[0:01] Just wait to hear. We're recording.
[0:09] » You're good, Mr. Chair.
>> Thank you, sir.
[0:12] » Mr. Chairman, you ready to rock and
roll?
[0:14] » Yeah, really is.
>> Commissioner Gilman, you good to go?
[0:20] [clears throat]
>> All right, Austin.
[0:22] » Yeah.
>> Brian, do you have any audio issues or
[0:25] are you good?
>> I have no audio issues. Just issues
[0:30] today so I can hear and see and and
we're able to proceed.
[0:34] » All right. Thank you. Good [snorts]
morning everyone.
[0:38] Today is September 1st somehow 2026.
We have a quorum present. Commissioner
[0:44] Gilman's on Zoom today and uh we're
going to go and call this meeting to
[0:47] order. It is 10:05 a.m. Sorry for the
late start. On to item number two on
[0:52] today's agenda is to convene as a story
county board of county commissioners
[0:55] bringing us item number three which is
the pledge of allegiance. If you can all
[0:58] stand and join me.
[1:02] » I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[1:07] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[1:13] justice for all.
[1:20] On to item number four on today's agenda
is public comment. Public comment is
[1:26] welcomed at the beginning and end of
each meeting. These comments should be
[1:28] limited to matters not on today's
calendar agenda. Uh public comment is
[1:32] again welcomed after each item on the
agenda and those comments should be
[1:36] limited to the agenda's topic. As a
reminder, public comment is limited to
[1:39] three minutes per individual. With that
said, is there any public comment in the
[1:42] courtroom today?
[1:49] » Good morning. Sarah starts for the
record. Um Tim Kiniorski. Perfect. Uh at
[1:55] the county's request has come in to get
come in to give an update on the
[1:58] lighting the V project that was awarded
with our community project funding in
[2:02] fiscal year 2425. And as this is at the
county's request, I also request that
[2:07] the commission to please use their
discretion as allowed if Tim goes over
[2:10] on his allotted time. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[2:18] » Good morning everyone. My name is Tim
Kjorski and I have been uh working on
[2:23] the project uh to light the V uh light
the V back up from from where it was uh
[2:30] years ago. I don't even know when it was
it was actually last uh illuminated, but
[2:34] I want to give you a status update on uh
what is going on up there. In July, we
[2:40] had a team of eight individuals and
myself go up to the top of the hill and
[2:46] we were able to get the new lights
spread out. Uh we're also stringing new
[2:52] uh cable electrical basically flexible
conduit up there. What was up there
[2:57] before was extension cords and they had
weathered uh very poorly. they're
[3:01] actually quite the fire risk and quite
honestly being in the the power industry
[3:07] myself uh I am very concerned about the
issues surrounding uh power and
[3:12] possibility of wildfire and stuff like
that. So the work that we're doing up
[3:16] there to to get new electricity spread
out up there um is such that it won't
[3:23] start a fire. The flexible conduit
should be able to contain the wiring and
[3:27] keep it uh from the sun and keep it from
degrading. Excuse [clears throat] me.
[3:32] So, as the status is right now, the
perimeter lights around the edge of the
[3:37] V all the way around about 420 ft of uh
lighting has been installed. It is
[3:43] suspended above the the ground level by
about a foot. So, we should be able to
[3:47] see that light uh once the uh once power
is restored up there uh whether there's
[3:53] snow or not. A second round of uh work
that is going to occur and and it's
[3:59] pretty much the heavier push is a a
bunch of uh fill lighting that's going
[4:04] to be suspended about 4t above the
ground directly over the center of the V
[4:10] where it comes down and around
and that will be basically fill lighting
[4:15] over the top of that where I'm at right
now. We did get that perimeter lighting
[4:20] installed as I had said and uh that is
ready to go. What issue I discovered
[4:27] after all of that and and totally
anticipated having the lights lit up by
[4:30] now. Uh but uh even though I was doing a
lot of uh testing of the main cable that
[4:36] runs from the service transformer down
up Spanish ravine road 1,200 ft up to
[4:41] the base of the V u I tested that cable
with inferial method methods. In other
[4:47] words, I was not testing the cable
energized because I didn't want to
[4:50] energize it until I had a good feeling
that that the cable was actually good. I
[4:56] I have repaired a couple of brakes on it
already. [clears throat]
[5:00] Um, but when we went to power the lights
on that next weekend, there was no power
[5:06] at the top at all. And so I had to go
back down measured all of the voltages
[5:11] actually at the base of the pole.
Everything is good down there. And so
[5:15] what I'm finding right now is that
somewhere along that 1,200 ft run of of
[5:20] wire, there is at least one or more
breaks uh in the wire. So I still have
[5:26] to find those. Once I find them, uh I
can repair them and then I will be able
[5:31] to get uh the power actually turned on
up at the top and safely. So and safety
[5:37] is really my biggest con
concern about about doing this. don't
[5:43] don't want to have any issues going up
that hill.
[5:46] » All right. Thank you. Do you have a time
frame on when this will be complete? You
[5:49] think?
>> I don't have a time frame. I I would
[5:52] have thought that the first half of it
would have been complete and we would
[5:55] have been starting the second half
already. Um it it's quite the physical
[5:58] challenge to get up to the to the top of
the hill. I mean, not just for me. I'm
[6:02] I'm 61 years old. I'm somewhat fit. I'm
not an athlete. And so it takes me a
[6:08] good hour and 15 to 20 minutes just to
get up to the the base of the V. My
[6:13] anticipation is I would like to have
this completely done before any kind of
[6:18] winter weather sets in. I'd like to have
this done sometime in the November time
[6:23] frame. Uh issues for me. I am
uh working on this predominantly by
[6:30] myself. There isn't a lot of people who
can can do this in town unless we have,
[6:34] you know, electricians who are willing
to help. Um, I haven't reached out for
[6:38] anything like that, but my goal would be
now sometime in the November time frame
[6:44] before the winters get there, we can get
up to the hill, get the second batch of
[6:48] lighting installed. F first row of
lighting is is once that first row that
[6:53] that outline is on, then we're we're in
the golden zone. the the second batch of
[6:59] of lighting is going to be physically
challenging to carry all of the the tea
[7:04] stakes, tea stake pounder, couple of
boxes of of the additional lights and
[7:08] and some other parts and pieces up to
the top of the hill. Uh for that
[7:13] particular effort, I'll be doing another
community call to get uh volunteers to
[7:17] head back up the hill. Um, and we will
be pounding in I I think we have in the
[7:23] neighborhood of of 20 plus tea stakes
that have to be pounded somehow in into
[7:28] that rocky surface area. So, it's going
to be a challenge to get it up there,
[7:32] but once it's done, I think it's going
to look really good. And and my vision
[7:37] for it is one day when I'm coming back
from a business meeting on a night
[7:40] flight and I'm coming into Reno to land,
I want to see that V from, you know, 50
[7:46] miles away lit up in all its glory.
>> Sounds good. Thank you. Um, this is a
[7:52] little out of context, but do you have
any questions for him?
[7:54] » No, I don't. Do Commissioner, do you
want to let him borrow your helicopter
[7:57] for that move when
>> Still waiting for delivery?
[8:00] » Okay.
>> That shows up, you can have access.
[8:02] » Thank you, sir.
>> Thanks a lot. Appreciate you coming in.
[8:05] Is there any other public comment today?
All right. Uh, let's move right along to
[8:11] item number five, discussion for
possible action, consideration and
[8:14] possible approval of the agenda for the
September 1st, 2026 meeting. County
[8:18] manager, are there any changes to the
agenda today?
[8:20] » Uh, we have two we're going to
recommend. And one is that we continue
[8:24] uh consent item 73
to the 9:15 meeting. That is a stipen
[8:31] policy. So it's step seven Roman numeral
three to the 9:15 meeting. And the
[8:36] second one is that number 26 which is
our BDR that we move it up to follow
[8:41] number 15.
>> Okay,
[8:43] » that's it.
>> Uh sorry, what was the BDR last one?
[8:46] » Number 26. Yeah, to have it follow
number 15. I think it'll land right
[8:50] before the highway board.
>> All right.
[8:54] » Okay. Commissioner Gilman, do you have
any questions or comments?
[8:59] » No, thank you.
>> Vice Chairman Uh, no. I'm fine with
[9:02] those changes.
>> Okay. Uh, is there any public comment
[9:05] regarding the agenda today?
Not seeing any. Vice chairman, you
[9:10] prepare to make a motion?
>> Yeah. I move to approve today's agenda
[9:13] with the noted changes.
>> Second.
[9:16] » All right. There's a motion and a
second. All those in favor signify by
[9:19] saying I.
>> I.
[9:21] » I.
>> I.
[9:23] » Motion passes unanimously.
>> Moving right along to item number six,
[9:28] which is discussion for possible action.
consideration and possible approval of
[9:32] the minutes from the July 21st, 2026
meeting. Uh, Commissioner Gilman, do you
[9:37] have any questions or comments on those
minutes?
[9:40] » No.
>> Vice Chairman?
[9:42] » No. Thanks.
>> How about public comment?
[9:46] » Not seeing any. Vice Chairman, you
prepare to make a motion?
[9:48] » Yeah. I move to approve the minutes from
our July 21st, 2026 meeting as
[9:52] presented.
>> Second.
[9:55] » All right. There's a motion and a
second. All those in favor signify by
[9:58] saying I. I.
>> I. Hi.
[10:01] » Motion passes unanimously. On to item
number seven is today's consent agenda.
[10:06] Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments about the consent
[10:08] agenda?
>> None. Thank you.
[10:11] » Vice Chairman?
>> Uh, no. Thanks.
[10:13] » How about public comment on the consent
agenda?
[10:18] » Not seeing any. Vice Chairman, you
prepared to make a motion?
[10:20] » I am. I move to approve today's consent
agenda as presented. And just for
[10:24] clarity on the record, we continue to
item 73 to a future meeting.
[10:31] Second.
>> All right, there's a motion and a
[10:32] second. All those in favor signify by
saying I.
[10:35] » I.
>> I.
[10:37] » Motion passes unanimously.
On to item number eight. This is
[10:42] discussion for possible action
consideration and possible approval of
[10:44] resolution number 26-838
recognizing and commending a Story
[10:49] County employee who served 15 years of
service to the county.
[11:04] Good morning, commissioners.
>> Morning,
[11:08] » Brandy Lopez. For the record, this
recognition is especially meaningful as
[11:11] we honor an employee who has reached an
outstanding milestone in 15 years of
[11:15] dedicated service to Story County. 15
years of public service is a remarkable
[11:20] accomplishment and reflects his
sustained commitment to serving our
[11:23] community [snorts] with professionalism,
integrity, and dedication. Over the
[11:27] years, this employee has made lasting
contributions to the county through his
[11:31] hard work, experience, and unwavering
commitment to excellence. I would like
[11:35] to express our sincere appreciation for
15 years of faithful service, and the
[11:40] positive impact you have made on our
colleagues, our organization, and the
[11:44] citizens we serve. It's my honor to
present this resolution of appreciation
[11:49] recognizing Tim Shotchshire for 15 years
of dedicated service to Story County.
[11:54] Congratulations and thank you for your
continued commitment to public service.
[11:59] » Thank you, Tim. Is he getting a
>> All right. Uh, Commissioner Gilman, do
[12:05] you have any questions or comments?
>> Thank you for your service to the
[12:09] county,
>> Vice Chairman.
[12:12] » Yeah, I was saying thank you. Yeah, to
sound like an echo chamber in here.
[12:16] Thank you very much. Um, you know, uh,
it's it's amazing to see folks stick
[12:23] around that long with Story County. I
think that speaks to the the culture
[12:26] that we have here. I hope. Um, but
appreciate you and and everybody else
[12:30] that's put in their time. So, thank you.
Um, is there any public comment today?
[12:38] All right. Not seeing any public
comment. Brandy, do you want to read the
[12:41] resolution?
Did you?
[12:46] » I never do.
>> You never do.
[12:50] » Okay. Yeah. Vice Chairman, you want to
read it?
[12:52] » Yeah. A resolution honoring 15 years of
service to Story County. Whereas the
[12:56] aforementioned member of the Story
County team has provided 15 years of
[12:59] service to the community of Story
County. Whereas the aforementioned is
[13:03] dedicated to his job and duties to the
community of Story County. And whereas
[13:06] the aforementioned is gracious and
giving of his time and expertise.
[13:10] Therefore, let it be known to all that
the board of county commissioners of
[13:13] Story County do hereby commend and honor
the aforementioned member of the Story
[13:17] County team for dedication and service
to the people of Story County, Nevada,
[13:21] this first day of September, 2026.
And that's for Mr. Timothy Shropshire.
[13:26] » Fantastic. Do you want to do the motion
now?
[13:29] » Sure. Um I, Commissioner Mitchell, move
to approve resolution number 26-838
[13:34] recognizing and commending a Story
County employee who has served 15 years
[13:37] of service to the county.
Second.
[13:42] » There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
[13:45] » I.
>> I.
[13:48] » Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.
TIM, [applause]
[13:56] » you going to come on up?
[14:09] Sorry, it feels like this is the first
time.
[14:22] » You can just
>> You can take a picture up here if you
[14:25] want.
[14:33] You're good.
[14:42] » Thank you.
[applause]
[14:52] » All right.
Um, moving right along to item number
[14:55] nine. this discussion only. No action,
no public comment will be taken. These
[14:59] are committee and staff reports. And as
we always do, we'll kick things off at
[15:02] the sheriff's office today.
[15:16] » Good morning, Lieutenant Brook for the
record. Uh quick update. Uh, Sheriff
[15:20] Colona is currently attending a traffic
meeting with Sheriff Balum of Wash
[15:25] County, Chief Crawford of Sparks Police
regarding the traffic issues on IED, uh,
[15:30] which is why he is not here today. A
quick update on posted the stats from
[15:36] August on our social media today. Um, it
surpassed our June stats as our highest
[15:41] arrest we've ever had in a month at 82.
We had 45 misdemeanor arrests, 37 felony
[15:47] arrests, 957 calls for service, 963
traffic stops with 311 citations. So
[15:55] very busy. And then just a quick note,
um, Burning Man is going on and we have
[16:01] had a lot of drug arrests related to
that coming through the TRRI area. In
[16:05] the last three days alone, we've had
nine just the drug related arrests come
[16:09] out of TRRI. uh most of them being
related to methamphetamine and fentanyl.
[16:15] So very busy week for us. Um and that's
all I have for you today.
[16:20] » Thank you for the update.
>> Thank you.
[16:22] » Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments?
[16:27] » Keep up the great work. Thank you.
>> Thank you,
[16:30] » Vice Chairman. Yeah, I appreciate that.
And um have something going on tonight,
[16:34] don't we?
>> Yeah, there is sheriff's night out
[16:36] tonight 5 to 8:00 p.m. Miners Park. So
hopefully you guys are all there.
[16:41] » Absolutely. Good.
>> It'll be a little cold, so bring a
[16:43] jacket.
>> All right. Thank you again for the
[16:45] update.
>> You're welcome.
[16:46] » All right. Uh moving right along to the
fire protection district.
[16:52] » Thank you, Chief. Public works.
>> All right.
[17:01] I only see one project manager in today.
Kevin, you have anything for us?
[17:05] » I have a short one for you all.
>> All right.
[17:16] Kevin Salstrom for the record. Uh Travis
Osterhout, our newest project manager,
[17:21] was going to join us this morning. He
got called away at the last minute to
[17:24] take some tours with our emergency
management folks. So, I'll start with
[17:27] his, which is basically just a list of
things he's working on in case there's
[17:30] any questions. Uh he's been doing quite
a bit of work with Kathy on the TRRI
[17:36] Center drainage study. I've been working
with them on Mark Twain's drainage
[17:42] master plan as well as Gold Hill
drainage master plan and Virginia City
[17:46] drainage master plans trying to help
coordinate and keep those wheels
[17:48] greased. Uh he's also been working on
the Long Valley Creek flood master flood
[17:53] hazard mitigation plan which of course
was put together by Jub about two years
[17:58] ago and after recent events they've done
some re-evaluation and he's been trying
[18:02] to help coordinate with her how to make
things go smoothly with the new shape of
[18:06] things out there. He's also been working
with Dowel on our Silver City water
[18:10] line, our siphon lines. Those are kind
of moving slowly through the really
[18:14] slowly through the permitting processes.
Uh and the more pressing one is the Gold
[18:18] Hill sewer collection system that is
much further along, but still kind of
[18:22] trying to move through those various
permits. We're hoping to get those to
[18:25] bid this winter and be able to start
next spring after whatever the uh spring
[18:30] weather or winter weather brings us, but
that one's still in process.
[18:35] As far as my own reports, we are still
working on the tri sub sheriff
[18:38] substation and we actually have a
meeting this afternoon with sheriff's
[18:41] department to go through a third
revision of plans for that. We're still
[18:45] planning to get that bid this winter and
get that built out uh for occupancy next
[18:49] summer. Pipers, uh by the time you guys
get out of here, hopefully you'll see
[18:53] new sets of windows in there. They're
working on them right now, replacing
[18:57] those and get the last few of them done
over the next few weeks and hoping to
[19:01] have that whole window and door
replacement project done uh by the end
[19:04] of September if uh mother nature
cooperates. And that of course is the
[19:08] southside and east side doors or
southside windows and all of the
[19:13] front-facing doors. We have another
project that Sarah's been working on
[19:17] that will hopefully fund more of those
in the spring, but we're still working
[19:21] through that with the shipo. And of
course, the last part, the the big
[19:25] elephant in here is the justice center.
We do have a contract that we are
[19:28] working through. Uh trying to get our
last few bits of staff review done and
[19:32] hopefully have it to you guys beginning
of October. If all goes well, we can get
[19:36] that kicked off. They are um Hayer AE
architectural engineering is anxious to
[19:41] get started and looking to be here a few
days after we sign the contract. So,
[19:45] we're good to go.
>> All right. Thank you for that update.
[19:48] Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments?
[19:52] » No.
>> All right. Vice Chairman,
[19:54] » no. Appreciate the update. Thank you.
>> All right. Appreciate it. Thank you.
[19:59] » Uh, how about business development?
[20:11] » Good morning, Laura Mather for the
record. So, I wanted to give an update
[20:15] today on my zip code endeavors.
Um,
[20:19] recently staff from Senator Cortez
Masto's office in Washington DC met with
[20:24] the United States Postal Service in
Washington DC on our behalf, gave them
[20:28] an a summary of what Story County is
looking for, what our goal is through
[20:32] this process. Um, and then they came
back and gave me some further direction
[20:37] on how to proceed. So, the United States
Postal Service has a a format in which
[20:44] they request um submissions to to be in.
So, I basically took my two-page report
[20:51] that I wrote a couple months ago for
Congressman Amday's office and I turned
[20:55] it into a 10-page report. So, [laughter]
I have the report. It's ready to go. Um
[21:02] with the approval of this board, I've
reached out to the surrounding counties
[21:05] and cities for letters of of support.
I've caught a great response. Wo county
[21:11] sparks, the city of Fernley, um, Lion
County, they've all immediately
[21:16] responded and provided letters of
support. So, as I gather additional
[21:20] letters, I will then submit all of that
to Senator Cortez Masto's office um, for
[21:26] them to then formally submit that
request for us. And again, that's to
[21:30] expand our zip codes so that we get
surrounding county zip codes out of
[21:34] Story County.
Um, recently somebody asked me what my
[21:40] goal is when county staff goes to
Washington DC. My response to them was
[21:46] my goal when I go there is that they
know who we are, what we do, and why we
[21:51] are important. And I think over the past
five years that we've been going, we
[21:57] have accomplished that because we now
have a senator's key staff person in
[22:04] Washington DC go to the United States
Postal Service for us there on our
[22:09] behalf. And I think that really shows
the amazing relationship that we've been
[22:13] able to develop with both of the
senators and the congressmen. And we
[22:17] will continue to work on that. And
that's the end of my report.
[22:20] » All right. Thank you for that report,
Laura.
[22:23] Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments?
[22:27] » None.
>> Vice Chairman,
[22:28] » no. Thank you.
>> All right. Thank you again.
[22:31] » Uh, how about our grants manager?
>> Okay. Uh, admin officer.
[22:39] Emergency management.
[22:53] » Morning. Adam Wilson, director of
emergency management. For the record,
[22:56] I'll try and be quick because we also
have an agenda item later. Uh, as Kevin
[23:00] alluded to, we have some staff with
emergency management right now. We have
[23:05] FEMA's earthquake survey team in town
from they're from all across the
[23:10] country. They're going to be evaluating
10 facilities in Virginia City that are
[23:14] critical infrastructure schools and
buildings for government use for
[23:19] earthquake mitigation and then we'll get
that final report from them in a few
[23:23] months once it goes through the
engineering and FEMA review. So, we're
[23:27] very excited to get that done. Uh, in
regards to earthquakes, our exercise
[23:32] plan is complete as of yesterday for the
Virginia City Goldill exercise. Again,
[23:37] that is a no notice one. So, that's
about all the information we're going to
[23:40] give out until the emergency alert comes
out. It will be in October. Uh, and
[23:46] that's going to be a full-scale exercise
where we actually evacuate residents and
[23:50] have county staff participate in an
exercise for earthquakes. Our evacuation
[23:57] plan update is in progress. We have all
the data and maps now from our vendor
[24:02] for the evacuation study. We're waiting
on two new software components that we
[24:08] were approved for in this year's budget
to get through the onboarding process.
[24:13] Once we get that software on, we'll run
all this data and maps through that and
[24:17] then have a finalized product ready by
the end of the year. Uh we're supporting
[24:23] Lion County September 19th and 20th with
our road safety barricades for their
[24:27] special event. Uh we don't have a
special event thankfully that weekend.
[24:31] So we were able to take those down there
and we'll be able to help them out with
[24:34] their event. The 2627 integrated
preparedness plan. That's one that uh
[24:41] state EM requires us to complete. That
one is done and has been submitted to
[24:45] the state. that goes over what plans
we're updating, what exercises we have
[24:50] planned, what trainings we have planned
within EM for that fiscal season. And
[24:56] then finally, our mobile EOC, we took it
down to Trophy Tech in Moundhouse.
