City Council - Regular Meeting

This conference will now be recorded.

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this capacity crowd for August 11th, 2026, our regular semi-monthly meeting. Let the record reflect that all members of the board are here. And at this time, please join me 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. All right, this is the time for comments from the public pertaining to items that are not on this evening's agenda. We cannot take action on anything that's brought up in public comment, but it can be agended for future. So if anyone would like to participate in public comment, come up to the podium and then please sign in in the back afterwards. And I'll limit that to five minutes. Come on up.

Hello, my name is Erica Wright. I'm here again just concerned about the thousands upon thousands of flower decorations collecting and storing toxic pond water at the cemeteries. So coming from 8th Street and Ash Street, and you turn left, you make a right onto Fairground Road. First you'll see Elko County Cemetery, segmented by a red sign, a plot, all of the same flower decorations. Then you pass on your left the Building of Memory, the Building of Eternity, tons and tons of these same flowers, all in votives, collecting stagnant water that when you were to lift the water will hit you in the face with a pungent, toxic water. On the right is the larger cemetery, which is behind the high school, and you can just see it's very apparent, these same flower decorations. I'm just very concerned because I don't know when or how so many Elko citizens purchased and decorated so many locations and sites within the same decorations. Oh, I don't know how, sorry, let me repeat myself. I don't know when or how so many Elko citizens purchased and decorated so many locations and sites with the same decorations, banning the building of memory, building of eternity, the funeral home, the county cemetery, and the larger cemetery. But I strongly recommend removal or banning such decorations as they can harm the grass and the graves and just the general air quality in the water.

Thank you. Thank you. If we could get your name and address for the record, please. My address?

My name is Kale Alt and I live at 813 Juniper Street. I am here with Vinny. We are here about our concern about the skate park here in Elko. We are concerned about how small it is and how much people go there and as well as the safety, like, disregards that are put in there. There are multiple, like, safety hazards there. There are bolts sticking out. There are slick ramps. And then whenever there's more than a certain amount of people, then it just becomes chaos and people start getting hurt. We are very concerned. And I've been to meetings before about youth in Elko having more things to do. But a lot of the times they get put off. And I was coming here with everybody to wonder if we could maybe get a difference in the skate park to get it redone or more safety measures or just like a bigger one. Because there's been multiple times where he's going and then there's a little kid and then they just hit it. because there's just not enough room for kids to go do their own things. And then there's the ramps in the winter or even in the summer, they just get way too slick. Everything falls out below you. You just end up getting hurt and way more could happen. And we're just here about trying to get better stuff for the youth and Elko.

All right. Well, thank you for bringing that to our attention. That's the first I've heard about that, so I will make a trip up there with our parks director to check it out.

All right.

Hi, everyone. I'm Lexi Reeve, and I live at 2206 Chisholm Drive. I'm in the HOA, Sundance HOA. So I'm here because there's been a lot of speculation, definitely online regarding data centers coming to Elko. And so I wanted to just address it here first and explain how it came to be. I saw a map posted on the mailbox of my HOA. And so I looked at it and that's half a mile from my doorstep is where I saw that map. So obviously, To say that I was unsettled is an understatement.

I was very immediately almost put into a panic, I would say.

So with having a background in just investigation, I went to work and I found that two out of three of our representatives at the Republican GOP voted in favor of bringing data centers. And then I read the GOP, the resolution from the Republican GOP. I got in touch with the Sundance HOA and they supplied a potential impact report written by Vern Hatch. I then went to the planning department to see if there's anything official. And I saw that the Miller Ranch is trying to switch from agricultural or to commercial industrial property. I saw the Elko Daily do a report regarding misinformation and that a data center was not being built from the wrong location, not the location that was provided on multiple posts. And then I heard that there was talks in between Wells, Elko and Carlin about data centers, but Wells has a moratorium, so I am curious about how that conversation is going. So I'm here to just ask simple questions. Are you guys actively working on preparing a location here in Elko for a data center proposal? Secondly, when are you guys going to open up this particular topic for public comment and just, you know, just feedback? And then I just want to ask, are you considering Miller Ranch parcel number 001-679-002 to be a possible location of a data center in the future? Now is the time for absolute transparency as there's a lot of mistrust around this particular topic in our country. So that's why I just wanted to come straight to you guys and ask. So that's basically it.

Yeah, we have no applications for a data center. And as far as the Miller Ranch goes, I've been told that the elevation is too low there in the valley. And so I know the county has been working on something. Is the city working on anything in terms of guidelines?

We have a working group put together with the county, city of Elko, city of Wells, and we're working together to write an ordinance to have regulations on data centers if one was ever to come to Elko. All right. And are those public meetings, Dale?

Excuse me? Is that working group, is that a public meeting that the public can participate in?

It is not at this time. We're just constructing the ordinance. Okay. And then the County would take their ordinance and then the city would have to write an ordinance as well. Same with city of Wells.

Right.

And that would come to a public meeting. Okay.

So after ordinances are already put in place, then you would open up for a public comment.

No, we would write the ordinance. Our city attorney would review it and then it would come to city council. then there would be public comment on that ordinance at that time during the public hearing.

Okay. Awesome. Thank you for the clarification. I would just like to address one thing as well. There's a lot of information on Facebook that is being spread throughout the community. So please use your fact finding sources, talk to the candidates up here that are running for reelection or a different seat to get the honest answer of how they feel, because what's being published is not completely true or transparent. So.

Would we be able to do that through your email? Absolutely.

And there's also responses published in the Elko Daily Free Press in regards to data centers and our responses to that as well. So if you guys would like more information, I personally am an open book. Please come talk to me if you would like my insight and how I feel about that situation. Fantastic. I would rather that be a private conversation versus do this in a city council setting. Thank you.

I don't think we can do it now because it's not an agenda item personally.

Right. It's not on the agenda.

Come on up to the mic, ma'am. Name and address for the record, please.

My name is Rhonda Hagee and my address is 7130 West Frontage Road. That's Elko 89801. It's in the county, but my neighbor, at the Miller Ranch and I have questions on the water application.

Yeah, and we'll be hearing that a little bit later in the meeting.

Is it possible to ask questions about that now or?

We'll wait till the hearing. After the, okay.

And what was the other thing that I came up for? I don't recall, but yes, I have asked a few of the people that are running our office through email and Facebook And so far I have not received any replies.

I also would just like to say that Sheldon Mudd, who's in charge of the Northern Nevada Redevelopment Agency, he has received some inquiries. So if you guys have questions about proposed locations for data centers, where they're going and what communities they would be going into, please feel free to reach out to him. He did make that announcement yesterday that he would be open for comments and would be willing to share that information as well. Sheldon Mudd. And he's over at Great Basin College.

Yeah, Northeastern Nevada Development Authority.

There was at the GOP event, the Republican Party put out a great document that you may want to read, which I fully support it, what was said there. In what you were asking about, two voted for it or not, in that meeting. Just so you public is aware, I did say no to data centers in our city.

All right. Um, last call for public comment.

Well, my name is Alexander Reeve 2206 Chisholm Drive. I also have a lot of concerns about this data center because what started as a rumor started to unveil a lot of truth behind it. Um, it's a little bit disconcerting to sit here and here. No, that's not in the plans. No, we haven't gotten a proposal and we haven't. It's been published and put out in newspapers on social media declaring it's in the wrong location. Like my wife said earlier, this location is .6 miles away from my front door, which is terrifying to say the least. We have neighbors, we're a good community back there. So really I'm just here trying to make sure that there's, I want transparency and I wanna talk to everybody that I can physically talk to about this because despite being like oh we don't know nothing about it it's strange that we've uncovered so much information about it on our own do you understand you get what i'm saying it's like we're out there doing the footwork looking reading combing through public records trying to figure it out and it seems like the story's being told to us by our citizens, by our neighbors, by our people that are doing the research instead of the people that are elected to be here telling us what's really going on in our community. And that is all that I really have to say. I'm begging you guys for transparency, full honesty, because of me as a taxpaying American citizen who lives 0.6 miles away from where this is supposedly going to go, but nobody knows anything about it except the people that are willing to do the research and comb through the pile of information themselves know about it, I feel like there's a big problem with that. And I would very much like to stand here in front of you guys and tell you guys to please, above everything, think about us. Think about the little guys who've worked their whole life to finally buy a piece of property and live part of the American dream to have it destroyed because somebody's doing something that's so undercover that you guys don't even know about it. And that is all I have to say. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

I would just like to reply to your comment as well, sir. I have personally done some research. I did call the building department to ask if there's any open permits or any proposed things. And I got that there, as the mayor said, that we currently have nothing. So if you have information that you would like to share, again, I would love to hear what you have to say in an email or outside of a city council meeting, please. Hello.

Hi, Nancy.

Hello.

Nancy Davila, 854 Juno Street here in Elko. We are here on behalf of Elko Girl Scouts. Myself, Jessica, Story, Ari, Jenna, Amy, Katie, Kylie. Sorry. Thank you. We want to be here. We didn't have the Girl Scouts at the last meeting because we weren't sure how things were going to go. But now that you have approved for us to keep us using the Girl Scout House, we wanted to come show our appreciation in person. And we do have a sign with the girls holding with all the Girl Scout members and Girl Scout adults. So we're just here to say thank you.

That's great. Thanks for bringing the group in.

Does anyone want to say anything?

just thank you shy group you'll have another chance later thank you can we like miss you guys the sign it's for you guys oh great okay perfect yeah we'll find somewhere to put that up here in city hall yeah and then that got a picture okay well here you go thank you so much thank you Thank you very much.

Thank you.

All right. Last call for public comment.

Claire, did you have something you wanted to mention?

I'll put you on the spot.

Yeah. Quite a while ago, the city sent out some notices on your water and sewer lines that run in your house from the street. And that is basically your responsibility. And I found out the hard way. They put a meter in my house and they found a leak. and the tune of about $11,000 to repair. So if you haven't got that insurance, either through your insurance carrier, your homeowner's policy, or through what the city was sending out, the private company that was going to insure it, you might want to do that. The infrastructure in the city of Elko, some of it's kind of old, and it's going to fail at some time. They're going to tear up your driveway or your yard and everything to fix it, so it's worth it if you don't have that insurance. It's relatively cheap.

think it's 12 13 on something like that it might be a good idea to look at it so right thanks claire anyone else for public comment last call all right seeing none we'll go ahead and move on to our consent agenda we have three items on there and is there any public comment pertaining to any of these three items All right, seeing none, if no one on the board has any questions, I'm ready for a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I'll move to approve the consent agenda as written.

Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right, we've got a special presentation here, a reading of a proclamation by the mayor in recognition of Jessica Rackley, and her 30 years, it says, we'll round up on that, of service to the Girl Scouts and matters related thereto. Informational only, non-action item. And Jessica, come on up. Jessica, why don't you tell us a little bit about your experience in the Girl Scouts here in Elko and some of the activities that you've been involved in over the years. And I'm sure you've touched a lot of lives during that time and probably kind of a really bittersweet time for you.

