City Council - Regular Meeting

This conference will now be recorded.

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to our regular City Council meeting for July 28, 2026. Let the record reflect that all members of the board are present. And at this time, I would like to call on Sheriff Narvaezza to lead us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Sheriff. All right, and this is the time for comments from the public pertaining to items that are not on this evening's agenda. If there is anyone wishing to speak, please come up and state your name and address for the record. And then when you're done, there's a sign-up sheet in the back there if you would please sign in. Come on up, sir.

Michael Stevens for the record, 376 Lookout Drive, Spring Creek, Nevada. I'm here to talk to the council today about the building department. Um, it's consistently gotten difficult, uh, down there. Um, I don't have enough time in public comment to explain the issues that we're having. I'll just, I'll just put it that way, but I'm going to hit a couple of quick topics. Um, right now it's currently 10 days anytime we submit anything. So if we submit a set of plans or a revision or anything like that, it's a 10 day waiting period. before it even gets routed for review. If there's one thing wrong with that revision or that submittal, it gets kicked back to us. We make that adjustment. We send it, it's another 10 days before it gets sent out for submittal or, or, or for review. Okay. And then if there's any comments by WC3, they come directly back to us. So that's really not a problem, but if it's an internal review for a revision or something like that, those comments come back to us. We send those comments back to them. is then again another 10 days so right now the simplest revisions or just a simple process is taking us 30 and i'm not talking about days i'm talking about business days 10 business days so i mean we can go 40 50 business days on just the simplest of stuff i pulled a permit it was a simple ti for a commercial project that we're doing. It took us right around five months. Now, I know there was a lot of back and forth and there was a lot of confusion with it, but we're bound by the design professionals and engineers we have in this area, okay? We've currently tried three different design professionals. We're currently working with our third engineer right now, and they all have the same complaints that I have, okay? So that's part of it. Like I said, I don't have enough time to delve into that more. 15 or 20 minutes just talking about the submittal and the permit pulling process right now with Elko City and the difficulty there. And now I want to shift to some of the issues that I'm having with the inspectors. As we all know, we lost an inspector, Ron. We got a new one to replace him. And ever since then, it's been like a contest to see who can find the most corrections, who can figure out where the plans are wrong the most, who can find out where we're not doing our job the best. I'll just put it into perspective on one job that I have. So the mechanical was signed off by one inspector. So I had my four-way inspection. Mechanical, plumbing, electrical, framing, sure nail is all signed off. You have to have all that signed off before you move forward with the process. Move forward with the drywall inspection, ice and water shield inspection, all the inspections. We get to our final inspection. At that point in time, the inspector decides to bring up the fact that he doesn't think that we've got enough combustible air into our mechanical room. Well, this is something that we've been doing the way we've been doing it for a long time. And none of the other inspectors have ever said anything to us about it. So now I have a brand new house sitting there. The mechanical has been signed off. And they're saying, well, we don't have enough combustible air. So we need more combustible air in that mechanical room. I don't really have a problem with that. If we needed more combustible air, I'm fine with that. That correction notice should have been written at four-way, not at the final inspection. Now I got a brand new house that's totally finished, and I got to tear into it and run another line over there so there's more combustible air in that mechanical room. And that's just kind of the behavior, and it's been like that for quite a while now. I swear, it's literally a contest to see who's smarter, who gets the bigger pat on the back. And then when we ask them, well, what do you want us to do to fix? How do you want us to take care of this? Well, we'll have to talk to Jeff. We'll have to ask Jeff about that. And then Jeff's not there the next day. So I just figured I'd wait until now and bring this to your guys' attention. This isn't something that's new. These aren't complaints that are new. I mean, I've had meetings with all you guys in here. Dale's the only one that pays any attention to me and tries to help me. I mean, we've had the opportunity to make a change in that building department for six years so this is what it's come to for our companies we're going to finish out the houses that we have to build in elko and the properties that we have to build to elko and then until something changes in that building department and i can get a guarantee it's going to change we're not really going to continue to build an elko no more and that's a sad thing because there's been multiple years where we built over 60 of the new construction in elko city so that means all the other contractors combined built less than we built and we're not wanting to build here no more because we're done with the fight we're done dealing with the trouble we're done having to lay employees off we're done with it that's where we're coming from i would appreciate it if the council or maybe our city manager would do something here but take some action um i think it's time we we need something different in that in that city building department I believe two years ago, there was a survey done. The Oko City Building Department came back with a 70% disapproval rate. Maybe you guys could give me the exact number on that. That's not very good. And I guarantee you right now, it's lower than it was then. So thank you.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Stevens. Your comments are duly noted. And I, along with other council members, will be discussing it with the City Manager and the Assistant City Manager. All right.

I would just like to address some of your comments, Mr. Stevens. just had a conversation right prior to the meeting with the city manager and the assistant city manager. I don't know if you know, we had an independent study done of the building department. We're awaiting those results to come in to address some of those changes. And then just prior to that, I wasn't aware that we were doing that study. I had gone to the building department, gave them some initiatives and some things that were suggestions on maybe how we could revamp some things in the building department. Full disclosure, I'm also a contractor. So understand your issues, your pains, going through the same thing. And like I said, we just had a conversation about that, so we will be addressing this. So please stay tuned and we'll be in contact with you on how that progresses. Hopefully it'll help.

Right. Chief Ward, would you care to make an announcement about the upcoming National Night Out?

Yeah, so it's with everyone coming up next week.

So it's a week away on Tuesday.

August 4th and want to give a shout out to the sheriff and everyone in here from fire chief, every, all of our directors within the city County. Uh, it's a great event. That was my first one last year and one of the best ones I've seen. So hopefully we get a good turnout and please come out there and enjoy it. Bring your kids out, bring your other family out, have a good time, but it will be there. And we plan on kicking it off right around 5 PM. So get there, get a good spot early and, Sheriff can grow better than me, but I'm going to try to get them back this year. I'll get them with the hamburgers. I think I made them better. So we'll work on that. We'll let you guys be the judge of that. So we'll have a contest. But come out, have fun. The purpose of National Night Out is really to bring together the communities. And they have it at different times throughout the U.S. But that's what it's about, community involvement. And I know the discussions, I love them. I wasn't here for the last council meeting. But I like the feedback, whether we have different opinions or what. I like the feedback, and I'll just leave it at that. We take that feedback, and we move forward with it. So thank you for your support, and we'll be listening, and hopefully we'll see you there next week if you can make it. Do you have anything, Sheriff?

Sheriff, I'd like to honor Vesa for the record. I'd just like to say National Night Out is a huge success for law enforcement, emergency vehicles, and emergency personnel. Last year, we cooked about 3,000 hamburgers and hot dogs to the public. The chief and I and the captain from Highway Patrol and Heather from JDC, we all get there and we cook burgers all day. There's no charge to the public. You can come in as much as you want. You can have three or four cheeseburgers. It's a great event. Chip's missing this year because he usually plays music and he's going to be gone. So after 14 years, he's missing this event this year. We'll have music. So that's just a huge success. We'll have it in Wells that day as well. So please come out, support the community, and we'll flip the burgers for you guys.

So thank you. Great. Thank you. And that's one week from tonight. August 4th.

August 4th at 5. We'll start cooking. We'll start prepping about 3 o'clock.

We'll start cooking, and it'll go from 5 to 8 o'clock.

And there's no charge to anybody. So if you want to go through it 10 times, feel free to come in 10 times. So thank you.

Chief Johnston, anything you want to add to that at all? All right. All right. Public comment. Anyone else wishing to comment on anything not on this evening's agenda?

Good afternoon, Steve Simpson from the administrator at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital. Just by way of invitation, and we've dropped off a few invitations for this body as well, that we are going to be celebrating on August 22nd, 25 years of Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital being in the community. And we would like to invite not only this body, but we're opening up to the entire community to come and celebrate. Steve Burrows and I were just chatting about the picture that you have up here on the wall that I think at some point had patients in it as well. We have provided health care in this community for many, many, many years, and it is a privilege and an honor for us to continue to do so for our friends and family and neighbors in this community. The event was actually September 11, 2001, that dreadful day that we saw first patients in Elko at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in There's been a lot of people who have come through that building, both as staff and physicians and providers that we want to celebrate and recognize. There'll be a short program that we recognize those who have spent a lot of time helping people become healthier. Again, the event is on Saturday, August 22nd from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. We, too, will have hamburgers. I don't know if you'll have hamburgers. Extra that we could borrow? No, I think it'll be great. I think we're excited to share that as well with the community. So open invitation. Terrific.

Thanks so much for that, Steve. And, you know, I continue from time to time to hear complimentary things about the care at the hospital. I just talked to someone today whose husband was in for a cardiac event and just really over the top, pleased with the care and attention that they received. All right, final call for public comment. All right, seeing none, we'll move along to our consent agenda. We have two items on there. If there are no questions, I'm ready for a motion on that.

Mr. Mayor, I move to accept the consent agenda as written.

I'll second. All right, all in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right, here we go. Presentations. Item 6A, presentation recognizing the retirement of Police Captain Rick Moore for his 26 years of dedication to the citizens of Elko and matters related thereto. All right, your last council meeting. It is. You've been around for a while and you have like started at the ground level of the department, worked your way up to captain, and just on behalf of the board and the entire community, just wanted to express my gratitude for your dedication, your professionalism. I've never heard a crossword about you, and I know that the team is going to miss you. You've made a huge contribution to Elko Police Department, and I'm sure others will have uh, kind words to say, but, uh, we've got this plaque here for you, uh, retirement plaque, uh, recognizing, uh, your 26 years of dedicated service to the city of Elko. So, uh, Rick, with that, thank you very much and Godspeed on your future. And I think we've got a photo here. All right. Well done. Thank you. Chief, come on up. Well, let me first off, Rick, go ahead and you've got the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. The days are long, but the years are short. It's kind of surreal being here right now. Leaving a little bit earlier than I originally anticipated, but it's the right decision for my family and I. I'd just like to say that, you know, I've appreciated the support of the community over the years, the city council over the years, my organization. I've got to experience some some interesting things, meet some interesting people over the years. And that's something that I'll always keep with me. In public safety, we always hope that we make a positive impact in our community and our organizations. And I hope that that's the case. So thank you.

I want to say Rick's one of the first people I even talked to on the phone just before even starting here. And the years of experience mean a lot, just the dedication. This career, no profession's easy, especially when you're talking about public service. But just to have that dedication for that long, that's far and few between now. I don't typically see people doing more than 20 years or more, at least now. I mean, it's hard because it's difficult. I think you lean on each other. We talked about wellness and how you apply that and what are some of those things that get you through this career. I think really focusing on The good things, you see a lot of bad, but how do we get through it? So we're proud of him, 26 years. He's worked in a lot of units. I know he's humble. He's not going to boast on that, but this guy's got every certification that you can think of from bomb unit. He's dealt with a lot of stuff. So it's difficult. We hate to see him go, but family's most important too. You know when it's time to go and what's right, and we're proud of him. We'll have him back here for retiree or something. We'll have him working something here. We're not going to pay him, though. We took that out of the budget, but we're still going to miss him though. So just know that he's going to be missed, but we'll be leaning on him. The sheriff, everybody else here, we work together and he works with other people outside of the community just to give feedback and share that knowledge. So there's a lot of people that he may not know that he touched and really just motivated them and mentored them, but they're in a better space and they're prepared and they're serving the community like he's done. So congrats.

I forgot to thank Councilman Morris for hiring me in the first place.

I'm going to get into that here in a minute, yeah.