[25:01] That's a local Virginia or Story County,
couple of gents run that company. So, we
[25:08] were very happy that their big came in,
Lois, and we were able to support local
[25:12] and got the decals put on the trailer
and it looks amazing. If you want to see
[25:16] it, it's written out by the jail. And
then we're just waiting on the grant
[25:21] from FEMA to finish out the interior
with all the tech stuff. And that is all
[25:27] I have.
>> All right. Thank you for that update,
[25:29] Adam. Commissioner Gman, do you have any
questions or comments?
[25:34] » All right. Vice Chairman.
>> No. Thanks.
[25:36] » All right. Appreciate it.
>> Um, don't see the ACTC here.
[25:42] » Controllers office.
>> Nothing at this time. Thank you.
[25:45] Planning Department.
>> Nothing right now.
[25:49] » All right. Health and Community
Services.
[25:59] » Good morning. Stacy Gilbert for the
record. Um, as Lieutenant Bmont said,
[26:04] Sheriff's Night Out is tonight in Miners
Park, Virginia City, 5 to 8. Um, we'll
[26:09] have hot dogs and we plan popsicles, but
it might be a little chilly for that.
[26:14] Um, this past Saturday I attended NAMI's
unmasked gala with the sheriff and we
[26:21] had uh CCI's CEO Eric Shown. He was
recognized with the leadership of the
[26:26] year award from them. We also had Deputy
Hernandez and Sergeant Kerr from the
[26:32] Story County Sheriff's Office. Uh they
won CIT officer of the year. So huge
[26:38] recognition for Story County there.
Really appreciated it. And that is all.
[26:42] » All right. Thank you for that update.
Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
[26:45] questions or comments?
>> No, thank you.
[26:49] » Vice Chairman,
>> no. Thank you.
[26:51] » All right. Thanks again for that news.
>> How about the recorder's office?
[26:56] » All right. It
[27:04] comes James De County IT director. Uh,
two quick updates. We have the outdoor
[27:09] camera project completed at the north
bathrooms. So, uh, those have been up
[27:13] and running about a week now. Jason,
where's Vicki at? Public works has
[27:16] control over those. So, we had a little
problem with vandalism and people
[27:20] leaving trash. So, that hopefully that
helps clean that up.
[27:23] » Outside the bathrooms.
>> Outside the bathrooms. Wanted to make
[27:25] sure outside cameras. Um,
second uh update is the storage rays are
[27:32] in and uh Tim and Riley are already
doing the 25 gig upgrades in the uh
[27:38] dispatch data center. So, that's all I
got.
[27:41] » All right. Thank you for that update.
Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
[27:44] questions or comments?
>> Vice Chairman.
[27:47] » No, thanks.
>> All right. Appreciate the updates.
[27:51] » How about human resources?
>> Community development.
[28:07] Good morning, commissioners. Joseph
Starns for the record. Um, I haven't
[28:10] given an update in a while on our
department activities. So, I figured I'd
[28:14] share some uh highlights with you today.
So, our department continues to maintain
[28:19] strong workload and and a high level of
activity despite our current staffing.
[28:24] And uh with that being said, I want to
recognize our staff uh for their efforts
[28:28] and flexibility. Everyone has been
stepping up to assist where when when
[28:32] and where needed. Their dedication and
teamwork is greatly appreciated. I just
[28:37] want to share that at at group level. Um
something I have noticed with our
[28:42] resident residential activity, there
appears to be a little increase with our
[28:46] plotwalks
and that's usually an indicator that we
[28:50] have a um an increase in residential
permitting and that includes projects uh
[28:56] including generators, accessory
structures, and new new houses, SFRs.
[29:02] So that's kind of exciting. I've been
watching over the last couple months and
[29:05] uh overall um you know we've had a uh
another strong month in both permit and
[29:13] uh plan review permit issuance and plan
review. So I'll continue to monitor
[29:18] those as uh as they progress. But I
thought I'd like to share that it's kind
[29:23] of exciting to see u residential um you
know increase because we know mo the
[29:30] majority of our permitting and plan view
activity and inspections is commercial
[29:34] related. So as we go through August and
September we're entering um what is
[29:39] typically our most busiest months of the
year August and September. Historically
[29:44] activity I usually see a little taper
off in October due to weather conditions
[29:49] with a potential gradual decrease um
past the first of the year. So I'll also
[29:55] continue to monitor those trends
closely. Um the last five years or so we
[30:00] used to see a significant slowdown in
winter but um last five years with
[30:04] commercial it not so much but a little
bit. I want to congratulate one of our
[30:10] inspectors, Dan Horton, for recently uh
obtaining his reclassification to
[30:14] building Inspector 2. Dan has earned
this achievement through his continued
[30:17] work and commitment to the department,
and uh we're fortunate to have him on as
[30:21] part of our team. He worked real hard to
uh um progress from an inspector one to
[30:28] a two.
So staffing, we're making progress
[30:32] there. We have relief positions have
been posted and now the posting periods
[30:35] have closed for two out of the three
positions which is an admin assistant to
[30:39] help with our um office uh downstairs
department workload as well as our
[30:44] building official
position which will provide support to
[30:48] our inspection permitting and plan
review functions and uh a senior
[30:52] inspector position is also being
considered. So two of the three have
[30:56] been posted and closed and uh interviews
pending.
[31:03] So, I have been uh working with that
being said with we have one more
[31:07] position that we're working with HR on
um developing a job description for a
[31:10] plans examiner which Sor County has
never really had. It's always been a
[31:14] dual role with inspector/plan review or
plans examiner. So, we're working with
[31:19] HR on that. And um with that being said,
and to assist with a little bit of
[31:24] workload, I've been working towards
establishing a relationship with a
[31:28] third-party uh plan review firm. This
will provide the department with
[31:32] additional plan review capacity when
needed and help us manage the workload
[31:36] functions while we work through the
process developing this new position.
[31:40] So overall, our dep department
department continues to perform well
[31:44] under uh pressure, demanding workload,
and uh you know, we we're we're
[31:50] committed to keeping services moving
forward um for the county and the
[31:54] community. Thank you.
>> All right, great update, Joe. Thank you,
[31:58] » Commissioner Gilman. Do you have any
questions or comments?
[32:03] » Vice Chairman?
>> No. Thank you.
[32:05] » All right. Appreciate the update.
>> Thank you.
[32:08] Uh, how about the assessor's office?
>> Nothing today. Thank you.
[32:12] » All right. Uh,
Deputy DA Brown, do you have anything
[32:17] for us today?
[32:24] » Take that as a no.
>> County manager.
[32:33] I'm Austin Osborne for the record. Just
a couple things to let you know. uh not
[32:38] to steal Commissioner Carmona's thunder
hopefully uh but he myself and public
[32:42] works director Jason W went to meet with
uh Tracy Larkin from INDOT and her team
[32:48] yesterday for almost two hours uh
talking about actually not just general
[32:52] things but specific issues uh that we're
both facing together on USA Parkway I 80
[32:57] and the 50 corridor talked a little bit
about the master plan and where Story
[33:02] County is going with commercial
residential um employment
[33:07] things like that out at the north end of
the county. And I'd say very useful. Uh
[33:12] we're looking at coordinating some
efforts along the USA Parkway and some
[33:16] other development even on the 50
corridor to try to get their master
[33:20] plans and planning lined up with ours.
Um I will say that the people and I
[33:24] mentioned this that she had at the
meeting. I won't mention their names
[33:28] because I'll miss somebody. But these
are people what I call the new end dot
[33:32] have been just extraordinary to work
with. They work with us to try to get
[33:37] things around issues and challenges and
bureaucracy and um they're wonderful to
[33:43] work with and uh and so is Tracy. Uh the
next thing is on another note um the
[33:49] conversations of the Nevada Highway
Patrol are still ongoing about
[33:52] potentially Story County contributing to
a patrol um on I80 between Vista and USA
[33:59] Parkway with NHP agents. uh the folks
have been working with and uh before
[34:04] were eager and excited. I did get some
news back that right now they're running
[34:08] into some short resources. They have to
do this with overtime folks and they
[34:13] don't have enough people working
overtime in the region. U but we're
[34:17] going to continue that conversation. I'm
not going to let that go. Uh the Patrick
[34:21] interchange as you see photos that are
here and there, it's um on par and on
[34:27] schedule and on budget. Uh, and I am
understanding that they are regularly
[34:33] keeping it open at certain times during
the day. I drove it myself one day and
[34:37] was able to get on and through it. Uh,
that new on-ramp should be ready in
[34:42] about a week and a half to two weeks and
and it'll be ready and done. So, very
[34:46] excited about that. Uh, lastly, I'll
just mention that Alex Tanek was not
[34:51] able to make the meeting today. He's
working on our BDR that we'll talk about
[34:55] later. He's been working on updating our
county codes, especially title 2
[34:59] administration. He's going through that
right now and he's going through all of
[35:02] our nonHR administrative policies. We
think maybe December, January, we'll
[35:07] have a lot of this stuff ready and
updated. So, he's been a great addition
[35:11] to the office. That's all I have.
>> All right. Thank you, Austin.
[35:14] Commissioner [clears throat] Gilman, do
you have any questions or comments for
[35:16] Austin?
>> No, thank you.
[35:20] » Vice Chairman.
>> Uh, no. Thank you.
[35:22] » All right. Thanks for the update,
Austin.
[35:24] Uh, clerk treasurer's office. [snorts]
[35:32] » Thank you, Mr. Chair, commissioners. Jim
Hindle, clerk and treasurer. Uh, I just
[35:36] wanted to bring up a couple things.
First of, we put out or actually uh,
[35:41] Deputy Clerk and Treasurer Dory Fate put
out a memo via email to most of the
[35:46] departments last week redefining and
resetting our deposit procedure. Our
[35:51] objectives with that are twofold. One is
to help us manage the rate at which
[35:56] deposits are being brought in so we have
time to process them uh efficiently and
[36:02] the other side is to try and reduce the
amount of time that funds are being held
[36:07] at various offices around the county so
we can get those deposits in and get
[36:11] those funds into the bank. Uh it's a
little different. We're trying to set
[36:14] times for each and dates for each uh
department to come in and make deposits.
[36:19] Uh if there are questions on that, uh
talk to Dory or I. We're just trying to
[36:23] make the process a little more
efficient, manage time and accuracy and
[36:28] safety of our funds.
Uh DMV continues to be busy. In the last
[36:33] month, we did over 220. Uh that's a
little lower than where we've been, but
[36:38] it continues to be uh strong and in
demand. And we're also seeing a lot more
[36:45] uh questions coming in from other
counties because I guess other counties
[36:49] and some of the other DMV offices are
both putting their lead times out for
[36:53] appointments as well as some of the
contract DMVs in other counties are
[36:57] taking our lead and only servicing their
constituents. And so if you hear, let us
[37:03] hear if you get any feedback on that.
But we want to make sure Story County
[37:06] residents are getting through and aren't
experiencing problems. And then uh last
[37:11] but not least, we are 48 days today from
early voting and we're just a little
[37:18] over 60 days until election day. So,
we're feverishly getting things set up
[37:22] there and working to make sure we're
preparing, getting the election set up,
[37:27] mail ballots. I know there's been a lot
of uh issues in the news about mail
[37:31] ballots, but we will continue to go with
statutes
[37:36] uh and by law. And at this point, we are
on schedule to issue our mail ballots uh
[37:41] going out in the middle of September. Of
course, if anything changes as the court
[37:46] uh as the issues make their way through
the courts, we'll let you know. But
[37:50] everything should be business as usual
on that standpoint. However, I would
[37:55] emphasize that if people don't want to
get a mail ballot, please contact us.
[37:59] There's an opt out form and we can make
it so that you don't get a ballot. You
[38:03] don't have to worry about that being in
your mailbox. Uh, with that being said,
[38:07] we also encourage everybody to check
your registration to make sure nothing
[38:11] has changed, especially if you have
traveled to the DMV. Uh, but if there
[38:15] are any questions about registration,
please contact us. And with that, we're
[38:20] ready to have some fun.
>> All right, Commissioner Gman, do you
[38:23] have any questions or comments for Jim?
>> No. Thank you,
[38:28] » Vice Chairman.
>> No, thank you.
[38:29] » Jim, I have a question.
>> Oh, sure.
[38:31] » Did you say mail and ballots are going
out September 15th? They're they're
[38:35] going out around they'll start going out
by middle of September maybe uh in there
[38:40] because we I mean some of that's
starting with our overseas and out of
[38:43] state and then mail ballots will go out
yeah around September 15th around
[38:49] September 18th uh for instate they'll
start processing.
[38:53] » All right. Thank you. Just wanted a
clarification there.
[38:56] » Yeah. If uh we get an update on that and
something is a little bit different
[38:59] we'll let you know.
>> All right. Thank you very much. Uh, is
[39:02] there anybody in the courtroom that has
an update for us that I forgot to call
[39:05] on today?
All right, thank you everybody for those
[39:08] updates. Much appreciated. Lots of good
things going on in Story County all the
[39:13] time. Um, we're going to move right
along to item number 10, which is board
[39:18] comment. We'll start off with
Commissioner Gilman
[39:23] » today. Thank you.
>> All right, [clears throat] Vice
[39:26] Chairman. Um, I just want to acknowledge
the work of the sheriff's office and
[39:30] everyone else for the sheriff's night
out in Lockwood last week. Pretty good
[39:34] attendance and turnout and a great time
as had by all. So, agreed. Thank you.
[39:39] Um, we talked about National Night Out.
Um, you know, again, solid attendance
[39:44] out there. I think it was the biggest
one I've been to. Um, one of the
[39:48] helicopter landings was a bit squirly,
but uh, we'll talk about that one later.
[39:52] Um, the only other thing I wanted to
talk about was uh uh we had a Story
[39:57] County resident pass away a little bit
few weeks ago. If we can have a moment
[40:00] of silence for Don Air. Uh, you know,
um, a lot of folks know him around town.
[40:06] I know he worked at the Delta and did uh
quite a few other things. Uh, been a
[40:10] staple in Virginia City for quite a long
time. Uh, so if we can have a moment of
[40:14] silence for Don uh and his family, I'd
greatly appreciate it.
[40:22] » All right. Thank you.
Uh, moving right along to item number
[40:26] 11. This is a discussion for possible
action. Consideration and possible
[40:29] approval of resolution number 26-834
to lease a portion of uh 800 C Street,
[40:35] Virginia City, Nevada, occupied by
Divide Fitness, Inc. at below market uh
[40:40] monthly rental amount with utility costs
to be determined by the Story County
[40:44] Board of County Commissioners declaring
such least uh in the best interest of
[40:48] the community. Uh Lisa,
>> good morning. Lisa missile for the
[40:52] record. Um so this is uh for resolution
26834 for divide fitness. This is an
[41:01] opportunity for the commissioners to
have a discussion and to determine a
[41:06] updated lease amount if any and
utilities. Um the the owner of the
[41:11] business is here, Jesse Fain. Um, so
this, um, recent appraisal came in that
[41:18] was completed by Mark Stafford
at 3,280
[41:24] for the estimated market rent. The last
one, which there is a date correction,
[41:28] it was April 24th of 2024, not 2026, was
estimated at $2,798
[41:36] a month. Divide Fitness is currently
occupying about 39% of the building or
[41:42] 3,720 square feet. And going back, I did
a review of what the utilities were over
[41:50] the past year for this area for
electrical would be at this portion um
[41:56] for the square footage $366.11
and water service at $67.86.
[42:04] Um, and I'm happy to read the resolution
if you like or answer any questions
[42:10] beforehand.
>> All right. Uh, Commissioner Gilman, do
[42:13] you have any questions or comments?
[42:18] » Not at this time.
>> Vice Chairman.
[42:21] » Um,
yeah. I'm sorry. I just I'd just like to
[42:26] um take a look at the resolution in a
little more detail. Um, it's kind of a
[42:31] lengthy pattern. So may So maybe Lisa
can either read it or hit the highlights
[42:36] for us or or what have you.
>> Sound good?
[42:39] » I can go ahead and read it.
>> Let's do it.
[42:41] » Resolution number 26-834,
a resolution pursuant to NRS244.2833
[42:48] authorizing Story County to lease county
owned property to Divide Fitness, Inc.
[42:52] for below market rent, declaring such
lease in the best interest of the
[42:56] community and directing the board of
county commissioners to set rent and
[43:00] utility cost based on prior year
actuals. Whereas Story County owns the
[43:05] premises located at 800 South Sea
Street, Virginia City, Nevada,
[43:10] APN00001-042-15,
[43:14] a portion of which is currently leased
and occupied by Divide Fitness, Inc.
[43:20] Whereas Story County, oop, I skipped a
different one. Whereas Divide Fitness
[43:26] provides valuable public health and
wellness services as a 24-hour
[43:29] membership-based fitness facility
contributing positively to community
[43:33] well-being. Whereas on July 8th, 2026, a
fair market rent appraisal was completed
[43:39] by Mark Stafford, certified general
appraiser, who determined the market
[43:43] rental value of the Divide Fitness
premises to be $3,280
[43:48] per month. Whereas the board
acknowledges this professional appraisal
[43:52] and finds that the appraised amount
represents current fair market rental
[43:56] value for the leased portion of the
building.
[43:59] Whereas NRS244.2833
authorizes Story County to lease county
[44:05] owned real property to a private entity
at less than fair market value when the
[44:09] board determines such a lease to be in
the best interest of the community.
[44:13] Whereas priory year utility cost records
demonstrate proportional usage between
[44:20] justice court and divide fitness based
on square footage with divide fitness
[44:25] historically accounting for 39% of
shared utility consumption. Whereas the
[44:30] board finds it equitable to determine
utility charges for the new lease term
[44:34] using prior year data and the square
footage formula applied at the attached
[44:39] in the attached utility documents with
an annual review and adjustment of
[44:44] utility charges as needed. Whereas the
board further finds that continued
[44:49] occupancy by Divide Fitness ensures
stable utilization of the county-owned
[44:53] building prevents vacancy and maintains
a community serving business that
[44:57] contributes to health, safety, and
public access. Whereas the board finds
[45:01] it appropriate to allow review and
potential adjustment of the monthly
[45:05] rental rate on an annual basis. Whereas
Story County will maintain fire
[45:10] extinguishers within the lease premises
to protect the county-owned building and
[45:13] ensure safety for staff, tenants, and
visitors.
[45:17] Whereas the current lease and draft
replacement lease have been reviewed for
[45:22] reference and will guide preparation of
the final lease agreement. Now,
[45:26] therefore, it be resolved by the Story
County Board of County Commissioners
[45:30] that lease authorization. Story County
is authorized to enter into a new lease
[45:34] agreement with Divide Fitness, Inc. for
the premises located at 800 South Sea
[45:39] Street, Virginia City, Nevada. Lease
term. The new lease shall commence on
[45:43] September 1st, 2026 for a period of
three years with an option for a
[45:48] two-year extension below market lease
approval based on the July 8th, 2026
[45:53] appraisal establishing fair market rent
at 3,280 per month. The board formally
[45:59] finds that leasing the premises to
Divide Fitness at below market value is
[46:03] in the best interest of Story County
pursuant to NRS244.2833
[46:08] due to the public benefits and community
services provided by the LESI. No
[46:14] competitive bid required. The board
determines that issuing a competitive
[46:17] bid is not necessary as retaining the
current tenant is in the community's
[46:22] best interest and supports consistent
safe operation of the building. Rent
[46:26] determination. The board shall establish
a below market rent rate taking into
[46:32] account community benefit, historical
rent, building use, and the completed
[46:36] fair market appraisal with annual review
and potential adjustments as
[46:39] appropriate.
Utility cost determination. Utility
[46:44] charges will be calculated using prior
year utility totals and the established
[46:48] 61% 39% square footage allocation
between the justice court and divide
[46:53] fitness with an annual review and
adjustment of utility charges for
[46:56] accuracy fire extinguishers. Story
county shall maintain the fire
[47:00] extinguishers within the lease premises
as part of the standard building safety
[47:04] practices lease documents. The draft
lease and current lease are incorporated
[47:09] as guiding documents for preparation of
the final lease.
[47:15] passed adopted maybe this day.
>> Can you just cover uh on the record what
[47:21] the current lease is right now? The
current rent is
[47:23] » The current rent is $1,500 a month.
>> And uh you mentioned that there's going
[47:29] to be
two other additional charges now. Power
[47:34] » if the board determines.
>> Correct. And that dollar amount again,
[47:38] » uh, electrical service was estimated at
$366.11
[47:43] a month and water service at $67.86
per month.
[47:47] » All right. Thank you.
[47:53] » Uh, Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments at this time?
[48:01] » Well, as I see in the best interest of
the community, you keep this
[48:07] going.
[48:15] » Uh, thank you, Commissioner. Vice
Chairman, do you have any questions or
[48:18] comments at this time?
>> Um, I don't I don't I have some
[48:21] comments, but I'd be happy to hear from
the Blessie if if she'd like to speak as
[48:26] well as the public.
>> Yep.
[48:28] » Um, all right. So, uh, is there anything
you'd like to come up and say as a
[48:35] business owner?
[48:42] » Jesse Fain, um, owner of Divide Fitness.
I'm just curious. I understand, uh, you
[48:48] guys are more comfortable with the lease
format that does include the utilities.
[48:54] Just waiting to hear what the base rent
would be.
[48:57] » Okay. So, as it sits right now, if
everything stayed the same, you'd go
[49:02] from 1,500 to roughly 1920,
assuming the base rent was not adjusted.
[49:08] That's what the new rent would be.
>> Okay.
[49:12] » Um, anything else you'd like to state at
this time?
[49:14] » No.
>> Okay. Is there any public comment
[49:16] regarding this item?
[49:25] » Jennifer McCain, Story County
Controller. Um, I am up here as the
[49:30] controller and it's um, my job to make
sure that the fiscal impact is fully
[49:35] reviewed and acknowledged. I'm not here
to say that divide fitness does not
[49:40] provide a benefit to our community. We
all, I think, understand that it does.