I began my adult Girl Scouting career actually 25 years ago, not 30. when my middle child came home from kindergarten saying, I heard about this really great new organization for girls. I want to join, I want to join, I want to join. And I asked her what it was. She said Girl Scouts. And so I went to the parent meeting and they said, we need leaders. And I signed up. And I have been doing it ever since. My greatest joys in Girl Scouting was when... It would have been, I believe, 2008 or 2009, I took 12 girls to California. Six of those girls had never been to the ocean before. Three of those girls, their parents had never been to the ocean before. And I got to witness them going to the ocean for the very first time. And there's at least one of those girls who still has never gone other than that one time. I have been able to watch my Girl Scouts grow up. Some of them have daughters and Girl Scouts now, and I actually have here right now one of my former Girl Scouts who is now a Girl Scout leader of her own. We've participated in the Nevada Day Parade. We are the only organization to participate every single year in the Elko Nevada Day Parade. The high school band has missed it one year. while they did it in Carson City instead of here. So we are the only organization to have done it every single year and they know they have to keep it up after I'm done. I was here in 2014 when you guys conveyed the Girl Scout house to us and then I've been here at all the meetings where we've discussed the Girl Scout House since then, and I helped get it back, or sharing it with the city now. I don't know. This summer, I actually, with my final Girl Scouts, went on a 13-state road trip over the course of nine and a half days, 3,848 miles.

It only seemed like 6,000, right?

Actually, it only seemed like 100 miles. It went by so quick. It was awesome. And Girl Scouting has allowed me to do that and give girls new experiences, watch them grow, teach them things, and not just arts and crafts. traveling, they learn budgeting. I've taught them how to take sinks apart and put them back together, change tires. Make sure the emergency brake is on when you change your tires, please. So it's always an experience and so many good experiences. Great.

Jessica, I'm going to go ahead and read your proclamation, then I'll If anyone would like to say anything on your behalf, they can feel welcome to come up and make some comments. And I think it's particularly important for us as the city to recognize people that make a big difference in our community, that volunteer their time, and especially those that have such positive impact on the youth. So with that, this is a proclamation from the city of Elko, Nevada, Whereas for 25 years, Jessica Rackley has devoted her time and talents to the girls and families of Elko through the Girl Scouts. And whereas her commitment to building courage, competence, and character has inspired generations of young women to become leaders and engaged members of their communities. And whereas through her mentorship, girls have learned valuable life skills, built lasting friendships, and discovered their full potential. And whereas her dedication has strengthened the Girl Scout program in Elko and enrich countless young lives. And whereas the city of Elko values volunteers like Jessica Rackley, whose passion helps build a stronger, more connected community. Now, therefore I Reese Keener, the mayor of the city of Elko, Nevada, on behalf of the Elko City Council, and the citizens of Elko do hereby honor Jessica Rackley for her remarkable 25 years of service to the Girl Scouts and the youth of our community. We extend our deepest appreciation for her leadership and the countless hours of volunteer service. Her legacy will continue to inspire future generations for years to come. So thank you so much for that, Jessica. Let's hear it for Jessica. And if anyone would like to come up and say a few words on our behalf, come on up.

Jessica, the leaders and I got you a plaque as well to recognize your last 25 years. And it's just an honor to say a few words about you as we recognize your 25 years. You have given your time, energy, and heart to helping girls in our community learn, grow, lead, and believe in themselves. Your dedication has made a lasting difference in the lives of so many girls and families throughout Elko. Jessica, you're retiring here soon at the end of August as our Elko Girl Scouts Service Unit Leader. And while we're so happy for you as you begin your new chapter, you will truly be missed. Thank you for everything you have done for Girl Scouts and for the girls of Elko.

All right, anyone else? Okay.

Mayor, I'd just like to say thank you, Jessica, for all you've done. I've seen a lot in the back room of the things you've done and over the years, and thank you for help create young women leaders who will be leaders of our community in some of these. So thank you so much.

All right, I apologize for the heat here from our 55-year-old HVACs. HVAC system, which can't seem to keep up. And that's one of the reasons why we'll be talking about a new city hall this evening as well. All right. We do have a few new employee introductions and two new officers. So come on up, Chief. Are you going to be providing the introductions?

Pain just started.

This is his first day, so he's already. He's like, hey, don't turn back now. We got you now. He's locked in. First day out under the belt. But we got him and then Hawkins. They're stellar. We just had our swearing in ceremony last week and just what they're bringing to the table. A lot of experience within the community. And it's good to keep that here and just what they're bringing. So I'll start off with pain. If you want to give a quick intro.

Good afternoon. Nicholas Payne, officer with the Elko Police Department. I just recently left the Elko County Sheriff's Office after 11 years. Brief history behind me, I'm retired Navy Seabee. Been here for just over 13 years total in the Elko area. I decided to come over to the other side to continue serving.

Great.

So for the second time, welcome. If you're wondering, I got to swear both of these gentlemen in. on Wednesday. All right, Officer Hawkins, all yours.

Officer Mark Hawkins. I've lived in the Elk area for 31 years, worked for the Sheriff's Office 19. Game and control board for a year, and that was getting too boring. So I thought I'd come back to patrol and put back on a uniform. So here I am. And It's an honor to serve the citizens of Elko. Thank you. Welcome.

All right. Let's move on to personnel item 7B, review discussion and possible approval to update position titles within the City of Elko Police Department by changing the title of police captain to deputy police chief and police lieutenant to police captain and matters related thereto for possible action. The title updates are intended to better align the department's command structure with national best practices in law enforcement, organizational hierarchy, and nomenclature. There is no fiscal impact associated with these changes. The proposed title modifications will not affect current job descriptions, assigned duties, or pay rates for the positions. Adjusting these titles will improve consistency with industry standards and enhance clarity in organizational roles, both internally and externally. Chief?

Mr. Mayor and Council, good evening, everybody.

So this is a good alignment. So with the sheriffs and chiefs within the state of Nevada, which has been around for decades, also chiefs of police nationally and internationally, Just that alignment. So our lieutenants currently right now, we have two, and they perform the same roles as a captain. And having that aligned, so for example, tomorrow while I'm out, we're gonna have one of the lieutenants, if this is approved, will be a captain. He'll be covering as the acting chief. Their responsibilities are command and control, span of control. They're running all the department operations. They regulate the team operations, community engagement, any outreach, any operations we have, our partnerships with. our partnering agencies with the Sheriff's Office, Carlin, West Wendover, State Police, all of our county and city fire entities. It really does align with those groups there, and this will bring our structure intact. We currently have one captain position and two lieutenant positions. That deputy chief will be my number two as well, but they'll be more formally aligned with what the industry standards are. All right.

Thank you, Chief. Yeah, it makes sense to me. It sounds like a good change. And if any of the public has questions, the job descriptions are posted online, and the only red line on there is the title, just the title change. Yes. All right. Any questions from the board?

That's a good idea.

I'm the ex-police chief. I should say retired police chief.

called a lot of things usually and um any public comment on this item all right hearing none i'm ready for a motion and mr mayor i move to approve to update position titles from the city of elko police department by changing the title police captain to deputy police chief and police lieutenant to police captain second all in favor of the motion say aye aye and i also vote aye

All right, personnel item 7C, review consideration and possible approval of designating patrol officer one and patrol officer two as critical need pursuant to NRS 286.523 effective August 12th, 2026 through August 11th, 2028 and matters related thereto for possible action. NRS 286.523 allows for the designation of difficult to fill positions as critical need, allowing for the re-employment of certain retired employees to fill positions for which critical labor shortage exists. Chief Ward requests the critical need designation for Patrol Officer 1 and Patrol Officer 2.

Chief Ward?

You're probably sick of me being up here, but I'll introduce myself again. No, I'm joking. But this is important. We want to fill every spot we have here. One less officer is one less person out here that's patrolling the community. We talked about neighborhood engagement, business connections, neighborhood watches. Well, this helps put that in place. So with one opening as one too many, we want to fill these spots. Although we're doing well with retention and recruitment, we want to fill these spots so we can be more effective. It's always progressing. So looking at the percentages over the last four or five years, even with 50 applications, I'll give you that example just from the last year I've been here. From 50 applications, you may get two qualified applicants out of that that make it through backgrounds. Couple in if you go through an academy. We have ladder officers here, but if you go through an academy, that's six months in the academy, then six months of field training, then getting acclimated. That's a whole year to year and a half where Those are still unknowns. You have to figure out if this works for you in this line of work. And most of the time, the Academy does a very good job of getting you aligned and ready for what you're going to encounter out here. But until you're really out in the field and start interacting with the public, you may not know this is for you until you're out there. So we're trying to establish this and put this in place with your recommendation and approval. to move forward so we can fill these spots. We do have, with state police right now, they're trying to fill their spots. And like I told you before, they're around 52%. And they've been doing this critical fill for a while now. I've been a part of this process in other agencies, and it does help. Bringing in experience with you have 20 years, for example, that's probably the average for our retirees, 20 to 25. They're bringing years of experience, especially if we can hire and retain them from within their neighborhoods here. they're going to have that engagement. They have the tenure and they're going to continue to progress and move forward. So we want to fill every spot and we're close. Right.

You know, and I can remember over the last several years, there's not a 100% graduation rate from post. We will send cadets to post and some of them will bail out or not make it through the training. Others will make it through the training, but they fail an FTO field training officer position. And so it's great. We know what we're getting. It's someone that can be deployed almost instantly and without a lot of the overhead. So I think it's a great thing. We've been watching with so many vacancies that have existed. We've had a lot of retirements, which has been particularly crippling. It seems like we'll get a new hire in and someone will retire then. Last week was the exception. We had five new hires that were sworn in, two of which we met this evening. And so we've been able to make a little bit of progress, but I think this will just be another tool in the belt to help fill up the empty slots.

I agree, Mayor. And then even with Academy, for example, they started out with 45 and they ended up with 32. Yeah. And those numbers fluctuate. Typically, you'll lose anywhere from 25 to 50%. Right.

Yeah. And your first trip to post as chief, you were there for a graduation and there were two Elko PD graduates and the one walked up to you right across, right after he walked across to get his post certificate.

On about 10 minutes in a badge on and take it back off.

Yeah.

But I'd rather you figure it out there than you're out here and it's not for you. We want to have the best qualified. We want you to be committed to this position. So I applaud him for doing that because I'd rather not wait to get here and then we run into issues out in the field. But definitely was the first time. Never seen that happen before. Don't want it to happen again. No.

Shock value.

Yeah.

Any questions for the chief?

No, I think this is a good opportunity. I can't remember the last time the PD was fully staffed. you know, if we can get some of these people come back and work some years and get us fully staffed, especially with the years experience, I think it's a win-win for everybody.

I just like the program because of the readiness. I mean, they're, they're ready to go basically. That's what I truly like about it.

Right. And then just for example, with Hawkins and Payne, and then we have our other, uh, officer that were just sworn in as well. They're bringing an experience. They're already, uh, re-acclimating or getting acclimated to this environment, even our few that were out of the area, they're just catching on because they have that experience. So it takes a lot of strain off of our FTOs, our field training officers and the supervisors. It just helps that process. So they're more engaged out here and that helps with how they're interacting with the public, which is most important. We want quality people.

Yeah, no, amen to that. All right. Any public comment on this item? All right. If there are no questions, I'm ready for a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I'll move to approve the designating Patrol Officer 1 and Patrol Officer 2, excuse me, as critical needs pursuant to NRS 286.523, effective August 12th, 2026 through August 11th, 2028. Second. All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye.

And I also vote aye for approval. Thank you, Chief. All right. Item D, review consideration and possible approval of an agreement between the City of Elko and the Elko Police Officers Protective Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers Sergeant Unit, July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2029, and matters related thereto for possible action. city of elko has concluded negotiations for fiscal year 2026 through 2029 a redlined copy of the proposed collective bargaining agreement has been included in the agenda packet for review note this portion of the meeting may be closed pursuant to NRS 288.220. Therefore the city council may move to adjourn the meeting prior to consideration of this item. Susie, do you want to hear this now or go for it?

Completely up to you.

Let's go ahead.

