Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone, a special welcome to UNR and our UNR additional mascot through the robotic program. I'd like to call this meeting to order of the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners on April 28th, 2026. We'll go ahead and ask President Sandoval, he would be so kind to do the salute to the flag. President Sandoval, would you be so kind? Thank you. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. We'll now move to roll call, please. Chair Andreola. Present. Vice Chair Garcia. Here. Commissioner Hill. Here. Commissioner Clark.

Present.

Commissioner Herman. Here. County Manager Kate Thomas. Here. DA Mike Larch. Present. And I'm Jan Galassini, your county clerk.

Madam, you have a quorum. Thank you so much. We'll now go ahead and move to item three, the invocation, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. We are joined this morning by Karen Durst. She is the executive pastor of Grace Church Reno, which, as you know, we have a long and wonderful relationship with. So we welcome you, Karen, to come lead us in the invocation. Thank you.

Thank you.

Would you pray with me if you're comfortable? Father God, we gather together in this beautiful building, in this beautiful county in which we live and just celebrate each other and the great place that we get to do business and do life together, God. And I also want to thank you for the amazing University of Nevada that just is so beautiful and such a shining bright light in this city, God. So thank you for that. We're here to ask for your guidance, God. And so on behalf, first of all, of the city officials and the commission, I just ask for your leadership, for your wisdom, for your discernment, for your patience, for your kindness. Let them hear everything that's on the agenda today with open hearts and open minds, and then give them discernment to make wise decisions, God. And for everyone else in the room who's hearing my voice, God, I just pray that you would help us treat each other with respect, that we would value each other as equally created under you, God. And I pray that everyone here would feel honored and loved, and I pray that your peace would prevail. And I pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.

Thank you so much. We're gonna go ahead and ask, I hope everyone understands that we're gonna move 781 next, and I'd like to welcome President Sandoval.

My name is Brian Sandoval, President of the University of Nevada. It truly is a privilege and honor to be with you all today, but I don't stand here alone. So, real quickly, I want you to have a better sense of who's in the crowd with us today. We have our deans, and if I, when I ask, or when I mention each of these groups, will you please just stand very quickly? Our deans of all our colleges and schools are with us today. We also have our campus leadership, our vice presidents, the provost, and everyone else who's here, so please. We have several members of our faculty that are here with us. And staff of the leadership who is here as well. And of course students, where would we be without our students and student leadership is with us.

Both graduate and undergraduate.

We have many representatives from athletics that are with us today. Just as a point of pride, Madam Chair, I should mention our softball coach and coaches are here and they are defending Mountain West champions. And it's Rebel Week, so. And our mascots are here, I believe. Maybe they're not in the room anymore, but anyone else who's affiliated or associated with the university, please stand and be recognized. Just to get this party started, Madam Chair, and with your permission and members of the commission, I thought a brief Wolfpack chant would be in order. So this side of the room is going to be wool and this side of the room is going to be pack. So one, two, three. Thank you.

All right.

So now I'm really ready to go, Madam Chair. So it is a privilege and honor to serve as the president of what I believe is one of the country's great universities. And I think part of the theme that you will learn today as I give an update on our university, you will see that we are taking our rightful place at the table of the greatest universities in the United States of America. And it is a new era today. for our university and you're going to see the investments and some of the accomplishments that really make us proud and make the community proud. Certainly we were founded in 1874, you all know that. We are celebrating our 152nd anniversary this October. We are the state's original land grant university. So before I get into numbers and projects, I want to pause on something I think that speaks to the relationship between Washoe County and the University of Nevada. Last month, two of our students, Catherine Yeh and Crystal Montezuma, were walking near Lawlor Event Center when they spotted two Huskies darting back and forth across Virginia Street, clearly lost and in real danger of being struck by a car. So who else happened to be in the area at that very moment? our county manager, Kate Thomas, who was out for a walk with some colleagues. And thank you for walking around campus, by the way. We appreciate that. But together, the five of them worked to corral the dogs and call regional animal services. And they waited in the cold together until those animals were safely in good hands. And those huskies were reunited with their owners the very same day. So great job, Catherine and Crystal. I know the county would like to show their appreciation for the two of them as well. So, Madam Chair, I don't know if this would be an appropriate time to acknowledge.

Sure, of course. Do they want to come up and say a few words? Please, please.

Oh my goodness, thank you. Thank you. Oh, gosh. Wow.

Hello, everyone. Madam Chair, I believe only pre-vet students or pre-veterinary students would be so inclined to sit in the cold and hold on to Huskies for 45 minutes while they waited for animal services. So thank you, ladies. Yep, there are the dogs. They held them. They didn't have collars, so these lovely ladies were able to... I think they were doing it to stay warm, actually, because it was so cold. Holding onto the dogs and it got very, very hairy. So thank you. Thank you, President Sandoval.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.