[49:45] However, we also need to acknowledge
that there are other businesses in our
[49:49] very small community that provide their
own benefits. Whether this is a
[49:54] restaurant, a bar, a gift shop, an
athome daycare, an outome um masseuse or
[50:02] therapist, um we need to acknowledge
that the subsidy that we are providing
[50:08] this business is solely because they are
in a county owned building. It's not
[50:12] something that we can give every other
business owner in our community. Um and
[50:18] I'm not saying that we should, but we do
need to take that into account. Um, we
[50:24] also need to pay attention that this is
actually our taxpayers giving this
[50:29] subsidy and we need to put a dollar
amount as to what the benefit is to
[50:35] them. Um, these same taxpayers have the
option to have membership to this
[50:41] business and they are paying full price.
I've never heard that they are getting a
[50:48] cut rate discount because of a below
market value or the subsidy that they're
[50:53] providing. As well, there is a segment
of our population that cannot afford to
[50:59] join this gym and their tax dollars are
still subsidizing this business. So, I
[51:04] think those things are very important
that we look at. Um,
[51:14] I think that acknowledging that this
business is
[51:18] um a benefit to our community, we also
need to keep in the forefront of our
[51:24] minds that we're setting a precedence um
second time around for this and is this
[51:29] the route that we want to go. If you
remember last time when we fell um the
[51:34] commission decided that the board should
um that the county should give a below
[51:39] market rent. We then were turned around
with our other
[51:44] um tenant came back to us and said me
too. I want to be treated the same. I'm
[51:51] very concerned that if we're doing this
subsidy that our businesses that don't
[51:56] have the luxury of being in county
buildings could also come to us and say
[52:01] what are you going to do for me? Um so
again while I think the divide fitnesses
[52:07] provides a benefit to our community it
is to a small segment of our community
[52:12] and we need to keep an open mind that
our taxpayers go far beyond that.
[52:18] That's all I have to say. Thank you. Is
there any other public comment at this
[52:23] time?
[52:27] All right. Not seeing any. Um,
Commissioner Gilman, I'll ask one more
[52:30] time. Do you have any questions or
comments?
[52:37] » All right. Vice Chairman, do you have
anything?
[52:39] » Um, yeah, I do. Anyway, um you know,
I've heard from constituents both, you
[52:44] know, reinforcing the value that the
Divide Fitness brings to the community
[52:48] and and I I think there's no question
about that. Uh and I've also heard
[52:52] others that that have expressed concerns
sim similar what the controller um has
[52:57] has expressed and um concerns about
equity in providing below market
[53:02] consideration for one company but not
for others. And um I think I think for
[53:07] me that's that's still a sticking point.
So, we we work pretty hard to do things
[53:12] the right way, to do things properly, to
make sure that we're above board,
[53:15] transparent, following the law, doing
things properly. And the law does give
[53:19] us the flexibility or the discretion to
make a finding through a resolution that
[53:25] it's in the best interest of the county
to uh to not charge market rent. And so,
[53:31] that's what's being proposed to us here.
I think for me, this the sticking point
[53:36] is still that I have a hard time
facing taxpayers of the county and
[53:42] telling them that uh I'm I'm having
integrity by saying that um in this case
[53:51] we can charge less than market rent when
we just went through a process with
[53:55] another county owned building where we
insisted on the full process. Now I'm
[54:00] certainly not in favor of um of a
competitive bidding process. We have a
[54:05] business that's already established that
wants to continue. I don't we shouldn't
[54:09] bring anyone else into that
conversation. Um but I I I have I have a
[54:15] really hard time making that finding
that it's in the best interest of the
[54:20] county to do so in this case and not
necessarily in others. Um as with the
[54:24] last time we considered this the
flexibility that we have outside of that
[54:29] uh I'm I'm totally on board for and what
I mean by that is we have two
[54:34] appraisals. One came in significantly
lower than the other. I'm happy to go to
[54:38] the bottom of what market rent is. I I
think that we have flexibility on
[54:42] utilities as well without passing a
resolution that it's in the best
[54:46] interest of the county to take this
alternative path. And so I'd be willing
[54:51] to look at
[54:55] not capturing those separately, rolling
that in, whatever. U but it's still it
[55:00] still comes in quite a bit higher than
if we were to leave it where it is and
[55:04] add the utility component. So th those
are my thoughts on it. That's what I'm
[55:08] struggling with as far as process goes
and and the right way to proceed
[55:11] forward. Um but I am just one member of
the board.
[55:14] » Do you have a do you have a dollar
amount that you're
[55:19] that [snorts] you're set in on?
>> No. Um so so to me to me it's not a
[55:25] dimmer switch. It's a light switch on
the main amount. And the main amount is
[55:29] either we charge market rent or we
don't. Okay. if we don't charge market
[55:32] if we charge anything less than market
rent we have to find it's in the best
[55:35] interest of the county to do so. Um and
that's the finding that I'm having a
[55:39] tough time making. So for me I look at
it and I go well the latest appraisal
[55:43] said 3280 but we have a previous one
that's at 2798.
[55:48] That to me is as much market rent as
3280 and so easy for me to go down to
[55:54] that level. I don't believe we have to
make the same finding u about utilities
[55:59] and so I'd be willing to wave utilities
if that's helpful. County should handle
[56:03] the fire extinguishers. I think that's a
no-brainer. Um anything else kind of
[56:07] around the periphery that we can be
flexible on. I'm totally on board with
[56:10] that. Um I just have a really hard time
making the finding and potentially
[56:15] setting a precedent that we that we
treat one business differently than
[56:19] another.
>> Thank you. Um you know I uh to to jump
[56:27] in here um you know the the
understand the logic uh you know for me
[56:34] it's um
I guess slightly different in the sense
[56:39] that there isn't a competing business. U
I don't necessarily disagree with you.
[56:44] Um I mean the point has been made that
you know um
[56:49] there's benefit to the gym. Um, you
know, I was a private business owner
[56:53] myself. I get it. Um, this is definitely
a unique circumstance. I mean, I've made
[56:58] my views pretty clear. I think the
rental business in general for Story
[57:03] County is a tough call. Um, but uh, you
know, if um,
[57:11] you know, again, I I see it both ways as
well. So, I mean, where where it sits
[57:15] right now, uh, is that if we kept the
base rent the same, charge utilities,
[57:19] we'd be at $1,920. Uh, your suggestion
is that we wrap everything up, um, and
[57:26] basically sit at the $2,700 mark.
>> I that would be acceptable to me. I'm
[57:32] not necessarily I'm not necessarily
suggesting it, but that's that's
[57:36] something that I could support.
>> Okay. Uh, Commissioner Gilman, while
[57:40] this discussion is happening, what are
your thoughts?
[57:46] Well, again, you know, I see this
business as a benefit to the community
[57:51] and like you pointed out, it's not like
there's no competing business. We don't
[57:56] have anything like this I'm aware of in
your city like YMCA type thing or
[58:04] excuse me.
Um,
[58:08] for me,
just looking at this, you know, the
[58:12] country utilities,
you know, I think is
[58:19] something that we can handle as a
community. I understand there's other
[58:23] taxpayers out there that may not use the
gym, but there's also taxpayers that
[58:29] can't get themselves down the hill and
not easy for them to move around. I was
[58:36] happy with something like this.
Excuse me.
[58:42] » Okay. So, um I'm just trying to pin you
down here a little bit. Sorry. Um so,
[58:47] you're comfortable with with the base
rent staying the same and charging
[58:50] utilities, which puts us at 1920.
>> I apologize.
[58:56] Yes.
>> No problem.
[59:02] » Okay.
[59:05] Um, as a business owner, do you mind if
I call you up?
[59:11] » So, uh, you've expressed in the past
that there isn't much flexibility
[59:16] on your end as far as being able to
absorb an increase.
[59:20] » Yes. So, we just hit our 10-year
anniversary in April, and over those 10
[59:27] years, I have absorbed all the other
increases.
[59:30] So, I will have to raise my membership
rates. Okay. Um, have you done any
[59:36] calculations on what that's going to put
the membership rates at? If
[59:41] » you know, because even now there's a
there's a I'm not going to say
[59:44] substantial increase, but
>> yeah, it's a bit of a guess because
[59:49] we hope some people won't want to
stomach that and then I'll lose members.
[59:53] So, it's it's
>> Where has your membership has your
[59:58] membership stayed the same? Has it
increased, decreased? It's dropped a
[1:00:01] little bit, especially over the last
several months with people nervous about
[1:00:04] what's going to happen. A lot of my
people like to do I only have two
[1:00:08] options. You either pay by the month or
if you pay a year in advance, you get
[1:00:11] two months free. Um and so a lot of
those had to go away because I couldn't
[1:00:16] I didn't know if I'd be around.
>> Okay.
[1:00:18] » So,
>> all right. So, are you still um I mean
[1:00:22] if if if we end up approving something
uh at the minimum 1920, do you
[1:00:29] anticipate that being an issue?
>> I think they could handle a little bit
[1:00:33] of an increase to cover that.
>> I mean, you still have roughly 100
[1:00:36] members.
>> Mhm.
[1:00:37] » Okay. So, if my math's right, it's
basically about, you know, four bucks a
[1:00:40] member.
>> Yeah. Um if if uh
[1:00:45] we went up higher than that um at 2700,
you don't think that's going to work for
[1:00:51] anybody? It's just too much of an
increase to absorb.
[1:00:55] » I think so. And unfortunately, a lot of
the people that I would lose would be
[1:00:58] our older folks.
>> Okay.
[1:01:03] All right. Thank you. I don't I don't
have any more questions at this time.
[1:01:06] I'm going to ask again. I know there's
not a whole bunch of public in there,
[1:01:08] but is there any other public comment?
[1:01:13] Okay. Um, are you prepared to make a
motion at this point?
[1:01:17] » You know, if it's all right, I' I'd like
to respond to a couple of the the points
[1:01:21] that Commissioner Gilman brought up. Um,
>> you know, I um
[1:01:27] c certainly there there is a benefit to
having a gym in town and those I don't
[1:01:31] want to reitigate litigate everything
that we talked about two years ago. Um,
[1:01:36] but there are uh other what I would call
health related businesses
[1:01:42] um or or uh organizations that could or
would benefit from a subsidy of some
[1:01:50] kind. Um and um I'll just use one
example. My wife and I teach swing
[1:01:55] dancing. We do as a fundraiser at the
Fourth Ward School. If that was
[1:01:58] subsidized, we do it a lot more often.
It's a healthy activity. It's a it's a
[1:02:03] social activity. uh it brings a benefit
to the community. Now, I'm not trying to
[1:02:07] make a living off of it. It's not I'm
I'm not advocating for a subsidy, but my
[1:02:11] point is to point out that um it's it's
a bit of a slippery slope when we start
[1:02:15] down saying, "Well, this is a benefit
more of a b is it more of a benefit than
[1:02:19] this other business." Uh that's a that's
a picking winners and losers that's
[1:02:23] that's really tough for me to um to to
stomach.
[1:02:28] Um, I
[1:02:33] we don't know what the market would be,
and I'm not really uh advocating that we
[1:02:37] go out and see who else is out there.
But I'll tell you, if if I if I could
[1:02:41] have access to a 5,500 square foot
building for undermarket rent with
[1:02:45] utilities capped, um, I'd do it in a
heartbeat because I'd plug in a bunch of
[1:02:49] Bitcoin miners and use a ton of util a
ton of electricity and make all that
[1:02:53] money back. And so so again, not that
I'm proposing that, but I don't think
[1:02:58] that it's absolutely unique. I think the
biggest issue
[1:03:03] when I consider the argument that this
provides a benefit is that what is the
[1:03:09] proper way for us as a government, an
entity that has the ability to take
[1:03:13] people's money through taxes? What is
the proper way for us to provide a
[1:03:17] benefit to the community? And the proper
way for us to provide a benefit to the
[1:03:20] community is to provide a public a
public facility. That that's how we do
[1:03:26] it. And we're allowed to provide
subsidies for nonprofit organizations
[1:03:32] because there's a clear benefit to the
community there.
[1:03:36] But as a general rule, we're not allowed
to provide a benefit through a private
[1:03:40] company um and and through a private
organization. And so there was some talk
[1:03:46] about this last time, but if the goal is
to provide a benefit to the community,
[1:03:50] then it should be open to the entire
community. And I don't want to change. I
[1:03:54] don't want to force a private business
to change. I don't want to force them to
[1:03:59] open up to whomever. But as a
government, that's kind of what we have
[1:04:03] to do. And so those are those are my big
stumbling blocks when we when we make
[1:04:06] the argument that this is the proper way
to provide a community benefit. Um, that
[1:04:12] being said, if it's the will of the
board to go ahead, I'm I'm not going to
[1:04:14] stand in the way. Um, I I just I I just
can't make those dots connect for me.
[1:04:21] » Okay. I mean, I don't want to read in
between the lines here, but um, is there
[1:04:24] is there some sort of desire that this
becomes a county facility like the
[1:04:30] swimming pool?
>> U, you know, I thought a lot about that
[1:04:34] because that was a topic of conversation
previously and I have a hard time seeing
[1:04:38] as a standalone county facility. Uh, I
mean, do you have someone sitting at the
[1:04:42] front desk? Um, I if you have to be open
to the public, then a a cardlock system,
[1:04:48] I don't know if that really works. I
think staffing it and I don't I don't
[1:04:51] see us staffing a community gym, if you
will,
[1:04:56] » um, by itself. Now, down the road, if
there's some way to roll it in with
[1:05:00] other recreational activities and have
someone staffing a combined recreation
[1:05:04] facility of some kind, I think that
makes a ton of sense and totally willing
[1:05:08] to look into that. But that's not that's
kind of outside the scope of what we're
[1:05:12] considering here. That's that's not part
of the discussion.
[1:05:14] » Yeah. No, I know. I just don't want to
leave that option out if that's
[1:05:18] » a direction that we want to look at. So,
>> um
[1:05:22] Okay.
At this point, are you prepared to make
[1:05:25] a motion?
>> I'm sorry.
[1:05:31] » Oh, yeah. So, go ahead, Commissioner.
>> Appreciate everything you said. totally
[1:05:35] understand where you're coming from
and and if we you know decide later on
[1:05:41] in the future do something like you all
just discuss about the community center
[1:05:45] that would be great to do something
but I don't think we're ready today to
[1:05:50] have those discussions so trying to keep
something for the community
[1:05:55] at least for the next few years or
whatever that might be I think my
[1:05:59] sticking point is just having something
up there for our community
[1:06:05] and yes, we would have to subsidize it,
but I just think it's a it's a benefit
[1:06:12] that's not
a bar or something of that nature. So
[1:06:18] like recreational
or
[1:06:24] people working out, being out there away
from their homes, away from their
[1:06:29] computers, just being out, meeting
people at the gym, wait for them to
[1:06:34] connect with others.
At this point, what we have, I see it as
[1:06:38] a benefit. Is there something else we
can do in the future? Sure. I'd be
[1:06:42] willing to discuss that. I'm just
looking at as what we have today.
[1:06:48] That's all I wanted to say.
>> All right. Thank you, Commissioner.
[1:06:51] » Yeah, M Mr. Chairman, if I may. And
yeah, thank you, Commissioner Gilman. I
[1:06:55] appreciate the those thoughts and and
[snorts] I know it it was I think just a
[1:07:00] bit before your time, but um it was kind
of my understanding that the two years
[1:07:05] that we continued on the last one was to
be the time for us to discuss all the
[1:07:10] different ideas and what have you. And
so I'm I I I do want a resolution. I
[1:07:14] don't think there's any point in holding
out uh for something that we have not
[1:07:18] discussed or planned. Um but you know, a
little a little bit of frustration that
[1:07:23] we didn't take the time that we had in
the interim to fully vet out those
[1:07:28] ideas. Um because it was my
understanding that's kind of the whole
[1:07:31] point of why we continued it last time
and I I don't love kicking the can down
[1:07:35] the road, but um but we need to deal
with the issue that's at hand, of
[1:07:38] course.
>> Okay,
[1:07:43] you're absolutely
[1:07:47] you come up. Is there something you want
to say?
[1:07:50] » Yes, please.
>> Yeah.
[1:07:51] » Jennifer McCain,
>> Story County Comproller. Again, while I
[1:07:54] understand everyone's points and I can
have agreements with all of them, I
[1:07:59] think some of Commissioner Gilman's
exact reasons for the benefit of this
[1:08:05] particular establishment,
um getting them away from their
[1:08:09] computers, getting our residents
outside, having them socialized that can
[1:08:13] be attached to any other business in our
community. I we all understand the
[1:08:18] benefit of fitness. We have many areas
for people to get outside and walk. We
[1:08:23] have a pool that the county already
provides and um senior center activities
[1:08:28] that utilize the park. I think it is
very important that why we understand
[1:08:33] all of these non-financial benefits. We
need to be able to represent some
[1:08:40] measures of um some measurable benefit
that we can pass on to our residents as
[1:08:46] to why this one business
is getting a below market value rent
[1:08:51] when this is not an option for any other
business in our community, not just
[1:08:57] Virginia City, but the entire story
county.
[1:09:02] » Thank you.
[1:09:08] Did you have something, Lisa?
>> Okay.
[1:09:12] [snorts]
>> So, Commissioner Gil, uh, Commissioner
[1:09:15] Gilman,
Vice Sherman, are you prepared to make a
[1:09:19] motion at this time?
[1:09:28] Um, I don't I don't I have a feeling the
motion I made would not be supported by
[1:09:32] the board, so it probably doesn't move
us forward.
[1:09:34] » Okay.
>> All right. Uh, Commissioner Gilman,
[1:09:38] would you like to make a motion?
[1:09:46] » I don't have this time. I apologize.
>> Okay.
[1:09:50] » It seems like this is a
very
[1:09:55] interesting issue here. Everybody kind
of has their feelings on it. Maybe I
[1:09:59] need to understand something a little
bit more. I don't think I'm ready to
[1:10:03] make a motion.
>> Okay. Um
[1:10:08] are we month by month, monthto month
right now?
[1:10:11] » Yes. Where?
>> And it's going to be month to month
[1:10:13] until this is decided.
>> Yes.
[1:10:15] » So, um I know you don't like kicking the
can down the road. um if we got to kick
[1:10:19] it for a month. Um I've just done some
basic math here. Um I believe it's going
[1:10:24] to be a $12 increase based on a 100
members. It's going to be a $12 increase
[1:10:30] if I'm not mistaken if we went to 2700
as opposed to 1500. Maybe my math's off.
[1:10:36] Um but it's an additional 12 onto your
monthly fee of $50. Is that correct?
[1:10:43] Has your membership fee gone up or
anything?
[1:10:47] » No, it hasn't. But it this it'll depend
on what goes on here today. But I'd like
[1:10:51] to throw a couple things out there.
>> Sure.
[1:10:53] » Um
>> how many people bid on the other county
[1:10:58] building when that went out to bid
>> old corner bar?
[1:11:02] » Mhm.
>> Uh
[1:11:04] believe one person.
>> There was interest from multiple parties
[1:11:08] but nobody followed through. Okay.
>> Um
[1:11:14] and just kind of talking about
[1:11:19] keeping people like I realize that the
gym isn't for everybody. It's not for a
[1:11:24] majority of people want it, but there's
a significant batch of people that do
[1:11:28] use that. And that's that many people
that aren't going down the hill for that
[1:11:32] resource. So, they're not going up and
down the grade. They're not going down
[1:11:37] there and like, well, I'm already down
here going to the gym, so I'll just fill
[1:11:40] my gas tank up down here at Maverick
instead of up here at our gas station.
[1:11:43] So, there's other little things that go
along with it, too. keeping people up on
[1:11:46] the hill. Um,
you know, using this resource. So, just
[1:11:52] like to
hopefully you can go back to your
[1:11:55] original thoughts of just adding in the
utilities, start there. Um,
[1:12:01] comproller mentioned the pool. The pool
is open for 47 days.
[1:12:07] This is open 365 days a year. Um, I know
it's kind of gets pushed off a little
[1:12:13] bit, but rebuilding our pool and maybe
making it a full rec center, you know,
[1:12:17] it's it's out there. It'll happen soon.
Maybe we can try to just keep this
[1:12:21] option alive until you get there. That's
all.
[1:12:24] » All right. Thank you.
So, Commissioner Gilman, am I
[1:12:28] understanding you correctly? Would you
like a little bit of time to
[1:12:32] digest this more or is that not what you
said?
[1:12:39] Please.
>> Okay. So then
[1:12:42] » can I ask a question? Go ahead. We're
going to go that direction.
[1:12:52] » Austin Husband for the record county
manager.
[1:12:56] Um,
what I'm going to ask you is just
[1:12:59] whatever the board decides to do, if
there's a continuence or you want to do
[1:13:03] something else, can you give some
direction to staff, please, on what you
[1:13:07] want us to do? Do you want us to
continue interfacing with the tenant? Do
[1:13:12] you want us to come back with multiple
options for this board to consider based
[1:13:16] on a discussion happened today? I would
just ask that that's articulated um so
[1:13:21] we don't just bring it back to here in
October or whenever the next day is just
[1:13:26] unless that's what you want just to
continue thinking about it and then the
[1:13:30] same motion brought back that's fine too
we just want to be clear on that so we
[1:13:34] kind of know what to do uh during the
interim that's all thank you
[1:13:37] » thank you I think um I mean we we
basically have two options in front of
[1:13:42] us two two possible options right one
would be vice chairman's suggestion have
[1:13:49] the the lower end of the original
appraisal, which was $2,700.
[1:13:53] Um, and then the other option
uh would be the keep the base around at
[1:13:58] $1,500 and tack on essentially another
$420 in utilities. So, I think that
[1:14:07] uh
if there's any direction, I would say to
[1:14:11] the business owner,
if this item is indeed postponed, I
[1:14:16] would probably work on running some
calculations based on that 2700 and see
[1:14:23] what that's going to do to your monthly
membership fees. Um, so that at least
[1:14:27] there's an answer there to make sure my
math is correct. Um, I know you've
[1:14:31] stated that your members don't really
have the pallet for an increase. Um,
[1:14:36] nobody likes that increase, but I think
it would make everybody feel comfortable
[1:14:40] [snorts]
at least working on those two numbers.