Okay. Yeah. So I'm here to answer any questions you might have. You see the red line. We're very happy to have a three-year agreement. It was a great process. I think that it went very well with the sergeant's unit and Yeah, and Chief is available to answer any questions if you have any questions.

And I know that as with all of these collective bargaining agreements, you invested an enormous amount of time. And so thank you for that and the rest of your team, Julie and Jan. And Claire was in there as well.

Yeah, it takes a lot of time from both sides. We have a great team to work through it. So yeah, appreciate it.

Great. All right. Any questions? All right. Any comments or concerns from the public on this item? All right. I'm ready for a motion then.

Mr. Mayor, I move to approval of the agreement between the City of Elko and Elko Police Officers Protective Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers Sergeants Unit, July 1st, 2006 through June 30th, 2029. I'll second that.

all right all in favor say hi hi hi and i also vote aye for approval all right thanks susie um item e will uh take in closed hearing after the conclusion of the meeting dave do i need to read that into the record um you're just moving it i i think that yeah i think you can just move the item to later on in the meeting okay okay Oh, it is ongoing negotiations between the City of Elko and the Elko Police Officers Association. No, that's okay. All right, appropriations item 8A, review and possible approval and or ratification of warrants, hand-cut checks, and matters related thereto for possible action. And we have those broken up into several categories here. And for the benefit of the public, all of our payables are posted online where everyone can see them. Does anyone have any questions about any of the warrants?

Mr. Mayor, I actually have a couple of questions. There were a significant number of refunds issued to Arnold by construction, and I was just wondering if we could get an explanation for the public for that.

Thank you. I asked that same question and Jan answered me. I can either answer it or you can't deal.

It was a permit that was issued and then they backed out on that home and then reissued another plan set for that same lot and then went through the entire permitting process again.

I have a couple more questions, so I'll keep the mic. The other one, there was a change order from Stantec for the sports complex. So I don't know if you or Mr. Wiley wants to answer that.

Yeah, so that's about the wetlands down by the sports complex. And part of... keeping those wetlands in compliance with the, I'm drawing a blank, but anyway, Army Corps of Engineers. Thank you, Reese. And so we have contracted with Stantec to help us through that wetlands process down there.

And then final question is there was a $636 reimbursement to Christie Brady for water, I believe. So I was just looking, most of the water refunds are around $100.

So I was just looking for the- Yeah, that is, I would think that's probably a sale of a residence, but I'm not sure. So we can look that up. Thank you. Christy Brady, you said?

It was a metered service. Yeah, I had questions on those same things, Marissa. All right, so we have our regular warrants for fiscal year 2026. in the amount of $318,083.27. So moved. Is there a second? I'll second that. All in favor of the motion, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. Fiscal year 2027 regular warrants in the amount of $545,456.91. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

And I also vote aye. Handcut checks for both fiscal year 2026 and 2027 in the amount of $234,724.41. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. And utility refunds. in the amount of $1,109.30. So moved. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. And I also vote aye. All right. All right, appropriations item 8B. review consideration and possible approval of a professional services agreement with Lombard Conrad Architects for architectural and engineering services for the new Elko City Hall facility and matters related thereto for possible action. LCA performed initial design services for the new Elko City Hall facility and presented to the City Council in fiscal year 2026. During the budget process, the City Council approved for the new city hall to be a priority for the fiscal year 2027 budget this psa between the city of elko and lca includes phase two of the design services which include final design construction documents bidding and negotiations construction management site plaza design

furniture design and art design for a total of one million sixty two thousand seven hundred and eleven dollars dan thank you mr mayor city council um so i believe that ben bernier with lca is online as well if you have questions during the budget process the city council gave us direction that the new city hall was a priority for the City Council and so this is the next step and we reached out to and actually it was Dale reached out to LCA and we've been talking to them about a PSA and and this this is what it is before you so if you have any questions we can do our best to answer that and like I said Ben is online as well.

All right Ben are you there?

Yep, there he is.

All right. Good evening. I think some of the board members will have some questions. Is there anything you would like to start out with introductory-wise?

He's muted.

We can't hear you. You're muted.

No, he's not muted, actually. Ben, we can't hear you. He's unmuted.

How about now? Yes. The screen was unmuted, but my computer is muted, so I apologize. No, I don't think I have anything else to add. I guess just thanks for having us back. We're looking forward to continuing on with the project.

Great. You know, with some of the public projects that we've seen here in Elko in the last few years, the designer will have a cost in mind that's provided by the client. And frequently we've seen the actual bidding then exceed the cost of the project to the point to where it's not affordable. And I'm wondering if, you know, you've been given a budget on this for the construction cost. If what you design comes in out of reach, where does that leave us? Do we have to pay for additional design fees?

Not necessarily. A couple of parts to that question. I guess throughout the process, there would be check-ins. We anticipated this being a CMAR project, construction manager at risk. Once we get them on board, they'll be able to do cost estimates, you know, almost immediately based on the drawings we already have. And then through each step of the design process, they'll keep that cost estimate going. So we'll know, you know, exactly as we're going along, if something does run over or something doesn't end up being too expensive, we can look at different materials. We can look at reducing square footage, whatever the case may be to get that back within budget. We'll know that before construction documents are done. That's part of the pretty typical process that that happens. In that case, no, there wouldn't be any additional design fees, anything like that. If the city does decide to go a low bid project, internally at Lombard Conrad, we do have one of the partners that's a certified cost estimator. He would be doing those check-ins. you know, throughout each step of the process. So we would be pretty confident that we're on target to meet the budget.

Okay. Thank you. And then on the package three, the furniture design services, what exactly is the scope of that? And Um, I know from buying furniture in the past for my business, um, the, uh, furniture provider will do the design and there there's no charge for that. It's included in the cost of the furniture. Um, what's the benefit of having LCA do that?

Uh, one of the things, um, Dale, I believe we had talked about, I can't remember the, the, What's the name of it? There is a government contract entity that the city can procure furniture from. As far as I know, they do not offer design services. That's just a city purchase and you buy what you order type thing. Given that, we would provide the layout and the pieces and parts that are needed as well as coordinating with staff and with finishes and so on. And also, I guess, to address if there is a furniture vendor procured that will lay that out. From what we've seen is they may not have an upfront design fee, but that's built into their costs of the furniture in the back end. So that furniture ends up being a little more expensive than going through a contract type thing.

Okay. And then can you describe the art design services

um what exactly is that for the benefit of the public and the board sure it's uh working with the city on i guess what they want some of the artwork to look like to to theme you know to be a theme uh locations uh presentation you know everywhere from what does it want to be a picture a painting uh you know framed on frames stuff like that uh we would also work with uh whoever So it doesn't procure the pictures or artwork necessarily, but we would work with a photographer if the city has one or whatever the city procures to choose the right shots for locations and lighting and so on. And also with the furniture one, as well as the art one, we also can oversee the installation of everything and perform a punch list. and make sure everything's in the right places and all the pieces and parts get delivered and everything looks the way it should.

Thank you. I'll open it up to other board members if they have questions. You asked all the ones I had. Oh, going back to that package three, will there be, I presume there will be built-in cabinets. Would that be,

part of the package number one for built-in cabinets yeah anything built in you know kitchen counter break room counter um stuff like that uh is included in in the standard building package and furniture is typically just anything loose office furniture chairs um that sort of thing okay thank you

So I have a couple of questions on your $880,061. Does this, are you going to provide us a breakdown of how those funds are all allocated? You know, whether it's design development, construction documents, your bidding, will that all be broken down? You just have it listed in our PSA as a lump sum.

We could, yeah. Currently we do have it just listed as a lump sum, but we could break it down.

We actually have that. broke down in the proposal from Lombard.

Thank you, Del.

Perfect. Then you also had mentioned, I think that there's a little, just a vocabulary change between the first and the second agreement. One says construction management, and I believe that the second one says architectural administration. Can you tell us which service you will be providing for those? Because those are different.

I would have to go back and look and see what you're referring to for sure.

The first proposal says construction management is part of your services and the second one says architectural administration.

The architectural administration is on the PSA portion or is it in RP?

The PSA.

Trying to scroll down and find the agreement. Construction administration is the... once construction documents are done the building permits issued everything's bid everything's ready to go we answer any questions from the contractor verify pay apps we come do site visits um make sure the building's being built for the drawings uh every you know everything from answering questions of the contractor uh all the stuff that goes with getting a building built I will have to refer back to the agreement and find out what architectural administration is. I guess, to me, that can mean a couple things, either just administering the project, managing the project in our office, or that could be along the same lines as the construction administration.

You also referenced site visits and in the PSA, I believe that you have 12. How are you guys going to address if you need additional site visits and how is that going to affect the cost when you have increased costs because it's also in here for reimbursables for your travel since you guys are not local? and you have the 12 built in. So on each of those 12 visits, are you going to be submitting travel reimbursements for each visit? And then again, if it exceeds that 12 visits, how are you guys gonna address that when you're coming to the city and requesting a change of cost?

We tried to base our site visits on anticipated construction. There will be a few site visits during design just to meet with staff and go over everything. But that's kind of our anticipated construction timeline of being on site at least once a month. As far as if we need site visits, I guess that would all be cleared through the city and the city contact if that is the case. As of now, everything is built in, all the costs are built in, so you wouldn't be receiving travel costs every month.

Except for your travel reimbursements, correct?

I believe that's built in to the PSA.

because I believe after your first visit, we had agreed to the 162, but then we also received your travel reimbursements after the fact.

Yep, and that was a little bit of, I think, different wording in the PSA, and I think that got corrected in the second one.

Okay.

I had one more question, and I'm trying to find it.

I'm also wrong about that, Jen, and we are submitting receipts and everything, but I think that all got wrapped in for the second one just to alleviate excess paperwork and

And then just, we discussed change orders here just a minute ago. So how are you guys going to address change orders? Are you going to come to the city and ask for approval prior to those change orders being approved on your end? Or are you guys just going to do it and then come back to city council and say, oh, we had a change order. Now we expect you to pay the cost difference.

I think Dale can answer that.

In our contracts, they have to work with us first and we have to approve them before it comes back.

have to be approved up front okay and that's another uh benefit of the cmar process is is they there really should be no change orders um what they give you as their gross maximum maximum price will be what the price you pay uh the exception to that is if there's unknown underground anything that you know nobody could know about um or owner requested things once they see the building going up that, hey, can we move this here? Can we move that there? That type stuff.

Anyone else?

You got my biggest concern questions. I mean, the answer that he gave about the budgeting because of me, the whole thing is I just don't want to see the design come into where we're scrambling to try to value engineer this at the last second. I just want to make sure. within our budget. That's the biggest concern I had.

That process is not fun. We don't want to do that either.

Jan and Dale, I'll turn it back over to you. You guys have had the most interaction with the architect, with LCA, and just wanted to know if you had any concerns about any of the packages that are listed here on the agenda?

Not per se concerns. Just to touch on the furniture one, we try to purchase those through the Omni contract or source will. And then the design portion of that would be to fit each grouping of office furniture for the exact office, conference room, things like that. So that would be that design component instead of staff going in and saying, we're going to order a conference table that's too large for the room. They make sure everything fits in the room. They make sure everything gets put in the room and it's ready on day one when the building opens.

And do we have budget for office furniture for the new building?

That's included.

OK. As far as the art goes, have we already established a budget for that new building yet?

I think, again, it's included in that whole estimated price that they gave us when they presented back in February of 26, I believe. And I think that would be part of furniture and fixtures, which... I can't remember exactly how much that was, Ben, but it was around a million.

Yeah, we had a lot in the budget for that.