So it's a wonderful story because it involved, not only because it involves Huskies, Wolfpack, but it had a happy ending and it captures something really authentic about the partnership between Washoe County and the University of Nevada. Students and county officials side by side taking care of the community, and obviously at the end of the day, that's what it's all about. And as was mentioned, they're pre-vet, so you couldn't make this stuff up, really. And we're going to get to this with the potential of a new college of veterinary medicine that we're working on. They may be able to go to school and get their education of veterinarians right here in northern Nevada. So one other thing while we're on Washoe County... Animal Services, I wanted to mention one of your officers, Roland Albert, on a personal note, he was amazing. So I don't know what kind of accommodation that you can give him, but an incredible public servant. So I want to give you a quick snapshot of the university today. We are home to over 24,000 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students offering more than 500 degree programs. We have approximately 3,500 faculty and staff who are dedicated professionals who are teaching, researching, and serving the community every single day. They're absolutely amazing. And also we compete at the highest level of collegiate athletics as a division one member of the Mountain West Conference. And as you said, there's this great showing of our athletic department here today. Our student body includes more than 750 national merit scholars, presidential scholars, and Hispanic scholars, a reflection of the caliber of students that are choosing Nevada. We hold the highest designation, the Carnegie R1 research universe designation that's very high research activity which is again the highest classification you can find and makes us one of the top 100 research institutions in the United States. We were recently designated once again as a Carnegie Community engaged university, which speaks directly to the work that we do with partners like Washoe County. And I do want to acknowledge Michael Flores, who's in the audience today. He worked, he and his team worked extremely hard in terms of, and that isn't just handed to you. You have to really show the engagement that you have with the community to accomplish that. With regard to rankings, and everybody always wants to ask about rankings, and I've thrown out a few, but U.S. News and World Report ranks us as the best national university in their 2026 edition, and Nietzsche places us in the top 130 public universities in America. I tell this story, I've told it a few times, But Time Magazine ranked the top 500 universities on planet Earth in the world. And 5 o'clock in the morning, I thought, could we possibly be included in looking through that? And sure enough, number 420 on planet Earth, our university, right here in Nevada. And Northern Nevada was ranked as number eight in the country for being one of the country's top Nevada or college towns. So that was another really important designation. And of course, we're proud of all these recognitions, but we want to climb, even climb higher. And again, it doesn't happen without all the people behind me. They are what make our university great. Now you're going to see some images. of our campus from 2006 to 2024 and as you can see there's a pretty dramatic change there and over the past decades two decades the university has completed or begun construction on 25 different buildings and in the past six years alone approximately $625 million has been invested right here in Reno and Washoe County on our campus. So obviously jobs, contractors, materials, all flowing as a result of that. But of course, we are a university that is not standing still. So I want to spend a few minutes on our most significant current and planned projects, starting with four major construction efforts that represent the next chapter of the university's growth. First is University Village. University Village was launched in early 2025 and provides 34 units of subsidized housing for faculty and graduate students just south of campus in north downtown Reno. In other words, if you jump the freeway from the university, right, it's... literally on the other side. And what was important to me is affordable housing. I know it's a challenge for all of you as well as trying to find more opportunities for affordable housing near the universities so that our graduate students, our faculty and staff could have an affordable place to stay and be able to walk to work. We've invested an incredible amount of time and resources into this project, and we've literally taken 100-year-old homes, improved the landscaping, and provided a new community and open environment for our students and staff. So as you can see on the left of the slide, you can see an example of the previous condition of one of our university village houses and the new and improved look. in the middle photo. It's a dramatic change, and I really encourage you to take a trip over there, and there's a lot more to come. So moving along, the Nevada State Public Health Lab. So for more than a century, the Nevada State Public Health Lab has been Nevada's first line of offense against public health threats. And again, it was never more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic when our lab tested more than 507,000 COVID samples. And this is the picture of the new state health lab. If we add a picture of the old state health lab, it really was incredible what they were able to do. The lab was the first in North America to confirm a case of COVID-19 reinfection, a discovery that changed how the world understood viral transmission, again, right here on our campus. As you can see here, this is the artist rendering, but we're now constructing a new state-of-the-art 55,000 square foot facility. Scheduled for completion this October really encourage you to come over and take a tour if you have an opportunity to do so But the building will triple the labs current space and house a new toxicology program expanded emergency response capabilities disease surveillance infrastructure and newborn screening programs and as I mentioned there that lab will touch a Every Nevada, no matter where you live, everywhere from Boulder City all the way to Gerlach. This lab has an effect on every residence in our great state. And just recently, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto joined us for a ceremonial brick laying at the site, marking this major milestone. The building, as I said, will is a game changer, and I would stack that building up against any state health lab you will find in the United States of America. Moving along, an athletics field house. Last August, we broke ground on a new 72,000 square foot indoor athletic field house adjacent to Mackey Stadium. over 20 years in the making the Board of Regents approved this project in June of 2025 and again we are completing completion for this fall and it's a little bit of a race between the state health lab and the athletics field house but we're very excited about it. It will serve every one of our 17 varsity sports. We were the only campus in the United States our cold weather campus in the United States that did not have an indoor facility Like this, it provides 110 yards of indoor turf, critical for year-round training in our northern Nevada climate. And obviously, sometimes we have the smoke, and the athletes and students need to practice inside. It'll have batting cages, conditioning space, a practice area for the Wolfpack marching band and capacity. And the students really wanted this. But for 1,500 guests for community events, concerts, and tailgates. So we're looking forward to that. But beyond athletics, this is for more than just athletics. It will be used by our student body for intramurals, for club sports, for recreation. It will be a community asset as well. The project uses an innovative public-private partnership model and is funded without a single cent of state-funded dollars. And again, I think I should publicly acknowledge our students because they agreed essentially to increase their fees in order to pay for this facility. So we're very grateful for that. Next, moving on, the GSR Basketball Arena. So I did want to touch on that. This obviously is not a university project, but we're excited for the GSR Arena to finish construction within the next couple of years, and it will be the future home of Wolfpack Men's Basketball. This new 300-square thousand square foot facility will feature premium hospitality clubs, suites, and a central plaza offering a premier sports arena for our athletes and our fans to enjoy. There will be buses. I get asked about this all the time. Free transportation for our students and the students will be able to attend for free. There will be a ramp where the buses will park and the students will have their own private entrance. There will be a designated space for our marching band. It's going to be fabulous, and we're really grateful for that and thankful to the Grand Sierra. Next slide is the proposed Veterans VA Hospital. And again, to orient you all, that's North McCarran Boulevard up on the northern end of campus. We are actively engaged in discussions with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs around a proposed land acquisition for a new VA hospital. We're really proud and honored to be considered for this. The proposed site, as you can see, is at the north end of our campus. And as Washoe County's veteran healthcare needs grow alongside our veteran population, the university is positioned to play a meaningful role in how the property is developed in partnership with federal, state, and local stakeholders. You know, it's really important. Obviously, there's going to be amazing opportunity for the medical school, for the nursing school, for the school of social work, for the school of public health to have these types of partnerships and to have it right here. the campus it would be fabulous and we're hopeful that we will get I don't have any new news to break now but we are the only site in all of northern Nevada that is being considered for this and we're very hopeful that we will be the site but it is not official so upcoming other upcoming construction projects. And so beside what I've just shown you, we have several projects in design or advanced negotiation that will break ground in the next year or two. The Gateway project, so move to the next slide, please. The University Hotel, which will be along Virginia Street, as you can see there. The new Tulloch Business Building is immediately adjacent to that. This privately operated hotel and conference center will be part of our Matheson University Gateway District. It will serve the university community, our visitors, and the broader Reno economy. And notably, it will be built without any public money. A big picture of the Gateway is the university's signature expansion and that hotel it'll look a little different than that but it will have a restaurant and a terrace up on top i think it really will be a destination and we'll be able to it'll have approximately 135 keys we'll be able to work with the business building and have conferences so that people can move back and forth but we're very excited about it and as you can see the business building which has only been open for a year is performing marvelously and then immediately um Not immediately next to it is the new parking garage, but moving along 600 University Way. Next slide. I'm pleased to share with you that we are engaged in a public private partnership of a 400 unit housing development at 600 University Way to further expand housing options for our faculty, staff and graduate students. And again, as I mentioned in my previous remarks, we all know that housing in Northern Nevada is a challenge, but we're committed to being part of the solution. And on this slide, you can see that 600 University Way is directly across the street from our university village. So you see the older homes there, and then immediately next to that, and then that's Canyon Flats and the Campus Central is right above it. But that project should break ground next year. And then in between the parking garage and the business building will be the new life sciences building. So the new life sciences building is a $137 million, 89,000 square foot facility in the Gateway District, and we're in almost finishing design. These are some preliminary renderings. It will house 18 research labs, four teaching labs, a 300 seat lecture hall, and conference spaces serving the College of Science and College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources. The funding combines $68.5 million appropriation from the state. We're very grateful for that. It is the largest appropriation in Nevada history for a higher ed project. In addition, we received a $30 million gift from the Davidson family for this building. So I want to linger a moment on the life sciences building because I believe it represents a genuine inflection point for the university's research capacity. and for Nevada's healthcare and biotech workforce pipeline. So you may or may not be familiar with our Fleshman Agricultural Building and it dates to the late 50s and early 60s. It's been fully amortized, I'll just put it that way. And I said this to the university, it is a great building, but we have students whose grandparents were taking the same classes in the same labs and such, so it really was time for it can't support modern HVAC, modern equipment or modern pedagogy and we even for the elevators are so old that sometimes we have to go on eBay to find the parts for those elevators. That kind of gives you a sense of what's happening there. But the new facility will train students in molecular and cellular biology, neuroscience, chemical ecology and biomedical sciences using the same tools they will use in the workforce. students trained in this building will become Nevada's future doctors, nurses, scientists, and veterinarians. So this will be a direct pipeline for Washoe County's healthcare economy. So we're very pleased about that. Speaking of healthcare, in 2021, we established Nevada's first fully integrated academic health system through a 50-year affiliation agreement between the University of Nevada School of Medicine and Renown Health. Renown, as you know, is the region's largest locally governed not-for-profit healthcare network with more than 7,500 employees across two acute care hospitals, a children's hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, and an insurance plan. So this partnership is transforming how we train physicians, conduct clinical research, and deliver patient care. is expanded residency training programs, open new clinical services not previously available in the community, and is growing our medical school class size. In short, this is collaboration that is making Washoe County healthier. So I've been kind of teasing this, but I'll move on to the next slide, which is the proposed College of Veterinary Medicine. We're really excited about this, and it's one, again, that connects back to the two students that we recognize today. Nevada is one of only a handful of states with no in-state doctor of veterinary medicine program. Students who are in their pre-vet degrees at our university and UNLV have to leave the state to pursue their doctor of veterinary medicine degree. and the data tells us that most of them do not come back. That means Nevada has a growing shortage of veterinarians with real consequences for agriculture, rural communities, food security, and public health, and obviously here in the urban areas, the waiting and the desire to have more veterinarians. So we have completed a rigorous feasibility study and presented our proposal to the Board of Regents. We did that in March. I didn't know this. There are only 32 accredited veterinary schools in the United States. So our university has a unique capacity to host a veterinary school and to integrate veterinary education with public health education, agricultural science, and our existing biomedical infrastructure. You're probably wondering when would all this happen. So if everything goes well and Again, we're going to the Board of Regents in June to seek approval to hire a founding dean or a dean for accreditation purposes. But our current proposed launch window targets provisional accreditation by 2028 with the goal of enrolling our first EVM class in the late 2020s. the Board of 2030s, I think that should say, or late 2020s. It should be like 2029. And so we would graduate our first class in 2033. The Board of Regents has been extremely excited about this and very positive. And we are hopeful that we'll get a favorable outcome at our meeting next month. Next, something that you are all intimately familiar with is our cooperative extension, something that we're very proud of. The university's cooperative extension program is expanding its 4-H youth development work in Washoe County with a new youth workforce development program. This initiative uses real-time workforce data, skills-matching software, and interest assessments to help high school students identify careers aligned with their skills and to pursue those careers here in Nevada. Community instructors, local educators, and workforce partners will implement this program together. The goal is straightforward. Help young people see a path forward right here in Washoe County rather than looking elsewhere. We're proud to build this in close collaboration with all of you and our county partners. Street reach. Finally, I want to highlight street reach. And where are our street reach folks? Yay! This is one of the most meaningful community partnerships the university has developed. Free Reach is a collaborative university effort bringing together the School of Public Health's Larson Institute, the Orvis School of Nursing, and key community partners to provide street-level health care to people experiencing homelessness. The program delivers compassionate low barrier care including wound care, HIV and hepatitis B and C testing and connection to community services directly to the people where they are. Now let me be specific about what this looks like. Every week a team of two Orvis nursing faculty, a project coordinator, a phlebotomist and a community health worker go out in the streets surrounding the CARES campus and to the Village on Sage provide follow-up care our partners include northern nevada hopes the community health alliance volunteers of america and washoe county housing and human services at this meeting today we are excited to announce a new partnership between the university and washoe county to integrate street reach directly into county services for unsheltered residents together we've signed an mou that provides for increased data and referral sharing the use of space at the Cares Campus Resource Center for our Street Reach team to meet with clients and provide care in a consistent environment, as well as allowing HIV, HBV, and HCV testing at both the Cares Campus and Safe Camp sites. So along with this MOU, I want to bring attention to item number 16, With your permission, Madam Chair, on your county agenda, the proposed transfer of the county's mobile health outreach vehicle to the university would support our shared public health activities and provide street reach with a new way to expand access to preventative care, medical screenings, and outreach services to underserved populations in our community. So I want to thank you all for your engagement in this work. The university's role in addressing homelessness is not just peripheral. You know, this is obviously a team effort and I suppose as I'm in the closing, you know, we are Nevada's original land grant institution founded in 1874. You know, we take that mission very seriously and we're very proud of it and it's central to how we serve everybody in the great state of Nevada. So, in closing again, thank you, Madam Chair, members of the Commission. We appreciate your time. We appreciate your patience. And we appreciate your attention. And most importantly, we appreciate your partnership. We are partners. We are locked in arms. And I've said, you know... A great university needs a great community, and a great community needs a great university. And we really feel the strength of this relationship that we have, and it's a force multiplier that will benefit each and every one of your constituents that reside here in Washoe County. So we're growing in enrollment, growing in research. Growing in physical presence and growing in community impact. And everything I've described today, from the street reach nurses walking the streets of Reno to the life sciences building that will train Nevada's next generation of healthcare professionals, we're all connected by a single purpose, to serve the people of Washoe County and the great state of Nevada. And I like to call it the silver thread. You know, there is a silver thread that connects us all, and every person in this room is connected by this silver thread. So with that, Madam Chair, I don't know if there's time for questions. I'm always happy to answer them. I've probably taken a little bit too much time, but it's a privilege and honor, and go pack. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Do any of the commissioners have any questions or comments?