Councilman Morris hired me too, Rick, so it's a bad year. I remember Rick first came to work at the police department. We were all young kids back then, and I watched him promote through up the ranks, and we backed each other up on the street, fought side by side with wrestled guys to the ground, and he was always a good man and a good leader, and he's the kind of guy you can call and talk to and get some help wherever you need it, so I'm going to miss you. Best of luck in your endeavors, and you've earned every bit of it.

Well, like I said, I get to take credit for hiring him 26 years ago. That and I toured both. But back when I hired Rick, I think we had one opening. I think we had 75 applicants. So I got the pleasure of picking the cream of the crop. And I got a good one. You know, he came on and he realized, well, I got to finish up my education. So he Goes back and gets his bachelor's degree. And then he works for quite a few more years. And he decides, well, you know what? I need a master's degree. So he went back and got his master's degree. And he applied for the FBI National Academy. Spent three months back at Quantico. Did an excellent job back there. So he's got all the credentials. He's done virtually every aspect of law enforcement from bomb to patrol to detectives to admin. And he's always done it with integrity and integrity. and there's nobody better. I just, excuse me, wish you the best of luck for you and your family, and don't do what I did and go back to work, you know. You can leave with a smile on your face. You don't owe anybody an apology. You did a hell of a good job over the years, and I appreciate it when you're working for me, and I share that the community respects you also, so thank you. Well said.

just real quick rick i mean i just first and foremost i just like to thank you for the dedication and serving the city of elko for 26 years it's a tough job and i admire you i truly do i wish you the best of luck you have a blast and i've had a pleasure working with you so thank you thank you rick for being as straight as an arrow and always being there for everyone that's a way back when when i

did the posse reserve thing. You were there a few times for me, and thank you, and well done. Enjoy your retirement.

Just want to say thank you for your service. Like Chief said, 26 years is a long time in law enforcement, and so we appreciate that, and we hope you enjoy your retirement.

Shane, do you wish to say anything?

So I've found myself in many situations with Rick asking myself, how did we get ourselves here and what are you doing? Stop doing that in the bomb world. So I'm just glad to see that after this long, we've we made it alive and we're here to talk. You have all your fingers and I have all mine and talk about your retirement. So I'm proud of you. I'm going to miss you. We've done a lot together and I'm glad that it was with you and not anybody else. So I'm going to miss you, brother. Appreciate it.

All right. Well, Godspeed, Rick. And again, thank you so much. We really appreciate everything that you've done for the department and the citizens of Elko. So thank you. All right. I'm going to switch up the agenda a little bit. We've got several employee reductions. We need two officers to replace Rick, so who gets to introduce them? Keith? Have you seen Hawk and Shane?

Okay. He might be on a call. He's working right now, so we've got to get him up to speed since Rick's not here now, so get him squared away, but I'll bring up Officer Brandon Suarez. He brings experience from within Nevada, also Secret Service before, so he's He served on the federal side, protecting dignitaries from B POTUS to POTUS, you name it. He's got a wealth of knowledge, SWAT guy, does a lot of tactical stuff. He brings a lot of knowledge, so I'll let him introduce himself. And he dressed up, it's on his day off, so he'll get a few points there. He's still in field training.

Council. Everyone else? My name is Brandon Suarez, originally from a little town in Hilo, Hawaii. decided to get into law enforcement 19 years ago. And, of course, Vegas was the ninth Hawaiian island, but now it's a little too crowded. And one of the main reasons why Elko felt like the best fit for me was leadership in this career field and hearing about people with experience of 26 years that they respect and appreciate means a lot to me. And following the chief, somebody that I respect and admire a lot as well. And then everyone's been amazing since I've been here. So thank you for welcoming me. And I hope that I get a chance to make it through field training. And get to serve the local community. So thank you. All right.

Well, welcome. All right. And Shane, looks like you've got someone you're onboarding as well.

Last council meeting, Mr. Mayor and members of the council, I had an introduction after the fire department. Now we've got one after the police department, so it's hard to keep up with them. But we recently hired a new equipment operator at the landfill, Amber Corbett. She's been with us for three weeks, and she seems to be catching on and doing a great job. I think she likes it. I haven't heard anything besides the point. I'll let her take the podium and introduce herself. Hey.

I'm Amber Corbett. Shane said the new equipment operator at the landfill. Three weeks. I do like it so far and look forward to seeing where it takes me. Great.

Welcome Amber. Thank you very much. Good to have you on board. All right. And then I'm going to fast forward again to unfinished business. Item 9A, review consideration and possible approval for the Elko Police Department to apply for the US Department of Justice Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant. This is a no match grant with an anticipated award ceiling of $77,000 and matters related thereto for possible action. The Elko Police Department is requesting approval to apply for the US Department of Justice Project Safe Neighborhoods, PSN grant. Grant funding would be used to support the implementation of a flock camera safety program within the city of Elko. This technology will serve as a force multiplier for the department, allowing investigators to solve crimes more efficiently, improve response capabilities, and proactively reduce violent crime. throughout the city of Elko. Investment in this technology will strengthen public safety, support ongoing investigations, and provide long-term crime reduction benefits for the community. Chief Ward?

Mayor, Council, so I'll rip the Band-Aid off real quick. I'm going to recommend that we don't move forward with the grant right now, so I'll just rip that off right now so I could just have a quick conversation about it. I listened to the feedback. I was on military for a couple of weeks. So Lieutenant Das came up and kind of presented it and gave his background on it. I've used different license plate reader systems. We've had camera systems and stuff as well too. They're different. And then I'll just say there's any technology or any equipment that you put in, it can be misused. And I know you guys know that. I saw the feedback and just some of the information that was put out there. Our intent for it was to look at license plate readers only, no continual fee camera systems. And we're looking at some of those high, highly traffic areas, no residential areas, just within, even if you're looking at the ingress, egress when you're entering or exiting I-80 or some of our main areas off of Idaho Street and you name it like that, by the airport, just different areas where if we get a suspect vehicle for homicide, suspect, missing persons. Over the years, with me working with different death investigations and stuff there, we have used those systems there, the license plate readers, just to track that so we could have resources put in the area. That was the intent. I know we have FLOC put on there, but there's other systems out there, and there are pros and cons for any of them. My plan was, just speaking with our team, we were going to restrict everything on there. And they typically come restricted 10 years ago when I was working with the systems. And I'm sure you guys probably seen no matter where you're from, if you're from here or other places, they had cameras on top of SUVs. So it was four cameras count on SUVs. That's how we tested those out for license plate readers. And it was all over the place is running plates. The plates are inaccurate. Uh, I didn't even know it was 20 minute time lapse. And then I get a hit saying it's a stolen vehicle. And that vehicle, they're probably at home somewhere or switching out to get another stolen vehicle, whatever it is. But it was such a gap. And that was new technology then. I listened to the feedback, even through Community First Tuesday and other stuff. The intent was to make it safer. I heard about kidnappings, homicides. That's my background. I don't like the violent crime stuff. I want to address it with resources before it gets to that, hopefully. But if we do have significant crime, look, We don't have the time, nor I like my privacy as well. We're not looking there to red light tickets. I heard that. You're going to get a ticket in the mail. You may not even be driving a car. Somebody borrows a car, and then I give my car to the sheriff, and then he runs a red light in there, and I'm getting a ticket or something in the mail or registration or something like that. You can misread those plates. It's technology. Stuff fails. The intent's not to track it, but I want to keep it neutral. I want to make sure. Just looking at overall, there's things that we can do here. We've got drones and other technology that we brought here to discuss. The plan was to look at technology to improve, but we have things out there. I think more community involvement, what you guys doing now, just keep that up. You have camera systems at your homes, whether it's a ring doorbell or regular surveillance. We get the emails. I know council and everyone else here gets those emails and we follow up. Just be aware of it. I do want to point out we have 15 or so auto burglaries and residential burglaries after the last council meeting. There's people that go online and they look for different areas there. So they'll track it. And I know D-Flock and other things that are on there. A lot of those systems, I'll just let you know right now, there's no flock cameras or any of those LPRs besides the LPRs you can get by state vehicles from like your highway patrol and stuff that they're already equipped with. And that's only on designated vehicles. There's no flock cameras here. Whatever cameras y'all are seeing up there, they don't belong to anything in the city or the county. You have weather service cameras, you have state traffic cameras that you can log into. Those are typically for weather just to give updates or if there's traffic congestion. But there's no cameras. Nobody's trying to watch you. I don't want you watching me either. So that's kind of where we're at. And hopefully that dispels all the rumors. and any of the stuff there, that's what we were looking at for safety. But I'm going to request from mayor, the mayor and council to remove submitting for the grant. We're not looking at any other technology right now. We already went through for drones and that's kind of where we're at, but we need your help. I don't like 15 plus burglaries, whether they're vehicle burglaries and people are leaving their keys in the car. they're going in your houses i don't like that so we want to eliminate that so please keep an eye out uh if there's ever a question please let us know i mean reach out we're pretty transparent i'm pretty straightforward uh you know i try to get back to people as soon as possible if i don't have an answer i'll find somebody that has it but we work together well in the city and county so just let us know if there's any of those rumors and some of the comments people work don't even live here If you don't live here, no offense, you don't live here, then you need to stand down. This is for the community here. If you're giving feedback and opinions from experiences, that's fine. But if you don't live here, that's not really your place to decide what happens here. I want the community to be involved, whether it's city, county, let's keep involved and make sure we're making it safe because misuse in another area or another state or another city, it's not the same here. This is not Vegas. This is not Reno. This is not LA, wherever. People misuse stuff there, and it may not work here. I think we have a close-knit community here where you can make things work. But just know that. And you could have called me. I was out in the desert at the Air Force Base, but you could have called me. I had a signal at most parts. So just reach out, and we'll definitely keep that going. But just that's the request here, unless anybody has any questions that I can answer here. Yes.

Sherry, come on up.

If you want to use that mic too, if it's closer for you, if that makes it easier or you want to come up here either way.

Hi, my name is Sherry Thornton and I'm a resident of Elko at 2974 Tyler Court. And so my question was when I was watching the city council last week or two weeks ago, I heard that we were short police officers and I knew that there had been prior job fair trying to get things. But I have not heard what's happening with our lack of being able to get people hired. Is it wage-based? Are the mines taking your guys? Is it a benefits package situation? Is it no training camps available? Are they full or something? I don't know. I was just curious because I didn't hear any reason for what was causing that. I mean, if there's anything. people can do to help try to get people to join or something. I don't know, but I just, I was a little shocked to hear that we were so behind on staff.

And we're recruiting just like anywhere else you'll have recruitment and retention challenges. And it's not just for us. I mean, all of our departments throughout the country for the most part are looking at staffing and it's a difficult career. I say it, I'm 25 and a half in right now. And it's definitely difficult. You see a lot of stuff daily and it's processing that. And we're trying to put other mechanisms in place for wellness to keep them there. But it's hard. We can get people in, but we also have to provide that support. And sometimes it's just not for specific people when they actually get in this field. And that process is about a year from when we open up for some type of recruitment announcement and go through that process, backgrounds. Then if we have to send them to an academy, Officer Suarez, and then we'll hopefully Officer Hawkins. I don't know if he made it here or not. Is he out there? Okay. Yeah, they're on a call right now. I mean, we want to make sure public response and public safety. We want to make sure we have a good response time between our agencies. So that's priority, even though we're trying to introduce him here. That's priority. Somebody calls, we're going to be there. And we want them to be proactive out there. but it does take a lot of steps. I think the benefits pay and all that stuff there, these are good avenues there and we bring in people with those benefits and pay and the main thing is preparing them for the things that they see. 99% of the time you have people in stress and they're in distress, they're calling because something's maybe not the best day for them and we try to balance that out between community events and getting out of the car throwing a football or something with the kids and just getting to know people. So it's not just when they see us or our team members responding from our respective agencies during a crisis or one of the worst parts of their day, if not their life.