Yeah, that sounds right. I can't remember what I said off the top of my head either, but that sounds pretty close.

So I have a couple of questions, and I don't know, Dale, Jan, or Ben, who this kind of would refer to you. But is there a way to break some of these packages off? Like if we approve package one and two, but removed three and four until the official design was completed, then we have an actual square footage, know how many rooms need to be done, and if that service needs to be completed after. I just don't want to agree to a service and pay for a service ahead of time if the design is going to change. And then that number is also going to change. I mean, so we could maybe save some upfront cost. And then in regards to the art services, I think that there's an opportunity that we have an amazing arts community that I think there are a lot of local individuals that would love an opportunity to maybe provide, if you gave them a theme, provide the art possibly for free with a little name writer in here.

Please know this is not the art itself. It's the art design and where are you going to put it in the building and stuff. I just want to make sure you know that.

Perfect. I just break the packages off and say, Hey, you know, we're, we're good to, we all know we need a new city hall. We would like to proceed forward with the design. Uh, but can we, you know, take a pause after the design portion is completed and then move forward on if we decided we needed furniture design or one of the vendors that, that the staff is going to use is going to provide that service and we can save some costs there.

Um, yes, that's kind of exactly why we broke it out into packages. Um, you know, for example, even the plaza, the site plaza, where the building you're in it now is, um, at the time we met originally that that was still undetermined, that building might end up staying there so that that could end up getting broken off. Um, it would just be an amendment to the contract or, you know, either for, or against either removing it or adding it after the fact either way. Okay.

Well, the costs of those packages change if we defer that Ben.

I don't think so. I'm going to say no. I guess it depends on how long they're deferred to. If they're deferred for two years, the engineers might want a little more money just for hourly rates increases and stuff like that. But it wouldn't be significant.

Thank you. We've got you on record as saying the cost will not increase. So Jan or Dale, like on package number two for the site plaza design services, did you guys discuss at all the possibility of breaking that one out and having a local engineer or designer perform that service?

We did not because we went out for RFQ for this project and the city council chose LCA. But if you want to go out for another RFQ for that portion, I guess we could do that.

Okay. All right. I don't know what others would think about that. on the board speak up if you feel strongly?

I definitely think that I would be in favor of at least putting out an RFQ for that process. I think, again, that there's a lot of local talent and that they could come together and maybe this is a city hall and I do want to acknowledge that LCA is a architectural firm that is not even in the state of Nevada. So to give the opportunity to some local individuals to be a part of the process, I think would be very impactful to the community. Okay.

So we will look at the RFQ that we did and the exact scope. And if this was part of the scope, then it's going to have to stay. And all of you were part of that process. And, um, And so we'll look at that. And if that was not part of the scope, and I don't know if I can't say off my head, because this has been two years ago or a year and a half ago, but we'll get with Ben and Dale and I, and we'll look at that. And if so, we'll bring it back.

Okay. So we could approve certain packages then and hold one out for future approval then at the next board meeting.

I was just going to say, typically, there's a civil engineer typically on the design team that's part of their package for when you start a design process like this. So we need to get with Ben and see who is all part of their team when we did that RFP.

OK. Oh, sorry, Dale, interrupting you. But yeah, there is Sanbel, I believe, who did the survey of the site the building's going on.

And I'm thinking that maybe the agreement itself might need to be modified to reflect that.

The PSA.

The PSA itself.

Can they move to strike the certain packages that they want taken out?

Yeah.

They are stated in there specifically as packages.

So maybe if we can take a quick look at the PSA. So, yeah, I think so. If the council is going to approve the PSA, it should approve the PSA with a revision to Article 2, Section 2.3 to reflect the packages that are being removed because they're in the document itself, not just on the scope of work.

All right. Everyone got that? All right. I'll let the board members think about other questions they might have. Meanwhile, is there any public comment on this item? All right. Last call for questions or concerns or possible motions.

Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the professional services agreement with Lombard Conrad Architects LCA for architectural and engineering services for the new Elko City Hall facility with the revisions to article two, section 2.3, removing packages two, three, and four to be revisited at a later date and a RFQ to go out for local design professionals for this site plaza design services.

Yeah, I don't know that we can do that.

It's not agenda for that.

I think we can take out packages two, three, and four from the PSA, but we'll have to go back with a new agenda item for the RFQ.

Perfect. And I don't think you can take out two if the design team already has a local civil engineer on the project.

So just three and four?

Yeah, you want to try for just three and four.

So can I just amend my motion to say just remove package three and four?

Yes. Okay. Uh, we have a motion, uh, removing a revised motion, removing packages three and four, which are the furniture design services and the art design services.

Uh, is there a second to the motion and maybe just for the record say, but otherwise approve the agreement as written.

Okay. So, but otherwise approve the agreement as written.

Right, do I hear a second? White group, I will go ahead and second the motion. All right, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Are there any nays? Nay. Nay. All right, motion fails. Okay, so from one of the nays, what's the hang-up on it?

Well, I've seen the work that Lombard and Conrad have done in this community for years and years, and I have a lot of faith in it. And the more we prolong this thing and we don't get it done, where we get to where we're doing construction, construction costs go up. I think daily. And if we postpone any of this stuff, it's just gonna cause us more in the long run. And I like to go forward and get it built. Should have been built years ago. City Hall is a mess. The temporary solution we put in the back wore out 20 years ago, too. We've got to do something and I just don't want to delay it anymore.

So you would be in favor of including all packages? Yes, I would. Okay. All right. Um, Claire, would you like to make a motion then to that effect?

move to approval of the professional service agreement lombard cart contract for architecture architectural and engineering service for the new city hall to include package one two three and four all right uh is there a second i'll second that okay we have a motion and a second all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye aye aye

Any names? Okay, one nay, and I will also vote aye for approval. All right. Thank you, Ben.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, City Council. Thank you.

Marissa, thank you for bringing up some points that hadn't been thought about. That's important, and I appreciate you digging deep in there and letting us mush it around, whether it goes through or not, but thank you. That's important.

Absolutely. I want to see this go too, because I understand, you know, costs are going up and prevailing wage. This is a prevailing wage job that increases every year in the fall. I mean, nobody wants to see this go forward more than me, but again, I do want to be fiscally responsible. Think of our budget and our local community as it is a city hall. It is a representative of our community. So I think that they should be involved in that.

Well, when we get to the point of actually picking the design, the art, getting some local in there, that's great ideas. So thank you.

Yeah. So the best time to build a new city hall was 20 years ago, but that ship has already sailed. All right. New business item nine, a review consideration, impossible approval, accepting a conserved Nevada grant award. from the State of Nevada Department of Conservation Natural Resources in the amount of $90,000 for the extension of the Harp Trail to provide connectivity under the 12th Street Bridge and matters related thereto for possible action. Council approved applying for the grant on March 10th, 2026. The city has been awarded $90,000 and total project estimates are 150,000. by accepting the funds, the trail construction by the project, the trail constructed by the project is required to be maintained for 20 years. James, no James Wiley. Oh, Julie Davis.

So that's pretty much it. We applied for a grant for the Harp Trail and 90,000 was awarded. So we're looking for direction if we accept that. As stated in the agenda item, the goal is to eventually get the trail connected down to the future fishing pond and eventually down to the sport complex, so along the river.

Right. That'll be nice to have that be extended. I've ridden down there many times, and it dead ends underneath that bridge.

That's a great idea. Is there only a $10,000 match is all that's to this?

That's what's required. For our original plans, we had applied for more to where our match would have been about $13,000, but the $90,000 was awarded. So it can be scaled, or we can do the original plan and put in the $60,000. Or we can scale it back and do less trail and do the $10,000 match.

Let's get her done. That's great. Thank you.

Great, I think it'll provide a lot better safety for pedestrians and also for bicyclists too, because there's a growing population in that area down there by the apartments in those neighborhoods of new homes. And it'll make it possible to stay off the streets and use that 9th Street pedestrian bridge to get downtown then. So yeah, no, that sounds great. We love it when particularly the state of Nevada provides funding to us for recreational projects like this. Any comments from the public? Yeah, come on up to the mic, ma'am. You get your name and address for the record, please.

Robin Wisdom at 6438 Gold Rush Drive. I'm in Rendon. But I'm wondering, it says that they need $150,000 to complete the project. Is that going to be what they get total? The state put in $90,000 and then does the city put in the rest?

The city is budgeted to cover the rest, right?

The total project is $150,000, the $90,000 from the grant and then $60,000 match.

Oh, beautiful.

So I was thinking, wow, how's that going to work?

And we also haven't put the project out to bid yet. And so then we'll have real costs.

Dale, is that something the city, the Paul's department can do with that new paver?

I thought we had that in Markford. There's some golf course.

We could probably use the paver on some aspects of these types of projects, like extending the harp trail from where it ends on Front Street to the sports complex. This one here is going under that bridge, so a lot of it's concrete structure under that. Oh, right. Okay. And then we're tying into sidewalk on the other side, which will complete the connectivity to the apartments and to Opal Drive.

Okay, great. Thank you.

We are replacing a portion of the Harp Trail at the low point there at the Wall Street Bridge as well. That should help. Great.

All right. Any other questions on this? All right. I'm ready for a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I move to accept acceptance of the Conserve Nevada grant in the amount of $90,000.

I'll second that.

All in favor? Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right. New business item nine B review consideration and approval to accept an updated water rights priority agreement among Bruce J. Miller and Sydney Miller, husband and wife, RL Ranch Incorporated, Dorothy Young and the City of Elko and matters related thereto for possible action. The previous water rights priority agreement expired on January 27th, 2025. The parties wish to enter into a revised and updated water rights priority agreement governing water usage. The Nevada Division of Water Resources has issued the necessary applications and permits required for this agreement. The proposed agreement is attached for the council's review and consideration And I'll just make a comment that I think that because this wasn't written very clearly, it might have created some confusion on this. It should have stated treated affluent. We're not talking about potable water. We're talking about non-potable water that has been processed at our waste recovery facility, also known as the sewer plant. So currently the affluent is used to irrigate the golf course and some of the recreational facilities and what's left over then is made available for agriculture. And that's been a long standing. So Scott, come on up and tell us some more.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council. So yes, this is just to update the previous agreement that we had. This is just solely for irrigation for them to use. the reuse water that the WRF does produce. It's only through the months of April 15th to October 15th, this service is allowed. The golf course has access to this water. The county fairgrounds has access to this water. And then close to the plant, we do have a construction spot for dust control as well. So this water, like I said, can only be used for irrigation and or dust control. These are state permits. any of these entities that use our water are found using it in a different way other than what their permit is. We have the full right to turn their water off and they're done until we get that problem resolved. So yeah, this is just, I only produce so much a day. Obviously whatever comes in through the city, through the sewer system is what I produce coming out. So basically the salt is, if you think of it as just the giant bowl, I have five straws coming in there. It's just how much water each straw can pull out. and what priority they have. So the golf course is first priority, so I have to ship it up the hill. And then the Bruce Miller Ranch is the second priority, because this is the second largest consumer of water on this line. Plus, he uses it for watering his hay and alfalfa fields. Yeah, he has no other access to water. He would have to pull it out of the river to water these fields. That's why we allow him to use our reuse waters,

Scott, if you have an excess amount of affluent, you then have to pump it uphill and it goes in injection ponds, correct?