Vice Chair Garcia. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think the silver thread you're referring to is the hair I have on my head for being on campus as long as I have. It is an honor to work on campus, and every time I walk and step foot on the campus, I'm just reminded of how much promise and opportunity and hope that our youth have and and that's the next generation and so University is 152 years old coming up fun fact She and I have the same birthday and I was born in Elko as well So there's a mayor she be as well as born on October 12th But I really wanted to highlight. I mean, I think your presentation beautifully highlights how the university is improves lives of Nevadans every single day from the rurals to the urban core. So I wanted you to just touch on how impactful the Collegiate Academy has been and what a bright spot that is for the university and bringing the college level education to the high schools. So if you could take a moment.

Madam Chair, to you and through you, to Commissioner Garcia, thank you for bringing up the Collegiate Academies. So you may or may not be aware that we provide the opportunity for high school students to take our classes on the high school campuses. We started this program three years ago actually in Clark County, and we were invited by the superintendent of schools in Clark County to do a pilot program in two of their high schools. one of which being a Title I high-risk high school. And we started out with a pilot of approximately 200 to 300 students. Three years later, we're approaching 8,000 students that are taking our courses in over 30 high schools throughout the great state of Nevada. And it has been transformative. And in my former job, one of our challenges as a state was Nevada was the worst state in the country we were actually 51st in college attainment and one of the ways to address that was to take higher education opportunities to the students on their own campuses. So we work with the superintendents of the school districts. We work with the principals and we work with the faculty of the schools throughout the state of Nevada. We offer our courses. We have trained and more than capable faculty that teach our courses and they teach it to our syllabus. And so when I go visit those schools, I tell those students, you are members of the Wolfpack. You are taking the exact same class that if I took you from Worcester High School or any of the high schools here in Washoe County or Clark County or rural Nevada and I put you in a classroom on our campus in Reno, you would be learning the exact same material and the statistics have been overwhelming we have increased the number of students taking college courses I believe it's by two or three thousand percent and where it's really remarkable is in the title high schools because those students the at-risk students did not have access to those courses and the number of students now that are taking our courses I believe it's over 60 percent now are now going on to higher education and of course we'd love them all come to the University of Nevada but they're going to TMCC they're going to Western Nevada College UNLV you know all of the institutions and it is changing their lives and I could tell you story after story of students that have come up to us and said I didn't think I was smart enough to take a college course I didn't think I was college material No one in my family ever took a college course. I'm the first one. And now I can do this. So we have students that are graduating with 30 credits before they step foot on a college campus. So these courses cost $100. But Washoe County and Clark County, and I believe most of the counties, scholarship those courses. So none of the students are out of pocket. for this and again they'll they come to our campus or any campus and they can start as sophomores and graduate in three years and they've taken their english math geography i can go down history languages all those courses are available to them and you know perhaps we'll invite you to to join us when we visit these high schools because i'm sure that we have a high school in each and every one of your districts and it really is life-changing for you to see that so commissioner thank you for the question

Thank you, Vice Chair Garcia. Any other questions? Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, President Sandoval, for your presentation. This is truly one of the most enlightening commission meetings that I've been to in my three-year career here, a little over three years. Just fabulous. The growth, the personal growth for the students you're talking about, the improvements of the community, the building, the Millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of construction and gosh, who knows how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of square footed. of buildings that you've created. It's just a fabulous, fabulous story, and it enriches everyone in the county, and it truly adds value to the county. It's a real return on investment for all the citizens here. So thank you for what you're doing. You're doing a great job. You and your team are just doing a fabulous job, a real bright spot. Thank you.

And Madam Chair, to Commissioner Clark, and you said it, it's the team. It is absolutely the team. And that's the secret sauce of this university is, yes, I'm completely biased, but I think we have the best people in the world. And it would not happen without everyone behind me. And you see how committed they are to this mission.

And your leadership with that team have demonstrated the good work that you can do. One last question. Have you ever thought about a career in politics? We could use some leadership like that in certain municipalities that I can think of. So just fabulous, just fabulous job. Thank you, sir.

Just in closing, I really have a couple things I'd just like to add. One, again, huge thanks to everybody and all the folks that are not even in this room who are making a difference every day and changing people's lives, really, for the better. I administered scholarships for 10 years, and one of the criteria was that you had, a priority was you had to go here, obviously, in Nevada, Although UNR, I am an alumni, so I always welcomed people going to the University of Nevada. But to have a vet school, finally, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, because your presentation highlighted the fact, number one, there are very few vet schools that are accredited, but more importantly, people aren't coming back and they wanted to come back. And I have many stories of those vet students who really wanted to come back. So thanks for allowing an education opportunity and to actually have that generational opportunity too, for their children to stay here and grow and enjoy everything. But I do want to just highlight and thank you for the partnership with Washoe County. And also thank you to highlighting the renowned partnership Because the Washoe Children's Behavioral Health Center, which Washoe County is standing up, we literally are going to have interns from the UNR Med School actually come and help traumatize children in various capacities for various ways. So I really wanted to acknowledge that you are about partnerships and you're more than just here. you're statewide and even globally recognized as, well, I said globally, but 42 nationally, globally, 42, 420, 420. Well, I tried to drop off the zero. I think with everything that you said, you're just going to go straight up. So hopefully it's number one, but I do want to thank you for coming and thanks all of you for what you do and changing the lives. Not only today, but the future and really putting UNR on the map in the 42 that we hope will get there. But I really would like to take a picture. A couple of the commissioners weren't here when we took a picture. And I think it might be easier for us to go behind there and take a picture of everybody instead of everybody coming this way, if that's okay. Is that okay, Mr. Eisel? Thank you. We're going to go ahead and take a quick break for a picture. Thank you. Here we are. We're going to move to now item 4A1.

Manager Thomas. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is the general update from Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue Chief Rich Edwards, who is available to provide the Board of County Commissioners a verbal report on fuel management and emergency planning and any other updates as requested monthly to the board. He is here to talk to us about community-related fire activities as well. Welcome, Chief.