I just wasn't sure because it was kind of a shock to me that we were that far behind on some staff. And I was like, oh boy, that's That's kind of a big deal. No, we're hiring.

We're hiring. But at the same time, there's people up, you know, they're at 20 years and they can retire. Right. We have that wave as well. And it's everywhere where we may hire three and we lose three because they're up for retirement. Right.

You just made that correlation.

Yes. So I think we're doing the best we can. If anybody said you can come in and apply, please do. We have it open right now. We need to help, but we want to make sure it's the right fit and that that's something that you want to do. And that's probably the toughest part. You can have all the training, but mentally you have to be there. And it's got to be a passion to do 25, 26 years like Rick did and like we're hoping everybody else will do.

Also, the Chiefs on his first Tuesday, the last one, they were out at the state or the Highway Patrol's office. And if I remember correctly, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they said they're not even 54%.

Right, they're at 50%, Mayor Potem.

They're at 50 or less on full staff.

So this is kind of a critical situation.

It is. There's a lot of agencies, too, that are offering $25,000, $30,000 sign-on bonus, which obviously we're not in a position to do that type of recruiting.

I appreciate this conversation because, honestly, I was just sitting there going, I didn't hear what's happening, you know, and I can understand. It kind of makes a little more sense why looking at other avenues while you're still trying to gather your staff and stuff. And this really helped answer that question for me. So I really appreciate it. And of course, I love the blue.

Thank you so much. But we have to depend on each other here. We live in a community and it's not just one person or just, you know, police department. We all work together from fire department, parks and recs.

facilities you name it it's a team effort but thank you great question any other questions or anything any concerns yes sir is there any like community watch or neighborhood watch pro sir can you state your name for the record please yeah i live 2393 cree avenue um is there any kind of neighborhood watch or community watch that people could participate in and

it's something like that a little more organized say rather than just calling like the non-emergency line or or something like that i think that's great what we'll need to do is probably break it down into smaller areas because it's difficult just from experience and it's it's all up for conversation to see what works best but having smaller areas because you can do a business connection where we have a smaller group of businesses whether it's in the downtown area here or some of the outlying areas, specific neighborhood watches where you have somebody that's designated maybe a couple backups as well. If you're out of town, somebody else can fill in and just look for specific activity. But it's not just that. It's just being aware and maybe getting to know your neighbors because how many people even communicate with their neighbors or people down the street? So really breaking the ice and where you're comfortable. And then you feel that you can form those groups and you can communicate and we can help put that together. We haven't started that yet. We had discussions about putting that together. We're also looking at a discussions and coffee with public service. So all of our entities from local state and the county and everything to have those discussions to start putting those things together. But by all means, we can help with that. And be great. And it does help. It helps reduce, you're aware of what's going on. So if somebody's car will educate the public, don't leave your valuables that are visible, the lock, take and hide concept. Make sure you do that because people check doors, they'll do door checks. Don't leave your registration in your glove compartment. Don't leave your keys or your garage door open. Smash your window, open the door that's unlocked and go in your garage and get inside your home if your door's unlocked or kick it in. So there's a lot of tools that we can all share and learn from the different departments within the city and county and state and then start designating those things. And then maybe at our meetings and then even outside of that, we can communicate monthly or whatever works. We can definitely start it. Great, great idea and great suggestion. I think it's, it's new.

Chief, we're getting off track a little bit, but it just made me think it might be helpful at National Night Out to have some information there for the Neighborhood Watch. There might be any visitors there that are interested in that.

Yes, and we can start looking at who's interested at taking the lead on those things and get some flyers and some other things together. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes.

Hi, I'm Sydney Basilio. I live at 3159 College Court. I just want to say thank you so much for protecting our community and for preventing the flock camera systems from coming here.

Thank you. Appreciate you guys.

Have a great day.

You too.

Hi, I'm Lexi Reed and I live at 206 Chisholm Drive. I wanted clarification on that because I missed that.

Okay.

So are you pursuing flock cameras in the grant?

No, I have to defer to the mayor and council, but my recommendation is to not move forward with submitting the grant, which would mean not moving forward with any type of license plate reader camera system.

Got it. So deferring to everyone here. Yes, that would have to be voting. So would it be okay to voice my concerns with all of this to you guys?

Yeah, go right ahead.

Awesome. So let me get my stuff here. I'm so sorry. I'm so out of wits here. My name is Lexi Reeve, and I'm a wife, mother, and friend to many here in Elko. I love Elko. I love the people of Elko. So when I first heard about the consideration for the ALPRs, I was like, oh, that makes sense, right? We have a lot of crazy drivers, red light cameras, basically. After a little bit of research, very minute amount of research, I learned how wrong that opinion was. is that these LEPRs, depending on what company, private company they're through, is what data they collect. And I loved your standpoint on just keeping it bare bones and just license plate. But these pictures, they capture pictures of the vehicle, possible passenger and driver of the vehicle. And they can be captured, like you said, going on and off the highway, to the grocery stores, to the school, to the parks, which I don't know if you're familiar with the mosaic theory on the Fourth Amendment. but I hope you guys are because that individual picture can lead to many, many pictures that blueprint our whole lives, every step we take, what we do. And that is, that's not right. That's against our amendment rights as Americans. And so with, we're going through each company, right? We got Axion, Vigilante or Vigilant Surveillance, So many. We have so many different companies and each one of those take different data from those pictures. So I really want you guys to consider not only for Flock, but future AI cameras in this town. Is this that direction that we want to take as a community is to go down this path or what do we want for the future of the town? And that's just kind of where I'm at. I have a lot more in there, but we can go over the misuses of of the law enforcement across the country, the 83 different communities that have withdrawn or suspended their contracts with Flock. 23 of those are very large cities with much higher crime rates than us. And they have deemed it unaffected with one to three ratios for hot shots or being wrong. That's quite high, one out of three. And that's the new technology. That's not old. And so with that is like, I just did a little bit of research and I hope you guys did so much more because there's court cases that just happened in the Supreme Court this year that is about our right to our digital footprint, which AR cameras is a step way to that. It's a digital footprint that's ours that no one else should be able to get access to if we're not doing anything wrong. And that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

We've got a I've got a couple of letters that were submitted, emails rather, that they were asked to read this in the meeting this afternoon. This is from a Joycelyn Cummins. My name is Joycelyn Cummins. I was born and raised in Elko. I would like to share my comments with city council. No to flock cameras. I think it's misleading to the public that it will do good and solve crimes. but it can also be used to collect data and store with the potential to be abused. I don't want our town to be like a big city with eyes everywhere tracking my every move. And then I've got an opposition letter that I, this is the same that I read last time into the record. This is from a Matthew Shedd and he's against the cameras. And then This one is from a Cynthia Shedd. Good evening council members. I'm writing again to respectfully express my opposition to the proposed use of flock surveillance cameras in our community. Since this item was tabled last month, I want to reiterate my concerns as you revisit the discussion. One of the things that makes our area special is the value we place on the independence, personal responsibility and individual rights. Nevada has long embodied a don't tread on me spirit, and many of us have chosen to live here because we believe in limited government and the protection of personal freedoms. While I appreciate the importance of public safety and support the work of law enforcement, I do not believe expanding surveillance is the right path for our community. Technologies like flock cameras collect information about the movements of everyday law-abiding citizens, And once this type of system is in place, it can become easier to broaden its use over time. As you consider this proposal, again, I encourage the council to carefully weigh the long-term implications for privacy and civil liberties. I believe we can support public safety while also preserving the freedoms and values that make our community unique. Thank you for your time, your thoughtful consideration, and your service to our community. Respectfully, Cynthia Shedd. All right, anyone else wishing to comment about this item? Yeah, come on up again.

Again, I'm Chance Heiner. I'm in opposition to flock cameras. I do believe that they're a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights and that a more proactive community would be a lot better option. We need to make options for the community to look out for each other and and maybe be recognized for that. I don't believe we should give up our rights for anything. Freedom's the most important thing we will ever have, and we should do everything we can to defend it. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, anyone else?

Tyler Lettix, I'm at 2305 . I just wanted to throw in one thing We just merged our military and intelligence services with the IDF and the Mossad and the NDAA. So judging how the IDF treats people, I really don't want any of them being able to see what I'm doing here on a camera. So that's just what I was throwing in real quick.

Thank you.

All right. Sheriff, anything you care to add? Okay. Yeah. Come on up. Name and address for the record, please.

James Pressler, 509 Cedar Street. These cameras are part of the infrastructure for the AI surveillance state. Everyone here needs to think beyond the illusion that these cameras will have any effect on Elko's already extremely low crime rate. I call on this committee to stop all flock-type cameras. Once the cameras are in, it will only be a small step to upgrade them from license plate readers to full surveillance. Our privacy and freedom are worth protecting. And I'll leave the committee with the quote from Ben Franklin. Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Thank you. Sheriff.

Sheriff, I turn our basis for the record. We don't have any block cameras or LPRs, but I can tell you we've used the LPRs We used one on a homicide probably six, seven months ago. The description of the vehicle, the vehicle was stopped in Idaho. We ended up with those guys in custody. We've used them, people crossing in Utah, they were reported as missing and endangered. Crossing to Utah and it came up on the license plate where either of those people were found. We've used them for Amber Lurch leaving the state of Utah. And those individuals were located in wells. So the license plate beaters do have some purpose. Obviously, it takes a lot. There's a lot of people, there's law enforcement that have been misusing them. So that's where a good, strong policy would have come in handy. But I just want to say we don't have them, but we have used them. And every time we've used them from other states, Amber Alerts, kidnapping, stolen vehicles, we've always had success with them. So that's what I want to say. Thank you. Appreciate that.

All right. We've got time for one more if anyone wants to speak up.

Austin Timmons, 456 Walnut Street. So yes, Sheriff, there is policies, a lot of... Departments have them. Yes, it's just accountability. My background is health and safety. Yeah, we have policies and procedures. They're only as good as your last line of defense and that stuff. So make sure if we do go forward, which I'm against of the cameras, we do have good policy. Make sure they're strong. There's no holes to punch through, right? And then... got to really set the bar high because we've seen, I've seen too many reports, news across the nation of the abuse. So if there is, if you go through with it, make sure it's a stone wall and a policy, um, make sure it's up to date and stuff of that nature. So, but I am not for the cameras, uh, the Benjamin Franklin quote, uh, definitely bring that to mind.

Thank you. Dr. Thurston, did you want to say something?

Real quickly, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Hank Thurston, I live in Lamoille, so you don't have to worry about losing my vote. But I do own and operate two businesses in City Limits, so I do believe I'm a stakeholder in these kind of topics. I moved back to Elko about three years ago, and you'd be surprised how many people came up to me and said, well, why'd you move back here? But something that I bragged to my friends in Michigan and Spokane and other places about Elko was, our local law enforcement, our local leadership, city council, county commission, because I do believe that we have leadership and law enforcement that is dedicated to the people that you serve. So I really respect the chief's statements that he made there, that he's looking to humanize the police and build those community connections rather than rely on technology to solve a problem. And I think that's the right move. So regardless of what people may ask, I'm glad to be back here.

Thank you. All right, I'll close off public comment. And the recommendation from the chief is to spike the grant request on this. And I would imagine that most of you, as I have myself, have gotten some feedback from constituents on this. And it just feels to me like the community is just not quite ready for it, despite you know, some of the advantages that we heard about. I just don't think the community is ready for it. So I'll open it up for discussion.