So yes, any excess water at the current moment will go to our lined reservoir ponds, which are down Bullion Road, those giant reservoirs that are there. Basically, it just stores the water. So that way, if we don't make enough, there's water for the rancher to have water to water his fields. But during the winter or if no one decides to use water in their summer, yes, we do have rapid infiltration basins that we fill, and then we let Mother Nature do their job. It does her job to filter out everything and recharge the aquifer. We do need these consumers to use our water during the summer because we have to let those ponds dry out, and we do have to have maintenance done on them. We have to scarify them so that way the bottom, they actually percolate a lot better.

Can I throw something in? Sure. Just for the benefit of the public. Nevada is a prior appropriation state. And what that means is that the first person to appropriate a water right has a senior right. So it kind of goes in order of priority based on seniority. And what this water rights priority agreement, really all it does is shifts that priority just by agreement between the owners of the water rights. so that we agree on a priority that is not the same as what it would be just if you were going based on the dates of appropriation. Let's say, for example, the first two water rights that are listed in the agreement, the first one is we're calling SO6. That's the city's water right. That's from 1997. So that's a fairly recent appropriation date. The ones that are right below it are SO4 and SO5. Those are 1985 and 1989, respectively. Those are older, so they're senior water rights. But through this agreement, we're flipping the order of priority. And that enables the city to have priority to use its effluent, for example, to irrigate the golf course. But that's really what this agreement does. It just flips the priorities around.

Thank you for that, Dave. All right. Any questions for Scott?

Is the golf course the only place that you guys are utilizing the water?

For the city, yes. But the county fairgrounds is using our water as well. They water during the busy times of the year.

So the fair and things like that. The dust and on the track. That's what they're using.

Just to bring it up, and I'm sure everybody that's here for this and The question that everybody's concerned, and I believe it's a timing thing of this happening that's made everybody very concerned about the data center usage. And is that going to happen? Is that going to be so easily to just get out? So it's very clear this water can only be used for irrigation. If for some reason they sold that, they ended up, you know, new owners, whatever, something that wouldn't have to be re-approved. And it can only be used for irrigation as it is. So that's something to just recognize. The way it fell in time, and you all know where I stand in the city of data centers, I think a lot of misunderstanding got out there a bit. And it's very, very transparent. It is irrigation water, period, end of story on it. So you don't have to worry about that. And that's not something that's gonna even change at the moment, so.

Don't drink that water.

Don't drink that water.

I'd be surprised how many people are up at the golf course licking their bowl, too.

Well, it's a lot cleaner than it was a few years ago. And I would imagine.

They have cleaned it up a lot.

I would imagine maybe that's why the date is so recent, the 97, that only then we achieved the quality to be able to use it for that purpose.

That sounds right.

Okay. Okay.

Mr. Mayor, you did have a public comment that was submitted.

Oh, yes. Thank you for the reminder on that. It's been a while. All right. This is from Jessica, no last name provided, a county resident. And in opposition, dear mayor and city council, I'm asking you to not approve the proposed 10-year agreement of water rights priority agreement today until the complete arrangement has been explained in more detail as well as shows protection for water for all of the citizens of Elko County. Parts of the permit now include municipal and private uses as well as construction. These areas need full transparency. A record should also be shown how much water was delivered in the past and the cost of this water delivery to taxpayers of Elko County. It also should be made known, I think it means to say, what provisions are put in place affecting future transfer or changes to use of these water rights in the future. I am asking for this item to be taken a look at closely and seen through the eyes of all individuals in Elko County. Water is precious in our county and every drop counts. We need to ensure that all water is being used sensibly and for the best use of Elko County. And then there was a second one from a Cynthia Shad. No, excuse me, that's for the next item. All right, scratch that.

Mayor, the Miller's here.

online or anything okay yeah all right so i've got that out of the way is there any public comment pertaining to this item i got a question sure come on up sir state your name and address for the record please uh my name is chance heiner i live at 2393 curry avenue here in elko um

I was just wondering if this represents a increase in water, if it stays the same with this agreement or decreases, if they're receiving the same amount as the previous agreement or anything like that.

Okay. Scott or Dale, would you like to address that?

Yes. The Miller Ranch is receiving the same exact amount of water that they previously had in the previous agreements. The only change in terms of flow increase would be actually the city golf course actually increased a little bit more to 1.2. They usually take about 800,000. All right.

Thank you for that question. Anyone else?

Hi, I'm Lexi Reeve. Thank you for answering and giving all that because that was actually really reassuring. I just actually had a question for the city attorney. Does approval of this agreement create new or strengthened or otherwise establish any contractual entitlements that could later be asserted against the city if a future council wants to change how this affluent is allocated?

Yeah, this is a 10-year agreement. It does bind the city for that period of time.

Okay, so I guess that answers that question pretty clearly. Um, the rest of my comment is going to seem pretty redundant is mayor and council. My name is Lexi Reeve and I live at 2206 Chisholm drive. I'm asking you not to approve this proposed 10 year water rights priority agreement today until complete arrangements has been explained publicly. Application 48840 originated with the city of Elko and concerns to shortage of treated sewage effluent generated through the Elko's municipal water wastewater system. The secondary permits now include both municipal and private uses. Before committing to the city to another 10-year agreement, please disclose the actual annual water deliveries to every party under the previous agreement, all payments or other considerations received by the city, infrastructure and maintenance costs paid by taxpayers versus private users, current ownership, of the properties receiving the private water rights and any provisions affecting future transfers or changes in use. Please explain why each party occupies its particular position in the proposed priority schedule and what protections Elko residents have if reclaimed water becomes more valuable and necessary for future municipal needs. I'm asking you to continue this item until the records and answers are presented publicly. And that is all.

I believe if you look at that page from the agreement, it delineates exactly how everything is broken up and it actually strengthens the city's position by putting us first in line in terms of delivery of the treated affluent.

Awesome. Thank you very much.

All right. Anyone else?

I do have a couple of questions. along the same lines. Again, Rhonda Hagee, west of Elko, downstream from the Miller Ranch. So as the contract is currently written, the lease agreement, can you guarantee us that this right can't follow the property were it to be sold? Can it go to a different use? I've been told by a person at the the Nevada Department of, or Division of Water, that it can, in fact, follow the sale and be changed. There's a lot of paperwork involved. It's not easy, but it can very definitely, the use can be changed.

I can address part of that. The agreement itself is binding on successors and assigns.

So whichever party has a successor or assign, it's obviously not going to be the city,

If the millers were to sell, then whoever acquires their water right is going to be bound by this. Now, this doesn't deal with the process that they would have to go through in order to assign their water right. That's more or less done through the state engineer's office. And this agreement isn't going to deal with that. It just deals with priorities.

So they would have to break this particular lease to when they sell.

No, they can sell without breaking this. It's just that whoever they sell to is going to be bound by this.

So, Dave, if the, let's say the property is sold and the land use or the zoning changes and there's no longer the need, would the excess that had previously been used by the Millers, would that be available to other parties?

Potentially. Potentially. I mean, it's a little more complicated than that, but it depends on who the downstream users are and the priority of the water rights. So I can't really speak to who else might be affected by the Miller's water rights, other than to say it flips the priority dates in relation to the city's water rights. And that's just all this does. Okay, thank you.

And my understanding also is, that if it's not used for irrigation on land that close to the Humboldt River, then the volume will probably be reduced because the city gets credit for recharge.

Yeah, I can't speak to that. In terms of the Miller's water rights?

In terms to the effluent water.

Oh, the effluent.

Yeah, it's that proximity to the Humboldt River where it's being used for irrigation right now brings credits back to, by 49%, you get a reduction.

Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about, and I'm not sure that these water rights are impacted by that rule. Jim, you might want to address that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of council. The conjunctive management has not been set by the state engineer yet. He's still working through that process. So there is no credits at this point. So it's just...

In some jurisdictions, though, there are credits for affluent that is used for recharge purposes back in the aquifer. Is that correct?

Yes, some jurisdictions.

Not here at this point. I think that's what Mrs. Hagee might be speaking to on that.

It depends on what basin you're in. Humboldt Basin does not have that currently.

The state engineer is looking at that right now, but nothing's been set to this point.

Jim, could this water, we have the fishery project getting put in and that coming down. I think I know the answer, but can this water be used into that? at some point if we needed it.

Not without updating the plant and spending a lot of money.

That's why we can't put it in the river or anything. It has to be sported. We'd have to spend a lot of money. So they're doing us a favor by taking our water, basically, that's left over and using it up.

We have to put it somewhere. You can't just dump it on the river. No.

Even though it's an envelope cleaner than what's in the Humboldt River.

So there... So in those cases, when that happens, that has to be, we have to report that and it's very convoluted when you do. So yeah, we can get in a lot of trouble if we do that without reporting it. Cause that's an accidental discharge or in those types of situations. So, excuse me, but yes, they're doing us a favor by taking our water. we have to have some place to put it. We could just go straight to the RIBs and recharge the aquifer, but in most cases, it's better if we can use it and use it responsibly for the City of Elko and helps us if he's irrigating his fields with it.

All right, any more questions for Jim at all? All right, thank you, Jim Curry, Utilities Director for the City. All right. Any further public comment or questions?

I just have some questions. So basically, from my understanding, the millers get their water rights revitalized and set back to where they were. Well, if they were to sell that property tomorrow and who they sold that property to would be binding

those water rights correct or did i hear that wrong i'm going to refer to our city well water rights basically this agreement is binding on whoever requires their water rights this agreement that we're talking about right now so so if they sell their place and they sell the water rights with them and i i say if they sell the water rights with them you can sell property without selling the water rights with the property but let's say they sold their property and sold the water rights with the property, then whoever required that would be bound by this agreement. And so the priority of those water rights in relation to the city's water rights would remain the same for that 10-year period. Now, that doesn't affect the relationship between the millers' water rights and other downstream users, other water rights in the area. That's unaffected by this agreement. This is just between the city and the millers.

Yeah, what I'm most concerned about is the Millers and with this AI data center and all this stuff, all this controversy that surrounds it. I could have swore I heard you say that it expired in 2025. I don't remember that exact date. What was that exact date? January 27th. So last year, the beginning of the year. So they haven't had it for a whole year. Now there's this big controversy with this data center and all this crazy stuff going on.

I can tell you that I think that that's coincidence. These agreements have been in place for, I want to say 30, 40 years plus, and it happened to expire and it caught Scott's attention. And then we had to do some research on the status of the water rights and some things like that. But until today, I hadn't even heard that a data center was an issue on this property or anywhere near it. So that'd be news to me. I think that's really just coincidence.

Coincidence or not, it's still quite big concerning to the residents of Elko period. It's really easy to say coincidence this, coincidence that. I would strongly recommend going against this until we figure out what's actually happening with that property. Because if it can't be transferred, if they can turn around tomorrow, once they have their water rights and have everything and sell that property, and then they get those water rights, that's a big deal.

Actually, it's kind of the other way around because the city of Elko gets a higher priority than they would otherwise have. See, the Millers would have a higher priority than the city with these first two water rights. without this agreement.

But if they were to sell, they would get bumped way down the list?

No, no, it would stay the same just like it is for whoever they sold to.

I'm just asking for, you know, I'm not entirely positive of what's happening.

I think what you're trying to ask is if the property is sold and the water rights are included in the sale, if the new owner applies for a change of use of that property and it's no longer used as an agricultural use and they change it to Let's say a commercial industrial use. I believe that those words were thrown around earlier. If the new owner was to change that to that use, would the water rights still be required and bound by this agreement that they can only be used for irrigation and not be applied toward a commercial industrial use? Is that what you're asking? Okay.

Yeah, and I don't know. Yeah, I understand. This agreement really doesn't deal with that. It just doesn't deal with it one way or the other. It just changes the priority of the water rights. It doesn't establish... what the Miller's uses are. What it does do is it gives the city a higher priority than the Miller's for the big water right that is used for the golf course. So if you look at it that way, it actually is really beneficial to the golf course as opposed to other uses.