All right. Good morning, Madam Chair, Commissioners, Manager Thomas. Thank you for having me. Richard Edwards, Fire Chief, Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue. Oh, that's a tough act to follow. You know, I do want to highlight one thing, though, as I begin, is our partnership with the college as well at the fire district level. Through their extension program at the College of Agriculture, Biotech, and Natural Resources, they have a program called Living with Fire, and they are instrumental in throughout this county and helping homeowners really manage the fire risk in their communities, everything from home hardening to fuel mitigation. So we really appreciate that partnership. And they're doing great work in our communities. And it's not just one agency that can share this message. And the more that we have to champion that cause and get the message out, it's only going to make us a more resilient community. So My hat's off to the community and the college for their efforts in that arena as well. As I start, I do have a couple updates for you on some different things. One of the big projects that we've been working on, I don't know if I can get the overhead here, we've been working closely with Code Enforcement, our Wild Fire Prevention Division, and our Fire Prevention Bureau to really help address questions and concerns about weeds and vegetation management throughout our community. It's something I heard when I first came into this role. I'm sure we're going to start to hear about it even more in the coming months as this is the grow period for our vegetation and our weeds and all this recent rain and everything is only going to contribute to that as well. So collaboratively, we came together and we put some terms together. We really developed a one-page sheet to really provide information to our community and how they can address these type of issues within their own property or share information with their neighbors, their community as well, to harden their entire subdivisions or neighborhoods. So really, this document helps to define what noxious weeds are, invasive species, hazardous fuels. It also talks about the enforcement and what applicable codes are prevalent. And one of those biggest ones are the International Wildland Urban Interface code. And that's really where we get our teeth for helping to enforce some of these different vegetation plans and so forth. The WUI code applies not only to new homes and homes within new additions or building permits that were issued in high risk areas that required a defensible space plan to finalize their permit. That's really where we have the authority to go out and enforce these rules and regulations. So trying to share that education to the community so they understand when we come out and maybe we don't have the authority to do what they would like, just trying to provide that education more than anything. One of the biggest components of this and what we've come up with is making our members available to community members as well. So if a community member is seeking recommendations or needs additional information, we're happy to send out one of our defensible space inspectors to provide that information, and look at their specific parcel to provide additional information on how they can best protect themselves against wildfires and the risk of wildfires. On the back page of this, and this will be posted to our website later today, we're working with Washoe County also to push this information out. But it also talks about how you can prepare your home for wildfires. And that's the biggest concern for us is to make sure that every home survives through a wildfire. And we can do that if we take the steps in advance of that fire to harden our homes or to reduce the fuels that are around it. So excited for this project to come online. Transition a little bit here. As we're talking about home hardening and fuel mitigation, we have an ending period to our open burn season. Open burning ends in Washoe County on this Thursday, April 30th, and that'll be closed until the fall. And we'll open that up again for several months so that people can burn off their vegetation if they live on a parcel that's greater than one acre in size. Exciting this weekend is also our final green waste collection. So on Saturday, May 2nd, the Silver Lake Station at 11-525 Red Rock Road will be collecting green waste from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. And on Sunday, May 3rd, We'll be at Washoe Valley at the Nevada Division of Forestry Station at 885 East Lake Boulevard from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. as well. Please bring only natural vegetation. So no household garbage or trash will be collected at these sites. And items cannot be in garbage bags. So if you bring in a garbage bag, you're going to have to dump it out and take your garbage bag with you. But just a reminder, this is our last green waste collection for the spring. And again, we'll restart this again in the coming fall. WE ALSO HAVE A MEETING THIS THURSDAY ON WILDFIRE PREPAREDNESS AND HOMEOWNER EDUCATION WORKSHOP. THIS THURSDAY AT 6 P.M. IT'S GOING TO BE AT THE SOUTH VALLEYS LIBRARY. THIS IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH our emergency management team and our regional fire partners. And really what we're going to focus on in this meeting is wildfire resilience, home hardening, vegetation management. We'll also talk a little bit about emergency notifications and then evacuation planning as well. So this is a very informative workshop. I would love to see all of our community members come out for this because we are going to experience wildfires later this year. It's It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. So making sure that we can get this information out to everybody in advance so that they can be prepared should they be impacted by a wildfire. I also want to share that within the fire district right now, this week and next week, our personnel have begun their annual wildfire training in preparation of wildfire season. So don't be alarmed. You may see firefighters out performing progressive hose lays, They're going to be practicing shelter deployments, and they're also refreshing their strategy and tactics for wildfire operations. And this is all going to culminate in a multi-agency exercise with our regional partners later in May as well. And last item, I'd love to invite everybody in the audience or those online to attend our next week's Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Board of Fire Commission meeting. It's right here in the same location at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to learn more about your fire district. So those are the updates I had for you this morning. Happy to answer any of your questions.

Thank you. Any questions? Vice Chair Garcia.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Chief. I just hopped on the website to see how many more days we have left for the regional fire EMS community survey. It looks like we have two days left.

Two days.

And I was just curious. It says 729 at the bottom. Is that the number of completed surveys or are those just people that have clicked the survey and maybe exited out? Do you know?

That I do not know. Okay. But I do appreciate you saying that. Yes, if anyone is interested in providing feedback to the regionalization study, that does end on Thursday, April 30th. It's quick to log in there and do the survey. I think it takes about five, ten minutes. And a reminder, if you have multiple people in your home that are also trying to complete the survey, If you're using the same computer or the same device, it will only record one survey. So you have to use different devices if there's multiple people in your household.

Thanks, Chief. Phones work.

They do.

And that's how I did it. So that's another option. Any other questions? So thank you. And I'd also like to give a big thank you to Commissioner Herman for having you on this standing agenda item. So thank you and appreciate all the hard work that you and the entire team do. So thank you. See you next week.

All right. Thank you.

All right. We're going to go ahead and close for A1 and move to public comment.

Item number five, Manager Thomas. Thank you. Comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person. It may pertain to matters both on and off the commission agenda. Unused time during public comment may not be allocated to other speakers. The commission will also hear public comment during individual action items with that comment limited to three minutes per person. Please make your comment to the commission as a whole.

First up, we have Jamison Chow, followed by Tristan McMinn.

Hello, commissioners. My name is Jamison Chow, and I have a concern for our community. Washoe County is considered unfriendly towards pedestrians as it fails to support pedestrian infrastructure, and its layout heavily promotes car dependency. The amount of injuries and even fatalities in Washoe County has been on the rise, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down. There were over 2,000 pedestrian injuries and 16 reported fatalities in Washoe County last year. That amount of injuries and fatalities will only go up if we don't do anything about this issue. That is why I believe we need a solution. Washoe County is considered car dependent. This means that most daily activities and services are only accessible through cars. While this might not seem like an issue, it can cause serious problems. With the way our streets are designed, walking is an afterthought. Putting sidewalks right next to traffic and bike lanes even closer is a dangerous system. Some areas of our community don't even have sidewalks. According to the National Library of Medicine, pedestrians are three times more likely to get into an accident without sidewalks compared to those who do have sidewalks. It's highly likely that pedestrians and bikers get hit while commuting, and a hit from a car can result in serious injuries and sometimes even death. The reason why commuters are forced into such a bad system is due to our current zoning laws. After the Second World War, the United States started using thousands of acres of land and turning them into suburbs. Suburbs and suburban areas are required by the single-family zoning law, the minimum lot size requirements, and setback requirements to have many similar houses with large driveways and long roads. These laws result in a lack of space for pedestrian areas, and in some cases, even sidewalks. These laws make it incredibly difficult for people to commute in Washoe County without a car. It is estimated that around 90% of all people in Washoe County commute mainly using a car. That means that most people in our town don't get enough exercise and don't get to spend as much time outside. This isn't just an issue in our town, though. The rest of the United States has the same car dependency issue that Washoe County does. The fix for this problem is very easy. In other countries, like the Netherlands, people can walk freely. People walk freely to their local jobs and markets. If we want our community to be this way, there are a few things we can do. We can build homes closer to job sites and markets. We can also build more pedestrian-friendly areas, including sidewalks and bike lanes that are far away from cars. Finally, I want to promote fully pedestrian areas, especially in Reno's downtown and in new developments, in order to create a safer and more accessible county. Thank you.

Thank you. Tristan McMahon, followed by Brooklyn Rummel.