[1:14:43] Obviously, keeping things the same, you
know, um, and and adding the utilities.
[1:14:48] I assume that's easily dealt with on
your end. Um, if there is a if we do end
[1:14:55] up increasing the rent to $2,700,
utilities all wrapped up, um, I mean,
[1:15:01] it's basically, you know, $780 more is
is the difference between, I think,
[1:15:07] where we are all sitting right now. So,
you know, I would say for you at least,
[1:15:13] those are probably two very realistic
options at this point. Um,
[1:15:19] you know, and then as far as staff goes,
as far as a motion, I don't think
[1:15:24] » I'm speaking for myself. I don't think
anything needs to change with the motion
[1:15:27] other than
>> to roll this out.
[1:15:31] » Yeah. I mean, I I don't want to
complicate things, but can I throw out
[1:15:35] potentially something else for staff to
look at and Yep. And uh you know what if
[1:15:43] um in instead of subsidizing in this way
um we looked at providing a benefit
[1:15:51] which is a subsidy on the membership to
anyone who's a resident of the county so
[1:15:56] that to to join the gym and so that it's
available to anyone. And I understand
[1:16:02] that would change the character, right?
you'd get people who aren't as um
[1:16:06] devoted to fitness or kind of um
socially kind of in that space. But um
[1:16:15] for me it would alleviate the idea that
we are charging undermarket rent. We
[1:16:21] could charge full market rent but then
provide what we would have subsidized
[1:16:25] and I'm assuming much more because I
wouldn't want to limit it. it' be for
[1:16:29] any u any residents of the county that
wanted a membership, we provide a
[1:16:35] subsidy for that. I don't know if
there's legality in doing it that way.
[1:16:39] Um
but if if the determination is that the
[1:16:43] benefit is so great that we can't let
the business close. Mhm.
[1:16:48] » I would rather see the benefit provided
to all taxpayers as opposed to
[1:16:56] scrunching down the costs as much as we
can to benefit a smaller group of
[1:17:01] people,
>> right?
[1:17:02] » Maybe that's wild. Maybe maybe that's
not not practical.
[1:17:05] » No, I mean, honestly, it was it was
thrown around the last time we dealt
[1:17:08] with this was a way a way to offer to
the community, you know. Um I I don't
[1:17:13] recall that conversation in full. It
didn't sound like it was maybe more
[1:17:17] complicated
and and [snorts] I'm looking to you, the
[1:17:21] owner, because I I believe that was
discussed last time. Um I don't remember
[1:17:25] there being a
That's an awesome idea.
[1:17:29] » Are you specifically suggesting the
county buy the gym and operate it like
[1:17:36] such as the swimming pool? Is that what
you're suggesting? No, I'm I'm
[1:17:39] suggesting kind of like the dump voucher
system where residents would be able to
[1:17:44] access some sort of uh credit that they
could then use towards membership at the
[1:17:48] gym.
>> Oh, gotcha. I'm open to whatever ideas
[1:17:51] you have.
>> Okay. Okay. Now, I'm I just want to be
[1:17:55] clear here because the last time that
was brought up, I think the issue was um
[1:18:00] can't absorb the increase. Don't know
how many people are going to join. Yep.
[1:18:06] » Um, is that is the appetite changed? Are
you willing to look at something like
[1:18:10] that? If I remember the discussion last
time, it was uncertainty of who would
[1:18:15] join, who would take advantage because
if the rent goes up and people don't
[1:18:19] take advantage of the vouchers,
[1:18:23] and you haven't increased any revenue to
cover that increase in rent,
[1:18:28] » I guess.
>> No. So when we talked about this last
[1:18:32] time, the idea was thrown around. Um the
feedback I thought I got was that it was
[1:18:39] too there were no certainties as to an
increase in membership and therefore you
[1:18:44] would not be able to absorb the increase
in rent without knowing you had x amount
[1:18:49] of people paying a membership fee.
Because if based on what vice chairman's
[1:18:54] talking about, you know, if we offer,
hey, you want to join the gym, it's 25
[1:18:58] bucks off your monthly rental. you know,
your monthly membership, there's still
[1:19:02] no guarantee people are going to do it.
So then now your rent is raised,
[1:19:07] assuming we're on vice chairman's track,
you're now paying 2,700 bucks a month.
[1:19:13] You don't have an increase in
membership.
[1:19:15] Who's going to absorb that that
>> right? But like what are you doing for
[1:19:19] all the existing members giving them a
$25 voucher?
[1:19:22] » Yep.
>> Because that's fair.
[1:19:24] » It' be a county res every county
resident would have the option.
[1:19:29] » Yeah, Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure if it's
fair to to ask for an opinion from Jesse
[1:19:34] at this point because I think we need to
do some projections, right, and see,
[1:19:37] well, what if this if if this happens,
is this what do those numbers look like?
[1:19:41] And so, it's
>> I just want to make sure the appetite's
[1:19:43] even there because last time it didn't
seem like it,
[1:19:45] » right?
>> I just don't want to waste time if
[1:19:47] there's no desire to look at
>> Well, my desire is to keep a gym in some
[1:19:53] shape or form up here for the community.
Okay.
[1:19:57] » Thank you.
[1:20:02] So, are you prepared to make a motion?
Would you like Commissioner Dylan to
[1:20:05] make a motion?
>> Um, well, if you're comfortable with us
[1:20:09] uh instructing staff to explore that as
an idea,
[1:20:13] » I'm happy to make a motion to continue.
That's easy enough.
[1:20:16] » Okay.
>> We do need to give directions.
[1:20:18] » Sure.
>> Okay. Y
[1:20:21] » do we want to acknowledge the
controller?
[1:20:24] » Oh, did you have others?
>> I have one more thing. I'm sorry.
[1:20:27] Please. Um, while I understand that we
are [snorts] talking about what the
[1:20:32] owner of this business can afford, um,
to keep the gym open, that there are no
[1:20:37] guarantees that if she backs out of
owning the gym that no one else will
[1:20:41] take it over, um, I do think while
unconventional
[1:20:46] that
having her open her books to prove that
[1:20:49] this is not a for-profit business might
be something that we need to look into
[1:20:54] to ensure that we are not just
supplementing ing a business that's
[1:20:58] already making money.
>> It's interesting you mentioned that. I
[1:21:01] had asked earlier this morning um if
that was something that maybe staff
[1:21:07] could could look at to exactly basically
what you're saying. You know, staff can
[1:21:14] confirm, hey, this is a, you know, an
ongoing
[1:21:18] uh not really profiting business. Um if
that would, you know, maybe appease some
[1:21:25] folks. Um, but I I would ask the deputy
DA if that's um are we able to make that
[1:21:31] request.
[1:21:35] » Can you can you rephrase the request?
>> So, one of the
[1:21:41] one [clears throat] of the issues was
that um there isn't a lot of profit in
[1:21:45] this business. And I know that I have
been asked [snorts] um is it really not
[1:21:50] profitable? Um and I think that's
basically the same thing you're saying.
[1:21:54] If we're subsidizing this business, is
it really not a profitable business?
[1:22:01] » I don't know how else to phrase that.
>> If it's not a profitable business, and
[1:22:05] that's what we're basing the rent on,
can we see the books? This is something
[1:22:09] we do regularly with our nonprofits that
we do subsidize,
[1:22:13] » right?
>> They have to show us, you know, what
[1:22:15] they spent the previous years and their
various, not their tax forms. I can't
[1:22:20] think of the name of the tax form, but
if this is truly a nonprofit business
[1:22:25] after 10 years,
it's not up to us to tell them to shut
[1:22:29] down or to keep moving. But if we're
going to subsidize it, I think our
[1:22:32] taxpayers have a right to know that this
is actually not a profitable business.
[1:22:40] » At no point have I ever said I was a
nonprofit. For the record,
[1:22:44] » not nonprofit. In the previous
discussion, it was stated that there
[1:22:47] isn't, you know, I I'm not going to say
breaking even, but that was the
[1:22:51] impression that we all were under.
>> Okay. So, maybe that's that my
[1:22:55] understanding that you want to find what
that point is to make sure I'm not
[1:23:00] making any money and that's where you're
going to set the rent.
[1:23:04] » I don't I don't know that it has to do
with where to set the rent. I mean, um,
[1:23:07] the again to to bring this back three
years ago, um, the discussion was that
[1:23:13] we can't increase the rent because there
isn't much margin of profit in this
[1:23:18] business. And so I think what the
comproller is trying to say is, you
[1:23:23] know, if there really isn't
money being made from the business, it
[1:23:28] may be easier to justify the the subsidy
of rent.
[1:23:38] My whole thought here is any increase in
the rent, I have to increase my dues,
[1:23:45] which is
the county taking more money from the
[1:23:49] residents, your constituents, your
taxpayers, and putting it back into the
[1:23:54] county. That's all this is doing.
>> Okay,
[1:24:04] Brian, didn't mean to cut you off. Was
there something you wanted to add?
[1:24:14] » All right. So, at this point,
>> yeah, Brian, you're still on.
[1:24:17] » I do want to hear.
>> Yes.
[1:24:24] » Yes. But we can hear some other
background noise. Brian.
[1:24:35] Can you hear me now? Is this better?
>> Yes.
[1:24:40] » All right. Um, it's certainly within the
board's discretion to to request access
[1:24:45] to the um financial information of the
business in order to make this decision.
[1:24:51] Um, that would be done through staff and
we would make appropriate considerations
[1:24:57] um to make sure that information that
would be confident remain confidential
[1:25:02] but be
a decision on financial issues.
[1:25:07] » All right. Thank you, Brian. County
manager, did you have something you
[1:25:10] wanted to say?
>> My question was related to something if
[1:25:14] Brian was not able to join in and he
did. So, I am good.
[1:25:18] » Great. Anybody else want to say
something before you?
[1:25:23] » Okay. Are you prepared to make a motion?
>> Um, yeah. I'm I'm I'm happy to I
[1:25:28] certainly don't I want everyone to I
want everyone to have as much time as
[1:25:31] they need to make the decision. So I
don't I don't want to rush it.
[1:25:34] » Um
>> and if it's all right, I'd like to as
[1:25:39] part of that motion instruct staff to
look at some alternative arrangements
[1:25:44] and interface with the owner of the
business on what might be acceptable and
[1:25:48] what's not. If it looks like there's
some pathways that are open,
[1:25:52] » then we can bring those back for
consideration. Um I don't certainly
[1:25:56] don't want to leave the business in
limbo. I understand that that
[1:25:58] uncertainty is not helpful and um and so
I don't I don't want to prolong that,
[1:26:03] but if there are paths that seem like a
win-win, I I think it's it's worth
[1:26:08] taking a little bit of time to consider
those.
[1:26:10] » I agree.
>> So, so if that's all right, that's
[1:26:15] » that works for me.
>> Yeah. So,
[1:26:19] um, I, Commissioner Mitchell, move to
continue this item, item number 11, to
[1:26:28] our next regularly scheduled meeting on
uh, September 15th here at the
[1:26:32] courthouse and in the interim to
instruct staff to uh, to discuss with
[1:26:38] the business owner and internally
potential alternative structures to uh,
[1:26:44] look at viability for the business as
discussed on the record.
[1:26:47] » Do you mind if I ask, Mr. Chairman, that
the items that were discussed during
[1:26:51] this meeting and proposed be part of
those so we at least have some guard
[1:26:55] rails and some structure in our
conversations?
[1:26:58] » That works for me.
>> Yeah, I I think using the discussion
[1:27:03] that we've had today as guidance for for
those discussions.
[1:27:07] » Thank you, Austin.
>> Okay, there's a motion on the floor.
[1:27:15] There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
[1:27:18] » I.
>> I.
[1:27:20] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously.
[1:27:23] » Thank you, Jesse. Thank you, Jennifer.
Thank you, Lisa.
[1:27:28] » Moving on to item number 12 is
discussion for possible action. Uh,
[1:27:32] consideration and possible action on the
business impact statement for a change
[1:27:36] story county code ordinance repealing
and replacing portions of Story County
[1:27:40] Code, chapter 5.04, 04 5.12
8.28
[1:27:46] uh to modernize and reorganize county
business and liquor licensing
[1:27:50] regulations, clarify definitions,
application requirements, enforcement
[1:27:55] authority, and administrative
procedures. Laura,
[1:27:58] » thank you. Laura Mather for the record.
Um so this business impact statement is
[1:28:04] um here for your review and approval.
So, anytime we make changes to a story
[1:28:10] county code that would affect a
business, whether positive or negative,
[1:28:13] we are required to do a business impact
statement. Um,
[1:28:18] so this one was done done a little bit
differently because um for our first
[1:28:22] reading of these sections, we had some
changes. The business impact statement
[1:28:27] um as it is today reflects those changes
that were recommended by this board
[1:28:32] during first reading. So, um section
5.04 04.100's
[1:28:38] temporary sellers permit. Um we
clarified the language so that people
[1:28:43] know that if they have an existing
business license and they're going to
[1:28:46] sell the same item, they don't need to
get a temporary sellers permit. Um it
[1:28:51] also added um in section 5.04.130,
4.130.
[1:28:57] It added that um vacation rentals or
short-term rentals um the owner has
[1:29:03] discretion to require um a minimum age
of 25.
[1:29:08] Section 5.04.240
changed professional partnerships from
[1:29:12] each partner requiring a business
license to that business requiring a
[1:29:17] business license.
Um section 5.12.100
[1:29:22] liquor license fees and regulations.
Um I added the fees that were listed in
[1:29:29] the general fees down to that specific
section. Those fees that have to do with
[1:29:35] liquor licensing.
Um section 5.12.100
[1:29:40] we added that um all alcoholic beverages
for off-sale consumption must be sold in
[1:29:46] the original manufactured sealed
container.
[1:29:50] Um section 5.12.170
beer and wine licensing we added um
[1:29:57] cider to that.
to that same section. Um, we added the
[1:30:03] the notification process to um the
neighboring
[1:30:09] um community based on the full business,
the full liquor licensing.
[1:30:15] Um, under the definitions for that
section, cider was added as defined in
[1:30:21] NRS 597.240
240 subsection 6 and then added the word
[1:30:27] cider throughout the document where it
was appropriate.
[1:30:33] Section 8.28.025
alcoholic beverages for offsale premises
[1:30:38] that was expanded to include
um so it was originally only in it was
[1:30:44] originally that outdoor was not allowed.
So that was changed to off- premises
[1:30:49] sales involving alcoholic beverages may
be conducted outdoors within a
[1:30:53] specifically designated area approved
for the event provided that such sales
[1:30:58] are limited to um attendees of the
event. So, I just want to make sure so
[1:31:03] these obviously the board will will be
able to review when I do the second
[1:31:08] reading of those chapters. That will be
done the first meeting of October. But I
[1:31:11] wanted to make sure that you knew that
um all of your recommendations were
[1:31:15] added to that and they are now in that
business impact statement.
[1:31:20] So, if approved, the county manager will
sign it. Um it will be available on our
[1:31:25] website. It will be available in the
clerk treasur's office. We have five um
[1:31:31] vacation short-term rental entities with
business licenses.
[1:31:37] Um I will mail each one of them um a
copy as along with our chamber of
[1:31:41] commerce.
While I'm talking about that, I do want
[1:31:46] to take kind of a little side note and
remind
[1:31:50] property owners in Story County that if
they have their property listed on um a
[1:31:56] website such as Airbnb, that does
require a business license and not all
[1:32:01] areas of Story County is that zoned. So,
I think it's important that um our
[1:32:07] property owners know that and they can
obviously reach out to community
[1:32:11] development to to clarify whether or not
they need a business license.
[1:32:16] I'm happy to answer any questions.
>> All right. Thank you, Commissioner
[1:32:20] Gilman. Do you have any questions or
comments?
[1:32:25] » No. Thank you,
>> Vice Chairman.
[1:32:28] » Um, no. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for
getting those updates made.
[1:32:31] » Yeah, that was I was going to say the
same thing. Thank you for getting those
[1:32:34] changes made. Um, is there any public
comment at this time regarding this
[1:32:37] item?
Not seeing any. Vice Chairman, you
[1:32:42] prepare to make a motion?
>> Yeah. I, Commissioner Mitchell, move to
[1:32:45] continue consideration of the business
impact statement for a change to Story
[1:32:49] County Code ordinance repealing and
replacing portions of Story County Code
[1:32:52] Chapters 5.04 business licenses, 5.12
sale of alcoholic beverages, and 8.28 28
[1:32:58] special events to modernize and
reorganize county business and liquor
[1:33:03] licensing regulations. Clarify
definitions, application requirements,
[1:33:07] enforcement authority, and
administrative procedures. Establish
[1:33:11] updated provisions for temporary
licenses, temporary seller permits,
[1:33:15] recordkeeping, compliance, and
revocation standards. Revise special
[1:33:19] event and alcoholrelated permitting
requirements. Authorize the owner or
[1:33:24] operator of a short-term vacation rental
to establish a minimum renter age of 25
[1:33:28] years at the owner's discretion subject
to applicable identification and notice
[1:33:33] requirements and provide for other
matters properly relating there too.
[1:33:37] » May I interrupt before you proceed?
>> Sure.
[1:33:41] » Lara Mather for the record. So I just
wanted to clarify um in case there's any
[1:33:44] question the language is a little bit
different in this recommended motion and
[1:33:48] that's because hopefully it's a very
slim chance but there is a chance that
[1:33:52] when we do second reading there might be
some recommended changes and that's why
[1:33:55] the language is a little bit different
in the motion.
[1:33:58] » Okay,
clear with that.
[1:34:02] » Yeah. Well, I mean properly related
there too related there too. [laughter]
[1:34:06] » All right.
[1:34:10] There was a motion.
>> I'll second.
[1:34:14] » There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
[1:34:17] » I.
>> I.
[1:34:20] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you,
[1:34:22] Laura.
>> Thank you.
[1:34:23] » Moving on to item number 13. This
discussion for possible action.
[1:34:26] discussion and possible action on
submission of a letter of support to the
[1:34:30] Nevada Board of Museum and History for
the nomination of Miners Union Hall
[1:34:34] located at 34 North B, Virginia City,
Nevada to be placed on the Nevada State
[1:34:39] Register of Historic Places. Sarah,
>> uh Sarah starts for the record, just a
[1:34:43] quick note, the address is uh 36 North B
Street. So, the staff summary in the
[1:34:49] packet is correct, but I believe what
you just read was incorrect. And then
[1:34:52] the motion is incorrect. So if you can
just make a note of that.
[1:34:56] » So the Comtock area 523, the Fraternal
Order of the Eagles have been working
[1:35:01] hard to get their property miners union
hall located at 36 North Bay Street
[1:35:05] nominated to the state register of
historic places. The nomination will be
[1:35:09] reviewed by the Nevada Board of Museums
and History during their September 11th
[1:35:12] meeting at the Nevada State Museum in
Carson City. I believe the uh the
[1:35:16] meeting is going to start at 9:00, but
the agenda hasn't been posted yet. Um so
[1:35:20] please keep your eyes out for that just
in case that time is not correct. Um,
[1:35:23] and so Audi Robinson, he is an ARY
member and he wrote a nice piece on the
[1:35:27] hall that was published in the Comot
Chronicle on January 26th this year and
[1:35:31] it's available online to read for free.
So I'm just going to give a brief
[1:35:34] overview of his article. So Miners Union
Hall was built in 1876 after the
[1:35:39] original was burned down in the great
fire of 1875. And the hall became an
[1:35:43] important civic and social space. The
ground floor served as an assembly hall
[1:35:47] for meetings, lectures, and events,
while the upper floors housed the Miners
[1:35:51] Union Library that was established in
1877.
[1:35:55] By the early 1880s, the library held
2200 volumes and was right widely
[1:35:59] regarded as Virginia City's only public
library with reading and chess rooms,
[1:36:04] further supporting the hall's role in
community um and education. The
[1:36:09] Comtock's mining industry declined in
the late 1870s, as I'm sure we're all
[1:36:12] aware, but the Miners Union Hall
remained an active gathering place. In
[1:36:17] 1926, ownership passed to Comtock area
523, Fraternal Order of Eagles,
[1:36:22] continuing the building's institutional
and social role. Today, the area meets
[1:36:26] Weekly, maintaining the hall's long
tradition as a community gathering
[1:36:29] place. So, I'm not good at math, but
they've been operating it since 1926, so
[1:36:33] that's 100 years, so that's pretty
amazing. So, Minor's Union Hall is an
[1:36:36] important historic resource, and this is
well-deserved recognition for the
[1:36:39] property's historic significance and
contribution to Nevada's history. The
[1:36:44] listing of Miners Union Hall on the
state register of historic places will
[1:36:48] not place limitations on private
property. The state will not attach
[1:36:51] restrictive covenants nor seek to
acquire properties as a condition or
[1:36:55] result of the listing. And the property
owners are not required to open their
[1:36:59] property to the public. So, for these
reasons, I believe it is appropriate to
[1:37:03] request that the commissioner support
the nomination and listing of this
[1:37:07] important building by submitting a
letter of support. Thank you.
[1:37:11] » Thank you, Sarah. Commissioner Gilman,
do you have any questions or comments?
[1:37:17] » Vice Chairman,
>> I do not either. Thank you.
[1:37:19] » Is there any public comment?
Not seeing any. Vice Sherman, you
[1:37:23] prepared to make a motion?
>> Yeah. I, Commissioner Mitchell, move to
[1:37:26] approve the submission of a letter of
support to the Nevada Board of Museums
[1:37:29] and History for the nomination of the
Miners Union Hall located at 36B Street,
[1:37:34] Virginia City, Nevada, to be placed on
the Nevada State Register of Historic
[1:37:38] Places.
[1:37:41] » Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
[1:37:43] in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[1:37:46] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you,
[1:37:50] Sarah. On item number 14, this is
discussion for possible action.
[1:37:55] Consideration of possible approval of
grant of easement file 2026-038
[1:38:01] from Story County to Envy Energy for
utility facilities within the Sam Clemen
[1:38:06] Street right ofway in Mark Twain, Story
County, Nevada to uh facilitate a home
[1:38:11] build. Kathy,
>> uh yes, thank you. So um we've been
[1:38:15] reached out by MB Energy and the
property owner that's wanting to develop
[1:38:19] their property. Um the electric
electricity is across the street. So
[1:38:23] they're needing an easement to bring
that electricity across San Clemens. So
[1:38:28] public works has also reviewed this and
county staff and we don't have any
[1:38:32] concerns.