I completely agree with you. I feel like we should support the police department with the utmost we can, but I've got probably 10 negatives to every positive out of everything here. So I think we the best move would be just to take no action or whatever spike like you said.

I believe at this time that we shouldn't move forward with. I don't believe that the technology that's being provided can outweigh the negatives and the concerns that the public has brought forward at this time.

Any comments? Hope I'm good. I made it quite known last Saturday at the Republican, it's a fancy name, Central Committee meeting that I was no and not able to support that we have these cameras or these type of cameras. I'd be happy to make a motion if you'd like. I'm ready. Mr. Mayor, I move under the direction of the police chief and also my direct opinion to not move forward and approve to submit for the grant of the Safe Neighborhood PSN grant.

I'll second that.

All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. And aye vote aye also. There were no nays. Are there any nays? All right. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Chief. all right and we're going to move back up to the agenda to presentations item b and i'd just like to say that i apologize for the toasty conditions in here i'm not in charge of the air conditioner but that's one of the reasons why we're looking at a new city hall just because the building is so old and it's just very inefficient so um Item B, presentation by Erica Wright with discussion and possible direction regarding her request to halt automatic sprinkling at the Elko City Cemetery and address the placement and removal of cemetery decorations and matters related thereto for possible action. Erica Wright has requested the Elko City Council consider her concerns regarding the Elko City Cemetery irrigation system and cemetery decorations. Ms. Wright has expressed concern that automatic sprinklers are impacting trees, tombstones, sidewalks, and decorations, including water accumulation in containers and damage or deterioration of decorations and headstones. She has requested City Hall automatic sprinkling at the cemetery consider hand watering instead and address the placement and removal of decorations. The item is limited to matters within the City of Elko's jurisdiction, specifically the Elko City Cemetery. Anne.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. So Erica has been at public comment for the last two meetings, I believe, and she requested directly with the City Clerk to be on the agenda to address her concerns and ask the City Council to act on these two requests. So, Erica, would you like to come to the podium and present your information? And some of your pictures are up on the screen, Erica.

Okay, thank you. I apologize. I've been having, interestingly, data concerns as well. So my phone is not working. My laptop is using JPEG. And so bear with me. I would prefer to have this printed before and give it to you that way. So bear with me. Bear with me with my speech. So it's a speech and there's other things that I was going to be doing, but I had some technological difficulties as I arrived here. So thank you.

Is it this?

No, it's this one. So just bear with me. So in terms of just knowing who I am and my background and then just my solution. So hopefully I go for the time. So I'm just going to read it off from here and then we'll move forward from there. But it is pertaining to here, I promise. So just bear with me. and I'm very nervous and I'm starting to shake, so thank you. Okay, hello, my name is Erica Wright. I moved here to Elko, Nevada in January from Potomac, Maryland, a suburb located outside DC. If you're wondering about my glasses, I suffered a thermal retinal laser injury from a drone in a park next to my parents' home in Potomac. It targeted the right eye at the nine o'clock position. I returned to Potomac after Ocean City, Maryland, surprised at the new sky littered with drones. Looking up at one, I experienced brown after images from car headlights for days. These orange-blue blocking lenses coupled with my sticker patch serves as a low-cost and low-risk solution to heal the injury. I have an MSW in social work and worked as a yoga instructor. I'm currently volunteering at St. Joseph's Church with Highland Manor on Fridays, Livingstones Church by teaching children Bible study on Sundays, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church food distribution on Thursdays. I hope to teach yoga at the Boys and Girls Club Aquatic Center pending my solidification of course schedule at the Great Basin College in August. I applied to Great Basin College in order to retake my science prerequisites, biology 101 and 102 with lab, anatomy and physiology 1 and 2 with lab, chemistry 101 and 102 with lab, and microbiology with lab. Dental hygiene school requires science courses be completed within five years of applying. Due to COVID and my job at Fager's Island Lighthouse in Ocean City, Maryland, I have to retake these courses. The manager at the Bad Monkey, who also worked in a leadership position at the office of Fager's Island Restaurant, was is Kevin Myers. He also owns, owned one-third approximately of Baker's Island business. I reported to him after leaving my position at the hotel and needing part-time work helping at the restaurant. He fired me via the database used for work communication and scheduling. I asked if I needed to contact anyone else regarding my employment, and he responded no. The next day I was deleted and blocked access to the database despite future employment.

Excuse me, Ms. Wright, is this pertaining to the agenda item?

Yes, I promise. I promise it loops back around just five more minutes and then you can come back and I can jump. I promise there's relevance. It's God's honor. Okay, so the next day I was deleted and blocked access to the database. Other fired employees did not receive the same treatment. I heard from other co-workers and later he told everyone I just stopped showing up for work. I also learned that he listed me as a potential terrorist in his company, despite the clear conflict of interest, regardless of true or not. So, unbeknownst to myself and most employees, Kevin Myers was also employed at a public-private partnership located in the state of Florida. This business partners with the American government and includes various ventures, a data center, drone surveillance, and NSA watching of suspected terrorists through phones and computers. So the man abuses power to trespass, phone, computer, whatever, with the help of his resources at the data center. to destroy my reputation, personal property. I'll skip through, sorry. I wanted to edit it. So due to his financial shares in a public-private partnership, I was unable to file a police report. Not one police station in Maryland even wrote down my report of abuse. In fact, a police officer told me it was my responsibility to drive all the way back to Ocean City from Potomac, Maryland to report to the police station there. I reported as a victim of a crime and told it was my responsibility to drive to the abuser's town where he abused me. The FBI sent a DEA agent and similarly did not even take a report nor help me when I traveled all the way to the North Carolina FBI. I could not find the Washington, D.C. office because my maps on my phone was always incorrect. My online report failed to go through. I sent reports to the CIA, various judicial government agencies.

That's right. I need to stop you.

Okay.

We're here to talk specifically about the cemetery.

Okay, I will send this to you. All right, let me just go forward. Okay, so I... Thank you for listening. So, okay. Due to his hacking of my computer, a couple of views, I was unable to apply to dental hygiene school by the five-year requirement.

Excuse me, we're here to talk about the cemetery.

Okay. I'm ready to hear about the cemetery. Okay, it links. I love the college and where I live on Ash Street. Thank you for listening. I came to Nevada because I found an entry-level job opening. I hope to apply my experience. Okay, hold on. All right. I love Nevada. Okay, so I love Nevada and our standard state that gave land back to the Native Americans. has been taken advantage of with past federal government abuses that has resulted in a struggling economy for state and local Nevada government to deal with due to taxation and infrastructure. Additionally, the state and tribal representation in DC in proportion to land size presents additional concerns pertaining to the water. At the end of the day, I'm just here reporting problems I've encountered, witnessed, observed, and some solutions that may help at the root of the problem with low cost to hopefully increase the public health of the neighborhood and community at large. A seemingly small area ignored can have grave effects on the people living in it and eventually the county and state. The microcosm impacts the macrocosm and vice versa. The burial of the dead, questions of our purpose on earth, where we go after death, are spiritual, religious, in my opinion, first and foremost. I please request the First Amendment is considered as well when taking the time to preserve the cemetery, the tombstones, caskets, dead bodies, trees surrounding locality. Thank you for your time. So, sorry, it's a little bit, I was going to, So we'll just pause one moment. Our country was founded upon escaping religious persecution. Christian ethics has informed our constitution. So something from George Washington. So our First Amendment Bill of Rights protects our religious freedom. As George Washington believed and the others followed suit, this is a joke, First Amendment is the most important. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. I am inspired by the state that offered asylum land for the Native Americans. This generosity continues to impact Nevada's finances, agriculture, and infrastructure to this day. I hope my reporting helps in some way in balancing the difficult decisions and priority in which they're addressed. And I'll conclude with us taking a pause in the memory of the persons deceased as I share a quote from our founding father, Patrick Henry, Should I keep back my opinions at such a time through fear of giving offense? I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country and an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly things in gratitude. And then, so that was one section. I was going to do one thing. Okay, so then this water from sprinkler cemetery may contain harmful cyanobacteria, evidence on destroyed tombstones and poisoning the trees and grass. This could explain the pond water accumulation of flower cups, stagnant water with toxic spell. Great Basin College Creek shows evidence of clear water with green algae growing on top from the grass. The creek has been drained and suspicious installations may reroute drained the creek into the storm water drains near the cemeteries. I have, by the way, videos and a picture evidence. I just, due to, I can come back with you. I just have to, it's on this and on my phone. That way I can put it on JPEG and then put it in a safe thing and maybe you guys can scan it to make sure you're not imposed with malware from anything that I have. But this is a lockdown camera, so. Bear with me on the evidence of cameras that I was able to in addition to that. Great Basin shows clear evidence of clear looking water that contains green algae from the grass mixing into the creek that matches the tombstones. Installation boxes refer potentially to rerouted water irrigation that drained the creek. And by the way, I just want to point out that I know that this is not, this might have been a federal issue under Biden. and lack of oversight and I in no way hold in any form, shape or possible your locality responsible. That's my working theory is that it's something under Biden and I don't wanna continue on my opinion on that or just what I know, but there were just issues in oversight and these things happen.

So I'll just keep going. Can I redirect you please? We don't have time to continue on. I've heard about the water at the college We're here specifically to talk about our cemetery. You've got some pictures. There's some pictures up here that show tombstones.

Can I just finish this one last thing, and then I'll open up to that.

Does it pertain to the Elko Cemetery?

Yes, because it all connects in terms of...

Okay, I'm going to stop you if it doesn't, so go ahead.

Okay, it's really just this part, and then I do have just a section that I was ideally going to have a piece of paper for you. That way you would have known what was coming up, and how it connects, but then just bear with me. So the installation boxes refer to potentially rerouted water irrigation that drain the creek. An ecotone is an area of transition between two biomes or ecosystems. The ecotone separates the land ecosystem from the aquatic ecosystem. The boundary is critical in manmade landscapes and constructions. A new proposal that I was offering as a solution that pertains to this, but could also be minimized, so the surrounding locality, but if not, just the cemetery, as a solution of testing to test some things first about what this could be, or at least just a rule out as low cost. So caffeine is a cost-affordable means to rule out potential cross-contamination of sewage water with residential tap water. Due to creeks, stormwater drains, hose water, sprinklers, and diverse water installation irrigation boxes, indoor tap water safety standards are at risk for contamination, possibly. Caffeine does not exist in nature, and the presence of such in an outdoor water system may indicate sewage, residential toilet water is leaching, the separation of outdoor and indoor water is critical due to purification standards, and how water travels from water sources to sanitation and back to residences. So basically, I have more requests here, but just to take a pause at that, I was offering a solution that, and I could also... have this printed out and then emailed to you, but that a good rule out would be to test for caffeine. And then that presence would then be like almost, then we go further from there in terms of the water testing. There is destruction and things going on at the cemetery. And I just request, so actually I request the whole surrounding one because it all could kind of link together. But if at least just one, the caffeine of the cemetery, but see that links, because then you have the residential. We have two schools, Great Basin's right there, the cemetery, and then you have where I live. But then in between is Elko School. They have sprinklers going on there. You have the elementary school. And in terms of the picture evidence that I have on here, which pending just after this, due to my technological issues that I have based on just security concerns and what we were kind of talking about in terms of a surveillance. And I'm from the East Coast. So I'm just saying that, you know, on the East Coast right now, things are really crazy. And so, and just after COVID, in terms of our technological advancement, yeah, I'm struggling to figure out how to protect my data with what I was kind of describing to you, and I apologize if I took too long about that.