Do you know that in 2024, over 300,000 dogs were euthanized in the U.S. alone? Personally, that disgusts me. Now, before we point fingers at the shelters who euthanized them, think about why there are so many dogs that they have to euthanize. Also in 2024, over 8 million dogs were checked into shelters. Overpopulation in dogs is a very real problem in our country. Backyard breeding is the irresponsible breeding and selling of puppies, usually in poor conditions, for the puppies and parents. When on a larger scale, they are puppy mills. With backyard breeding and puppy mills rampant in America, overpopulation is huge. Greedy and uneducated breeders never think about the well-being of the dogs they are breeding. and are reckless to say the least. Dogs not bred properly or safely are exposed to health problems such as respiratory issues and diseases. Another issue of backyard breeding is hair health. Their hair, when from a backyard breeder, can be matted, hard to brush, and can affect how much they shed. Temperament is yet another thing that is affected by backyard breeding. Now don't get me wrong, the owner plays a huge role in a dog's behavior, but the breed and breeder also play a part. A poorly bred dog can be trained perfectly by their owner, but still have temperament problems. For example, my dog Violet. We got her from a backyard breeder because we were uneducated on the topic at the time. Although we attempted to train her perfectly, she is very territorial. She is a German Shepherd, so she is naturally territorial, but she takes territorial to an extreme. It's like having an alarm system that has a personal grudge against leaves. You may have bought from an unethical breeder but hadn't known it. That's not your fault. But for next time, here's how to tell if someone is an unethical breeder. First, if there are poor conditions for the breeding animals or puppies, they're not ethical. Second, if there are no health records for the parents or children, go somewhere else. Next, if they don't answer valid questions or ask you questions, leave. A great way to find if a breeder is reputable is if they are registered with the American Kennel Club, or AKC. But don't completely rely on it. We must bring more attention to this relatively unspoken problem. If we don't, then euthanization of completely innocent dogs will only increase. Our pets deserve better. Thank you.

Brooklyn Rummel followed by Tammy Holdstill.

Good morning, commissioners. My name is Berkley Rummel, and I am concerned for what is happening in Lebanon. People are focused on the war that is happening in Israel and pushing out what is happening in Lebanon. Over 2,500 people have died from Israel attacks starting on March 2nd. Over 7,000 wounded. President Trump promised us a two-week ceasefire, yet shortly after Israel unleashed a deadly blitz, 100 strikes in just 10 minutes. 300 killed in just 10 minutes, over 1,000 injured in just 10 minutes. This just comes to show how much destruction can happen in such a short amount of time. What is happening is unacceptable, and I am not seeing enough people bring attention to Lebanon. All I ask is to spread awareness. Nothing is going to change if no one addresses the problem. Lebanon is under severe destruction, and I will not stand for it. This is corrupt and twisted, and there is no way anything will change if we just sit around. Israel is actively destroying everything in Lebanon. Everything that is behind this imaginary yellow line that they set is being erased. They aren't only destroying military targets, they are destroying schools, homes, and so much more. They are also doing more than this too. Israel government has given orders to their soldiers to shoot unarmed civilians in the south of Lebanon, even though there's actively ceasefire going on. The Israeli government has made a claim that there's no civilians past the demarcation line. Everyone has been reported to be gone. They erased 55 villages, yet they are ignoring the fact that tens of thousands of civilians still live in these villages. Lebanon is also being erased from maps, not just physically by Israeli bombardment, but also digitally. The south of Lebanon, beyond this yellow line, has been destroyed. Homes are being burned to the ground. Israel is paying people for every building they destroy. The south is not the only one facing this kind of bombardment. The north is too. Majority of the noise is Christian. Areas where people want to build families and have nothing to do with the war are being pushed out of homes. Yet in Syrian villages seem not to be affected. Dozens of Syrian villages have been left alone. This isn't the first time they've done something like this. They did it in Gaza and with the Palestinian people too. They forced the omission of longstanding villages in the West Bank and now also Lebanon. This allows Israel to have power to fluctuate and just fly under the radar. Again, all I ask is for awareness. is going to do anything if no one faces the problem. Thank you. Thank you.

Tammy Holtzstil followed by Terry Brooks.

Good morning. Tammy Holtzstil for the record. I am before you, before item number 12 shows up. I reached out yesterday to let you know or let the county know that item number 12 should not be heard due to the fact that 278.315 talks about special exceptions or special permits. Based upon your contract that you have before you that's going to be read today, there are special exceptions and special permits. It needed to be notified to the public so that they could be here for the hearing or to hear it be spoke about. Also, due to the fact that in this contract it talks about RTC, Well, RTC is a part of regional planning, and regional planning has not, on 27802556, has not been shown this or agreed upon yet. Then you also have the flooding of the BFE for a special part of it. So this shows right here why Washoe County has violated three or four different laws. And that is a problem. Let's go to another law problem, Washoe County. In 2008, there was a referendum that was voted on by the people, but yet it is not in RTC regional planning, and the NRS has muddled this due to the interference of your legal system. Washoe County is supposed to be for the people and by the people. You are not supposed to represent just special stakeholders. You are to represent the constituents that voted you into this office. That hasn't happened lately. It hasn't happened for a while now. And it needs to change. That's one of the reasons why I am running for Washoe County Commissioner District 5 because the NRSs are being used against the citizens instead of for the citizens. They're being used for the special interest and the pay to play. Washoe County needs to change their practices. And it's going to take the ones that are doing the pay to play to realize they're doing the pay to play and stop because we know others are not doing the pay to play and are doing it for the citizens. Thank you.

Thank you. Terry Brooks followed by Emma Doty.

Good morning, it's me Terry Brooks again, and I'm determined to have shared my thoughts on discrimination against people who are hearing impaired. When people are hearing impaired and hearing is something they do without, and they find themselves in a group of hearing people, they sometimes feel a bit left out. People who are deaf have learned how to read lips, but when people are wearing masks, the deaf can't see their lips. The deaf have also learned to read other people's expressions, and then they can repeat to other deaf people using their own expressions. Discriminators refer to deaf people as the deaf and dumb. I've gotten to know a few deaf people, and they are certainly in no way dumb. I once worked for a company that had a very thoughtful boss. She even hired me to work there, and she hired people with hearing loss. I worked with some contact with those who were hearing impaired, and I found their actions very interesting, not that anyone else cared. I watched them signing to and watching each other. I couldn't believe how they'd do it, but it was obvious that to them there was nothing to it. They were working in a noisy situation where hearing people couldn't hear each other. But by using ASL, American Sign Language, those deaf workers could sign to each other. And because of my contact with them, they taught me to sign the alphabet. They tried to teach me how to sign words, but I still haven't learned many yet. Even though those people could not hear but could read what each other signed, they could translate everyone else's expressions. I felt like they could read my mind. I've learned that when a lot of people lose one of their senses, they wind up learning even better how to use the rest of their senses. So when anyone discriminates against someone who doesn't need one of their senses, they need to stop and think about it and come to their own senses. I would like to thank you all for listening to me again. And if you can't hear me, say so and I'll repeat it all again.

Thank you.

Or not. Thank you.

Good morning, and thank you for hosting University of Nevada Day. My name is Emma Doty, and I am a UNR student looking forward to graduating two weeks from Thursday with a degree in chemistry. As I come to the end of my time at UNR, I think back on my proudest achievements here, having served as a senator of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, ASUN, from 2023 to 2025, which gave me the great privilege of being able to make the change I wish to see on campus. I worked on basic needs issues, primarily food insecurity, for which I created the Special Committee on Food Insecurity. One particular initiative that was suggested that we weren't able to do in my time here that I hope is looked into in the future is an on-campus grocery store that is subsidized by the university and creates student jobs and uses local produce, such as from Desert Farming Initiative, to solve the problem that students often don't have access to healthy food, such as fresh produce at UNR. You heard more about basic needs from President Sandoval earlier, and I hope you are as excited about the partnership with Street Reach as I am. And a 2024 survey of UNR students, the Civic Engagement Survey, which is run every other year, so there is one being run right now that we will have data for probably after the semester ends. The 2024 survey showed that in the six months leading up to it, 45% of UNR students had experienced some degree of food insecurity, 37% had struggled to pay for housing, and 4% had been literally homeless at any point in that timeframe. So students, as I saw as a senator, are suffering from all the same issues that the cost of living crisis is causing our community as a whole to suffer from. But too often, historically, students and the student voice have not been included in discussions about these issues. I believe this University of Nevada Day at Washoe County can change that, and that I may leave the university knowing that students who will come after me have things looking up for them. Looking at the future, I humbly ask the Commission to reach out to ASUN and to join you and our students in fighting the scourge of poverty in our community. For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Thank you.

Charlie Yingling, followed by Cynthia Perrine.