>> All right. Thank you Kathy. Commissioner
[1:38:35] Gilman, do you have any questions or
comments?
[1:38:39] » Vice Chairman?
>> No. Thanks.
[1:38:41] » Is there [snorts] any public comment?
>> Not seeing any. Vice Chairman, you
[1:38:45] prepare to make a motion?
>> I am. Uh, in accordance with the
[1:38:49] recommendation by staff, I, Commissioner
Mitchell, move to approve the grant of
[1:38:51] easement filed 2026-038
from Story County to Envy Energy for
[1:38:57] utility facilities within the Sam
Clement Street Ride ofway in Mark Lane
[1:39:00] Story County, Nevada to facilitate a
home building.
[1:39:06] » Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
[1:39:08] in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[1:39:10] » I.
I.
[1:39:12] » Motion passes unanimously. Thank you,
Kathy. On to item number 15. discussion
[1:39:18] for possible action.
Consideration and approval of
[1:39:21] modification to the planning department
2627 budget for professional services to
[1:39:26] add a study for alternative uh
alternatives update to the Long Valley
[1:39:32] Creek flood hazard mitigation plan
assigned budget funds for professional
[1:39:36] services will be altered but no increase
in the professional services portion of
[1:39:40] the planning department budget is
proposed. Kathy
[1:39:44] » uh thank you. So Kathy Campfield for the
record. Um, so staff is requesting that
[1:39:49] we modify the professional services
portion of the planning department
[1:39:53] budget to um adjust some of the assigned
dollar amounts to some of the different
[1:39:59] projects so that we can add in a Long
Valley Creek alternatives update. Um
[1:40:04] what's been happening is we've been
working on uh trying to implement the
[1:40:09] Long Valley Creek project that came up
and as we're implementing some of these
[1:40:13] we're finding there's some legal pro not
problems but legal
[1:40:19] items to work through. There's um uh
real estate items to work through.
[1:40:25] There's a lot of different things that
when we've when we've the engineers when
[1:40:29] they're designing something weren't
really taking into consideration. Um, as
[1:40:34] we've worked through more and more with
some of the different property owners,
[1:40:37] um, we've met with Jub Engineering who
authored that original um, document and
[1:40:43] we've come up with even some more ideas
of some things based on all these other
[1:40:46] discussions that we've had. Um, at the
time um, when we were planning doing our
[1:40:51] budgeting process that was back in
February [snorts] time period um, this
[1:40:56] is coming out this was like May and
June. Um, so we're finding that this was
[1:41:01] something that wasn't necessarily
overlooked, but it wasn't something that
[1:41:05] was on our radar that we were going to
need to be doing. Um, so staff is
[1:41:09] requesting that we adjust um the
planning department budget as it's shown
[1:41:13] on page two of the um staff report
[clears throat]
[1:41:18] and um also then we'll move forward with
with doing this alternative study with
[1:41:23] JUB. So I'm happy to answer any
questions. We've worked with or talked
[1:41:27] with the comp to comp controller, um,
public works, emergency management, um,
[1:41:32] the county commissioner's office.
There's a lot of different departments
[1:41:35] and pieces that are kind of moving with
this, but ultimately we're trying to get
[1:41:40] something that we could truly implement
and make the community safer.
[1:41:44] » All right. Thank you, Kathy.
Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
[1:41:47] questions or comments?
[1:41:50] » Vice Chairman.
>> Um, no. Well, land issues are
[1:41:53] complicated. I'm shocked. I tell you
shocked. [laughter]
[1:41:57] » Is there any public comment on this
item?
[1:42:00] » Not seeing any vice chairman, are you
prepared to make a motion?
[1:42:03] » I am. In accordance with the
recommendation by staff, I Commissioner
[1:42:06] Mitchell hereby move to modify the
planning department professional
[1:42:09] services budget to include the Long
Valley Creek alternative update and to
[1:42:12] modify the budgeted dollar amounts
associated with the accessory dwelling
[1:42:16] unit study in the easement acquisition
for Long Valley Creek.
[1:42:21] » Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
[1:42:23] in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[1:42:26] » I.
>> I.
[1:42:28] » Motion passes unanimously. Thank you,
Kathy.
[1:42:31] » Thank you.
>> Uh we're going to revisit agenda item
[1:42:34] number 26 at this point. This is
discussion for possible action. uh
[1:42:38] updates, discussion, and possible
direction to county staff and lobbyists
[1:42:41] regarding Story County's draft bill,
regarding economic development and tax
[1:42:45] abatements for the 2027 Nevada
Legislature, as well as upcoming bills,
[1:42:49] legislation, and other legislative
matters potentially affecting Story
[1:42:52] County.
>> All right. Thank you, Chairman Austin
[1:42:56] Oburn, for the record. Also with me is
Will Adler for the record, and he'll be
[1:43:01] discussing some things today with regard
to what you have in front of you. Uh in
[1:43:05] August the board had looked at our draft
BDR and made comments and suggestions.
[1:43:10] Since then our team has gotten together
to make those changes. Also had uh
[1:43:15] several meetings with some folks
including the department of taxation and
[1:43:19] I know others at the GOAD office and
others that might be involved in this to
[1:43:23] try to coordinate and align ourselves
and make sure that what we ultimately
[1:43:27] submit uh does have a chance for success
in the session. Uh at that time a draft
[1:43:34] has been edited and amended up until
last night. Uh so right in front of you
[1:43:40] you have a paper document and so does
the public in the back of the room. That
[1:43:45] paper document still has wet ink and it
is going to have some of the edits that
[1:43:49] have been made since uh very recently.
Mr. Adler is going to come up and walk
[1:43:54] you through all those. And I understand
there might be some deliberation that
[1:43:57] might occur at this point to iron this
out, get it to what the board is
[1:44:01] satisfied with. And then today is the
deadline for submitt to the legislative
[1:44:06] council bureau with which we're quite
excited. So I'm going to pass the torch
[1:44:11] over here to Will and be of assistance
otherwise. Thank you, Will.
[1:44:15] » Thank you, Austin. Uh Will Adler for the
record with Silver State Government
[1:44:18] Relations. I'm your lobbyist, guys. Uh
today we're coming back for the third or
[1:44:24] fourth time. uh in this county
commission room discussing this
[1:44:27] particular BDR looking towards the 2027
legislature. As Austin said, we actually
[1:44:32] have to submit this today, September
1st. So, per usual, Story County is
[1:44:37] bringing it down the wire up in the
drama, right? We can't just do things
[1:44:40] normal. We have to to do it here and
now. This is it, guys. But uh really the
[1:44:45] the premise of the bill started as as a
pretty pretty broad one and a good one,
[1:44:48] which is we are the receivers of and
maybe the beneficiaries of the Nevada
[1:44:53] State Abatement Program more so than
anyone else in the the state. We
[1:44:57] understand it better. We've had more of
them and we've completed the biggest of
[1:45:00] them. We have Tesla 1, 2, and Redwood
nowadays. So it is one where we've had
[1:45:05] success last year with SB69 and we sort
of labeled ourselves as the experts in
[1:45:10] this space because not a lot of other
people have this knowledge or have to go
[1:45:14] through this. But to summarize this, the
bill itself is one where we called it
[1:45:18] the omniabatement bill because we cover
all of chapter 360 which is known as the
[1:45:23] abatement bill and then the the tax
provisions around that. Uh but to
[1:45:27] explain the draft in front of you, maybe
the the the funniest part is the side
[1:45:31] note or something that we've brought up
secondarily of, you know, we shouldn't
[1:45:34] actually look at having tax abatements
where data centers are located on
[1:45:38] federal land. Today, now they'll have a
quicker change process. It actually gets
[1:45:42] around the special use permit for most
local governments and they they're the
[1:45:46] beneficiary of the the federal policy to
build them there. Why would Nevada abate
[1:45:50] them there? Right? So I think that's
actually has become a big premise of the
[1:45:54] bill is where do we actually want to
abate and where do we not see benefits
[1:45:57] abating as neatans. Uh and as such
section one of the bill does prevent the
[1:46:02] abatements or granting of abatements in
all federal land but as such we actually
[1:46:07] have to cite that section or that change
throughout the entirety of the language.
[1:46:11] So you'll see sort of this reference to
banning of federal land or reference
[1:46:15] section one brought up for almost the
entirety of this bill. So a lot a lot of
[1:46:19] sections and chunks are kind of
secondary. I would say the major
[1:46:22] sections are section four where we
actually look at data centers today what
[1:46:26] those abatements are and kind of use our
own history and the the words on the
[1:46:31] page today and say is that reflect data
centers we see today. Uh to date uh
[1:46:36] we're not seeing data centers coming in
at $25 million anymore. In fact probably
[1:46:40] the lightest dollar amount we see is
about $50 million or more. So we're
[1:46:44] actually upping the total dollar amounts
25 to 50, 100 to 200 million. That theme
[1:46:50] continues throughout this bill kind of
it in its entirety. So in in most
[1:46:54] provisions and sections we we also said
the same thing. We have a good program
[1:46:59] but is it sort of the right length andor
the right you know volume of program. So
[1:47:04] we we kind of assessed the whole thing
where we have 10 years we kind of said
[1:47:08] 10 years is a long time let's cut it
down to five. Where we have 20 years
[1:47:12] let's put it at 10. This actually puts
it within the realm of one elected
[1:47:16] officials jurisdiction or timeline with
a county. Even your term limited 12
[1:47:20] years, you might not even see the end of
an abatement that you approve or you
[1:47:24] won't literally today because they are
10 and 20 years out. This kind of is is
[1:47:28] our own reflections and updates, but it
actually gives the the abatement bill a
[1:47:32] lot of teeth and saying do not throw
that baby out with the bathwater. Look
[1:47:36] at that baby and assess it and say,
"Hey, you know, maybe it's more
[1:47:39] vegetables. This baby will be fine."
Right? that that's where we're at with
[1:47:42] the abatement program as a whole story
county looking at it but to to color
[1:47:47] this uh data centers are reflected
differently in other people's bill
[1:47:51] drafts to date we've heard that the
revenue committee is bringing forward so
[1:47:54] as we know that the interim committees
of Nevada the Senate and the Assembly
[1:47:58] has signed sort of the same committees
in the interim the interim revenue
[1:48:01] committee of assembly and senators have
declared one of their bills will to
[1:48:05] bring forth a moratorum on data center
abatements the continuation of data
[1:48:09] center abatements that are kind of in
the pipeline and just moratorium on data
[1:48:13] centers in one bill. We want to reflect
that there is abatements, yes, but
[1:48:18] there's benefits to them and
modifications really are what this
[1:48:22] program needs, not a full cut. To
continue that, uh, we do want to say, is
[1:48:28] there more we could do to assess the
abments we have? Section five is
[1:48:31] actually the section I would think is
most optional andor something that we
[1:48:36] want to assess most closely. That's
where we actually are looking at the
[1:48:39] auditing of or sort of the timelines we
audit you know abatements today to date
[1:48:44] they they check in kind of at their
two-year mark and they say we've begun
[1:48:48] we now have to have healthcare going
that's sort of when they have to have
[1:48:50] healthc care assigned by and then the
department of taxation actually audits
[1:48:55] them for compliance health care jobs and
sort of general numbers that they put
[1:48:59] forward in their abatement category and
they they conclude that at five years
[1:49:03] and they say two years fiveyear
assessment we we kind of looked at the
[1:49:07] whole of this and we said if we're
upping our abatements from 5 to 10 years
[1:49:10] should the the audit also be 5 to 10
years? Th this is one where we actually
[1:49:14] talked to the department of taxation and
they they said they're they're actually
[1:49:17] auditing people today when they find a a
you know person not in compliance they
[1:49:22] actually pull the abatements to date. If
somebody doesn't pay for health care,
[1:49:26] somebody doesn't have the right jobs
numbers, they they they actually say
[1:49:28] they have a pretty good track record of
addressing that. As such this might be
[1:49:32] something that I feel is you know
secondary or optional because it's done
[1:49:35] today. But we do have this idea of data
centers use too much power and they use
[1:49:40] too much water. But is that something
that you know we want to audit in this
[1:49:44] bill and that's where I I kind of say
maybe not because to date uh I think
[1:49:48] people are kind of wholly unaware of how
government works. But you can't actually
[1:49:52] start most buildings without an air
permit and a wastewater permit here in
[1:49:57] Nevada. if it's new, if they're building
it, DCNR,
[1:50:02] Department of Conservation, Natural
Resources, actually is the the regulator
[1:50:06] of basically what's wet and what's
shocking in Nevada. So, I I do think if
[1:50:11] we did include this, it might actually
string us into grabbing more chapters of
[1:50:15] law, more NRS, and weighing down the
bill a little. And secondarily, it it
[1:50:19] will cause a fiscal note. If you're
doing something new, if you have new
[1:50:22] audits, things like that, it it will
cause a cost and some weight to it. So I
[1:50:26] think it has great value to sort of say
we want to update the audits or look at
[1:50:30] those with what we're also doing. But I
also think today and now that might be
[1:50:34] for someone else to bring forward. The
governor himself has said he wants to
[1:50:37] assess the power in the water. If it has
a fiscal note attached to it, the number
[1:50:41] one way to pass that bill is have the
governor's name on it. I've learned
[1:50:45] that. So that that's where I think that
that's maybe the riskiest section. But
[1:50:49] the rest of it actually is
all-encompassing goes well. Noticing is
[1:50:52] it's kind of simple in section six.
Section seven. We we we sort of just
[1:50:56] again click click click through all the
federal land provisions but the
[1:51:00] timelines are updated again. We do want
it for you know personal property taxes.
[1:51:05] Same thing reasonable 10 years goes to
five 20 goes to 10. So and then the
[1:51:11] final one that's really kind of more
encompassing or something that is there
[1:51:14] for what we've seen as a county on the
ground working but not wholly applied is
[1:51:21] section 12 is where you actually have
sales and use tax abatements. how
[1:51:25] contractors are able to apply those and
use those has blended well with a larger
[1:51:29] operation like Tesla and Panasonic you
can colllocate you can have at different
[1:51:33] operations and continual growth but with
some data centers and other contractors
[1:51:37] they're using they're buying things on
the front end because they have to
[1:51:41] honestly if you're going to power
something you had to buy your
[1:51:44] transformers about four years ago some
contractors are able to to bring this
[1:51:48] forward but not actually be under the
same tax abatement it's very very sort
[1:51:51] of niche tax policy but hearing from
those in the park and others. This would
[1:51:55] be a great provision to bring forward,
but it would be one we we'd have to say
[1:51:59] this is for others to explain, right? If
that that collocation is going to be the
[1:52:03] benefit of the contractor and the
abatement holder, we need them to
[1:52:08] actually come to the table and defend
it. It's us to bring it forward and say
[1:52:10] this is an update that would work, but
we think that'll bring out a lot of the
[1:52:13] abatementes. Goed,
>> what's Edon called now?
[1:52:19] » Northern
>> that disrupted my whole speech. Ed on
[1:52:22] and NNDA. So I I think that's where
we'll get the the co coalition of folks
[1:52:27] who actually know abatements and talk
about what they're hearing on the ground
[1:52:30] to to come forward is things like
section 12. So overall I've talked too
[1:52:34] much. This is a big bill. It has a a
multicompassing omnibatement features to
[1:52:39] it. But really I think there's there's
sort of a question of you know we want
[1:52:43] to touch abatements and and educate
everyone and make them look at each
[1:52:46] section but maybe we don't uh need the
audit section. I'll point out just
[1:52:50] because I I do fear a fiscal note and I
I do want to make sure we're we're doing
[1:52:55] something that's as unimpeachably,
you know, neutral and and talk about the
[1:53:01] subject as a whole and not, you know,
leaning on something where someone might
[1:53:04] say, "I already got audited at year
five. If this passes, do I get audited
[1:53:08] again in year 10?" And then we just, you
know, have to explain the niches. That
[1:53:13] really isn't the point is we just want
the whole being updated. That's my
[1:53:17] speech. Thank you very much. Uh any
questions or conversation? I'd love to
[1:53:21] continue
right here. Thank you.
[1:53:25] » All right. Thanks, Will. Commissioner
Gilman, do you have any questions or
[1:53:28] comments at this time?
>> Not at this time.
[1:53:33] » Vice Chairman,
>> um I I I do want to really uh compliment
[1:53:39] the team on, you know, pounding through
this, really thinking it through. Um, I
[1:53:45] think there is, you know, Will makes a
great point. There is a a decision to be
[1:53:49] made about this this audit function. The
thinking the thinking and including it
[1:53:54] originally was that one of the
complaints is that there's not um the
[1:53:59] level of transparency
around compliance, resource usage,
[1:54:05] economic benefits, and those kind of
things from those that avail themselves
[1:54:10] of the of the component of the program.
And so that was our thinking in
[1:54:15] including this audit component. That
being said, you got to get a bill across
[1:54:19] the finish line. And so the the question
is, does that introduce an element that
[1:54:24] will create push back? Um
or is it valuable enough on the flip
[1:54:30] side in creating that transparency that
other people are going to say, "Yeah,
[1:54:35] that's the direction we should be moving
and enthusiastically back it." And uh
[1:54:39] and as will mentioned, there are
potentially other sources of bills that
[1:54:43] may be able to address that piece. Uh we
did also in the latest revision of that
[1:54:48] audit piece, we did give permission
>> for the um the office of economic
[1:54:57] development who is kind of being tasked
with this to
[1:55:01] hire a third party, qualified accounting
firm or someone to come in and do that
[1:55:08] as opposed to putting that directly on
the backs of state employees. And so a
[1:55:14] fiscal note represents a direct cost to
an agency typically. And that's that's
[1:55:19] what can often cause some headwinds for
a bill. And so that was an effort to
[1:55:24] mitigate that to say, "Hey, we're not
going to put a a big new burden on the
[1:55:28] Department of Taxation or some other
state agency, but that they could use
[1:55:33] third parties and and potentially I
don't I don't remember if we put this in
[1:55:36] here or not, but potentially it's paid
for by the abated company um that to
[1:55:41] gather that information." And one of the
other things that surfaced as we talked
[1:55:45] to different agencies was the potential
that the perceived lack of transparency
[1:55:52] or the lack of reporting may not be that
it that auditing is not being done. It
[1:55:57] may just be that it's not being well
communicated back to the public. And so
[1:56:02] we were assured that compliance is is
being assured by Department of Taxation.
[1:56:07] And then eventually the results of that
shows up in a byian annual report of
[1:56:11] goad.
[1:56:27] » Thank you for that moment of not
silence. Please continue.
[1:56:31] » Yeah.
Go ahead.
[1:56:33] » Hopefully it's not a moment of silence
for
[1:56:36] » [laughter]
>> Um so so there was a thought that
[1:56:40] potentially we could achieve greater
transparency or greater disclosure
[1:56:45] simply by some administrative
adjustments internally within the the
[1:56:48] the
groups that deal with this information
[1:56:52] as opposed to creating a statutory
requirement for an audit of five years
[1:56:57] an audit of 10 years which doesn't
currently exist.
[1:57:00] » So that's that's kind of one of the
decisions that we need to make. Um, I
[1:57:05] feel very confident with the other parts
of the bill. There may be continued
[1:57:08] conversation between us submitting and
getting to the beginning of session or
[1:57:13] we may need to massage things. Uh, but
that's that's the big decision I would
[1:57:17] say that needs needs to be made today is
do we yank that piece? Do we leave it in
[1:57:21] there?
>> Okay.
[1:57:26] » Austin, do you have anything to add?
>> I think it's our team pretty well.
[1:57:30] » All right. Yep. Uh, Commissioner Gman,
do you have any questions or comments?
[1:57:38] » Appreciate the explanation
from that
[1:57:44] understand.
>> Yep.
[1:57:47] Um, is there any public comment?
All right. Um, I'm in agreement. I mean,
[1:57:53] I I understand the logic, but I think
it'll be easier to, you know, probably
[1:57:57] get across the finish line without those
additional requirements.
[1:58:02] So, um, what other direction do you guys
need?
[1:58:06] » Well, I I will add there for the record.
I'm not sure if you do that every time
[1:58:10] here, but, um, I I think I'll color the
the commentary a little bit. So, we have
[1:58:14] to submit the bill today to LCB. the
Legislative Council Bureau will draft
[1:58:18] this out and they might even tell us by
the way guys that this is in not in
[1:58:25] compliance with the single subject bill.
So that that's where audit might be that
[1:58:29] second tier of it where we're saying
abatements abatements and then you know
[1:58:32] physical auditing of abatements actually
is like a subtopic, right? Because it
[1:58:36] does hit another tax chapter. So
technically we don't know. So we're
[1:58:40] we're going to submit this draft as we
see it. it comes back and then as it's
[1:58:44] written by them matters to me frankly
more than how I wrote it to them. So
[1:58:50] when we we see the impact or what
happens, there will probably be 10 more
[1:58:54] sections or subsections or pages to this
bill where we will have a downstream
[1:58:59] impact. And truly then as a as a
commission and as as a team, we'll
[1:59:03] assess what's there, what's not, and we
can actually say at that point, this
[1:59:07] looks good, this doesn't, or this this
really hit what we wanted to hit. Ask
[1:59:10] for a reddraft. But when we get that
reddraft back, that's where we can say
[1:59:14] actually we want to take this part out
of the bill. We do do not like it. So
[1:59:18] really at this moment there isn't a lot
of harm saying we want to go forward and
[1:59:21] look what this you know how's this look
what's this audit language you know come
[1:59:25] together like and we can even talk to
you know department of taxation and
[1:59:29] others and say what do you think this
would cost to actually implement right
[1:59:32] and then at that time we can make a more
educated informed decision uh and then
[1:59:36] we could actually you know take it out
of the bill prior to its introduction uh
[1:59:40] to the legislature because it really
gets introduced when the legislature
[1:59:43] goes live come January next year it sort
of comes alive in 2027. So, this is not
[1:59:49] the end of the conversation, just maybe
the furtherance of, you know, where
[1:59:54] where this bill ends up. We we we will
give I will give you your transparent
[1:59:58] advice uh when we get it back from LCB
whether I think something would be an
[2:00:02] anchor and hold it down or whether it it
looks like it'll it'll come out fine.