And, you know, so anyway, just- Ms. Wright, you, the agenda item states that you want our or parks department to cease using irrigation at the cemetery. Is that correct?

I apologize. Oh, I apologize. I didn't rightly know. I sent some emails. I should have been better about knowing exactly how this process works. I've been kind of limiting, like Trump said, when he went into presidency, I limit how much time I spend looking at my phone. Um, uh, so I did my best to follow the rules. Um, and I'm sorry if I, um, so I do. So it's basically, if I were to bring it down, the request pretty much the water testing. So yes, the number one thing is to halt all water in that surrounding. So pretty much from great basin college to ash tree and protecting the cemetery and the two, um, uh, schools. And pretty much just halt sprinklers, just turn them off for a little bit and then maybe test for caffeine. in the various sites, which I heard are very low cost and simple solution. And you can kind of, based on testing in those different areas, you see the results and you have to kind of consult an expert because who am I? Which is why I was trying to, with my credibility of just my background of science, I do have a rudimentary, but not very much microbiology, chemistry, biology, whatever, but not very much at all. So you defer to an expert, but it essentially could be a really important, like very low cost way in which to test the water and do some rule out. And you can find out some really interesting information just from a, few different sites and just caffeine because, uh, you know, we have a lot of stuff in our water, but then the presence of caffeine would mean something coming from somewhere else and just, it would just be pending further. So, um, and we just rule out whatever, um, we were seeing at the cemeteries and, um, you know, it's really about protecting the surrounding community, but that, uh, it's just kind of my starting point was a cemetery. And then, you know, as I'm investigating and, uh, working through everything else I'd seen and trying to find solutions because I'm not trying to point out problems or put blame on anybody. It's just that things happen. And especially when you're, you know, I heard about the Biden grant and then there's so many issues on the East coast with so many things that he's done. So, and sometimes that happens when you rush something in and in the aftermath and then what do you do? So I was, so the request and I will definitely find a way to print this out and bring it to you and, email it to you. Yeah, just the sprinklers and then...

Okay, thank you. I'm going to ask our parks department director, James Wiley, to come on up and just explain to us, I mean, everything that we're doing here at the cemetery, I mean, that's standard practice for any rural Nevada, rural western cemetery in terms of the way that we I do irrigation. I mean, as far as I know, there's nothing wrong with the water quality that we're putting down on the lawn there. Do you care to address some of those concerns, James?

Can I just say one last thing just because I was cut off early that does pertain to this? Just I know that when I was going to, there was another area that was outside Battle Mountain that has had an EPA chlorination irrigation system site. that was next to one, it's a small one, but just my conclusion that hot water with chlorinated treatment upon exposure to UV blue light releases a colorless odorless toxic gas that was used specifically to murder the Jews in Nazi Germany concentration camps. So I'm going with windows here because this was what I was working on, but this could pertain to outside as well. So windows and bathrooms are a problem.

Ms. Wright, we've heard enough from you. I wanna hear from our parks director.

I recommend to you, but I will be sending this to you Fluorination isn't the problem. It's just that interactions potentially new could occur with said information.

James?

Okay.

Well, to answer your question, Mr. Mayor, yes, it is very standard. It's horticulturally based. We have an automatic irrigation system up there, which is very efficient in terms of distribution. So we do the very best we can with our irrigation systems. We do use potable water, by the way, at the cemetery. And yeah, to to cease watering up there is very unrealistic. And I think this community would be in quite an uproar if we were to do that. We manage our water appropriately, but we also manage the grounds up at the cemetery out of deep respect for those that are interned up there and those family members that visit that on a regular basis. So irrigation and decorations. Decorations can be an obstacle for maintenance, but we as our staff and our department recognize the emotional side of that and the sentimental side and the respect side of that. And that's why we work around those decorations up there.

One question, do we have to have sprinklers that are akin to a pressure washer aimed at the branch line of trees and aimed directly at tombstones destroying them? Or could we maybe potentially consider in all these environments actually with all of the videos that I have that are on the screen right now of all of the sprinklers that are just sprayed at least five in a vicinity intentionally at the trees and then they cut down the branches and it's a mess. So maybe potentially as another one, if they can't hold sprinklers, maybe think of putting and using a different one that doesn't spray like a pressure washer.

I think our sprinkler heads do have some pressure behind them. I would say that it's not destroying the landscape. It's a low enough pressure probably equivalent to a heavy rain pour. And our sprinkler heads, we take care not to aim them directly at trees because the trees are an obstacle. So although the trees may get hit a little bit by the distribution of the sprinkler, they're not aimed directly at them. So, I mean, we professionally design our systems. No system is 100% perfect in terms of distribution or efficiency but we try and get as close as we can to that because Water is an important resource knowing that we have to use water on these areas And also keep them in a healthy condition. That's why we use what we use Other systems are just not efficient. We have to also it's a cemetery and so we inter people, we dig graves, we open graves and we close graves. Um, she may be referring to something that's subsurface, but that is on a much tighter grid and that would definitely not work, um, in a cemetery.

And James, another thing maybe you might comment on is a lot of the trees, um, Yeah, I do to have like that one up there has some irregularities. These trays in the cemetery are old and they're toward the end of their lifespan. Is that correct to say?

Well, it's true that they are old. I would say that the majority of the trees up there are in a healthy state. I can't tell you how many more years they'll have, but I would say significant years. That's why we manage our trees the best we can. We we want. big, mature trees, healthy trees. These are old trees though, and trees are a living organism and they are subject to lots of things, not outside of sprinklers or things of that nature, but they are a living organism and they're subject to all kinds of pests, viruses, bacterias. We do our best to identify those and we take action to help that matter out when we can.

And in terms of some of the deterioration on the tombstones, I mean, that's just normal wear and tear from weather. And I might call Ms. Peterson up to comment further on that as well.

Well, so I've been in a lot of cemeteries. This past Memorial Day, I was up in Tuscarora at a cemetery where they have no irrigation to speak of. They don't have grass either. But they're very old headstones. Granite does deteriorate over time. It's a pretty solid piece of rock, though, and it will last a long time. But it's going to discolor. It's going to, you know, some of the writing on the really old headstones up there from the 1800s, you can barely read them. But I would say, yes, over time, they are going to fade and deteriorate some. Yeah.

Ms. Wright, everything that the Parks Department and the cemetery personnel are doing in terms of the maintenance, the irrigation, I mean, you've just heard it's very conventional. We have not had other complaints about it. We're using potable water. We just had our annual water report that was published last month. And it was a clean report and there were no items of concern in terms of the water quality. And so we can't in good conscience make any changes to the way that the cemetery is being managed now. And so I find the agenda item a little bit disarming as being odd. And so I think it was important to look into it and you've had your opportunity to comment on it. And thank you for coming to the meeting.

Thank you. Do you have permission to say three sentences as I close? It's something else.

Okay. Make it snappy.

recommend a public awareness just to anyone in the room that wants this knowledge, including yourself, just that I would just do recommend cold showers like they do in Russia to prevent gas activation with sunlight or artificial lighting. This pertains to the decorations of the blue lights that flicker. So those, at least I saw on the East coast mixed with the water creates something that's like white and fluoresces. So you can only, all you need is UV light and it will, it will fluoresce. And so anyway, so, so, the artificial lighting. So maybe just minimizing those, uh, those, those lights, um, drapes. If you have a window in the bathroom, Amber or orange lighting for your bathroom. So if you have a window in your bathroom, sunlight comes in, you take a hot shower, the combination mixed with all the chlorine cleaning supplies, uh, evaporates a colorless odorless gas. It's crazy because I even was surprised to learn of this and that they used, they learned this from after Nazi Germany and that, that this is, I didn't know it. So I learned it and, uh, I minimized that and I felt better after a shower. So thank you for your time. And I will send this to you and that way you have it. And I'm happy to do my service here. And thank you for having me in your state and Elko. I appreciate you.

Thank you. And Ms. Peterson, would you care to just comment? You've been to a lot of cemeteries in your time as well.

And like, how does our- I've been to cemeteries from Boston Eastward or Bestford. My only comment is, well, two on two separate deals. There are 14 acres to the cemetery and roughly 14,000 people more since. I'm Jan Peterson and I'm the retired city of Elko Sexton. I'm also the manager, the volunteer manager of the county cemetery, which is adjacent to the city and the Tuscarora Cemetery. james jim joe carr leonard nicole here they all work closely with me they all show great respect and we all work to the best of our ability to manage the cemetery i think in a very productive manner i think it it flows well we all work in conjunction with each other and I just don't see that there's an issue. Some of these graves, some of these graves that there are photos of, one of them is Hiram Chase, this one right here. I'm pretty sure that's Hiram who died like in 1906. And I just don't see any issue on these graves. The grass was put in because people complained that it looked unsightly. in the late 1960s. And moss happens, water happens. I don't see that there is neglect by the city staff on the cemetery issue. I think they all work really hard. We all work really hard at maintaining it to a level of respect. I have given cemetery tours. I'm guessing easily for the past 25 years, I've taken school groups through. At the end of all of my tours, I have people raise the right hand and I swear them in as cemetery stewards. So I just think that there is a great public ownership and awareness of our city cemeteries.

And have you heard any similar complaints that have been brought forward?

No, this is all news to me. There was a vandalism incident which affected my family, my dad's grave. What was that, about a month ago? Does that sound right? About roughly a month ago, where the memorials and the decorations were removed, and I still haven't replaced my dad's. And people were calling me, what did I think about it and what was I going to do about it? Well, it was the city cemetery. I dashed up to the county and it was unaffected. It was that Knights of Pythias area that was affected, was, I don't know, whatever, was vandalized, I think. And grief is, I'm not going to, I don't want to get into editorializing. Grief is a very personal process. And what some people feel is irreverent or a little over the edge of decorations is comforting to other people. And it is not my place to judge what is the degree of someone else's grief or how they deal with it. And that's when I was the city sexton, when all of these decorations started to emerge. And at first, it was a little off-putting. But in talking to these people who are in the depths of deep bereavement and grief, it makes them feel better. So how is it my place or the city's place or others to judge What is making these bereaved people feel better? So I just, I've learned to back off. I still call them Twinkie Blinkies. And then when my dad died, my mom started putting them up. So it affected me personally. And I still, I thought she went a little overboard sometimes, but on the other hand, it made, it gave her a sense of comfort. Then we have the vandalism and Leonard and his helper gathered up that stuff as respectfully as they could. And they put it out for people to go and try and identify what a solar light looks like. I didn't know what mine looked like either. And on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, they mow. So they asked that things be contained within the headstone. Isn't this right, James? Within the headstone. And some of that stuff inevitably gets picked up, knocked aside, and they don't throw it away. They put it in the pile outside the shop for people to come, there it is, for people to come and repossess their stuff. I just, I have no issue with the way the cemeteries run.

Right, right. And I'll take you,

as an authority on that. Can I also add one thing real quick? In commercial systems, and the water guys can probably describe this better than me, but between potable water and irrigation systems, commercial houses, even residentials, have a backflow preventer, and most of them are double checks. So there's two checks not letting that water go back from irrigation systems back into the potable water, and they're checked yearly, or at least supposedly. I mean, most of them are checked yearly. So

every one of these parks whatever has a double check valve sitting in it so it will not allow water or irrigation water back into the system so i'll guarantee that's on there all right you may be seated uh that's right thank you all right um any service thank you any public comment pertaining to this item beyond what we've heard already Yeah, my recommendation on this is just to take no action on it. Do we need a motion for no action? No, you can just move on to the next agenda. Okay. All right.