Good morning, Vice Chair, Chair and Commissioners. I'm Charlie Yingling and I'm proud to serve as the Dean of the Orvis School of Nursing at the University of Nevada. I'm here to comment on item 16 on your agenda. I want to express my profound appreciation for today's transfer of the Washoe County Mobile Health Unit to the Orvis School of Nursing and for the trust the board is placing in us as stewards of this resource. Less than a year ago, my public health colleague, Jane Fox, asked a simple but powerful question. What would it look like if our university took an active role in improving the health and well-being of Washoe County's unhoused residents? Within months, Street Reach was born. Since then, Street Reach has touched the lives of hundreds of unhoused residents through nurse-led wound care, testing for blood-borne viruses, and direct linkage to ongoing care. That work, led by Dr. Molly Koking, Dr. Theresa Watts, Professor Jason Brooks, Natalie Davidson, Jasdeep Buttar, and Carrie Ballard, along with Jane Fox, is already making a difference where the need is greatest. A few months later, another question emerged. For my nursing colleagues, Dr. Cheryl Bennett, Professor Amy Millsaps, Professor Kim Buell, and Dr. Shannon Richard, they asked, what would it look like if we partnered with Washoe County School nurses to expand access to health screenings for children, including enhanced vision and hearing testing? From that question, School Health Champions was born, and it will begin soon delivering care in partnership with Washoe County Schools. And with our colleagues at Community Health Alliance, we asked yet another question. What could a teaching health center improve for residents in places like Incline Village, where geography, insurance status, and workforce shortages collide? Together with Community Health Alliance, we're actively pursuing funding to support that vision to expand care in Incline Village. And while nothing is yet finalized, the groundwork is being laid. So what connects all of these efforts is this. We start by asking the right questions, and then we build practical nurse-led solutions alongside our community partners. Today's transfer of the mobile health unit helps us do exactly that, not just for the projects that we already have underway, but for the questions we haven't even asked yet. It gives us the ability to bring care directly to people, whether that's outside the CARES campus, at a school, in a rural or unincorporated community. It lets us respond nimbly as needs shift, and it positions Washoe County to say yes when opportunity and urgency meet. I want to give special thanks to the Community Investment Program and Project Officer Allison Castro, whose partnership and persistence helped us get this over the finish line. There are jokes to be made about red tape, but I'll say this. It turns out that when two government institutions actually want to get something done, people like Allison and Jenny Bonk from UNR-sponsored projects teams, they find a way. So in closing, please know that the University of Nevada, Reno, and the Orvis School of Nursing see this mobile health unit not as a vehicle, but as a community asset. We're committed to using it immediately, locally, and in partnership with the county to advance health, dignity, and access for the people we collectively serve. Thank you again for your leadership and for your confidence in our work. I'm very excited to look forward to what we'll build together. Thank you.

Thank you. Cynthia Perrine, followed by Beverly Schnobrick.

Good morning, Commission. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I'd like to speak to the issue of the drop box at the Cares Campus. Firstly, I would like to say that it is indeed my hope that the Cares Campus provides a refuge of succor and help to people needing this assistance. I would just like to say that I visited the Cares campus recently and I was able to go in, of course there are certain security measures going in, but I noticed that the foyer where the drop box is to be placed is rather cramped. because there is an extensive amount of security apparatuses that are in operation there, similar to having to go through airport security. There's a walk-in scanner, and there's a big scanner for your purses, and so forth. So I noticed that the area firstly is cramped. And secondly, I was concerned that the busy security people might find it a distraction as they are trying to preserve the security of the campus itself. May have to also accommodate the needs of the public coming in and out. So it's also well noted that the CARES facility is often needing the intervention of law enforcement. And this is not a small matter. The safety of the public, especially at this time of national and local safety and security, is truly at fever pitch. So given the situation, I'm thinking maybe that not having a drop box at the CARES facility might be a good alternative. Now, at the last meeting, or one meeting on April 14th, much was made about the issue of following the law. The existence of polling places and drop boxes appears to be a question of legality. And I'm not quibbling this at this time. What is at question is the specific placement of these drop boxes. It appears to be at the discretion, a matter of discretion and choice of the registrar voters. So For this reason, I think it is actually an opportunity today for the Washoe County Commission to seriously consider the reasonableness and the wisdom of placing a drop box at this facility. We as taxpayers, I just would like to note, are footing the bill.

Thank you. Beverly Schnobrich, followed by Penny Brock.

Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm Beverly Schnobrich, and I live here in Washoe County. And I would just like to say I appreciate what Cynthia Perrin just said. My comments are simple. I'm against a drop box at the CARES campus. Thank you.

Thank you. Penny Brock. I will distribute Penny's documents.

Penny Brock for the record. Reno's unsafe fenced Cares Campus is to be a site for the ballot drop box. Ballot drop boxes are to be at polling locations and Cares Campus is not a polling location. It's just a drop box location. In the area, there are of this inner downtown Reno, there are seven polling locations plus the drop box location. There are 22 early voting locations and yet the downtown quarter gets seven. That is not fair. That discriminates against the other voters in the county. Most counties lie in South Reno, Northwest Reno, North Reno, Spanish Springs, Sparks. This is not fair and discriminates against the voters in Washoe County. That's a huge issue. In the area I live in, Southeast Reno, Commission District Number 2, there is no early voting location, and yet there are thousands of voters. Southwest Reno, their polling location is way south on Mount Rose. This does not make any sense. This is wrong. I know the ROV showed a heat map that he based this on. This is ridiculous because when the downtown corridor gets seven of the 22 polling locations, this is not rational. This is not common sense. So the voters of Washoe County are being discriminated against. That is a huge issue in voting. We are to be provided polling locations. There's also concern that this drop box at the Cares Campus will be used to stuff the ballot box because the Democrats so want the CD2 seat and the governor's seat. So there's a lot of questions about the Cares Campus Dropbox. The other thing is there should be a camera dedicated solely to that Dropbox at the Cares Campus where any person can go online, view the Dropbox 24-7, and that's not being provided. Security is not being provided. There's a huge difference between a security camera on the room versus a security camera specifically dedicated to the Dropbox. Thank you.

Thank you. There's nobody else signed in. Thank you. We'll move now to Item 6, Commissioner and County Manager Updates. Manager Thomas.

Madam Chair, I believe we have 7B1 Milt Stewart with Nevada Works who is here to speak with us. We do. Sorry, I know we took President Sandoval out of order, so we'll invite Mr. Stewart, who is the CEO of Nevada Works, up to talk about an overview of his services and grants that they have received. And thank you, Commissioner Herman, for the recommendation to have Mr. Stewart here with us.

Thank you. Then, Manager Thomas, would you like then to move to Commissioner County Manager's announcements after his presentation? Sure.

Yes, Madam Chair, is that good for you?

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for waiting, but welcome to Nevada Day.

Yeah, thanks so much.

I think you got a great presentation.

Well, I hope I feel so as well. Is this how I advance the slide?

Yes.