[2:00:06] So, I think, you know, let's put it
forward as it is today. It looks like
[2:00:10] good guidance. It looks wholly
encompassing where we're not just asking
[2:00:13] for babies to get a little modified. we
actually want to make sure that there's
[2:00:17] some some transparency on them as a
whole. Be that something that ends up in
[2:00:21] say a governor's bill or something else.
We might take it out of our bill
[2:00:25] anyways, right? But we still have some
flexibility. This isn't uh you know a
[2:00:29] handcuff, but I I think it's a very well
positioned bill and we've had a great
[2:00:32] discussion on it so people know why
we're doing it and where we're coming
[2:00:34] from. So I feel comfortable kind of
going forward.
[2:00:37] » So Mr. Chairman, if I can suggest maybe
that we put on the record that we have
[2:00:41] some flexibility
>> Yeah. on on that that maybe we'll submit
[2:00:45] it as is.
>> Okay.
[2:00:46] » That we're not absolutely tied to having
it in there that we'll consult and see
[2:00:50] what we get back from LCB. Okay.
>> And then if it feels like the right move
[2:00:54] that we can modify, soft and remove at a
future date.
[2:00:57] » Okay, that works.
>> Is that comfortable enough? We see if uh
[2:01:01] Commissioner Gilman has thoughts on that
approach.
[2:01:04] » Commissioner Gilman, do you have
anything at this time?
[2:01:06] » There might be one point of order too.
>> I'm 100%.
[2:01:12] Okay,
>> I'm Austin Husband for the record. So, I
[2:01:16] just want to make sure I'm understanding
this correctly. So, we came to the
[2:01:21] proposal to go ahead and move forward
with a bill as it's proposed in front of
[2:01:24] you with the removal of section five,
the auditing elements. I think Mr. Adler
[2:01:29] articulated it quite well the reasons
why and Commissioner Mitchell also
[2:01:33] articulated the reasons why it
ultimately ended up in there and why we
[2:01:37] consider removing but I'm not quite sure
I understand the motion at this point
[2:01:41] after the last statement.
>> Okay, good. I'm glad I'm not the only
[2:01:45] one.
>> So, are we leaving the bill as is with
[2:01:48] the
with the the checks in there or are we
[2:01:52] taking it out now?
It is my recommendation, Austin Osbbor,
[2:01:57] for the record, uh, with the
conversations we've had. I think there's
[2:02:00] good arguments on both sides of that,
um, that we don't go in with section
[2:02:05] five or element five with the audit.
Everything else and the bill move
[2:02:09] forward as it is. It's just my
recommendation. I believe that was
[2:02:12] articulated at most of the discussion
prior to what I'm saying now, but it is
[2:02:17] ultimately up to the board. It does
sound like to me in this conversation,
[2:02:21] if I'm right, uh that some auditing
elements are being looked at by the
[2:02:25] governor's office, governor's office of
economic development, others at the
[2:02:29] state that are putting together their
own bills and that auditing might be
[2:02:33] addressed. It also looks like, if I'm
correct, and please correct me if I'm
[2:02:37] wrong, uh that uh Commissioner Mitchell
mentioned that there is an element in
[2:02:41] our bill that allows GOED to have a
third party review, go through those
[2:02:46] things and make sure everything's where
they want it, and it gives them some
[2:02:50] discretion without this bill going into
LCB with something that may be overly
[2:02:55] complex.
I appreciate you at least hearing me on
[2:02:58] that.
>> Sure. Yeah, I I think if I can clarify
[2:03:01] my comments, I'm I'm quite sure that
that's in the auditing section. Um,
[2:03:05] which was meant to soften the auditing
section. So, if we take it out, that no
[2:03:10] longer is even proposed that that there
could be a third party or or another way
[2:03:15] to look at this. So, I I I'll state very
clearly where I'm at. I I believe if we
[2:03:20] get rid of the auditing section, we um
we don't bring up a subject that we may
[2:03:26] have the ability to get rid of later.
>> Okay? If we take it out now then then uh
[2:03:32] I believe there is risk on the flip side
which is those who say I might be okay
[2:03:40] with this if there was better
accountability right we're trying to
[2:03:43] build consensus behind the idea and if
we take out the auditing section
[2:03:47] completely um and we may not and maybe
the governor brings that maybe he
[2:03:53] doesn't but uh we're our bill is silent
on that and so my recommendation would
[2:03:58] be to leave it in but with the
understanding that we are not
[2:04:02] necessarily tied to it. So then we we
say this is the goal is to to LCB what
[2:04:09] we're trying to accomplish is greater
transparency and accountability and they
[2:04:13] may say sorry you can't do that in this
bill single subject or you can't do or
[2:04:19] whatever it is we talked to we talked to
the other stakeholders as well they say
[2:04:23] we're going to put a massive fiscal note
on that so then we can drop that before
[2:04:27] we get to the legislature. So that's
that's my recommendation is
[2:04:31] » okay. So leave it intact and we can take
it out if necessary later.
[2:04:35] » That's my feel
>> and and LCB can can at least analyze
[2:04:38] everything and tell us like you said
there's a potential fiscal note or there
[2:04:41] is a fiscal note or
>> Okay.
[2:04:44] » Yeah. Which is which is the opposite of
county manager's recommendation just to
[2:04:48] be
>> correct. Correct. Okay. All right.
[2:04:51] Commissioner Gilman, are you clear on
that?
[2:04:56] » Yes.
>> All right. Is there any public comment?
[2:05:01] » Are you prepared to make a motion?
>> I am. There's there's one other thing
[2:05:04] that I'd like to give the flexibility to
look at. Uh not a direction to do for
[2:05:09] sure, but there's one section of the
bill where we act pretty eloquent and it
[2:05:13] has to do with if someone needs a waiver
to the requirement that 50% of the
[2:05:18] construction workers are Neadans.
And it's it's pretty long and detailed
[2:05:24] and it creates kind of a big process and
I'm wondering if uh we may not have the
[2:05:30] time between now and submission later
today. But I'd like to, if it's all
[2:05:34] right, get the board's permission to
look at that and if there's an efficient
[2:05:38] way to maybe streamline that down and
make it just a little more clear because
[2:05:42] as I was reading through it, it's like
there's all sorts of well, you have to
[2:05:46] show proof and you have to do this and
you have to say you've done that and
[2:05:49] then you can get a waiver and you can
employ fewer Neadans. And there's
[2:05:53] already that element in the law. We just
created a much more kind of
[2:05:57] comprehensive way to do it which may
have pros and cons. And I think that if
[2:06:01] that if it's okay to have a final check
on that and authorize uh our team to to
[2:06:06] just either shrink it down to something
more concise or leave it the way it is
[2:06:11] based on if we feel we can do it justice
in the next couple hours.
[2:06:14] » Okay.
>> Is that something that works? I'm
[2:06:18] comfortable. Y
>> and I believe for reference uh I believe
[2:06:23] that is in section
four.
[2:06:28] um
subsection 12 I believe is where it
[2:06:33] starts, but we'll take a look at that.
So, other other than that, I I think
[2:06:37] we're pretty pretty darn close to prime
time ready for prime time on this.
[2:06:41] » All right. Um are you prepared to make a
motion?
[2:06:45] » I can.
>> Okay.
[2:06:48] Except I am out of order
because we did it out of order.
[2:06:55] 62.
>> Thank you.
[2:07:00] » 628 maybe.
[2:07:06] » 628.
>> Thank you.
[2:07:10] » All right. Um
I Commissioner Mitchell move to direct.
[2:07:15] Did we take public comment?
>> Yep.
[2:07:18] » Did
>> I did?
[2:07:19] » Um I, Commissioner Mitchell, move to
direct county staff and lobbyists to
[2:07:23] represent Story County on known BDRs,
bills, and other potential legislation
[2:07:27] affecting Story County as follows. to
submit by the filing deadline our final
[2:07:32] draft of the uh what we affectionately
refer to as the omni baitment BDR to um
[2:07:40] retain the section about
um audits with the understanding that it
[2:07:47] may be removed at a later time [snorts]
and uh to authorize staff to massage
[2:07:51] wording on that section as well as on
the section about waiverss for the
[2:07:56] Nevada employee requirements before
submitt
[2:08:02] There's a motion. Do we have a second?
[2:08:07] » Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
[2:08:10] in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[2:08:12] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you,
[2:08:18] Will. Thank you, Austin.
>> Uh, Mr. Mr. Chair, Before we close this
[2:08:21] item, I just wanted to make the
commission aware the uh state historic
[2:08:27] preservation office has informed us that
they submitted a bill uh and we've asked
[2:08:32] them for a copy of it that may have some
some sort of impact around the historic
[2:08:36] district.
>> So, we don't know we don't yet know what
[2:08:38] it is. We've asked them for a copy so we
can see what uh what what that may say
[2:08:42] and we'll we'll bring it back under this
item in the future.
[2:08:45] » All right. Great. Um, I'm going to ask
we just take a short break before moving
[2:08:48] on to item number 16.
>> Public lobbyist comment. We'll add for
[2:08:53] the record. There are several bills that
have actually been announced or sort of
[2:08:56] have their titles out and I have a good
tracker of them going uh post this we
[2:09:01] could actually do sort of a you know
looking at the field uh legislative
[2:09:05] bills and BDRs what's what's coming to
the legislature and that that is one of
[2:09:10] them on the list. So, I that reminds me
uh if needed, I'd be glad to present
[2:09:15] that to you all. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. All right, we're going to
[2:09:18] recess. It's 12:13. We'll be back in a
couple minutes.
[2:10:00] I
[2:10:04] Democrat Latino Central.
[2:10:52] Yeah, that's what I really want.
[2:11:10] All right.
[2:11:17] Perfect.
[2:12:00] Yeah.
[2:12:11] » Yes.
No.
[2:12:30] All right.
[2:13:01] I can't Speech. Speech. Speech.
[2:14:26] That's
[2:14:36] What's your idea?
[2:14:59] forward
[2:15:41] Let's think about that.
[2:15:58] That's really hot, you know.
[2:16:26] very
[2:17:13] That's right.
[2:17:48] Sorry.
[2:18:34] I order this
[2:18:49] What if we did?
[2:19:03] Last time
[2:19:26] we'll
[2:19:37] It's awkward.
[2:20:12] That's right.
[2:20:22] Any
[2:20:26] questions?
[2:20:57] forunately.
[2:21:13] Apple
[2:21:45] Stick around. Yeah.
[2:21:50] Yeah.
[2:21:56] » All right. It's 12:26. We're going to go
ahead and reconvene.
[2:22:04] » Yeah. I'm waiting for the Commissioner
Gilman. You ready to go?
[2:22:10] » Thank you.
All right. All right, we're on to item
[2:22:14] number 16, which is to recess to convene
as Story County Highway Board. Bringing
[2:22:18] us item number 17. Discussion only uh
report of public works department
[2:22:23] regarding roads and highways throughout
Story County.
[2:22:32] » Good afternoon, chairman, commissioners.
Jason Warsiki for the record. Just a
[2:22:36] couple quick updates. Um, I met with the
LCC
[2:22:41] uh yesterday morning to go over some uh
drainage
[2:22:45] uh questions before I meet with the
engineer uh tomorrow morning at 9:30 to
[2:22:50] [snorts] address some drainage and uh
hopefully figure out how we can
[2:22:54] remediate uh Lockwood Lake at the bottom
of Canyon Way and in Perry Ranch and uh
[2:23:01] take care of some upper drainage as well
and uh get all that wrapped up so we can
[2:23:06] pave
So, I want to address all the drainage
[2:23:09] issues before we pave so we're not
throwing money away.
[2:23:13] » A lake.
>> What's that?
[2:23:14] » There's a lake.
>> Uh, there can be.
[2:23:16] » Okay.
>> At certain certain storms. [laughter]
[2:23:20] » Does Endown know? They'll want to throw
some trout in there.
[2:23:24] » Yeah, that's what the the residents have
nicknamed that uh Lockwood Lake. So,
[2:23:29] during during different thunderstorms.
>> All right. Uh another note uh we were uh
[2:23:34] successfully worked with SNC on the
railroad crossing at Walam by Wild
[2:23:40] Horse. We were able to remove that
failed slot drain u and repave
[2:23:47] everything and that transition's really
really nice at this point in time and
[2:23:51] not hammering the railroad crossing
anymore from the way to the trucks
[2:23:55] bouncing and
>> smooth as the horse guards on 341. Uh
[2:24:01] it's
>> pretty close.
[2:24:02] » Yeah, pretty close.
>> All right.
[2:24:03] » Yeah, we'll
>> check it out.
[2:24:04] » Yeah, thank you.
>> And uh we're well underway on the uh
[2:24:08] road rehab project down in Mark Twain.
Uh we've uh ran into a couple armchair
[2:24:14] quarterbacks
uh their opposition yesterday and that
[2:24:19] was kind of interesting. But uh we're
full steam ahead on uh some drainage
[2:24:24] improvements and get ready to start
chewing up some road to lay some new
[2:24:28] ones.
>> All right. You know, you guys aren't
[2:24:30] having any hostility problems down
there.
[2:24:32] » That was yesterday.
>> Okay. Sheriff's office notified or
[2:24:35] » uh not yet.
>> Okay. You guys safe out there?
[2:24:38] » Yeah. So, that's all I have at this
point in time.
[2:24:42] » All right. Thank you, Commissioner
Gilman. Do you have any questions?
[2:24:48] » All right. Vice Chairman.
>> Uh, no. Thanks for the report, please.
[2:24:51] » Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for your work
out there. Mhm.
[2:24:54] » On item number 18 is to recess to
convene the story county uh fire
[2:24:58] protection district board. Bringing us
to item number 19, which is discussion
[2:25:03] for possible action, consideration, and
possible approval of an unbudgeted
[2:25:06] capital fund expense in the amount of uh
$1,241,885
[2:25:12] to purchase a all-wheel drive type 1
fire engine for station 71. Chief
[2:25:18] Bob Riser, fire chief. For the record,
back in 2024, we uh determined that we
[2:25:24] were long past due to purchase a new
type 1 fire engine for here in Virginia
[2:25:29] City. The original determination was to
get a four-wheel drive engine. Um so we
[2:25:36] put that on order. The challenge of the
fire service is that's 48 months minimum
[2:25:40] to get that piece of apparatus. So
sometime by the end of 2028, we would
[2:25:46] have that engine.
In speaking to the Pierce sales rep um
[2:25:53] about two months ago, he gave us an
alternative option which was an
[2:25:57] all-wheel drive engine which would match
the two that we recently ordered that
[2:26:01] you approved uh last month. Um, it would
be matching in nearly every function
[2:26:06] except for the fact that it would be an
all-wheel drive and it would come in at
[2:26:10] about 12 to 14 months sooner than the
four-wheel drive engine. Um, the
[2:26:16] difference in price would be the
$41,885.
[2:26:22] So, for the the rate at which they've
been increasing in cost and the fact
[2:26:26] that they don't even have a VIN for the
one that we were going to get at the end
[2:26:30] of 2028,
um made the determination that I think
[2:26:34] it's in the district's best interest and
the community's best interest to modify
[2:26:39] from the 4x4 to the all-wheel drive and
get it sooner and just um incur the
[2:26:44] additional 41,885
[2:26:48] with not expecting to have that
apparatus. uh come in until 2028. We
[2:26:53] didn't put it on this year's budget as a
funded expense. The money was already
[2:26:57] set aside. However, we didn't do that.
So, they're requesting to
[2:27:02] transition that original 1.2 plus the
additional 41,885
[2:27:07] into this year's budget for the expense
and sign the contract for the purchase
[2:27:11] of that all-wheel drive type one.
>> Okay.
[2:27:16] Uh thank you, Fire Commissioner Gilman.
Do you have any questions or comments?
[2:27:24] Fire Commissioner Mitchell.
>> Uh Chief, can you just briefly talk
[2:27:27] about any sort of implications of the
difference between four-wheel drive,
[2:27:30] all-wheel drive units?
>> Um the the biggest difference that we
[2:27:35] see is the all-wheel drive unit sits
lower at almost a normal two- wheelel
[2:27:40] drive engine height, which decreases the
safety issues that we see with personnel
[2:27:44] trying to climb in and out of them. Um
so from a workcom standpoint, I'm
[2:27:48] excited about that. uh pulling hose, the
hose beds sit lower as well. So that
[2:27:54] increases the the safety factor. The
all-wheel drive, when we started doing
[2:27:58] some comparison studies with neighbors
that are using them in high elevation
[2:28:02] climates as well, like Veil, Colorado,
they don't have any four-wheel drive.
[2:28:06] They only have all-wheel drive and they
operate in a significantly heavier snow
[2:28:10] load than we consistently do, give or
take, you know, 2023 and other various
[2:28:16] years. Um, so overall they tend to
operate better. The all-wheel drive
[2:28:22] kicks out at 17 miles an hour and goes
back into a two- wheelel drive, rear
[2:28:27] wheel drive mode.
The expectation and recommendation from
[2:28:32] Pierce is still to put chains on the
rear drive wheels to make sure that
[2:28:37] we're not having any traction or
stability issues with that. But overall,
[2:28:42] the amount of time that we would have to
put chains on or not um is relatively
[2:28:48] insignificant.
So the the operational standpoint, the
[2:28:52] mechanic has also said he'd prefer it to
be an all-wheel drive because they're
[2:28:55] easier to maintain.
>> Thank you.
[2:29:00] » Uh I was going to ask a similar
question, but you touched on something
[2:29:04] with your answer. So, you're telling me
after 17 miles an hour, it automatically
[2:29:08] goes back to two wheel drive?
>> Kicks back out to two wheel drive.
[2:29:12] » That That feels dangerous for some
reason.
[2:29:17] » Well, my concern is if the firefighters
during conditions when they need to be
[2:29:22] » right
>> in that uh should not be operating at
[2:29:26] speeds really exceeding that.
>> Okay.
[2:29:28] » In general, and it will still have the
chains on it.
[2:29:31] » Gotcha. if the need arises for that. But
there are multiple opportunities where
[2:29:36] the all-wheel drive will be sufficient
to move around, whether it's Virginia
[2:29:40] City, Gold Hill, driving down Six Mile
Canyon, especially in inclement
[2:29:45] conditions. We're trying to get them to
slow down, not give them a vehicle that
[2:29:48] makes them feel confident to drive even
faster.
[2:29:52] » Yeah. Okay. Uh and there's no auto chain
setup for those firet trucks or they
[2:29:55] don't work well with that. Um, auto
chains work really well if you don't
[2:29:59] have any snow on the ground and you only
have icy conditions
[2:30:02] » because they tend to to hang up.
>> Got
[2:30:05] » and if the wheel isn't already spinning
to get the chain to go under the wheel,
[2:30:09] » they're not very effective.
>> Nice. Okay. Just curious.
[2:30:12] » Yeah.
>> All right. Uh, thank you. Is there any
[2:30:15] public comment on this item?
>> Not seeing any. Vice Chairman, you
[2:30:19] prepare to make a motion?
>> Yeah. I fire Commissioner Mitchell move
[2:30:22] to approve the unbudgeted capital fund
expense in the amount of 1,241,885
[2:30:30] for the purchase of a type one fire
engine for station 71.
[2:30:37] » There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
[2:30:40] » I.
>> I.
[2:30:42] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. On to item
[2:30:45] number 20, which is discussion for
possible action. Consideration and
[2:30:48] possible approval of an unbudgeted
capital expense, capital fund expense
[2:30:52] not to exceed 25,000 for the purchase
and outfitting of a passenger van
[2:30:56] [clears throat] for the fire district.
Chief, uh Bob Razer, fire chief. Again,
[2:31:00] for the record, um the district at one
point owned two different
[2:31:05] multi-passenger vans and we didn't have
a lot of utilization of them. they ended
[2:31:10] up being
sent to different departments within the
[2:31:14] county. And now one of the things that
we're finding is we have our our new six
[2:31:19] cadet academy which is phenomenal for us
which also necessitates two uh training
[2:31:27] officers to get them around to the
locations we need. is currently taking
[2:31:32] three vehicles
um between their gear and everything
[2:31:36] else that uh they take around with them.
So, we're asking for authorization to
[2:31:43] purchase uh a passenger van again. We
see obviously the academy utilization of
[2:31:48] it, but we're sending enough people to
classes where they're taking their gear
[2:31:52] with them, and it's a lesser expense to
put them in an agency-owned vehicle to
[2:31:57] send them out than to to put them on an
airplane. and if we're sending them with
[2:32:02] their structure gear and their airpacks.
Uh air packs are considered a hazmat
[2:32:07] when sent on an airplane. So it uh
creates some real challenges for us when
[2:32:12] we're sending personnel out. But if we
have the ability to put them in a
[2:32:16] vehicle, it makes it a little easier for
us to do that. The mechanic has uh
[2:32:21] already found one that he really likes
and is comfortable with at the GMC
[2:32:26] dealer down in Reno and they actually
came in at under
[2:32:33] under price of what they had originally
listed to go to the fire district. So I
[2:32:38] am confident that we can find an
appropriate vehicle under that $25,000
[2:32:42] expense.
>> All right. Uh fire commissioner Gilman,
[2:32:47] do you have any questions or comments?
No, thank you.
[2:32:51] » Commissioner Mitchell,
>> no. Thank you.
[2:32:54] » Public comment.
[2:32:57] » Fire Commissioner Mitchell, you prepare
to make a motion?
[2:33:00] » Yeah. I, Fire Commissioner Mitchell,
move to approve the unbudgeted capital
[2:33:03] fund expense not to exceed $25,000 for
the purchase and outfitting of a
[2:33:08] passenger van for the fire district.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
[2:33:14] in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[2:33:16] » I.
I
[2:33:19] » motion passes unanimously.
Thanks, Chief.
[2:33:22] » Thank you.