Is everyone good with that? Okay.

All right. We have two items under personnel that we'll hold over for closed session after the conclusion of the meeting. And we're about to bump up against the 5.30 timeframe. Let's see if we can get through these appropriations. We have regular warrants for fiscal year 2025, 2026 in the amount of $1,097,987.96. So moved. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. Fiscal year 2026, 2027, warrants in the amount of $403,170.04. So moved. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. Handcut checks fiscal year 2025-2026 and fiscal years 26-27 in the amount of $608,083.74. So moved. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. And then finally, we have fiscal year 2526 hand cut checks in the amount of $5,324.88. So moved. Second. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

And I also vote aye. All right. Let's go ahead. Do you guys need a timeout before we do public hearing? all right 5 30 public hearing uh this is item 13a review consideration impossible adoption of resolution number 1226 a resolution of the elko city council specifically updating the parks recreation and open space chapter atlas map 14 existing parks facilities, Atlas map 15, future park facilities and appendix for survey results to the city of Elko master plan and matters related thereto for possible action. Planning commission approved the initiation of the amendment to the city of Elko master plan at their meeting on May 2nd, 2023. The Parks and Recreation Advisory Board reviewed the master plan amendment at their meeting on May 21st, 2026. Planning Commission reviewed the master plan amendment at their meeting on July 7th, 2026 and adopted resolution number 126. The Planning Commission and Parks and Recreation Advisory Board recommend City Council adopt the said amendments by resolution. Kathy.

Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, I first want to say this has been a very, very long process. We started it in 2023. It was a complete repeal and replace of this entire chapter of our master plan. And at that time, when we initiated this, were contracting with an outside consultant for this rewrite, because we really felt that it was important to get that outside opinion of a third party not associated with the City of Elko for transparency in conducting the survey. And James and I have had multiple conversations on If we would have done this differently, we would have had them conduct the survey, give us the information and the level of service comparison, and we would have done the rewrite ourselves. Because it took us three years working with this consultant, and it was not an easy process. We went through multiple people in their company. We're just thankful that we got to the point where we got. I'm not going to give you a full summary like I did at the Planning Commission or we did at the Parks and Rec Board, because I hope that you took the time to read the 60-some pages, or at least read through it. But if you think back at when we adopted this in 2012, there have been a lot of changes in this many years. So from the dog park being, it used to be a soccer field, now it's a dog park, to we acquired Snow Bowl, to We have extended harp trail. We, you know, variety of things that have happened since 2012. And so all of that had to be looked at. But probably the most important thing that we really spent quite a bit of time on is the goal and objectives. Because the city of Elko needs to make decisions based on these goals listed in this master plan. And honestly, we were really proud that we were able to actually pull out one of the goals. that was written in there in 2012, because it talked about building a rec center. Well, we accomplished that goal. We did it through a partnership with the Boys and Girls Club, but that goal has been accomplished. So we were able to remove that goal. We still have objectives listed in there to work with other entities such as the Igloo, the college, the Elko County School District, the Boys and Girls Club, because we have to look at recreation as a collaboration of the entire region. And that's why we really spent a lot of time as well on a regional comparison as well as a national comparison. What are we lacking as a region for recreation or for facilities? And what are we lacking nationally compared? it showed us that, of course, pickleball was an up-and-coming sport and that we were lacking in pickleball courts. Well, we've actually, in this whole process of doing the three years of this amendment, we built pickleball courts, right? So we've accomplished that as well. We can actually, we changed that chart at the very end and said, oh, check that off. We've already created it. So it was a really good lesson to look at what the community survey came back with in the results, but also to look at us regionally. Where are we compared to, if it was Wendover, Jackpot, Eureka, Carlin, Wells, what are we regionally? Are we an attraction? Do we have amenities that they don't have? Then looking at it nationally, what are the national trends? We also had a lot of changes in our existing parks and our future parks. So we really looked at those two maps that we have as Atlas and made changes to that. We added some additional square footage in there of acreage that we have for possible park expansion. We looked at, are we adequate in land acquisition right now, or do we need to look at future land acquisition for parks? So it was a very long process, but I feel very good. And I believe James does too about the, the outcome of this. Um, it's a, it's a long, um, 50, 60 pages, but this will replace the entire chapter in our existing, uh, parks and rec master plan. So I don't know if James has any other questions. James, do you take off?

He ran.

He ran. He knew that this was, this was a long deal, but, um, uh, Very good comparison and we are actually in very good position compared nationally and regionally. We might be a little bit on the low side on our, the amount of work we have per acre for the manpower that we have. And that was good to look at too. And then we also spent a lot of time on the maintenance and the cost of maintenance. And how, when we do bring on a new park, for instance, what is that going to take for maintenance? How do we sustain that? The playground equipment, what is their lifespan? What is the new park ball field's lifespan? So all of that was looked at in this revision and we spent a lot of time on it.

Right. No, I know that's not an easy process. I went through that way back when that was done and Thank you for sticking with that. And I'm glad that they were able to get you a finished product on that for sure. So yeah, I didn't have any questions looking through that. I thought it was kind of odd that with the market basket comparison, it was like communities in Utah and Idaho. And I know that they have different property tax there's a much different, there's a real differential on property taxes between the states and that's where most park funding comes from. And so I think it would have been more interesting if they would have been able to just provide us with comparisons throughout the state.

Yeah. And we tried that and we really couldn't find the equal comparison for population. So it was really based on population. And so firmly was included in that comparison, that level of service. But if you look at the population of the other communities, the one in Colorado, the one in, they were all very similar to our population. So the consultant had advised us because we had conversation about that, about using just Nevada cities. And he said, no, that we need to have it as a more broad but with population in mind. And we sit really well in that comparison, right? So we were glad to see that outcome come out of it is that compared to those larger cities or those other cities that do have a different tax basis, we do sit very well compared to them.

Aside from the comparison of other communities, Kathy, is there... Anything you learned from this? Any big takeaways?

It was interesting looking at the national comparison of level of service because there were some things that we have excess of that we didn't really realize that we had excess of, right? And that was kind of a shocker to me. And then the rest of it was really we're right on key. If it says a size of community that we are should have you know, blank amount of tennis courts and we're right on with that amount of tennis courts, it was good to see that we were very, our summary came right in there with the national level of service.

All right.

I'll open it up to public comment on this item. All right. Do board members have any questions at all for Kathy on this?

Looks good. A lot of work.

Yeah.

I just want to say a big thank you to Kathy. She was a huge, huge help on this. I couldn't have done this on my own. So I appreciate all the work that you put in, and it definitely turned out pretty good, I think. I'm satisfied with it.

Good. Alright, does someone have a motion on this item?

If there are no further comments, I'll make a motion to move to adopt resolution number 12 dash 26.

Alright, Sarah 2nd now 2nd.

All in favor of the motion say aye aye and I also vote aye for approval. That's a good job. A lot of work. A lot of reading. Yeah.

Oh, those are so fun to read.

All right, let's go up to new business. Item 10A, review consideration and discussion for the appointment of one member to the Arts and Culture Advisory Board and matters related thereto for possible action. Since the advertisement for the one vacant position on the Arts and Culture Advisory Board Staff has received four letters of interest from Amanda Dick, Jocelyn Sutherland, Jay Holiday St. James, and Cynthia Delaney. The appointment will be for a four-year term expiring on June 30th, 2030.

Hale. Mr. Mayor, members of council, like you just said, we have four letters of interest for the one vacant position for your approval.

I'm not sure if we have any.

Amanda Dick is online.

Okay. And I did have a question, Annette. I just wanted to verify with you that there was no conflict of interest with Jay Holiday St. James, as I believe she was recently appointed to the Parks and Rec Department and their board. I just wanted to make sure that there's no conflict of interest to be serving on two separate city boards.

There is no conflict. I looked at both bylaws and there's no conflict with that.

Wonderful, thank you.

All right, Ms. Dick, if you're online, thank you for joining us. What do you got for us?

Hi, council. My name is Amanda Dick. I am at 880 South Center Street out in Reno. Thank you so much for letting me speak. I submitted my letter of interest for the advisory board, mostly because I wanted to develop my and use my public service experience to enrich Elko through artistic expression. And I have public service experience that I think would be helpful and mutually beneficial to the community as well as myself. I also have a degree in history, and history is just basically storytelling. So to be able to tell Elko's story through artistic projects for the people of today and the generations to come would be very impactful civic engagement for me. And my main objective was to just learn and grow and integrate into the community. I do need to disclose though that I am technically not an Elko County resident. I am wrapping things up here in Reno and I will be on the road shortly heading your way. And if you have any questions, I'm available and thank you so much for your time. I'm trying to keep it short and sweet for you.

All right, so let's see. You currently reside in Reno. I mean, do you have any intentions of relocating to this area?

I do. I do. I have a job and housing lined up right now.

And where?

The job is at the DLC gallery, which I thought was, you know, kind of led me to find this vacancy. And then I am staying with, my cousin temporarily in Elko.

All right, thank you. All right, do we have any other potential board members here? Okay, it doesn't sound like it. As Councilwoman Lustre pointed out, Jay Holiday St. James was appointed at the last meeting to the Parks and Rec, was that it? And then we have the others. I think it's difficult, in my opinion, to consider someone that isn't currently residing here in the community. And then I did notice that Sutherland's, I believe, is out in Spring Creek, which I know you don't have to be in the city of Elko. Is that correct?

That's correct. They just have to be in the county.

And I do know that I've known Cynthia Delaney for probably 50 years now. We're in the same graduating class together. And she previously was on the board for 12 years. She knows the job. She's someone that... takes it seriously and participates and shows up. She and her husband moved to Mesquite a couple years ago for a short stint and decided they missed Elko, so they're back. And if it were up to me, I would prefer to see Cynthia serve on that board again. So I don't know where everyone else is at on this.

I'd very much support that as well, Mayor. She's been around a long time and done a lot of things, and she gets it and understands it.

She was a reporter with paper. She was an adjunct professor at the college, and she did a lot with the boots. Yep, she knows what's going on. Do either of you have any comments?

When I just read the letters, the two that stuck out with me was Amanda and Cynthia. So I'm fine with the Cynthia. I just liked her because she's been on the board and she knows what it takes there.

Makes sense. I'm sorry. Did you say Amanda?

No, Cynthia. Oh, Cynthia.

Sorry. Okay. All right. Someone wanted to throw out a motion.

I just want to give full disclosure that I do serve on the arts and culture advisory board. And I also would be in favor of Cynthia. Just, uh, we have some big shoes to fill with that vacancy that we are trying to currently, um, get someone moved into. So with her previous experience, I think she would be a great fit.

Yeah.

Go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, okay. Mr. Mayor, I move to appoint Cynthia Delaney to the vacant position of the Arts and Culture Advisory Board.

Second. Okay. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. Amanda, if you're still there, thank you so much for your interest. Thank you for applying. And we hope that you land here in Elko. And when you do, there'll be other opportunities coming up in the near future.

Thank you so much.

Was there a second to the motion?

I second. There was? Okay.

All right, let's move on. New business item B, review consideration and possible approval of a request for waiver of sidewalk construction requirement at 919 Panorama Drive pursuant to Elko City Code section 8213 and matters related thereto for possible action. Elko City Code section 8213A requires curb gutter and sidewalk improvements upon properties experiencing certain development activities, including changes in occupancy or use or upon any lot or parcel of land with any building expansion or new construction involving the addition of gross floor area greater than 400 square feet or upon a lot or parcel of land when a change of use results in a measurable increase in pedestrian or vehicular traffic. Section 8213B authorizes the City Council to waive all or part of those requirements upon request of the City Development Department when supported by one or more of the following criteria. Presence or proposed installation of substantially equivalent or superior improvements to conditions on the lot or parcel affecting the practicability of installing the improvements and or other unique circumstances deemed appropriate grounds for waiving the requirements.

