50 some odd teenagers, um, it's it's very challenging.

So to be able to get that done was a huge feat for us.

Um so this last weekend, all three facilities were open for all three days.

Um, and that happened in uh in really the best example of teamwork.

Um, our recreation team uh led uh by uh Denise Evans with her leadership, um, our capital projects team that finished a construction project out at North Valleys.

Um we redid the servicing this year, they got that done on time.

Um, our admin team in getting all of those teenagers through the recruitment and hiring and onboarding process.

So um we really are a great example of one team coming together in order to get that uh open and available to the public for Memorial Day.

Um, hopefully we'll get some better weather, so we'll be open again this weekend, but we'll see.

Um, another fun thing we have coming up is the lazy5 master plan update.

So the master plan update for lazy five kicked off, and we're about to enter the public or we are entering the public input process.

Um we have a live web page with a social pinpoint link where the public can take a survey, navigate park site maps, and help determine priorities.

There is a link to that on the planning report um attached to your agenda, but also there is a link on our Washoe Parks website as well under planning and development.

The first community workshop for that process will be on Thursday, June 11th from 5 to 7 at the Lazy5 Regional Park Cottonwood Room.

Uh, there'll also be some pop-up opportunities uh during the Lazy5 music series on June 10th and June 22nd.

Um, it's a great opportunity for people to really voice their opinion on what should be happening in in their parks.

So, speaking of the summer music series, the first concert will kick off on June 3rd, featuring Greg Austin and Southern Justice at 6:30.

Uh, the music series will continue each Wednesday through August 12th, and there's a full schedule on our website as well.

As a reminder, that is a free concert series, and we encourage everybody to come out and enjoy the beautiful weather in our beautiful park.

Um, I would recommend you get there early.

Parking will fill up.

Um, and forgive me, I just got this information right before uh the meeting, so I am probably going to be reading it to you.

Um but I got some additional information on Davis Creek and the latest updates with the um the project to rebuild.

Um so on March 16th, we had a contractor come out and test all five of the existing cable electrical cable feeders at the main services building and the resident connection points, which supply power to the well pump, amphitheater, restroom building in the north and in the south.

Um that report was provided to the insurance company for their review.

Both Washoe County and the insurance company met on May 11th to discuss their evaluation of the report.

Um we're in agreement that we need to replace three of the five electrical feeders, and the three they agree with serve the amphitheater, the wellhead pump, and the residential area.

So great news is when those are replaced, this will restore power to the water system.

Uh, that's something that we will require before we can open the campground.

So we do need to do some additional testing on the electric feeders that run to both the north and the south restrooms, but that's in progress.

Um we agreed to move forward um with a phased approach based on kind of the things that we agree on.

Um so the plan is to open the campground as soon as power is restored to the wellhead pump and the water system is re-established.

I would love to tell you that I have a date on that, but I don't yet.

Um but I promise you will all you all will be one of the first people we let know.

Finally, um I wanted to note that during the last meeting there was a request for a presentation and discussion on our fuel mitigation process and the impact to migratory birds.

Um we are adding that to the July agenda.

Um, and in addition, we'll be bringing a budget presentation to discuss the process of budget generation along with what we were looking at for FY27.

Um and with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Um thank you.

Um very good report and fantastic that we got all of the aquatic uh areas open.

Um I know a little bit about teenagers.

So I think that's fantastic, and just great work to all the staff to getting that together.

Uh with that, do we have any questions, comments for the superintendent?

Hearing none.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, moving on to uh the director's report to include updates uh on board and of county commissioners' actions, future meeting locations, commissioner field trips, community sponsor requests, department updates, and community partnerships.

Hello, for the record again, Aaron Smith, Division Director of Operations.

Uh very short list on BCC action items that have taken place.

So Washer County was the recipient of an eighteen thousand five hundred dollar donation for Rancho San Rafael uh Regional Park.

Uh this is coming from the Paul and Gwen Leonard Charitable Foundation.

Um it's a a wonderful opportunity to do more with the park uh through this endowment.

Um that's the only action item the coming up.

We have uh the uh purchase and sale agreement for uh the Swan Lake Nature Study Area.

Uh so we are pursuing uh purchasing a piece of land uh that serves as the trailhead uh for the nature study area uh and through uh I believe that item came to this uh board, and so that's going to BCC.

We're finalizing that here, I believe, uh at the first meeting this next month.

But those are the only updates I have.

Very good.

Thank you, uh Director Smith.

Are there any questions, comments?

Hearing none.

Very well.

Moving on to item 12 commissioner requests for future agenda items.

Anyone hearing none?

Very well.

Uh public comment.

Do we have any public comment?

I have no public comment in chambers.

I have no public comment on Zoom.

Very well.

No public comment.

Uh the time is 248.

Uh the chair calls for adjournment.

We are adjourned.

Recording stopped,