Okay. Well, that's all. I just wanted to ask a couple of those weird questions that I was not understanding fully. I'm not a city council member. I'm just a regular old working class guy. So thank you guys. Thank you.

One thing to keep in mind is it's class B effluent, which only has specific uses. And one of them being irrigation, dust suppression, things like that. It can't be used to go into the river, into a public facility for any other type of use. There are specific uses class B effluent can be used for.

All right, thanks, Dale. All right, anyone else?

You still haven't answered.

Okay, so it says agriculture only, right? They can use it, death suppression, whatever. But they sell this, and it happens to be a data center that they sell it to. They still get these water rights.

They'd be so limited to what they wouldn't be able to use it for a commercial purpose other than if they're growing crops there. You promise. I promise.

And here's the other thing is it's right on the Humboldt. And those things, they purge those systems and they have to purge them somewhere. And they'll go in the Humboldt.

I can tell you.

And it'll place in our water. the whole thing. So I'm very concerned and I'm concerned because I know that several of you are for data centers and I am disappointed immensely. And I just want to make sure that the people are in consideration, not maybe what they put across the palm or whatever else, not to say that you guys are guilty of that, I just don't want someone to come in and influence you by saying, hey, we'll do this for you if you do this for us. Because it happens everywhere. Happens everywhere. And we're a small community. We're a drought community. And we've got a lot of wildlife and human beings in this area. So this may be a little thing. this irrigation water for these people, but it can turn into a huge thing. And I want you guys to be, I want you to think of grandchildren. I want you to think of your neighbor's grandchildren, your best friends. I want you to think of those things. They promise jobs, they promise all of that. It's all smoke and mirrors. And I just want to make sure that you hold true to what you're saying. because people like that are going to, we're going to make sure you do or we'll get rid of you.

So I would like to make a couple of comments. Number one, I haven't heard a single person up here say that there are four data centers. I do believe that every person up here would be for economic growth in our community. The data center, if that is what's proposed, is a potential if the land is sold. I think there's a lot of what if here of things that we are not aware of. And then if that does happen, It does have to come back to council and the planning and zoning and that proposed use. I mean, we're talking a change of use on the land that would have to be approved. We're talking about a data center that would need to be approved by planning and zoning and also by the council. And I don't foresee that happening at all. I do think that the public, we work for you guys, right? We work for the public. And also the comments about our ethics up here and the sliding of a palm, we're all bound by a code of ethics up here. There are ethics charges that could be brought up on every single one of us. So I don't foresee that happening either, because if there was even a whiff of that, every single one of us would be brought up on ethics charges and we would be removed by the state. So again, I think this is where the rumors come from. Like I said, we have not said we are supporting data centers. There's lots of rumors going around in this room. And so until that property is sold, transferred, anything like that, or a change of use, I think the data center, I understand the concern. I have the same concerns. I have a family member that lives in the Sundance area. Completely get it. I just feel like this has kind of been, this conspiracy has exploded and we have been exploited as potential candidates to serve the community of Elko. So would appreciate that. you guys just to have a one-on-one conversation with us and not do it in a public forum where we can have a more lengthy conversation. Well, absolutely. Like I said, I'm an open book. So if you would like transparency, I would love to share that, but I don't want to waste the other council persons, you know, time this evening because we do still have other items on our agenda.

All right. Yeah. And, It's frankly insulting to me to have anyone suggest that a member of this board would be on the take. I mean, extremely illegal and people end up in prison that do that in the state of Nevada.

I take offense to that also. I've served this community in one capacity or another for 40 years. I've kept my integrity intact and I will keep my integrity intact until I die. And I take a fest, do you think that I'm taking money out of the table or anything else? You insinuated that and I take a fest to that.

All right, come on up Ms. Hagee.

I would just like to say that I don't think anybody is here to insinuate anything. And I actually started the group Elko public opinion on data centers. I'm the one who's been putting information that we're finding out there. And it's because we don't know anything. Here we are right around this proposed thing. And we found out today it's more than just proposed, not necessarily applied for yet. but it's definitely in the works. And I guarantee that. We're just trying to get ahead of it. That's all. And there's a lot of emotion, a lot surrounding it because everything I have seen about data centers and what they do to cities and counties is bad. It's just bad. And do we really need to degrade our way of life to trade for a data center that's going to bring multimillions to a little group of millionaires. It's not going to do very much in the way of jobs. And they typically bring out of town or out of state construction. They use imported materials and they have a lot of electronic waste that's not going to ever degrade in the environment. It's just bad all around. And that's why we are passionate. And I'm sorry that anyone was offended. But I think it's our right to get the word out and to get people educated as to what could happen. And that's what we're doing. And if that's not our right, then I'm not standing in the United States of America.

Well, I agree with you that we all need to be educated in regards to these data centers. I just don't want to allow there to be rumors to get out of things that we are not currently aware of. As far as we all know, the Elko County assessor still has the Millers as the assigned owners of that property. And there are a lot of things they're not here to defend themselves nor to agree with. That's what's the proposed intent. If they are selling, if they're not selling, they're not here and we're having a conversation about them. I don't feel comfortable about that. I am a realtor. I am a proponent of private property rights and you can do what you want with your property. However, If it's something that is going to hurt our community, there is not a single member up here that is going to be in favor of that.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate that comment very much. I appreciate that feeling.

You know, we all sit up here and we look at the big picture of things. And I think this has kind of been blown out of proportion a little bit, truly. When we sit here, we think of Elko as a whole.

We don't think of the tunnel vision and stuff like that.

I think just that, like Dave said earlier, The timing of this whole thing, I think, is just what made this whole conversation go catty-whomp. And what Marissa says, we're here to protect the city and we're gonna do our best to do that. And she's absolutely right. If it's something that's gonna hurt the city, we won't do it. I guarantee that.

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.

Yeah, and I'll just put an example out there of a project that was torpedoed by city staff Nobody in here besides city staff even has heard of it, I'm sure. We were approached by an NRDA, the Economic Development Authority. They wanted to put in a battery storage site that was, and the key is it has to be next to a electrical substation. And NB Energy has one. up on the north end of the city, which is now adjacent to the VA National Cemetery. And as you've all heard, there's been fires of such facilities that have happened and it's very, very difficult to put them out. It would have been a bonanza for the city economically to put that in there, but it was within two city blocks and staff just said, no, it's just not a good fit. And so, you know, that project went away and no doubt we'll go somewhere else. But definitely the staff does look out for the welfare, health and safety of the community. And that's one example.

I just want to say thank you for everybody coming here and voicing your opinions. It's important. And you've just been Yeah, I've been up here for almost eight years, and it doesn't always happen. And I value that, and thank you for being here. And don't stop. Let us know what we need to hear. So thank you.

All right. Any more public comment before I close it off? Okay. And then I'll – We have one more. We have one more. Come on up.

So my name is Savannah Vera. I'm on 2140 Hondo lane in the Sundance estates as well. I wanted to thank you for explaining to us what the agreement is. That was my main concern was of course the AI thing. And what we want to do is we want to get ahead, right? Because everything is prepped before anything can happen. You don't need an application to put, you know, a well in, you don't need an application to change an agreement. So I think all we're doing here is we just wanted to be prepared. We want to don't know, about what it was, what it was for, and if it was something we need to be concerned with. So thank you.

Thank you. Yeah, and my apologies that the wording was somewhat misleading on here, because we're talking about affluent water, which when you live in a desert is very much different than treated affluent water. All right, Scott, anything else to add?

Unless anyone has any other questions, like I said, solely, this is the same, just the original agreement. It's just, we're just renewing it for another 10 years. It's, like I said, just solely for irrigation. We have, like I said, we see them doing anything wrong with it. We're governed by the state as well. These off-state permits attached to them as well. So we have to do extra sampling to make sure this water is, okay to go back into the environment. So I just want to make sure everyone is aware of that as well. So we do have to meet state requirements for this water.

Just one more quick, easy question. Is this agreement revocable on our side?

No, it's a binding contract. Thank you.

All right. I guess I would just say normally this would be something that would be on a consent item and not have a full hearing on it. But we did have some interest in it and some inquiries. And so that's why we put it on the main agenda. And as we said, it's just a renewal that actually increases the city's strength on this agreement in terms of priority. And I would like to entertain a motion.

Real quick, one thing real quick. You sit there and think about this. If you just look at the totals on this thing, This is probably helping anywhere between four to five million gallons. It's a fluent water of irrigation daily. That's not being used of drinking water. So we're talking golf course, wherever it might be. So that's, you know, over four million gallons a day. Look at the wear and tear it's saving on our tanks and, you know, the drinking water that is saving. So to me, I think this in the big picture, I think that's something to look at.

And not having to pump it across you know, up into the storage for the rapid infiltration too.

So it's a class B deployment. Is that a class that could use electricity or cooling?

I would have to look into that. I don't know the exact details of everything at the class B. There's a huge list, but I can get back to you on that.

All right, thank you. All right, is there a motion on this item?

And Mr. Mayor, I move to approve the water rights priority agreement as presented.

All right, is there a second? I'll second. All in favor of the motion, say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. Pooch, did you vote? I said aye.

OK.

All right, thank you everyone that attended for this item. All right, and with that, we'll move on to item 10A, resolution and ordinances, review consideration and possible approval of resolution number 1526, a resolution waiving the business license application fee, home occupation fee and work permit fee for rideshare or taxi service businesses in the City of Elko for a period of two years and matters related thereto for possible action. Resolution number 1526 would waive the business license application fee, home occupation fee, and taxi work permit fee for eligible rideshare and taxi service businesses for a period of two years. The resolution is intended to encourage the establishment of rideshare and taxi services within the City of Elko and to improve transportation options for residents, visitors, workers, and local businesses. The City of Elko has not had an active taxi service business for approximately two years, and the City Council desires to support the reestablishment of this service by reducing startup costs for small businesses providing rideshare or taxi services within the community. Annette?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. As it was brought up, yes, we have no taxi service for the last two years. We do actually have three business licenses for rideshare right currently, two for Uber and one for Lyft. But our understanding is that they're very limited in picking up or they don't respond. And so we're hoping that reducing the business license application fee, which is a $59.50 application fee, and the home occupation fee, if they're rideshare, they would have more than likely be in their home. That's a $50 fee. And then the work permit fee I got with our chief of police. said that the $100 work permit fee, we could waive that. And that's only for taxi service at this time. But that is more than likely a taxi service would pay for their employees to have that work permit. So that is a burden on a taxi service. So we're hoping that bringing this resolution and waiving these fees for two years would help encourage more businesses, small businesses to do rideshare and taxi.

Great. And I think this is a great way to help out and hopefully motivate some new rideshare drivers to get into the game, if you will, on this. A question that I had asked Jan on this is, what about the people that have already bit the bullet and paid for their licensing? And I was told then, that they will be exempt then for the next two years then, is that correct, when they go to renew?

We didn't put that in here, but we can definitely, that could be included. It specifically states the actual application fee, but we can further look at that if they come to us and need some help. This is like a, moving document because we're going to reevaluate it after the two years. We might need to extend it or maybe we need to come back with another resolution to offer a little more help. Okay.

All right. Yeah, I would really like to see that.

And I've also, we didn't bring this as an ordinance because we are still working on our business license fee or code and what's, So like taxi service has the work permit, but we have looked at maybe ride share getting a work permit too, because what that does is background check through the police department. The only thing that this wouldn't waive is the fingerprinting fee, which is $27, because that's a state fee that we have to pay to have those fingerprints done. So if things change, like our business license fees change in the next two years, it would still apply this. We would waive those fees because business license fees haven't been changed for over 10 years. Okay.