Dale. Mr. Mayor, members of council, this was submitted to us through the permitting process for a foundation permit. We have a homeowner here that's putting a new manufactured home on an existing lot. And that triggered the sidewalk requirement. So I'll go through my staff report here. The development department is requesting the city council to approve a waiver of the requirement to install sidewalk improvements associated with the subject development The property is located within an RMH zoning district and is subject to sidewalk requirements contained in chapter 3.5 of the local city code. The project would also ordinarily trigger the sidewalk installation requirements of local city code 821.3 following view of the existing site conditions that engineering information submitted by the project engineer staff has determined that installation of the sidewalk is impractical due to limitations associated with the existing right-of-way, existing roadway configuration and physical characteristics of the subject property. The project analysis, the subject property is located in the RMH zoning district, which normally would be required to stall curb gutter or sidewalk improvements pursuant to sections 3.5 and 8.21-3 of Alpha City Code. Based on the information submitted by the project engineer, Bob Thibault, PE, PLS, and staff review of the existing conditions. Staff finds installation of a code-compliant sidewalk is impractical due to physical limitations associated with the existing right-of-way and roadway configuration. The existing curb already encroaches approximately one-half foot onto private property, leaving insufficient public right-of-way to accommodate a compliant sidewalk without placement on private property or acquisition of additional frontage. Staff further finds that the subject parcel is already undersized and non-conforming at approximately 90 feet by 45 feet compared to a typical 100 foot by 60 foot standard lot. Any additional dedication would further reduce the usable area of the property and impose a disappropriate burden on the owner for conditions that were created by the current, not created by the current applicant. In addition, the adjoining property contains an existing fence along the common property line. As a result, any sidewalk installed along the subject frontage would terminate a recent parcel and not connect to an existing pedestrian network. Staff finds a resulting improvement would provide limited public benefit and would not fully achieve the intended purpose of sidewalk regulations. The circumstances affecting the property included the limited right-of-way existing roadway alignment, curb encroachment, undersized parcel dimensions, and lack of pedestrian connectivity constitute conditions affecting the practicality of installation pursuant to Elkville City Code 821.3 in unique circumstances pursuant to Elkville City Code Section 821.3 . Furthermore, staff has budgeted roadway design improvements within the corridor during the current fiscal year, including roadway realignment and associated infrastructure improvements. Granting the waiver would avoid construction of an isolated sidewalk segment that may require relocation or reconstruction as part of a comprehensive public project. Accordingly, staff finds causes exist to modify the RMH sidewalk requirements pursuant to Alpha City Code 357, and that approval of the with the intent of the city sidewalk regulations. So our staff findings, staff recommends approval based on the following findings, conditions affecting the subject property, and a public right-of-way make sidewalk installation impractical to Elko City Code Section 821.3 , including insufficient right-of-way width, existing roadway alignment, and curb encroachment on the private property. Unique circumstances exist pursuant to Elko City Code Section 821.3 , including the undersized non-conforming parcel, physical right-of-way constraints, and the fact the sidewalk construction would likely require placement of a public pedestrian facility on private property. The strict application of the sidewalk requirement would create maintenance ownership access and usability concerns while providing limited public benefit because of sidewalk segment and would terminate adjacent fence property and would not connect to a larger pedestrian circulation network. Just cause and circumstances warrants and modifications of the RMH sidewalk standards pursuant to Elko City Code 357. Approval of the waiver remains consistent with the intent of the city sidewalk regulations and will not preclude future sidewalk construction as part of a comprehensive public street improvement project. All right, that was a lot. That was a lot.

Anything more?

The recommendation staff recommends that city council approve the request for waiver of sidewalk improvements along the frontage of the subject property pursuant to helpful city code sections 821, 3B, 2 and 3, and find that just cause exists to modify the applicable RMH development standards pursuant to helpful city code section 357 based on site specific physical constraints associated with the existing right-of-way roadway alignment underside parcel dimensions, lack of pedestrian connectivity, and the findings contained in the staff report.

All right. Questions or concerns from the public on this item? All right. And unless there are no questions for Dale, I'm ready for a motion on this.

I'll make a motion to approve the waiver of the sidewalk installation requirement for the subject property pursuant to subsections 8-21-3B2 and 3 and 3-5-7, the local city code based upon the findings contained in the staff report.

All right. Is there a second? All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right. Brings us to new business item 10C, Review discussion and possible approval.

Mr. Mayor, the resolution needs to be read before our new business seat.

Oh, I thought that was the public hearing.

Nope.

Okay, nope. All right, let's do that. Let's go to item 11A, resolution and ordinance review consideration And possible approval of resolution number 1326, a resolution creating a commercial property assessed clean energy C-PACE program to provide the means of financing one or more energy efficiency improvement projects, renewable energy projects, water efficiency improvement projects, or resiliency projects for qualifying commercial or industrial real property and matters related thereto for possible action. On April 28th, 2026, the city council directed staff to develop a commercial property assessed clean energy program, C-PACE. This resolution establishes the C-PACE program for the city of Elko. Jan?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, city council. So April 28th was quite a while ago, but Brian McCarter was here with SRS to give a, presentation on the C-PACE program and how they work and how they're set up. And so this resolution establishes the program and And then later in the agenda, if the city council approves a resolution to establish a program, we also have another item where we establish a PSA with SRS. But are there any questions on the CPACE program? And Brian McCarter is online if there's technical questions.

No, I remember going through that. And what brought this about is we had some Now I understand two interested parties that requested this that are looking at developments. within Elko and I think anything that we can do to help development, let's get it done.

Yes. This would provide a secondary or even a third, whatever the developers request, but for financing and it's at a low interest rate and very low risk. I talked to Marissa a little bit about this today and just want to make sure that everybody is aware that this is a lien on the property and when the property owner sells the property it it follows the property it does not cease so but it is a recorded on it as a tax lien and so it should come up with any um search on like a title search okay all right good to know uh questions from the public on this item i just wanted to ask and make sure that this this is very similar to like a ucc lien So Brian McCarter is, yep. I sent him that email today and he has it. So, yep.

Yep. Thank you for the opportunity to address the question. Typically the UCC lien would be filed at the state level with the secretary of state's office as personal property. And so I'm not... hip to the background on what happened on that particular scenario, but it likely would not show in a title search, you know, a due diligence prior to a transaction for that reason. Conversely, the way that the CPACE assessment is set up is at the time of a CPACE financing, a assessment is recorded in the county land records, and that is recorded along with, if there's a senior lender or a mortgage, if it's an existing building that has a mortgage, the mortgage holder, recall from our discussion back in April, any mortgage holder has to sign a consent that allows the building owner to take advantage of this. So in effect, that's sort of a belt and suspenders protection, if you will, for these types of situations. And then that CPACE, assessment, the repayment obligation is assigned to the private capital provider that has funded the project. And of course, that private capital provider is also doing their own due diligence in addition to the existing mortgage holder or if there's a senior slash construction lender. So typically, you have multiple parties doing that type of due diligence. They're going to look in the public land records and the C-PACE assessment and those related documents would appear.

Is that the answer? Okay.

All right. Any other questions for Mr. McCarter? All right. Hearing none, is there a motion then?

Mr. Mayor, I move to approve resolution number 13-26, a resolution creating a commercial property assessed clean energy, C-PACE, program to provide the means of financing one or more energy efficient improvement projects, renewable energy projects, water efficiency improvement projects, and resiliency projects to qualify commercial or industrial real property.

All right, is there a second?

I'll second that motion.

Okay, all in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right, now let's go back to item 10C, review, discussion, and possible approval of a professional services agreement, PSA, between the City of Elko and Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, SRS Incorporated, to assist the City of Elko in development, implementation, and administration of a commercial property assessed clean energy, CPACE, and matters related thereto for possible action. Brian McCarter, CEO of Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, SRS, presented information on CPACE programs and the benefits on April 28th, 2026. Attached is a PSA including the scope of work exhibit A outlining the responsibilities of SRS to assist the city of Elko in developing, implementing and administering the City of Elko C-PACE program. Jan.

Thank you. So, as you know, Brian McCarter is online and the administrator of the C-PACE program, this program doesn't really cost the City of Elko anything. They will administer it and we will have very little administrative duties.

Any questions or concerns from the public on this item? All right, if there are no questions, I'm ready for a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve the Professional Services Agreement, PSA, between the City of Elko and Sustainable Real Estate Solutions, SRS, Incorporated, to assist the City of Elko in development, implementation, and administration of a commercial property assessed clean energy seed base.

All right, is there a second? Second. All right, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

And I also vote aye for approval. All right, let's go down to item 12A, ratification of the police chief issuing a 48-day temporary retail liquor license and issue a regular retail liquor license to David Bailey doing business as Himiko Sushi and Steakhouse located at 780 West Silver Street, number 108 in Elko and matters related thereto for possible action. Chief?

or no, I guess this would just be you in that actually it's the chief, but he approved it. So yeah.

Thank you mayor and council. So we had no issues. We reviewed the packet and application and we see no issue with approving it after just review.

Okay. And then the applicant understands the responsibilities associated with having a liquor license. Yes, sir. Okay, good.

And Mr. Bailey is here if you have any questions.

All right. Congratulations, Mr. Bailey, on your acquisition of the restaurant. And you've had a chance to visit with the department about the liquor license and, I guess, training as well.

Yeah, and I've been a partner at ECO for 10 years since it opened.

I just bought out one of the departments, so... Okay, all right.

Okay, very good. I'm glad to know you got that background on that. Okay, yeah.

I would say, Mayor, it seemed like they're up to speed. If they need anything too, we'll definitely keep in contact with them and refer to you and council for your decision. Right.

Any concerns from the public on this item or questions? All right. Is there a motion?

Yeah, Mayor, I move to ratify the police chief issued a 48-day temporary retail liquor license and issue a regular retail liquor license to David Bailey doing businesses in Meckle, Susie and State Council located at 780 West Silver Street, number 108.

I'll second that.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right. Sorry you had to wait so long in this heat.

You mean interesting meeting?

All right. Item B, ratification of the police chief issuing a 56-day temporary wholesale liquor license and issue a regular wholesale liquor license to Alan Sauvage, doing business as Vin Sauvage, LLC, located at 6900 Decatur Boulevard, Suite 130, Las Vegas, Nevada. and matters related thereto for possible action.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. No issues there. We still reviewed everything, the packet and made sure they're in compliance and understands expectations.

Okay. And wait, so is this a, this isn't a retailer, this is a wholesaler? Yes, wholesaler.

Okay.

All right. Yeah, that seems a lot more straightforward than... It is. Definitely clearer. ...than doing the retail. Okay.

And there is a representative online if you have any questions for Ben Savage.

I'm sure they're well-versed in Nevada liquor laws if they're in the wholesale business. Does anyone on the board have any questions for the applicant? No. Okay. Any questions from the audience on this item? All right. Hearing none, is there a motion?

Mr. Merrill moved to ratify the police chief issuing a 56-day temporary wholesale liquor license and issue a regular wholesale license to Allen Sauvage, DBA Vin Sauvage, LLC, located in 6900 South Decatur Boulevard, Suite 130, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89118. Second. All right. All in favor, say aye.

Aye.