>> On item number 21, discussion for
[2:33:25] possible action, consideration and
possible approval of the annual review
[2:33:28] and evaluation of the performance of Bob
Riser, fire chief for the time period of
[2:33:32] August 25, 2025 through August 24, 2026.
Brandy,
[2:33:39] » good afternoon, commissioners. Brandy
Lopez for the record. Today, the board
[2:33:42] will conduct the annual performance
evaluation of Chief Bob Riser. As part
[2:33:46] of the board's evaluation process, the
board may discuss Chief Riser's
[2:33:50] character, professional competence,
overall performance, and the duties and
[2:33:55] responsibilities associated with his
position. In conducting the evaluation,
[2:33:59] the board may consider the chief's job
description, assigned responsibilities,
[2:34:04] his self-evaluation, and any other
matters relevant to this agenda item.
[2:34:08] Chief Riser has completed a
self-evaluation, which is included in
[2:34:13] your agenda packet. He is present today
and will have the opportunity to provide
[2:34:17] any additional information or respond to
any matters relating to his character,
[2:34:21] alleged misconduct, professional
competence, or physical or mental
[2:34:25] health. Following the performance of the
evaluation, the board may at its
[2:34:30] discretion modify Chief Riser's goals
and objectives, determine whether to
[2:34:34] approve a merit increase, bonus, or
other compensation adjustment, take
[2:34:39] adverse administrative action up into
including termination, or take any other
[2:34:43] action the board deems appropriate. If
the board determines the Chief Riser's
[2:34:48] performance is satisfactory, he will be
eligible for a step increase consistent
[2:34:52] with the compensation provided to
non-represented fire district personnel.
[2:34:57] So, at this time, I will turn it over to
you guys to perform the evaluation.
[2:35:02] » All right. Thank you, Brandy.
[2:35:07] » Um, Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments at this time?
[2:35:12] » Not at this time.
>> Vice Chairman Um, I have I have a few.
[2:35:17] » Okay.
>> If that's all right.
[2:35:19] » Absolutely.
>> Um, so I don't, you know, I I prefer the
[2:35:24] floggings happen quickly as opposed to
drawn out like they're laid out in the
[2:35:28] evaluation.
[2:35:32] Uh you know the the first thing that I
wanted to say uh Chief Riser is that I I
[2:35:36] really appreciate your thoughtful
approach and your deliberate structuring
[2:35:40] of the organization and particularly
your focus on uh morale and and the way
[2:35:45] that the organization is built. I think
that's uh been really really valuable to
[2:35:50] the fire district. Um I have two um two
focus areas that I think would um you
[2:35:59] know maybe to point out to work on in
the upcoming year. And um the first one
[2:36:04] is that often we end up as fire and
county commissioners end up as the de
[2:36:09] facto help desk or customer service uh
for uh for the county and for the fire
[2:36:16] district. And and what that means is
often when there are major incidents, uh
[2:36:22] especially if there are potential
impacts to people's day-to-day lives, um
[2:36:27] you know, a quick call to just just let
us know when something's going on. You
[2:36:31] know, it's not it's a little bit of a
distraction from the operational command
[2:36:36] and and that side of things. That really
helps us out, helps us with community
[2:36:40] relations. And I, you know, I think uh
our meetings like this are a great place
[2:36:45] for kind of an afteraction summary of
those things. U but it it would really
[2:36:49] help us with that community relations
side of things to uh to be looped in as
[2:36:55] as there are bigger incidents. And if
there's nothing really if there's real
[2:36:59] no really no impact, then that's great
to let us know, hey, we don't anticipate
[2:37:03] any impact for residents or something
like that, then we can calm people down
[2:37:06] and and let them know that they they
don't need to be worried. Um the second
[2:37:11] one that that's been on my mind a little
bit has to do with you know the the role
[2:37:14] that we have kind of an oversight and
strategic planning role and um when when
[2:37:19] there are proposals around structure or
structural changes major projects maybe
[2:37:25] prioritization changing the
prioritization
[2:37:28] uh and planning I think it would be
really helpful for us as we're trying to
[2:37:33] take that big picture structural view um
for me personally it'd be helpful to
[2:37:38] maybe opportunities to discuss those to
to float those ideas before we bake them
[2:37:44] fully and bring them here so that that
can be a little more of a collaborative
[2:37:48] process um in the in the creation of the
strategy. Um, and I know typically I
[2:37:55] don't have a ton to say about it, but
sometimes it'll trigger something and
[2:37:59] go, "Hey, we might want to consider that
or let's think about that as we do it."
[2:38:03] And and then when we get here to the
meetings to to to deliberate publicly
[2:38:07] and to make those final decisions, um,
we've had a a good stretch to really
[2:38:12] digest what the impacts will be for the
organization. So, those are the two
[2:38:16] things that were on my mind um as as
maybe things to focus on for the next
[2:38:20] year. Uh much appreciate that. Uh Fire
Commissioner Mitchell, um you know, uh
[2:38:27] I'll take this opportunity to say I
think you know uh I I feel like the fire
[2:38:32] district is in a pretty strong place
right now. Um, you know, if if I were to
[2:38:36] pick on any negatives, um, and I'm going
to take some ownership to that because,
[2:38:41] um, in the transition from the previous
fire chief, um, you know, I don't know
[2:38:46] that I did the right,
um, I I I I
[2:38:51] did you a disservice because I didn't
bring it to your attention sooner as far
[2:38:54] as the um, the information that I feel I
needed. Um, so I'm not blaming you for
[2:38:59] that. Something I could have brought to
your attention a lot sooner. Um but uh I
[2:39:03] do want to take this opportunity to
compliment you on [snorts] I think the
[2:39:07] overall organization as a whole. We
talked about um you know the turnover
[2:39:12] that pretty much doesn't exist these
days. Um and I think that that speaks
[2:39:17] volumes to the leadership um of the fire
district and you know in other
[2:39:22] [clears throat] aspects of my life I'm
dealing with you know getting folks
[2:39:25] trained and then they bail and that was
a big issue for the fire district at one
[2:39:29] point in time during my tenure here. um
and the fact that we don't have that um
[2:39:34] employee morale. Uh I can tell you in
the last 12 months I've been approached
[2:39:39] by more fire district employees that
have come up to thank me and the board
[2:39:46] to talk about how happy they are with
the organization. Um and so you know I
[2:39:51] just want to point that out on the
record that um I think you know you
[2:39:55] should take pride in that because um you
know it's not easy uh you know playing
[2:40:00] both sides. you've got to deal with the
board and you've got to be uh the right
[2:40:04] kind of boss to your staff. Um and so I
definitely want to tip my hat to you for
[2:40:09] that because that is not easy to manage.
But um you know continue on that path.
[2:40:14] Um you know I'm I'm very happy with
where I see things overall at the fire
[2:40:19] district. Um you know and so I'll I'll
leave it at that. Um is there any public
[2:40:25] comment at this time?
[2:40:29] Not seeing any. Um, vice chairman,
excuse me, you're a fire commissioner
[2:40:34] today. Are you prepared to make a
motion?
[2:40:37] » I am. I I don't know if we wanted to
talk a little bit about because, you
[2:40:40] know, we we recently changed changed a
structure on on the compensation and
[2:40:46] kind of aligned it and and dialed it in.
And I still haven't kind of wrapped my
[2:40:51] brain around that. And maybe Chief, you
can help us out. you know, typically um
[2:41:04] you know, t typically I think, you know,
a step increase is pretty automatic. I
[2:41:09] just don't really have a a good
understanding of the full impact of that
[2:41:13] change we made and what that does. Um,
and we we want to be fair. We want to
[2:41:20] acknowledge the work that you do and and
appreciate that. At the same time, it
[2:41:24] hasn't really been our tradition to do
bonuses or to do, you know, extra. We
[2:41:28] try we try to match up and make sure
that we're we're fair, but but we're
[2:41:32] we're not excessive in how we're
approaching that. And especially with
[2:41:36] the way that the the CBA structured with
an 8% coal in the first year, it just
[2:41:42] that and and then indexing things off of
other compensation. I don't have a good
[2:41:47] handle on where we are and try trying to
make sure I understand that a little bit
[2:41:52] better. So,
[2:41:54] I'm looking at who's going to be the
best one to handle this. That be HR,
[2:42:01] controller,
fire chief,
[2:42:07] » a a group effort.
[2:42:16] » I'm not sure I understand your question.
>> Well,
[2:42:21] so AB absent kind of the way we just
restructured the compensation for the
[2:42:25] leadership, the non-represented
um pretty cut and dry as far as um as
[2:42:32] far as a step increases
whatever it is three and a half% or
[2:42:36] whatever it is. And so then that's
that's pretty clear what's happening.
[2:42:40] But because of the way we restructure
things, I don't have a good handle on
[2:42:44] when we did the restructuring
and chief is a whatever 35% above a
[2:42:51] captain's payer, an assistant chief's
payer, whatever that is.
[2:42:55] » Um,
if I I think I remember that that was
[2:42:59] meant to reflect the relationship as it
was or as it should be. It wasn't
[2:43:04] necessarily a tool to move compensation,
but In in the same time period, we also
[2:43:12] have a a a new agreement that involved a
significant cola. And I'm trying to wrap
[2:43:21] my brain around uh was there a move with
the indexing of things to what a captain
[2:43:27] gets paid
and what a paramedic gets paid on the
[2:43:31] two different levels and and did that
represent a change in compensation? And
[2:43:36] then did that in essence stack with an
8% cola? Was that worked in before or
[2:43:43] after? Or is it independent? And is it
appropriate for us to consider a step
[2:43:49] change in addition or does that kind of
blow us out where we just went up and up
[2:43:54] and now we're going up again?
>> So I can answer the first part. Jennifer
[2:43:59] McCain, fire district controller. um the
restructuring of the current where the
[2:44:07] pay schedule is now versus excuse
[clears throat] me where it was we went
[2:44:10] from step seven steps to five steps. The
way we took the non-represented into
[2:44:17] that structure is we followed a keystone
approach that we used within the union
[2:44:24] and we pulled that down through all of
the non-represented
[2:44:27] and that was based on the highest step.
So the step seven was adjusted to a step
[2:44:33] five and then worked its way down to a
step one.
[2:44:38] We then took where um the
non-represented employees what they were
[2:44:43] currently getting paid on the sevenstep
plan and moved them to the closest and I
[2:44:50] always say this wrong to the closest
step without taking away their pay on
[2:44:56] the new schedule. So that that whole
process was not intended to give people
[2:45:03] increases while some did see significant
especially if they were step one or
[2:45:07] steps two we deleted those steps in
essence. Um then after everyone was
[2:45:13] placed on the new schedule, then the
agreed upon um
[2:45:19] I believe it was 8% that the union got
that was moved over to the
[2:45:23] non-represented
which also does include the fire chief
[2:45:27] as a non-represented employee. Um and
then the fivestep scale was adjusted by
[2:45:34] 8%.
At no way did was anything ever taken
[2:45:39] into discussions about this new pay
schedule would eliminate anyone's merit
[2:45:46] increase. So as far as that decision
goes, I can't speak to that. I can just
[2:45:53] tell you that we did not discuss that.
Um, it was effective July 13th and
[2:45:59] anyone who received they received a
merit increase on July 14th with that
[2:46:04] never came to the board. It was
processed with their evaluations and
[2:46:08] moved forward. Got it.
>> Okay.
[2:46:11] » Thank you. Let me jump in real quick if
you don't mind. So, uh, I spoke with the
[2:46:16] chief about my desire to postpone this
item. Um, it wasn't for any other reason
[2:46:21] than I think exactly what you're talking
about. Um and and I think as I
[2:46:27] rationalize it in my brain, um it's a
timing issue. In reality, this all is
[2:46:33] happening at the same time.
>> Um as I expressed to the chief, you
[2:46:37] know, um I just I thought that the
decision warranted a few minutes of of
[2:46:44] reflection, right? Because we obviously
don't want to send the wrong message out
[2:46:49] to the constituents. And as I explained
to the chief, the reality is right, if
[2:46:54] something does happen to go sideways, we
are the ones that have to ask
[2:46:59] or initiate an increase in tax to cover
the costs. And so in the conversation,
[2:47:05] um I think
[2:47:09] uh my my concern was that uh
you know, it's good now, but it's not
[2:47:15] going to be okay in a year or two. and
and I believe that with the changes
[2:47:19] we've made um
you know can't speak for the
[2:47:24] organization but I think I think we're
in a good place financially as far as
[2:47:27] salaries go and so um you know I'm
speaking of the department as a whole
[2:47:32] not just the chief um you know my
understanding um I don't know that there
[2:47:37] is an option if there was a desire um to
not give that merit increase which comes
[2:47:43] with that 3%
am stating that correctly.
[2:47:48] » Yeah. So, even if there was a desire,
let's say, to say, "Hey, we're not
[2:47:54] comfortable with this type of increase."
Um, I don't know that we have that
[2:47:58] option.
>> Oh, we have the option to behead him if
[2:48:01] we want. That's what the thing said.
>> I mean, it's like
[2:48:04] » I said mine shaft.
>> I know. I know. Yeah. [laughter]
[2:48:07] » Um,
>> can I interject to your comments?
[2:48:10] » Yeah. Um, historically,
given the fire chief or any other
[2:48:15] employee within the fire district or the
county to not give a merit increase
[2:48:20] would come down to having a below
average,
[2:48:25] » right?
>> A finding of Thank you for
[2:48:29] clarification. Yes.
>> Yeah, understood.
[2:48:33] » Okay, great. Well, that that does help.
Okay. Thank you for bringing that up
[2:48:38] because I obviously didn't verbalize my
private conversation.
[2:48:41] » Probably would have been helpful.
>> No, it's quite all right. I'm glad you
[2:48:44] didn't. That would have violated open
meeting.
[2:48:45] » I would have brought it up sooner during
the meeting.
[2:48:47] » And since you dragged me up here during
his review, I'll say during his first
[2:48:51] year, financially speaking, it's been
really nice working with him. He's taken
[2:48:56] a lot of um my comments and things to
heart and we've worked really well
[2:49:02] together to bring the fire district
where he said it is. Thank you.
[2:49:07] » Am I done?
>> All right. Uh, then with that, I will um
[2:49:12] I will make a motion if it's all right.
>> Yeah. I think our deputy DA is still
[2:49:16] laughing about the beheading thing.
>> Oh, I I meant it metaphorically on the
[2:49:19] record, please. Metaphorically.
Uh, [laughter]
[2:49:24] » we have insurance.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Do you want should we give
[2:49:27] the chief a chance to
>> I'm sorry.
[2:49:31] » Absolutely. Did you want to add
anything, chief, after we just
[2:49:35] Bob riser for the record. Uh nice to
know my neck will still be intact and it
[2:49:39] was metaphorical.
>> U [clears throat] it's been a very
[2:49:44] challenging and rewarding year. Um
coming into it timing wise. I don't know
[2:49:50] if it is worse this year or was worse
coming in in the middle of budget prep
[2:49:56] should have already started. and a bunch
of those things that uh you find out
[2:50:02] when you move from a spot one extra step
below
[2:50:07] going from shift to 40 is a is a
significant transition.
[2:50:12] I feel blessed that uh the relationship
with the department heads here uh
[2:50:17] throughout the county is as good as it
is and to be able to reach out to any of
[2:50:21] them at any point for help. And uh hey,
I don't know what I'm doing. Jennifer
[2:50:27] and Brandy in particular
because I deal with them so frequently.
[2:50:33] Um to be able to reach out to them and
say, "Hey, I don't know what I'm doing.
[2:50:37] Um
where am I headed with this? give me
[2:50:40] some grace um all the way through the
negotiations process and being able to
[2:50:47] get that done. That's something that I
had done previously but never on this
[2:50:53] scale. uh it was being a member of the
the negotiating team as opposed to being
[2:50:58] particularly the lead of that
being able to reach out to you as the
[2:51:05] commissioners. Um understanding the
shared responsibility for maintaining
[2:51:09] the long term of the district because at
some point um the patch doesn't belong
[2:51:14] to any of us. uh the fire district
belongs to the community and to make
[2:51:18] sure that we're maintaining that. Um as
we talked about in last meeting, our our
[2:51:24] very shared fiduciary responsibility to
make sure that we're doing the best by
[2:51:29] our taxpayers
and I think that's been an important
[2:51:32] aspect for me and always always should
be. So I'm very appreciative of the
[2:51:38] opportunity. Um Commissioner Mitchell, I
take your your two areas of improvement
[2:51:44] to heart. Um definitely one of them. You
know, calling sooner uh is something
[2:51:50] that has been on my mind with uh the
events that we've had throughout the
[2:51:54] year. It's also recognizing that the
things that sometimes I think are an
[2:51:59] emergency
versus what normal, you know, healthy
[2:52:03] functioning non-emergency responder
adults think are emergencies are not the
[2:52:08] same thing.
Um, so I think that's something just as
[2:52:13] a a big picture piece for me. Um, and
then engaging in the strategic CIP and
[2:52:20] the development of the organization as a
whole, I think is is something that I
[2:52:24] will also definitely be working on over
the next 12 months. Um, I feel more
[2:52:29] comfortable in the position. Never too
comfortable. learn stuff every day and
[2:52:34] firefighters and other community members
will challenge you consistently.
[2:52:40] But I am I'm thankful for the
opportunity to continue in the position
[2:52:44] if that's how you see fit.
>> Thank you. Appreciate those words.
[2:52:48] Chief,
[2:52:53] » are you ready?
>> All right, we'll let you slide one more
[2:52:55] year.
>> One more year. [laughter]
[2:52:59] Um
I fire Commissioner Mitchell move to
[2:53:04] find
um
[2:53:07] the performance of Fire Chief Riser for
this annual evaluation to be exemplary
[2:53:15] or above average in all areas and to
award him the step increase as is
[2:53:20] custom.
[2:53:24] I
>> have a motion. Is there a second?
[2:53:26] » Second.
All those in favor signify by saying I.
[2:53:31] » I.
>> I.
[2:53:32] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. I'm also told
[2:53:35] by your next one, this physical, mental
health, professional competence might be
[2:53:40] removed by the legislature. So, we'll
see. It won't sound as harsh next year.
[2:53:46] Thank you, chief. All jokes aside, thank
you.
[2:53:48] » Thank you very much.
>> Yep. On to item number 22, recess to
[2:53:52] reconvene as the story county board of
county commissioners. Bring us to item
[2:53:55] number 23. which is discussion for
possible action, consideration, and
[2:53:59] possible approval of resolution number
26-837
[2:54:02] amending resolution number 26-836
setting salaries for appointed
[2:54:08] officials, non-represented employees,
and elected officials. Brandy,
[2:54:13] » good afternoon once again,
commissioners. Brandy Lopez for the
[2:54:15] record. Before today's resolution 26837,
which amends resolution 26836, the
[2:54:23] proposed amendments includes the
addition of the geographic information
[2:54:28] systems officer classification at a
grade 140. Um, an adjustment to the
[2:54:33] undersher classification from grade 148
to a grade 150, a corresponding update
[2:54:39] to the sheriff's salary as required by
NRS245.043.
[2:54:44] The board will also need to determine
the effective date of the undersher
[2:54:47] salary adjustment.
Staff has identified three options for
[2:54:51] the board's consideration. Um July 13th,
which is the effective date previously
[2:54:57] approved by the board for fiscal year
2627 salary adjustments for elected
[2:55:02] officials, non-represented employees,
ASME and the sheriff's employees
[2:55:06] association and the sheriff's
supervisory association. Um the second
[2:55:11] would be July 1st which is retroactive
to the be to the beginning of the fiscal
[2:55:16] year of 2627
and the third option is September 1st
[2:55:21] effective the date of the board's
approval of this resolution for the
[2:55:25] board's information 245.043 043
establishes the salaries of effect
[2:55:31] elected officials other than other than
county commissioners in accordance with
[2:55:36] the applicable provisions of the statute
for those elected offices whose salary
[2:55:41] is tied to the highest paid employee
within the office. The annual salary is
[2:55:45] established each July 1st in accordance
with NRS245.043.
[2:55:52] As a result, if the employee salary used
in the that annual calculation changes,
[2:55:58] the elected official salary must also be
adjusted accordingly. The proposed
[2:56:02] amendment to the sheriff's salary
reflects the statutory requirement.
[2:56:08] Um staff is requesting the board's
discussion and direction regarding the
[2:56:12] effective date if appropriate approval
of the resolution 26837.
[2:56:17] [snorts]
>> Thank you, Randy.
[2:56:21] Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
questions or comments at this time?
[2:56:25] » None. The vice chairman.
>> Um Brandy, just just to be clear, the
[2:56:30] the the GIS officer is a new position
that we're creating that is not
[2:56:33] currently filled. Uh whereas the other
changes for a position that already
[2:56:37] exists. Is that correct?
>> Exactly. Yes.
[2:56:39] » Thank you. [snorts]
[2:56:42] Thank you.
[2:56:45] Um I I have a question or two for the
sheriff if if you're comfortable coming
[2:56:49] up and uh and and just giving a little
bit of context. You know, over the over
[2:56:53] the last few years, we've um we've we've
there have been a a few changes,
[2:56:59] multiple changes in roles, command
structure, some of those things. Would
[2:57:02] you mind just giving a little bit of
context around what that progression has
[2:57:06] been, where you think we're headed, if
you feel comfortable with where we are
[2:57:10] now? uh lots of different titles trying
to understand just what you know what's
[2:57:16] what the future holds for us as far as
that goes in within your your your
[2:57:20] group.
>> Sure. Uh Sheriff Cullen for the record.
[2:57:22] Thank you uh for the question actually.
Um yes, we have been up and down quite a
[2:57:27] bit in the last few years trying to get
started with this agency and the change
[2:57:31] in the county has caused a lot of that
also. um just recouping from the past
[2:57:36] administration and trying to get things
in place, hiring uh deputies and
[2:57:42] administrative staff and such. So um
[2:57:47] some of the things that I I kind of
battle with is at one point we'll hire a
[2:57:53] few deputies, too many deputies, we
don't have enough supervision, and then
[2:57:56] we hire too much supervision or we
promote people without enough deputies
[2:57:59] to supervise. And we're slowly going
through that grow growing pains, I
[2:58:03] guess. Um
my vision for the future for the
[2:58:07] sheriff's office because of the growth
and the size of the county and where
[2:58:10] we're headed is to yes continue growing.