Thank you.

And I just want to clarify that this waiving of fees is simply and only for rideshare and taxi services. That is correct. because we have a need for that service. I also just want to make a comment, and I do not want to give any names or information, but we do have a taxi service from a larger area around the state that is considering Elko. They've reached out, had multiple questions, multiple conversations. They also reached out to the former taxi service in Elko to understand why They are no longer operating in the area. And it was simply stated about insurance costs because I do believe that the company that's looking at coming in said that the cost for insurance to operate in Elko is much higher than where they're currently at. So that is something they're considering, but they're seriously looking at this area. So it would be wonderful if they could come.

Yeah, so it would help.

Well, and that's what happened with our previous taxi service. His insurance quadrupled, and that's why he closed.

Wow.

And Jan informed me today that I guess the company from Elko is actually insurance-wise for a business like that is higher than Reno's area. And that's know an insurance factor that's nothing that the city can actually do anything about i do believe that they're they're looking into that and making contact with the insurance commissioner to to have a conversation about that to understand why because i've actually had two other um companies contact me over the last two years and when they started looking into it it was the insurance that stopped them wow this uh resolution also include the limousine company we have in town they're not really doing ride share though are they i i don't know that answer i just know we have a limo company well they're not licensed okay so if i would consider a limousine it would be considered a ride share because they are um so if they came in and got licensed yes i would waive those fees for them

Also, does this resolution need to say something to the effect of waiving business license, Elko City? So it doesn't, we're not saying state, it's just Elko City. Is that important? Or is that assumed?

Well, we don't have the power to waive the state business license fee. It's not within our jurisdiction. So it would only be the city business license fee.

And the resolution does have all stating only Elko City code and

title that's... Yeah, just Elko City.

Yeah. Okay, I just didn't, in the recommended, I didn't see city, so I just want to make sure.

No problem. Thanks. Questions or concerns from the public on this item? Are you going to sign up to be the newest Uber driver?

No. For the record, Scott Gavorski, 878 2nd Street. No, but I was recently, and then I've got a short story to why this is important, but the resourcing at that rural tour of the Department of Business and Industry that was in Oakville here about a month ago, in addition to some of the insurance concerns, another issue that got brought up for the Uber and Wideshare communities is there's currently some confusion about the vehicle inspections the states require. And that seems to be causing some concern at that time. The representatives from the Department of Business and Industry were going to look into it. So there's some motion on that front as well, just as part of the general conversation piece. Now, what I was going to point out is something that actually happened just this Saturday night, which I know at least Councilman Stone's probably aware of the general situation. I happened at dinner to run into one of our guests at Elko Cosmic Con, a well-known actor at a local restaurant. And so I went over and thanked him for coming to Elko, asking him how he liked the city. And his complaint was, this is a wonderful place. We had to walk down from the hotel to a restaurant because there's no way to get a ride or a taxi service in town. So even major guests that we're bringing in, are struggling with this. It's not just a resident. So it's probably something we, it's well past time to do something. So I'm in favor of this. Thank you. Thanks, Scott.

Chip, you may have firsthand knowledge of this as well, but I do believe that it was announced that the e-center had individuals that were basically taxiing around some of the guests to get them to and from the airport as well, just because there was not a ride share service.

We did use our own, I say our, but being the liaison there. The East Center did privately themselves as employees use company cars to go do some back and forth and moving around is how we handled it for the event. Picked them up at the airport so everybody had rides and things.

I know that they also scheduled through get my ride on a couple of them, but that does have to be prearranged to be a police service.

We need it. I think this is a great idea, Mayor, that you came up with that last meeting. bringing this up, so thank you.

Yeah, thanks, staff, for getting that together.

And then you do have a public comment on this item.

Oh, yeah, thanks again, Annette, for keeping me honest here. All right. Let's see. Dear Elko City Council members, I am writing to express my support for Resolution 1526, waiving business fees for rideshare taxi services for two years. As a local business owner and event planner, I see firsthand how important reliable transportations are for our community. At many events, there are guests who choose to consume alcohol, and currently there is not a reliable way or accessible way for them to get home safely. Having rideshare services available in our community would provide a tremendous sense of ease and peace of mind for my clients, their guests, event organizers, and the community as a whole. It gives people another option to make responsible choices without having to worry about whether they will be able to find a safe ride home. Beyond events, Rideshare would provide an additional transportation resource for residents and visitors while supporting our local businesses and tourism. I believe this is a positive step toward making Elko a more accessible and welcoming community Thank you for considering this resolution and for your continued work on behalf of Elko, Sincerely, Cynthia Shedd, CK Connections, and Events, LLC. All right. Anyone else from the public wishing to comment on this item? Sure.

I'm Chance Heiner, 2393 Cree Avenue. If we're trying to attract taxi services and stuff, I looked up. Does the city of Elko have a nine cent on the gallon tax on gas? That's the county.

No, Julie would be the one to answer that.

That's a county tax?

That's county.

And then we get a portion of it. We do get a portion of it.

Okay. So as a city, I was just kind of wondering, like, would there be a way that we could perhaps give them a rebate on some of the taxes that they paid on it to help attract them to the city. And they're paying four times as much for insurance and that's what's stopping it. Maybe we could do a little bit to help attract them a little more rather than just waiving a business fee. I understand they use the roads a lot too.

Thank you. All right. Does someone have a motion? Oh, go ahead. It's all yours.

Go ahead.

Thanks, Chip. I'll make a motion to approve the resolution number 15-26, a resolution waiving the Elko City business license application fee and annual business renewal fee for home occupation fee and work permit fee for rideshare or taxi services business in the city of Elko for a period of two years.

Okay, and then something on there about for waive it for two years for the people that have paid it already for when they do their role. Did you say that?

We did not. No, I don't think that's on the current resolution. So are we talking about redrafting the document and bringing it back to council?

I think we should because, I mean, I'd be frustrated if I paid to get set up and then

We could do it a couple of different ways. We could approve this and then we can come back with another resolution. Let's do that. Or if you thought it would be cleaner, we could just take this one, modify it, and bring it back with the additional language. For the second hearing. Yeah, at the next city council meeting.

And it can be approved in one hearing then, right?

It's a resolution, so just one meeting. It doesn't have a first and second reading. All right. Why don't we do that?

I'm going to amend my motion that we send this back to staff to amend this resolution to include existing rideshare permit holders and expand it to include the annual renewal fee for the two years.

I'll second.

All right. All in favor, say aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right, item 11A, petition, appeal, and communication. Ratification of the police chief issuing a 31-day temporary packaged liquor license and issue a packaged liquor license to Jorge and Natalie Hernandez doing business as BF Guns and Gear located at 171 West Silver Street, number 200, and matters related thereto for possible action. Chief.

mayor and council. Uh, so I know if you want to come up, George and speak on it as well. But this is, uh, we went through and did our checks from our department resources and see no issues with it. We confer with the city clerk and got their feedback.

So it is strictly packaged liquor.

So there's no alcohol being served there, correct? Okay.

All right. Any public comment on this item? All right. Hearing none, is there anyone that wants to hear from the applicant? All right. Is there a motion?

Mr. Mayor. Oh, go ahead.

Go ahead, Claire.

Ratify the police chief issuing a 31-day temporary package liquor license and issue a regular package liquor license to Jose and Natalie Hernandez doing business as we have guns and gear located at 171 West Silver Street, number 200. All right, is there a second?

I'll second that.

Just a note, it's not Jose, it's George. Excuse me, George. Just for the record. You should know that.

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. And I also vote aye for approval. All right, that brings us down to reports. I had the opportunity to visit with Curtis Calder and his wife over the weekend. I had a nice visit with them and he said to say hi to everyone and he's living up in Boise now. I'd like to congratulate the fire department and police department for a successful national night out. Well attended again. Weather was a lot cooler than in previous years, so I guess that made the hamburger duty a lot more tolerable. And I just got an invite this afternoon. This is a big item. The Elko National Veterans Cemetery will be dedicated on Friday, September 4th, and our Undersecretary of VA Relations, Sam Brown, will be on board, and I'm sure they'll probably be a bevy of other dignitaries that come into town for that. And this will be the only national cemetery in the state of Nevada. There are other VA, or excuse me, there are other veterans cemeteries, but the first Veterans Administration Cemetery. So we're proud to have that designation. And then also board members on marked calendars on October 5th, 6th, and 7th in Reno, the Nevada League of Cities will be holding their annual meeting. And that's always a great opportunity to meet other elected officials from around the state. There's always great seminars there, speaking to issues like data centers and other controversial things that we've dealt with, like the flock cameras, things that you can really learn a lot from and also get the opportunity to find out best practices from other communities.

Mayor, do we know a time on the 4th?

Actually, I think it starts on the 5th, I believe, which is a Monday.

I'm sorry, the previous, the Veterans Cemetery.

Oh, sorry.

I will look and I'll 10 o'clock AM. Okay.

Very good.

All right. And just thank the community for their patience with the slurry seal that's happening right now around the city. It can be a pain in the butt to have to park your vehicle two blocks away, but it sure is worth it when it's done. It's a Sierra Nevada construction's doing a great job. So, Please be courteous to their crews. All right. Anyone else?

I just got one real quick thing. I just want to say, Chief Johnston, great job on your video. I watched it today, and it was a good job.

Thank you.

We'll do it next. Oh. Yeah. It's a good video. I enjoyed it.

Good. I haven't seen it.

It's about a six-minute video, and it shows a lot. There's a few things. I didn't even think about you guys rescuing in trenches. I didn't even think about that.

All right. Just follow up on for the event center, Cosmicon was a huge event, very successful. A lot of people there went on very well. They were very pleased with the turnout and what happened there. On that event, on the 4th, we may want to reach out to the Lions Club. There's the parade that day, which is the lineup is at 1030. Right. So maybe they can bump it to a little bit later or something. We may want to contact them and just coordinate something to make some adjustments so that all of us can be to both things. So just something there. The other thing I just wanted to bring up, which I think is really important, and see if we could maybe pull something off with the city. The 25th anniversary of 9-11 is coming up, and we really should be doing something. That's the same weekend the car show is going to be going on. I would propose that maybe we purchase 25 flags that we could put around the monument, which was from that horrible tragedy that day, maybe put around here, tie some things in, so maybe we could work on something that would be, I think we need to do that. Maybe we could even extend some flags downtown. We've got the poles there. So something we need to start talking about, and we don't have a lot of time, so I think it's important we think about that.

I think that's a great idea, Chip. It's something that is fairly simple, and it wouldn't take a lot of resources to pull that off. And Jan is nodding in agreement, I think.

Just a couple quick things. We had our first employee picnic on Saturday and had a pretty good turnout and so just wanted to thank everybody for coming and Jody, I know she's not here, but for putting that on, she did a really nice job. And then I had Candy and Julie Davis and Carrie all tell me that the credit for the person with the water meter on the warrants was, it was a customer that carries a credit on her account and she sold her home and that was the refund. And then we did receive an email that on August 25th, Equinox Gold, which is formerly Orla, is having an update at the Western Folklife Center at 7.30 a.m. And I will forward that to your emails, but I just wanted to make sure you knew about that. They have the same team, just Orla Gold no longer, the name no longer exists. That's all.

Just a quick update. Our new development manager starts next Tuesday, so... get him on board. And then we just completed all the warranty work on 12th Street Bridge and Hot Springs Road from our projects a year ago.