And I also vote aye for approval. item 12c review consideration and possible action to initiate an amendment to the city zoning ordinance specifically sections 329 and this is uh cc and ct commercial districts section 3210 pcc commercial districts and 3211 ibp ic industrial districts bringing the city zoning ordinance into compliance with NRS 278.02071 and matters related thereto for possible action. NRS 278.02071 requires that all municipalities adopt an ordinance authorizing by right, excuse me, by right multifamily housing or mixed use development that includes residential use on property zone for commercial use. Kathy, this sounds pretty onerous.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, as you can probably tell from the last three paragraphs of my staff memo, I was in opposition to this bill. We did address this bill when it was at the state legislature, but It was passed. And what this is doing is this is currently our commercial zoning districts allow for residential uses from multifamily or townhome condo type multifamily. But it's done through a conditional use permit. And the conditional use permit is a public hearing at the planning commission. So We currently have multiple apartment complexes that are developed in the commercial zoning district. Our commercial districts are usually along traffic, arterial roadways, higher traffic, surrounded by other commercial uses. So the reason we were opposed to it is really because We look at that surrounding compatibility with surrounding uses. We look at traffic. We look at egress, ingress. The Planning Commission has all of these considerations. The Planning Commission would add conditions to certain apartment complexes in regards to development based on their exact site development and site conditions. I can refer you back to, I'm sure that Reese, you're very familiar with, I remember the rabbit brush apartments and the public hearing conversations we had at Planning Commission. It's a public process. It gives the public the right to comment in those public hearings. That's all being taken away with this bill. So it is now being moved. All of the multifamily residential apartment complexes or mixed use will be a principal permitted use. They will no longer be a conditional use. and they will never be a public hearing for any of that. They will be approved administratively through the building permit process. So at the time when we started working on this revision, we did look at our CC zoning district and our CT districts in 329. We currently do not have any CC zoned properties. We have created some other zoning districts, such as the commercial and residential district that goes up North 5th Street. So we went ahead and made the decision to just remove it at this time. It does overlap with our residential office district, our commercial transitional district, and our residential business district. So we don't have any properties zoned CC. So we did a elect to remove that entire section in this amendment. And then the other changes are moving mixed use from a conditional use that's permitted into a principal permitted use. So it's by right.

Yep. Yeah, I'm sorry.

I just wanted to clarify that this change is not so you cannot do only residential single family residential homes in a commercial district. I just want that kind of on the record.

It has to be multifamily, five units or more.

Thank you.

Yeah. I'm sure that, yeah, the next time either conversion or, you know, a greenfield built comes up, there'll probably be some squabbling and we won't even be able to hear the item.

Well, the one that comes to mind is, is, conversions of hotels into apartments. This will no longer be a public hearing. It will no longer be allowed for those surrounding neighborhoods to give their opinion, right? And that's part of the public process. I mean, rabbit brush, sure, that was some public comment, for sure, and a long process to go through for for Rabbit Brush Apartments, but those property owners had the right to make those comments because that was part of the public process of a public hearing. Ruby Vista Apartments off of Jennings, that is also a commercial zoned property. It's on a very high traffic intersection of Jennings and Ruby Vista. And when they created the apartments and did that conditional use permit, there were public comments made for surrounding neighbors. So this is taking all of that away. And I do know, talking to some of my colleagues down in the south in Vegas, Henderson, that are city planners down there, this was started so that a lot of the mixed use development in the cores of Henderson downtown could happen without any entitlement process or Las Vegas. So this includes mixed use as well as multifamily apartments.

Yeah, it's too bad they didn't do that. Like for counties in excess of 500,000. So it's a blanket deal that really does usurp the authority of the local jurisdictions and making decisions about their communities.

And a lot of our commercial properties, if you look at, let's say, Rabbit Brush or Ruby Vista, they are surrounded not on all four sides by commercial zoned properties. They are abutting some residential. And so when you're abutting residential, that's when we as staff believe that that public hearing process should actually happen, because will it impact those other surrounding neighbors having these apartments? Because you're putting high density living next to some single family residential. A lot of the commercial zoned properties that were in play with the writing of this bill in Henderson and Las Vegas are completely surrounded by commercial-built properties. So they were infill projects or tear down and rebuild, but completely surrounded by commercial. So they weren't getting the public hearing comments like they would be if they were surrounded by a residential subdivision.

One size fits all, right? That's it. All right. I'll call for a public comment on this.

has suspected none is there a motion on this thing that's getting rammed down our throats mr mayor i'll move to initiate an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance and direct staff to present it to the planning commission and a public hearing all right i think the motion needs to describe what the change to the zoning ordinance is changes specifically to sections 329 cc ct commercial districts 3210 pc c commercial districts and 3211 ibp ic industrial districts and bringing the city zoning ordinance into compliance with nrs 278.02071 all right uh we have a motion is there a second

Second. All in favor of the motion, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

I've got four weak ayes, and that means five weak ayes. Motion passes. All right. That's our regular business for now, I believe. I didn't miss anything. We have reports. I don't know if... If everybody had seen that the frontier communications is pulling the plug on all of their landlines, uh, here in the area, I notified, uh, Dan, um, and let him know, cuz the city still does have some copper based service and in a few of the locations and, uh, just remind everyone that, um, that we have the, uh, national night out coming out, coming up next Tuesday at this same time. And I don't really have a lot other than that. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson for joining us this evening from Casa Grande, Arizona. Is that right? All right, great, welcome. All right, anyone else? All right, I'll move right along to Jan.

Okay, I just have... quickly that we will have a citywide family picnic on August 8th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. And we'll have outdoor swimming at the rec center and a barbecue lunch at the horseshoe pits in the park. So I think you all got an email, but I just wanted to make sure you were.

Thank you. Dale.

Dale report. All right, Dave.

I want to make a really quick comment about city council meetings. And under the Constitution, people have a First Amendment right to speak in a public forum. But a city council meeting is what is called a limited public forum. And just so that it's clear for everybody who's watching, getting on the agenda, the public doesn't have an absolute right to speak about anything. there are limitations, guardrails, if you will, on what a person can discuss at a city council meeting. And the mayor has the ability to limit speech to a certain extent. And that would include limiting speech that is irrelevant or repetitive among other things. So I just wanted to make it clear that the city council meeting is for a purpose and it's just not a free for all.

Yeah, and it's so difficult when there's someone that's so self-aware.

And it was a general statement, but I think this was an opportunity to bring it up, that when a person gets up and presents something at a city council meeting, the mayor is perfectly within rights to keep that person on track and keep the subject matter relevant. Yeah.

All right, thank you. All right, Chief. All right, Jim. What's going on in building? Yeah. All right, Shane. Kathy. Chief. All right. How about Susie?

James?

Oh, certainly Paul's got something.

Quiet group. Our annual microslurry will start next Monday on the 3rd. Right. Finish up on the 13th if everything goes as planned.

Okay.

It'll be same contractor, same MO. They'll put out notifications and cones, letting everybody know to get their vehicles off the streets, which is one of our biggest problems. But yeah, it goes this year.

Are... Like what's your biggest concern, like the area that will be the biggest impact?

Most of the stuff is residential, kind of off the beaten path. Ruby View area up there, Skyline subdivision, and up Stitzel to the left, all of that older section. And that's the majority of it. College Avenue from 9th Street all the way to Idaho Street. We'll be done. That's probably one of our biggest main roads. And a section of Ruby Vista as well from the state offices to Golf Course Road.

Okay.

Great. All right. And what about Convention Way? When's that supposed to get started? In September, did you tell us?

Should be middle to the end of August. Okay.

Good.

Good.

Julie, welcome back. Congratulations. You look rested and ready. Hopefully you're sleeping well. No comment.

All right. Annette? No, no, nothing.

That was a great report you sent out on the lodging receipts. We went from like 385, 380.

We went from four, well, for the whole year, the fiscal year, Last year was 4.8 million, and we went up to a little over 6 million. So I really do believe that auditing probably helped.

Right. And as far as your auditing activity goes, are you, like, where are you at in that process?

We still have some stragglers, and it's just that they aren't sending us everything that we're requesting. I don't think they're too out of line. They're just maybe a few hundred dollars here and there. But we did have some, a lot of hotels did sell during all this time. So we can't go after the current owners of things that were due from previous owners. So we've lost a few people sold.

Been a great job staying on top of that though. That's really helped a lot.

It's definitely been a job.

I do have a quick question for you as well. In regards to short-term rentals, do you guys have any sort of compliance things that you guys can follow with that? Or like ordinances, how do you identify those and how do you notify the owners that they need to be paying room tax?

So we check out Airbnb and Vrbo and try to keep on top of that, but We're a little spread thin in our department, so it's kind of hard to keep on top of all those.

Is that something that if someone from the public knew about that they could turn into code compliance or just contact you directly?

They can contact me directly or code enforcement. Thank you.

Another question I just remembered. There was a story about the Uber drivers here in Elko. There's, I guess, been two signed up. They have to get a business license from the city, then a business license from the state. Did I remember that correct?

It's from the Department of Trans... Oh, it was a home occupation. Well, they get a home occupation if they live in the city, but they do need to have their transient or not. It's their transportation permit through Carson City that just checks their... They have to check their vehicle, make sure they have the proper insurance, and there's a background check done through that. And then when we get that, then we can issue them a city business license.

And so that's another license they have?

Yeah, it's an NTA. Yeah, the Nevada Transportation Authority, that's what it is.

And that would apply to anyone that drives an Uber within the state of Nevada?

Yes.

Or at least does it legally?

Vegas has their own license. They do something a little bit different, but they do have their own authority down there. But the NTA is Northern Nevada and we fall under that. And so in the same thing with taxis, they follow under that too. So I know we have a lot of complaints like we're not getting a taxi service. We haven't denied anybody a taxi service. We haven't denied anybody for signing up with Uber. We just.

Right. know that we like i said we do have two two that are actually um have licenses in the city if they pick up that's their business right so we don't have any authority of who they go and well you know i would think everyone would agree that you know more uber drivers would be better than than what we have now would would there be any kind of mechanism dave or jan to where we could waive the, if you're specifically going to do a rideshare service, we could waive the business license and the home occupation license.

You can do that.

Okay.

I mean, it would require a code change.

Okay.

But it's possible.

I mean, we can't deliberate on it now, I guess, or we'll get scolded by you. But I think that would be something worth having on a future agenda. And, you know, maybe we could do something to take care of the ones that have already been licensed in terms of helping out with their expenses. Because, I mean, that probably just means more red tape and more barriers to entry. And, yeah, I'd like to see a lot more.

We are the cheapest company. business license in the state. I've checked multiple cities throughout the state. And I mean, even smaller communities, initial business license are more than Elko.

How much is that amount?

Our license is $34.50 to start off. And then there's a $25 processing fee. And if they need a home mock and the Uber drivers, if they only live in the city limits, and I believe one of them actually doesn't live in the city limits. So they don't need a home occupation permit.

But if they need one, how much is that?

It's $50. Okay. All right.

All right. I think it'd be helpful for staff to just discuss that and bring something back if you feel like it has merit, if staff feels like it has merit. Yeah. Great.

I think even having that conversation in a public meeting would bring interest to it.

Yeah. Bring some attention. shed some light on the matter. All right, Nicole, do you have anything? All right, at this time, I'm gonna call for final public comment, and then we're gonna hold the board over to talk about the collective bargaining agreement. So final public comment. We got some candidates in here. Here's your chance. All right, thank you, it's been a long meeting anyway. All right, hearing none, I'll go ahead and... Oh, okay, all right. So, all right, go ahead and take a recess for a few minutes before we return to our closed session.

Yeah, you can actually go ahead and adjourn the meeting.

Okay, with that meeting adjourned, 6.30 p.m.