I think we're there with this last
[2:58:13] fiscal year with the the number of
deputies. However, we need people to
[2:58:17] supervise those folks and having our
lieutenant in charge of the jail and the
[2:58:22] dispatch center overseeing that and
having our lieutenant in charge of the
[2:58:26] patrol and the uh investigations
division that has pretty much set that
[2:58:31] uh command staff in place and then we
would have our obviously our under
[2:58:35] sheriff that is in charge of those two
lieutenants. Um those lieutenants each
[2:58:40] right now uh one lieutenant supervises
uh six sergeants I'm sorry yeah four
[2:58:47] sergeants and two detectives on the
patrol uh investigative side and the
[2:58:52] other uh lieutenant supervises the
dispatch center and the jail as well and
[2:58:56] in the jail we have two sergeants. So I
think the um the the ratio there for
[2:59:01] command staff to deputy is just about
right. Um growthwise what I see in the
[2:59:06] future is I do see some point uh in the
future where we're using the tri
[2:59:11] substation as a mini north command that
may actually have a lieutenant in charge
[2:59:17] out there at some point depending on the
growth. Um at this point we're not there
[2:59:21] just yet but we are developing and
remodeling out there because of the
[2:59:26] growth and the things that we're seeing
out there. And I think um Lieutenant
[2:59:29] Bowmont gave you guys some information
this morning on just some of the things
[2:59:33] we've been seeing and the the stats how
things are growing. So I think at this
[2:59:36] point uh now that our command structure
is finally set with the sheriff and
[2:59:40] under sheriff two lieutenants and then
the sergeants down the line I think
[2:59:43] we're set in that upper echelon area.
Other than that um unless there's
[2:59:48] something else that's
>> No, thank you. That's that's helpful.
[2:59:51] » Okay. Um,
you know, the the other thing that's
[2:59:55] been on my mind is is kind of a a
broader conversation and this is uh
[3:00:01] coming up now because it's relevant to
you, Sheriff, but I think it's a broader
[3:00:05] conversation because of a change that
was made at the legislature in elected
[3:00:10] officials and compensation and and the
idea of there's some equity in indexing
[3:00:18] uh a certain amount above the highest
paid supervised employee and I don't I
[3:00:24] don't know and I think it should include
all all of our elected officials uh in
[3:00:30] the interest of doing things properly,
ethically, transparently
[3:00:33] um you know what what has happened with
that and I don't know if it was an
[3:00:37] unintended consequence or is it was
intended but what has happened in
[3:00:42] essence is elected officials have been
empowered to determine their own
[3:00:47] compensation indirectly right And I
don't necessarily see that bad as a as a
[3:00:54] whole. I think it's probably proper to
have some sort of uh indexing there. But
[3:01:00] good governance in my mind is being
transparent about how we make sure that
[3:01:05] we're being ethical, that we're not
taking advantage of that. And I want to
[3:01:08] again state I'm not I'm not making any
sort of allegations. I just as we go
[3:01:13] forward, I have a feeling that this will
come up in other elected officials
[3:01:18] offices. And so I don't I don't know
what the proper discussion is to have. I
[3:01:23] don't think it's necessarily right for
us to set a um a policy for the other
[3:01:29] elected officials in how they deal with
that. But I think that coming up with
[3:01:34] some sort of uh statement understanding
of um h how we make sure that that we
[3:01:43] are holding ourselves to a high standard
and not taking advantage of that. I know
[3:01:46] one of the things we do from a
perspective of trying to make sure that
[3:01:51] we are fair and equitable with
non-represented positions is we comp
[3:01:57] internally and externally. And so we
take a look at
[3:02:01] within the or the county organization
h how does the the level of
[3:02:06] responsibility and the duties compare to
those in other departments and how do we
[3:02:10] make sure that we're in the ballpark of
of being equitable in that. And then we
[3:02:14] do look outside the organization as well
to make sure we're competitive, that we
[3:02:17] can attract and we can retain people.
Anyway, I just thought I thought it's
[3:02:22] it's worth bringing up because I think
it's something that we will have happen
[3:02:26] more. It'll it'll come to us for these
decisions and um and I'm I'm not
[3:02:31] necessarily opposed to making sure that
people are properly compensated. I want
[3:02:34] to make sure that that's the case. I
don't I just don't think we've ever had
[3:02:37] this before and it it's happened on the
fire side because we just indexed
[3:02:41] everything off of certain positions and
so now they're if you will indirect or
[3:02:46] unintended consequences and with this
provision in law now there's the
[3:02:51] potential for the same and that's not
necessarily you're welcome to to you
[3:02:55] know give a response I'm not I'm not
necessarily
[3:02:58] » I think my response is one
>> no
[3:03:03] items on the agenda
>> one
[3:03:05] Um, you bring up a pretty good point and
it was brought up at the legislature
[3:03:09] that there is potential for this to to
happen. And I mean, you know, like we
[3:03:14] talked with the fire district, you know,
the the creation of this lieutenant
[3:03:18] structure
immediately increases the pay of the
[3:03:23] assistant sheriff, which then
increases the pay of the sheriff, you
[3:03:28] know, and I think it's a very valid
question. Um, and I think that's where
[3:03:31] the question came about structure in the
sheriff's office is, you know, what are
[3:03:36] we going to do? Because, you know, um, I
thought that the assistant sheriff was
[3:03:41] fairly well compensated as is,
and now because of this new lieutenant
[3:03:46] structure,
the assistant sheriff's getting a pay
[3:03:50] increase, as is the sheriff. So, thank
you for bringing it up because I think
[3:03:54] it's on other people's minds as well
outside the county. I know I've talked
[3:03:57] to some folks that were concerned about
this salary uh with the way that they
[3:04:01] had laid out the salary structure being
3% higher than the higher highest paid
[3:04:06] person in your office. And so it's
something we've got to think of because
[3:04:10] as I spoke with the fire chief, you
know, we're on an upward trajectory and
[3:04:14] and
that upward trajectory doesn't continue
[3:04:19] forever. At some point things are going
to play, you know, level out at the
[3:04:23] park. construction is going to basically
taper off at some point um because
[3:04:28] they're going to run out of land or
projects and then that puts us in a
[3:04:31] situation where you know are we now so
employeeheavy that we got to start
[3:04:36] laying people off um and hopefully
that's not the case but it's something
[3:04:40] that I I think we're all paying
attention to. I again have spoke
[3:04:44] directly to the chief about this. I have
not spoken to the sheriff about this,
[3:04:47] but you know, we're we're ramping up.
Um, as was stated at the last event I
[3:04:52] went to, there's 3,600 electricians out
there right now. And, you know, I'm sure
[3:04:57] they're not all stellar citizens, you
know, that cause problems for the
[3:05:02] sheriff's office. But, you know, I think
it's definitely something to keep in
[3:05:06] mind as we continue this growth that at
some point it's going to level out. If
[3:05:11] these data centers are all built out
there, they're going to have 20, 30
[3:05:14] people working there, you know, and a
lot of the workforce is going to go
[3:05:17] away, which is going to reduce our need
to be out there. But anyway, didn't mean
[3:05:22] to cut you off. Just wanted to make sure
I said
[3:05:24] » Sorry, I think I cut you off.
>> That's okay. I didn't want to point it
[3:05:26] out, but I was trying to be nice.
>> I won't either. Um, Jennifer McCain,
[3:05:31] Story County controller. Um, I just want
to alleviate some of your worries
[3:05:35] because I can't speak for other
counties, but within Story County, we do
[3:05:39] have checks and balances for these kind
of situations between my office and HR
[3:05:44] and the county manager. And um, for this
under sheriff position specifically, HR
[3:05:52] did an external compensation study and
then we all met and we did an internal
[3:05:57] compensation study. So, we do have
avenues to keep those second in command
[3:06:04] or highest paid employees within a
department in check. And um I can verify
[3:06:11] that and I think Brandy can speak to
this too, that that underpay uh under
[3:06:16] sheriff new schedule was not necessarily
what the sheriff's office was looking
[3:06:21] at. But when we combine the external
internal compensations, that's where it
[3:06:26] fell and that's where um we stood our
ground on that. So I think that I hope
[3:06:32] that eases your mind a little bit on
those kinds of things.
[3:06:35] » It does. Thank you. You know, I mean,
because obviously like we've said with
[3:06:38] the fire district, at the end of the
day, we're the ones that hear it. I'm
[3:06:42] sure you guys do, too. But,
>> you know, it's, oh my god, there's new
[3:06:46] everything everywhere. You know, what's
going on? It's like,
[3:06:49] » you know, how how can I try to, you
know, drill this down so that you
[3:06:53] understand and it doesn't look like
we're just, you know, living fat on the
[3:06:58] county side.
>> That's very true. And I think when you
[3:07:01] do get those questions, either
forwarding those people to one of our
[3:07:05] offices or calling us like both of you
have done, all three of you have done,
[3:07:10] um, is really important. I think we can
share those compensation studies with
[3:07:15] you and show you how we come to those
numbers.
[3:07:19] » Appreciate it.
>> Um, after some discussion, Commissioner
[3:07:23] Gilman, do you have anything to add at
this point?
[3:07:29] » Probably nothing of relevance at this
point. You know, I just know that things
[3:07:33] are going to get worse before they get
better. So, you know, I understand
[3:07:37] having to different
[3:07:41] understand
[3:07:46] you know where does it end and whatnot
as far as I know the park is maybe sold
[3:07:52] out but it's not built out and so I
think there's many many years
[3:07:57] building out here and having
construction workers in electrician far
[3:08:05] so I don't think at this point that
concerns me as much but I do understand
[3:08:12] Thank you,
>> Vice Chairman.
[3:08:16] » Questions, comments?
>> No, no. I I I would just say I agree.
[3:08:18] You know, I'm I I think our I think my
my main concern is is less about the
[3:08:24] availability of funds and more about
making sure that we're doing this right
[3:08:28] and that we are responsible and that
we're ethical and that we do things
[3:08:32] properly. I think to me that's the
standard that we hold ourselves to and
[3:08:37] um and as new elements are introduced
it's worth a good 360 look at them to go
[3:08:42] hey are we making sure that we're doing
this properly and that we have the
[3:08:46] proper checks and balances and controls
in place so that um so that we're
[3:08:52] operating beyond our reproach.
>> Is there any public comment?
[3:09:00] All right. Not seeing any. Vice
Chairman, you prepare to make a motion?
[3:09:03] » Yeah. Uh, I, Commissioner Mitchell, move
to approve resolution number 26-833,
[3:09:07] establishing salaries for appointed
officials, non-represented employees,
[3:09:11] and elected officials effective July 13,
2026.
[3:09:19] » And Mr. Chairman, since we didn't
discuss that, may maybe we want to open
[3:09:22] it up for discussion. Um,
>> maybe should have mentioned it.
[3:09:27] » Thank you. Um,
so I uh don't have a problem making it
[3:09:34] effective today.
You know, I mean, we made the decision
[3:09:38] today. I know we postpone this, but that
in my opinion, that doesn't necessarily
[3:09:42] just immediately warrant, you know, that
we backdated it because we postponed it.
[3:09:47] » Sure.
>> That that's, you know, that's my only
[3:09:50] change I would say to that. But
>> yeah, I'm I'm comfortable with that as
[3:09:54] well. Um, I I think my my natural
inclination was to lean towards July
[3:09:58] 13th because that is the date that we
made adjustments for everyone else in
[3:10:02] the county and so that's that seemed
equitable to me and and so that that was
[3:10:07] kind of where my thought process was,
but I'm flexible.
[3:10:10] » I'm It's not a sword I'm going to die on
either. So,
[3:10:13] » does Johnny have any
>> I'm sorry, Commissioner Gilman, do you
[3:10:16] have any input on that? Do you want to
make it effective July 13th or do you
[3:10:20] want to make it effective today?
[3:10:25] So
I second it.
[3:10:33] » Sounds good. So we got a motion and a
second. All those in favor signify by
[3:10:37] saying I.
>> I.
[3:10:39] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Is that a
[3:10:43] problem?
>> We good.
[3:10:45] » Did he?
>> July 13th.
[3:10:48] » July 13th.
>> That's what was said in the motion.
[3:10:50] » Um it looks like in the motion, did you
say 833?
[3:10:54] 26833. It should be 23 26837.
>> Oh, yeah. My apologies. On the
[3:11:01] recommended motion, it looks like
there's a typo.
[3:11:03] » Yeah.
>> Because you made a motion. Do you need
[3:11:05] to reopen? Should we ask Brian?
>> Brian, what would you like us to do?
[3:11:10] » Yeah, you should reopen and make another
motion
[3:11:15] that is more clear.
>> Okay.
[3:11:20] So, we're going to deal with item number
23,
[3:11:25] discussion for possible action uh
regarding resolution number 26-836.
[3:11:31] » 837 837.
>> I know there are three different numbers
[3:11:35] in here.
>> Yeah. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion.
[3:11:37] I Commissioner Mitchell move to approve
resolution number 26-837
[3:11:44] establishing salaries for appointed
officials, non-represented employees,
[3:11:47] and elected officials effective July 13,
2026. Mr. Chair, before you make a
[3:11:52] second, I just want to ask does Brian
need to pine need to do public comment
[3:11:57] again? I know it's technical, but I want
to write. Thank you.
[3:12:03] » At this point, we don't need to redo
public comment. the reopen.
[3:12:12] » So, there's a motion. Do we have a
second?
[3:12:15] » Second.
>> All those in favor signify by saying I.
[3:12:19] » I.
>> I.
[3:12:21] » I.
>> Motion passes unanimously. Thank you,
[3:12:24] Sheriff. Thank you, Brandy. Thank you,
Jennifer.
[3:12:27] » Sorry.
>> July, July.
[3:12:31] » All right. On to item number 24.
Discussion for possible action.
[3:12:34] Consideration and possible approval of a
letter of support from Story County to
[3:12:38] the FK regarding the Great Basin
Transmission Company 2028 expansion
[3:12:43] project.
>> Good morning, Lisa Mel for the record.
[3:12:46] » Good afternoon, [clears throat] Lisa.
>> Hello again. Uh Great Basin Gas
[3:12:50] Transmission Company reached out
requesting a letter of support for their
[3:12:54] expansion and the replacement project
that they're doing out in the Tri area.
[3:12:59] Um this expansion line will help um for
in infrastructure
[3:13:06] and the continued industrial growth
that's going on out there at Great
[3:13:09] Basin. Um they've Great Basin Gas has
been very helpful in the fact that they
[3:13:14] have been calling and requesting
permission before they go out onto any
[3:13:18] county properties and doing their due
diligence requesting any information
[3:13:23] that they need on property owners. So
they've been pretty pretty nice to be in
[3:13:27] communications with. Um, additionally,
Churchill County and some other
[3:13:31] departments have already submitted or
other counties have already submitted a
[3:13:35] letter of support to Great Basin as
well.
[3:13:40] » Thank you, Commissioner Gman. Do you
have any questions or comments?
[3:13:45] » None. Thank you,
>> Vice Chairman.
[3:13:48] » Um, thank you, Lisa. Did I did I see a
discussion in here somewhere that um of
[3:13:52] the possibility to
uh express a preference for a preferred
[3:13:57] alternative or at this point is the
story county connection baked into the
[3:14:00] project?
>> So, this is kind of it that I'm aware
[3:14:04] of. I think they've already been going
through it. Um we've come to
[3:14:09] commissioners for approval for them to
access our property, but no alternative
[3:14:14] alternatives have been presented to us
from from there. But I know that it
[3:14:19] started initially with communication
that I had with them was to replace the
[3:14:23] aging infrastructure that they had out
there for the gas lines.
[3:14:26] » Got it. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, as I as I
look through some of the dates and
[3:14:30] things, I think they they started the
environmental several months ago and so
[3:14:33] they're they're probably down that path
a bit. Um yeah, I you know I I think
[3:14:37] that in the future availability of
energy uh is is going to be a big uh
[3:14:45] deal for us. And what I mean by that is
prosperity is tied to the availability
[3:14:50] of energy and we can wish that we had
alternative ways to produce it. Um but
[3:14:56] those a lot of those have not
materialized yet and so I think an
[3:14:59] expansion of of a gas line gives us that
flexibility and stability in the future.
[3:15:07] » All right.
Um any public comment?
[3:15:14] Not seeing any by Sherman. Are you
prepared to make a motion?
[3:15:16] » Yeah. I, Commissioner Mitchell, move to
approve a letter of support from Story
[3:15:20] County to the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission or FK regarding the Great
[3:15:24] Basin Gas Transmission Company's 2028
expansion project docket number
[3:15:29] PF26-5-0000.
[3:15:36] » There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor signify by saying I.
[3:15:39] » I.
>> I.
[3:15:41] » Motion passes unanimously. Thanks, Lisa.
On item number 25, which is discussion
[3:15:47] of possible action, discussion and
possible consideration adopting the
[3:15:50] story county hazard mitigation plan
update as prepared by emergency
[3:15:55] management staff approved by Nevada's
office of emer management and FEMA.
[3:16:00] Adam.
>> Okay. So, this plan has been two years
[3:16:02] in the works. It took us about 14 months
to rewrite and update the plan and then
[3:16:07] it went to state office of emergency
management for review. They took a year
[3:16:12] to complete that, which was just
absolutely unprecedented.
[3:16:19] It went to FEMA. They had some
modifications they want to make because
[3:16:23] of the 2-year period. A lot had changed.
We got those completed and were notified
[3:16:29] by FEMA that they have approved the plan
pending adoption by the county. They
[3:16:35] have to have that before they issue
their final approval. So they need your
[3:16:40] signature as the county commission
adopting the hazard mitigation plan.
[3:16:44] Once we get that and then FEMA approves
it, we become eligible again for the uh
[3:16:51] hazard mitigation assistance grants.
Until the plan is approved in that
[3:16:56] window, we are no longer eligible for
those grants. If our plan expires, which
[3:17:01] our plan did expire because of the
state's uh delay in getting it sent to
[3:17:06] FEMA. So, as of right now, we are not
eligible for hazard mitigation grants
[3:17:10] until FEMA formally adopts this one.
Uh, this was a mutual input from all
[3:17:18] county departments. We did public
surveys,
[3:17:22] outside agency input, best practices on
this plan, and we're comfortable with
[3:17:27] the county adopting this.
>> All right. Thank you, Adam. Appreciate
[3:17:32] your work and your team's work on this.
Commissioner Gilman, do you have any
[3:17:36] questions or comments?
>> No, thank you.
[3:17:39] » Vice Chairman.
>> Um, no. I just want to congratulate
[3:17:43] congratulate you, Adam, on probably
single-handedly making this one of, if
[3:17:47] not the biggest packets we've ever had.
>> Uh, it's not only his fault. It was the
[3:17:51] 50 emails to Sunny Hills.
>> Oh, that's right. There was Yes. So,
[3:17:55] » this is the uh redacted version as well.
The confidential version is much longer.
[3:18:00] It has a lot of maps and critical
infrastructure aspects to it. Very good.
[3:18:05] I can't imagine what we've done these
past few years without mitigating our
[3:18:08] hazards. Uh but somehow we've muddled
through and I'll be glad to have a plan
[3:18:12] in place going forward. Thank you.
>> Amen. Is there any public comment?
[3:18:18] Not seeing any public comment. Vice
Chairman, you prepared to make a motion?
[3:18:22] » I am.
>> Sorry, my phone thought you were talking
[3:18:26] to it.
Um, I, Commissioner Mitchell, move to
[3:18:29] proceed with approval and adoption of
the 2025 Story County Hazard Mitigation
[3:18:34] Plan.
[3:18:38] » Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those
[3:18:40] in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[3:18:43] » I.
>> I.
[3:18:45] » Motion passes unanimously. Thank you
again, Adam, to you and Tristan.
[3:18:48] » Just as a reminder, Mr. Chair, they'll
be sending a docu sign to you for that
[3:18:53] on it
>> for the adoption. Thank you.
[3:18:55] » Thank you.
On item number 27, discussion for
[3:18:59] possible action, consideration and
approval of second reading of business
[3:19:02] licenses A through M.
Commissioner Gilman, you have any
[3:19:06] questions or comments?
>> Vice Chairman?
[3:19:10] » I think we're good.
>> All right. Is there any public comment?
[3:19:15] Not seeing any. Vice Chairman, you
prepared to make a motion?
[3:19:18] » Yeah. I move to approve the second
reading of business licenses listed
[3:19:21] under item 27 as A through M.
>> Second. There's a motion and a second.
[3:19:27] All those in favor signify by saying I.
>> I.
[3:19:30] » I.
>> I.
[3:19:32] » Motion passes unanimously. On to item
number 28. This the second and final
[3:19:36] time for public comment. Is there any
public comment in the courtroom today?
[3:19:43] Not seeing any. Brings us to item number
29, which is adjournment of all active
[3:19:47] and recess boards on the agenda. It's
1:24 p.m. We will see you all in a
[3:19:51] couple weeks. Have a great day.
[3:19:58] Oh, we have close session.
>> No, [laughter] I was like
[3:20:04] sign of support and then I'll send Dr. I
guess.
[3:20:10] » Okay.
>> Thank you.
[3:20:16] » Carrying a pen chairman.
>> Awesome. Thank you. [snorts]
[3:20:34] No, there's a couple things that you say
together
[3:20:37] » and I appreciate you saying it because I
don't think I could.
[3:20:41] » Thank you.
[3:20:51] Jack.
[3:20:59] » Thank you.
>> Start getting that out to
[3:21:06] » the space
[3:21:10] install until
Five or seven people working in that
[3:21:15] office.
[3:21:18] » Anyway,
>> you going tonight?
[3:21:24] » A sign around my neck that says, "Ask me
about flock cameras and data centers."
[3:21:28] Just kidding. Ask me about industrial
development data centers. Ask me
[3:21:31] anything.
>> Don't joke around. [laughter]
[3:21:35] » Sure.
>> What do you need them for?
[3:21:37] » Thank you, guys. I'm going to need to
wear that outside. Yes. And