Okay, thanks. So my name is Milt Stewart. I'm the CEO for Nevada Works, and thank you to the commission for the opportunity to speak today. Nevada Works, our organization, brings job seekers and employers together. So Nevada Works mission is to provide the best workforce solutions, fulfilling needs of employers and job seekers. And the ways that we do that, we have two sets of customers, two primary sets of customers. So job seekers are career seekers and employers. So that supply and demand aspect from a workforce development perspective. For job seekers, we're looking to help them increase their stability, self-sustaining family wages, and then to put them on career pathways so that they can be successful. From an employer perspective, the objective is to provide them with a skilled workforce that meets their needs, that their talent needs, their skill needs, so that they can have a competitive edge in the marketplace and they can be successful. So the area in green is the area that we serve. So the counties listed, the counties we don't serve, the gray, Lincoln, Nye, Esmeralda, and Clark. We have a sister organization called Workforce Connections that operates in Southern Nevada that does the same type of work that we do. So Nevada Works is actually created through a cooperative agreement of these 13 counties. So Washoe being one of them. So the work that is being done through Nevada Works is work that's being done on behalf of the county commissions and obviously you folks as well. So effectively, you all are my bosses. And so that's the model here for how Nevada Works receives. We're the administrative and fiscal entity for those 13 counties. The primary funding that we receive is federal funding from the U.S. Department of Labor through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It's federal legislation, federal workforce legislation. And so that is distributed via a formula to each state. And then once it gets to the state, the state then distributes it to each local board. Again, so for us, it is we are the entity that receives that federal funding on behalf of those 13 counties. So our approach to workforce development, we want to implement a system that meets employer needs, that would improve retention, employment, and overall earnings for workers here in Northern Nevada. And we integrate those workforce development programs with private sector, so it's not being done in a vacuum, it's being public and private partnerships. We're strengthening, the goal is to strengthen those local economies by creating that talent pipeline. And one of the things that we've become really good at as an organization is aligning resources and leveraging funding, and I'll demonstrate some funding that we received a little bit later. So really, Nevada Works is in between that hub for employers, career seekers, and skills training, so talent acquisition. So hard act to follow President Sandoval, but President Sandoval, he mentioned the Cooperative Extension. And so we actually, he also mentioned the youth program that the Cooperative Extension is standing up. So we have had conversations with that team. to figure out how we incorporate that concept into the larger workforce development ecosystem. So again, we're trying to create that, you know, the objective here is to create that world-class talent pipeline. And so based on the federal legislation and the multitude of grants that we receive, we have targeted populations, which basically are those with barriers to employment. Those individuals, but for some supports, could be in the labor market and or upskilling. And so the career development that we provide, occupational skills training, workplace learning, employability skills, case management, and so on, so those supports, mentorship, And then we are aligned with, and we currently have five industry sector partnerships. So we're aligned with the high growth in demand industries. And so while we support all industry sectors, we target those that are highest growth and the most in demand. So when I say Nevada Works, Nevada Works is a partner in the employee NV hub system. And so there are multiple partners. So think Nevada Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation, Nevada Department of Education, Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Human Services, and many others that are partners in this employee and V-Hub system. So Nevada Works' role as a local board or the local board's role is to convene these hubs, these American job centers. And that requirement is... part of that Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. So it is a responsibility of the local board to make sure that all these organizations and more are partnering together and aligning and from a resource and strategy perspective so that we're all rolling in the same direction. So the actual physical locations that we have are listed. So Carson City, Elko, Ely, Fallon, Fernley. We just did the ribbon cutting on the new Fernley facility last week. Reno, Sparks, and Winnemucca. So a little bit about the hubs or the system, the career hubs. So here in Reno, The EmployNV Hub is at the Renal Town Mall, which is Kitty Corner from Atlantis. And so currently we have a Career Hub, which provides employment services, upskilling opportunities, where they can upgrade their skills. And so it's where individuals, again, with barriers to employment or that need any types of supports, can go and be served, right? So they can find either co-located partners, literally in that building, or we have a virtual referral system where we have brought other partners into the system, into the ecosystem. So rather than say, if somebody walks in the door, rather than say, here's a business card, go across town, we actually make a referral system virtually that is received on the other end. It is trackable. And so that we know and we can we can track those services or how they're being routed through the system. So so we can look and see, hey, you know, let's say it was Reno Housing Authority just for purposes conversation. We can check in and actually there's automatic triggers and alerts that would go back to the person who made the referral and say, yes, John met with Reno Housing or no, he didn't. Right. And then so we can take it the next step. And I'm not pointing out reno housing that that's just an example but so that's uh that's something that we've implemented this year as a pilot project uh we made hundreds of referrals through that and the the turnaround uh rate is over 95 so of those individuals um that the the referrals that were made 95 of them have been received and acted upon uh by those recipient uh organizations In the hubs we have a resource center, so this is a picture of the current hub here in Reno. Computers with internet access, Wi-Fi, business types of infrastructure for individuals so that they can do job search, they can write their resume, they have access, they can fill out applications right there at the hub. And there's no cost for that. They can walk in and check in and use those services. So employer resources, full array of business solutions, recruiting and prescreening of candidates from the largest database in the state, that largest database being EmployNV.gov. So that's the virtual system. where individuals and businesses can virtually post resumes, post jobs, get labor market information. That's the virtual. We consider the hubs to be physical manifestations of those. So we all know that there are individuals that would rather do this virtually, and we have the employeenv.gov available. But for those individuals that need that human touch or that want that human touch, want to actually talk to a person, that's the idea behind the hubs so that a business or an individual can come in and get that service directly from a person. Again, this is the Reno Town Mall. The property owner graciously lets us use the common space. So this is a hiring event and a job fair. We provide labor market information, training and upskilling for staff. And by upskilling, we're talking about businesses that have employees that would like to upskill them, ideally to get a promotion or a wage increase. We can, the employee and V-Hub system can provide support so that can pay for the training, can pay for books and so on that might be necessary for that. Again, Reno Hotel Mall conference room, computer labs, the computer lab has 30 terminals in it. Interview rooms are available. And it's a no cost. And so no cost, meaning this is these are investments that public investments through the federal government, through the state and other partners. So no cost in as much as that. You know, we're all paying for it right through taxes, but there's no cost to that end recipient. And so, as I showed you, the the interview rooms and the conference rooms and so on. Those are intended, you know, we run the whole gamut as far as size of businesses. So, you know, we all know the major players, but there are smaller businesses that don't have this infrastructure, right? And so they can come in, they can use our conference rooms again at no cost. They can use the training room should they need it. They can use those interview rooms. We have calendars to schedule all that so we can provide those supports and infrastructure again at no cost to those businesses. So high-level NevadaWorks strategic approach, and this strategic approach was from a governance perspective. We have two bodies, the local elected officials. We have one representative, Commissioner Herman, is the Washoe County representative on our LEO consortium. So we have one representative from each county, so 13 members. And then we also have a council, which is required to be a minimum of 50% or 51% business. So this is business-led. The LEOs have the fiscal responsibility, so anything that's fiscal, budgets, and so on, the local elected officials, that's under their purview. And this advisory council is created through businesses. There's economic development, so here in Washoe County, thank you, Don. We have President Alexander from TMCC and the other community colleges. So to advise the local elected officials, and so we meet together, and that's our board meetings. And so the board, I say the board, so the LEOs and the business members created this strategic approach. It was not created by staff. We support it. But I think it's important to point that out, that it was not made in a vacuum. It was made by input through you all and through businesses. So identification of regional workforce needs based on collaboration, convening stakeholders to ensure alignment, SOURCE FUNDING STREAMS, SO ADDITIONAL FUNDING STREAMS BEYOND THE WIOA FUNDING, INVEST THOSE STREAMS IN INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS. WE'RE ALWAYS IMPROVING AND WE USE A HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN. SO MY BACKGROUND, THIS IS KIND OF A SECOND CAREER FOR ME. I ORIGINALLY, FOR OVER 20 years co-owned a small business with multiple retail locations back east. And so customer service is in my blood. I don't know how to think any way other than how do we make that experience, be it those individuals or those businesses, how do we make that experience work for them? So that human-centered or business-centered design is how do we make sure that that experience We like to say it's a white glove or a concierge level service because it doesn't cost us anything more to provide good service. So we're continually analyzing that. So I'll go through a few of the grants that we have. Again, the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act is, we have three funding streams there. It's about $6 million a year, plus or minus, for our territory. Again, 13 counties, 70,000 square miles. So it's one of the largest workforce development boards ever. in the United States and about 750,000 people. So that $6 million, it's not enough, right? I mean, we can do certain things, but if we want to provide that concierge level of service, we have to look to partners and we have to look for additional funding streams. So three years ago, Nevada Works applied for a U.S. Department of Commerce. This was ARPA funding. That was the Good Jobs Challenge. And so Nevada Works was awarded, and we targeted these four sectors. We, in collaboration and consultation with the Governor's Office of Economic Development, these are the four that they recommended that we focus on. And so one of the things we were able to do is 650 job placements was the goal. I will say that because of the leveraging of funding with these grants, these additional grants you're going to see and WIOA, we are over 900 right now. Our stretch goal is 1,100 individuals because we were successful at obtaining additional funding so we can leverage this funding. So we did get a no-cost extension, an 18-month no-cost extension to continue to do the work and spend out the dollars. and help individuals in our communities. We're able to create industry sector partnerships, again, where we're convening employers and workforce stakeholders, but the key thing is that the employers and businesses and industry are driving the conversations. So it's not, you know, we're here from the government to help you, right? It is, what do you need? And then we piggyback and have conversations around, this is what we heard, here's how we help. So that good jobs, 509 applicants across the United States, 32 awards. Nevada Works was one of the 32, which was almost $15 million to help distressed communities, rural communities, and the tribes. And so there are 22 tribes in the Nevada Works territory. We have a tribal liaison group. that has developed meaningful and trusted relationships with the tribes, including here in Washoe County, so that, again, we can help serve them and reduce any barriers that they might have to employment. It's education, training, and supports, and engages multiple stakeholders. Battery War Force Initiative, I'll go over this real quick in the interest of time, but this is a grant that we received from Department of Education Training and Rehabilitation, so DETR, that allowed us to stand up a lithium lifecycle industry sector partnership, and that is aligned directly with University of Nevada Reno's Tech Hub award that they received from the Department of Commerce, and so we're working hand-in-glove with the with the lithium lifecycle employers. Disconnected youth, so again, this is a DETR-funded grant. We're in conversations about extending this grant or getting additional money. The bottom line with this is that this is targeting 16 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, so either secondary or post-secondary education, and quite frankly, they're not in the workforce, so they're not in employment. And so we are in the process of developing or redeveloping, reimagining our youth delivery service model. Again, when we say youth, it's really young adults, 16 to 24-year-olds that have barriers to employment. In the five-county area in western Nevada, we just got the latest numbers, there are 7,200 youth. disconnected youth. And so what that means when I hear that is there are 72 and 7,200 individuals that need our assistance and probably more importantly, or just as important, there are 7,200 individuals that are potential, uh, uh, job candidates that can be in the labor market or in, um, secondary or post-secondary education. So they can be in that labor pool. Um, and so the disconnected youth, uh, project, um, is ongoing, we're reimagining that delivery service model, and I'll get to that a little bit more in just a second. Tech Hub, UNR Tech Hub, is around the lithium life cycle. Nevada Works has received, I think it was almost $3 million to be a part of the UNR Tech Hub, specifically around workforce development, more specifically, around engagement, so bringing UNR into the ecosystem and the ecosystem into UNR so that we can share best practices and make sure that we are aligning efforts and not duplicating the services that we provide. High Sierra AHEC is a health care grant that we received again from Dieter, and that is targeted for primarily, most of the work they're doing right now is here in Reno, Sparks, Washoe, with the intent to really spread that more across the rurals. And they reach into the school system and provide really information and identify pathways as young as a fifth grade to say, look, here's if you're interested in health care, here's the types of things, here's the career pathways. And so we help support that. Up Next Nevada Workforce is a partnership between Dieter Nevada Works and the Boys and Girls Club. That is a, really, they have a kind of a homegrown approach to early childhood education, childcare. And so this grant helps to not only foster that, but also the model that they use is their members then become mentors and help the younger folks. And so that's what this is. designed to help with. Another WIOA funding is targeted for, believe it or not, we are still, I think it's not believe it or not, we are still seeing, many folks are still seeing the impacts of COVID-19. Either their jobs were eliminated or they, you know, they didn't, weren't able to go back into those same jobs. So we have targeted funding to help those individuals so that they can cross-train or retrain or receive additional skills to get back into the labor market. Project Clean Energy Jobs. This is from the US Department of Labor. Again, it helps align our tech hub grant, our industry sector partnership grant, and it's focused around that lithium ion battery production. Apprenticeship Building America, so Nevada Works received a four-year, $4 million grant to establish employer-driven apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship readiness programs. Right now we have medical, we have electrical, we have the trades in general, so we work with the building and trades with Rob Benner over at the Building and Trades. And we are working with multiple different entities, including Nevada Works has four programs in front of the State Apprenticeship Council next month, where we will become the intermediary. So the concept behind that is the larger organizations and the trades, They have a much more mature model around apprenticeships, but we know that there are businesses, smaller businesses, that believe that there's too much red tape or believe that apprenticeships just isn't a model that they can use. And so by NevadaWorks becoming that intermediary, we can do the heavy lift for them. We have... As I said for occupations in front of in front of the state apprenticeship Council, so we can basically say look here's the curriculum here's the model let's adapt it for you as an employer will do the paperwork will will will. You know cut through all the red tape and so that's the apprenticeship building America again i'm oversimplifying it but. I would share also that that was a $4 million grant over four years with the intent to serve 400. We are just coming up to about one and three quarters years in. We're over 700. We'll be at 1,000 by the end of this program year. We haven't identified a specific stretch goal for that because we're hoping that the sky's the limit with that. Again, one of the important things is, as I mentioned, those are a handful of the grants that we have, but I think that what's important to understand is that on your behalf and on behalf of the county commissions, this is the work that we do in partnership through these employee and B hubs and that we continue to work apply for additional funding, solicit additional resources, so that we can better serve the communities. And I'll close with this, because it's, I think, of particular interest to you all as the Washoe County Commission. So for those of you who are familiar with the Reno-Talma location, currently the career hub is upstairs and the business hub is downstairs. And so downstairs, across the hall from the existing business hub, There was about 20,000 square feet. That was former Burlington co-factory Space that the made Nevada if you were in there there was a there was a kind of a consignment shot made Nevada They have moved to another location in the Reno town mall. And so we are moving relocating the business hub and the career hub from those two locations downstairs and at the same time as part of that remodel and redesign two new things one is a youth hub and So for individuals that are 16 to 24, so that we can specifically provide space for them to feel comfortable to come, we can talk about and work with them on what their needs are from an education and or workforce development perspective. And then also what we're doing there is it's around 4,000 square feet of space that we have two air walls in that is shared space that community partners at no cost can calendar for as a conference room, for training. We are providing 30 laptops so that if we had an individual or a company that wanted to do some training or a partner that wanted to do training, we have those resources available. And so technology, as far as meeting technology, we'll have three different sets of that. So when we close those walls, we have that available. And then the last thing I'll share is we didn't intend to have two projects going on at the same time. It just became that way because the space at the Reno Town Mall became available. But we have been in negotiations with And working on a project at the Audi district. So the former Lowe's building on Audi Boulevard. Right now there is, if you're facing the building to the left, is the generator space. And so Nevada Works there, it's a two-phase project. And it's going to become an employee and V-Hub. So the Sparks project. employee hub that is currently on pyramid way will be moving to the downstairs of this hub. And so it'll be a business hub, career hub, and a resource center downstairs with a set of stairs that connects to an upstairs kind of mezzanine area. It's about 5,000 square feet. That is the youth hub. So we want to take a monthly generational approach. And so we, you know, the stairs inside will allow us to kind of intermingle. So the youth, again, those 16, 24 will have the space that they've, you know, that works for them. but also exposed to a larger ecosystem. As the annex, it's about 5,000 or 6,000 square feet. So that shared space that I mentioned at Reno Town Mall, it is that on steroids. And so the biggest difference, so it's a shared space, it's a technology, it's a laptops and so on, that partners can use it again at no cost. And the benefit or the nice thing about the Audi space is that the building itself is, has 24-7 access. So Nevada Works and Partners currently pay for the Renotown Mall, and it's basically Monday to Friday, eight to five, but we're paying for it 24-7, right? And so we have made some specific accommodations for partners. to use the existing space, but we have to coordinate with the mall owner and security and so on. So this is going to allow, we're going to develop MOUs so that partners that are looking for space, we can calendar them, they have their own codes, they can get in there, they can use the equipment, and that's available to partners across the board. And with that, I will take any questions you might have.