Great. And then that sewer lift station out at 298, is that working now, Jim?

Yes. Golden Gate is hooked up and flowing, and we served letters to the other three businesses out there, and so they have 90 days to hook up from the date they got their letter.

Okay. I'm sure they'll be glad to go off of septic.

Yeah, I've met with most of them, so they're all working on it right now.

Okay. Golden Gate didn't even wait three days.

Yeah, they needed to get after it, so. Yeah. Okay, thank you.

Yeah, well, you give an update to just about the Arts and Council, the second sculpture that went up downtown.

Yeah, the second sculpture has arrived and was painted on site over the last week or so. So and I know the Chamber of Commerce wants to do a dedication in the near future.

That's beautiful.

You haven't been down there to look at it. It's pretty nice. I saw a picture of it.

So it's really very no report.

All right. Foster, you got anything for us?

So we just finished up with our runway reseal project and painting project last week. So we'll be bringing that to you guys for a close out here pretty soon. We also had another, our second consecutive month where we had really good numbers. So we passed our 2019, we had our highest month, July was our highest month of our employment numbers since 2019. And then we had about just over 3,600, 3,625 people total through that's employments and deployments through the terminal building. And that was our highest month since 2019 as well. It would be technically our second consecutive month where our overnight flight where there would be a negative charge towards that MRG. And then I'd like to thank Paul for coming out to the airport and taking care of Murray Way. Um, so we got that slurry sealed here recently and everybody's, uh, I've heard a lot of, um, good things about that. The local pilots are very happy about the, the new surfaces out there that they can come in and land on and, um, going into the facility as well. So we've done a lot of sprucing up, uh, out at the airport the last few years, and it's really starting to pay off. The other thing is we're still planning on SkyFair September 19th. Um, and so. Got a couple more meetings before we get everything buttoned up for that, but it's looking like that's going to be a pretty big event as well.

And Jim, there was supposed to be airport advisory board meeting tomorrow. Why did that get scratched?

No, nothing on the agenda when we reach out to people and they don't want to put anything on the agenda.

No complaints is good.

Yeah, so that's always a good thing. And then when pet projects, I can I can tamp those down with in-house stuff. That's always beneficial as well. So that's the reason why.

Great. I also just want to give you a quick compliment. I did recently book a flight to Las Vegas out of Elko. And I did, just for price comparison, compared it from flying out of Elko, in and out of Elko, and in and out of Salt Lake. It was actually cheaper by about $50 to fly in and out of Elko, same dates, versus driving to Salt Lake.

That's great. And that's the thing that we're trying to get out, that it's available and that you just got to do some research and you can find those flights. So thank you. I appreciate that. All right.

Chief.

Any report from the Planning Commission, Carlos?

No report. Let's keep it that way.

All right. Chief Johnston.

Just want to mention that we've set our fire prevention open house for the October 8th, and that'll be at 5 p.m. till 7 p.m. This year, again, because of the outnumber of fires that occur from charging and lithium batteries, that's going to be our theme again is safe charging. Charging into fire safety is kind of the theme. We'll have tons of vendors open house, take kids through the firehouse, and then teach them fire prevention as well in the upper levels. And it should be a great time.

That's really become a big, big deal with the airlines too, especially with international flights, not wanting to have lithium battery backups and so forth in the, what do you call it, the stowed baggage, in the checked baggage.

Yeah, and I can't, I cannot stress enough to make sure that your portable chargers have a UL stamped on them. Do not buy anything that doesn't have a UL battery. The craftsmanship that comes, even from Amazon, you can get non-UL products, but make sure that any portable charger has a UL stamp on it and it'll say it right on it. It has to be engraved with the UL signature that it's been tested and approved.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. All right, Kathy. Have we had to tow many vehicles?

We've actually gone, I think, three or four days in a row without having to tow one.

Wow.

Which is pretty significant. I don't think we've ever gone more than a day. This is in regard to the slurry sealing project that's going on around the city. I utilized Jenna, our code enforcement, to get out ahead and get some notices out that vehicles needed to be moved, and that's worked out really, really well. We're coming up. We've got just two days left, Wednesday, Thursday, and we'll be done with the project. I think our striping crew, probably about two weeks out before they'll be here. I haven't gotten an exact date. They've been having some issues on other projects, so we'll just be waiting in line for that.

And have you been able to use that new paving machine yet? Yes. How's that working out?

Very well. So if you, south of Silver Street down to Water Street, from 11th all the way to 2nd Street, 1st Street, We've done a little bit on every one of those roads, one block, two blocks, three blocks. They all got a thin overlay to smooth them up and then the slurry over the top. There's just a couple sections that aren't complete down there. Looking really, really good. I'd encourage you to go take a drive around down there if you have any recollection of what it looked like.

Whereabouts again?

Everything between Silver Street and Water Street from 11th to 2nd.

Okay.

So chunks of Douglas, 11th, 10th, 8th, 7th, 6th.

4th.

Yeah, it's a pretty significant improvement down there.

The downtown corridor looks great too that was redone. That slurry, that really spruced it up there.

The next one will get done on Thursday between 5th and 6th.

And then the new lighting there, the star, all four corners, that's made that way safer.

And we have one more of those to put into at 4th Street. Once we get through the slurry project. My guys have been really, really busting it. Hottest summer that I can remember. And they've been out paving, patching, trying to stay ahead of this crew. They've done an awesome job. They're due for a little break here once we get through this, so. But we've got plenty of projects coming up to get us through the fall.

We should do a barbecue and let us know when that is and we'll make that happen.

All right.

Sounds good.

Chip, I know you had a question about Southside.

I just had a couple of people had asked me how Southside.

So I think that got done in 2023. So it's only about three years ago. We typically go anywhere from five to ten years, depending on what the condition of the road was before. So you can look for that to happen in a couple years to maybe five or six years.

The other one I got asked is the trailer court there by the car wash back that south side there. I don't know how that works, if that's the trailer court has to take care of it. There's potholes as big as a car. Is it Pinion Trader? It's on that same side of town.

That's all private.

That's private is what I thought. So I know the bus drivers ask me all that too. They're like, try to get those buses. But that's up to them to do that. That's what I thought. So I just want to confirm it.

Thank you.

All right, James.

Hey, James, I had...

A couple of grumpy people asked me about the pickleball courts and they seem to be okay with the five new ones that were put there on that existing pad that was there. The only complaint I heard there was the fence was too short on the parking lot side. But it seems like the preference is to play there on the tennis court that was reconfigured. There was a lip on there on the south side of the court that didn't get resolved. And I'm told that there's been several people that have tripped on that. And then I've also been told that the courts, the way that they were painted, are kind of staggered. And there's one court where you can't even take a full backswing without hitting the fence. I haven't been down there to look at it. I'm just reporting what I've heard. Was that built, the specification?

Yes. Yes. So I haven't heard anything about hitting the fence with the backswing yet. And as far as the alignment, there was one court that's not in line with the other five. We had to shift that over, not depth wise, but sideways, if that makes sense. So that wouldn't affect anybody's backswing, but it does not line up because we had to x-ray that post tension slab. There's cables in there. We didn't want to put a net post or a fence post into that and then destroy that integrity of that slab. So we had to shift that over slightly. And I met with the pickleball group down there and that was all explained. And for the most part, everybody, that was a non-issue. So I'll follow up on the backswing thing. That's the first I've heard of that. As far as the lip goes, you have the post-tension slab, which is what they play on. You also have a standard concrete surround. We did not replace that. And so that had settled a little bit. So in an attempt to ease that, we did apply a quarter inch thick cushion on that separate concrete. to have a better transition, there's still a little bit of a lip. So I have ordered transition strips. I don't know how long those things are gonna last, but we are going to install those and we'll utilize them the best we can. It won't be a 90 degree lip. It's about a quarter inch right now. That will eliminate that lip, but it will be a ramped off transition, if that makes sense. It will not be a sharp angle there. We've tried other things down there as well. We tried caulking that joint between the standard border concrete and the PT slab, and that all popped within a period of a week and a half. Those post-tension slabs move. They contract. They retract. You don't notice it, but there's enough movement in there, and they're designed to do that. So we do run into some of those issues on the peripherals. but none of those hazards are really in the play area. They're adjacent to it. So we do have a plan to mitigate that. I hope it lasts a little longer than a week and a half, but we've ordered that material and we will be installing that shortly. We have encouraged people to use the center courts because there is no lip there. That might be why you're seeing some people migrate over to the hockey rink. But, yeah, we've been helping out the pickleball users since we opened them up. We had some other issues where I think some helpful citizens tried to tinker with the nets. They actually over-tightened them. It pulled our posts in. We fixed that today. That was simple, but we really want to encourage people to not tinker with that stuff. It's an exposed, you can do it with a wrench, right? It's a, it's a little square nut. They have handles, but if anybody has a wrench, they can, they have access to those. So we're thinking of some ideas on that. We did resolve that today. We were able to replumb. They, they loosened some bolts when they shouldn't have. And, then they tighten the net and it pulled the post in they're all plum now and they've all we put loctite on the threads that type of thing to make it harder for people to have good intentions that turn into bad things but um long answer to your question but we are we're mitigating through those issues and uh we should have them we should have a suitable resolution on that that little lip on the tennis court side.

And I've had a lot of great comments about the courts as well. There was just a few Debbie downers that had voiced their opinions on that. They appreciate the cushioned playing surface, which is a lot easier on the knees and joints as, as well as just, you know, having a higher court or a higher quality court that, like they're used to playing when they go to tournaments outside of the area?

Yeah, no, understood. We've had a few minor concerns, and we're doing our best to mitigate those. So a few more days on the lip. It's small. I can see where someone would snub a toe on it or something, but we should have that fixed soon.

Okay, good. All right, thank you. All right. Jim?

No report.

Andrew?

No report. Good water.

All right. Scott?

No report.

Andy?

No report.

Julie?

No report.

Quiet group tonight. Annette? No report. All right. And how about Nicole?

No report.

All right. Final public comment.

I'm Brian Riley. I live at 6651 Horse Haven. And I just want to say that I've lived here for 20 years. And the internet is full of lies, misinformation. But that's why we live in Elko. We don't live in Reno. We don't live in Vegas. This town is run like a small town. All the people that I've ever had talked to in the city government, county government, has always been cooperative. They always listen. They are not the people you see on the internet that are taking bribes or doing anything like that. These people are honest, hardworking people and do a great job for Elko. So remember, don't believe everything on the internet. And that's why there are meetings like this. You can come here. You can ask, and I've talked to most of these people personally, and it is really easy to blame people. But please remember, we're not Reno. I know there's a lot of crap going on in Reno, but Elko is a well-run, well-respected and very honest town. So that's all I have to say.

Thank you for that, Mr. Riley. I think the rest of the board appreciates that as well. All right. Anyone else?

I'm Chance Heiner, 2393 Creek Avenue. I want to thank you guys for your transparency and the passion you guys had. You can really tell that you guys care about Elko and Thank you for cooking and enduring all that smoke during the national night out. I'm surprised you're still alive now.

Went home greasy.

Yeah, I like the transparency and stuff and definitely want to keep it like a small town. I want to see this town get better and be safer. And yeah, I want to see businesses attracted. I want to see opportunities for our kids. And I thank you guys for what you do.

Thank you. All right. All right. all right um i'll close off uh public comment and let's take a a quick break and then the board will reconvene to uh discuss the uh personnel issue then actually mr mayor you can go ahead and close the meeting since it will be closed and okay all right uh meeting adjourned uh 6 39 p.m thanks everyone