Thank you, Mr. Seward. Any questions? Vice Chair Garcia. I feel like I'm talking a lot today.

Good morning. Thank you so much. That was very informative. I got really excited when I heard you talking about the modernization of your referral system. I think that's really critical in this day and age and super exciting news about the remodel at Reno Town Mall and the relocation. from Pyramid to Audi. So those are all new things that I was excited to hear about. You briefly talked about the funding sources and how you kind of diversified those funding over the years with state and other dollars. But I was reading online that the Trump administration and Congress are currently looking at making changes to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. So I was just curious, which programs here locally or populations are you kind of keeping an eye on? I know nothing has been done yet, but there are conversations happening.

Yeah, so the concept that's in the president's budget this year, the administration budget was proposed last year as well. And so thankfully, the WAOA funding ended up being flat, which was better than a reduction. But to the point, the current budget proposal would reduce WAOA funding by over 30%. And so while we don't know exactly what that shakes out, if we take it at face value, that would mean about $2 million less at the local level for Nevada Works. So again, to answer your question, Because we've done a really good job at diversifying our funding, at this time, we can still focus on the individuals, those with barriers to employment. Which populations are we looking at? And I hate to say it, but all of them, right? I mean, the reality is that workforce development is important to every one of us. Anyone that goes through the system, is served, and gets a job, first of all, it helps that employer, but secondly, Many of these folks are on safety net programs, so they're not paying taxes. So we get them into the marketplace, and so they're paying taxes. So the way that I approach this is I don't worry about it until it happens, right? Because the problem is you just don't know what's, with any administration, I think particularly with this one, that is not a political statement. We are apolitical. But we just understand that this administration kind of moves a little bit differently than historically. And so until we know what that looks like, it's hard for us to. to know exactly what we would do about that. But it's not gonna change how we approach this. The good news here for an organization like Nevada Works is that Dieter understands the landscape, and so they have shared, over the past few years, have shared more of the state funding that's available with the local boards, including Nevada Works. And so we're actually having conversations for the upcoming legislative session on how we might continue, how the state might continue to support the local boards. So that's probably the easiest pivot for us, and they are great partners, and we appreciate the fact that they want to invest these resources in our local communities.

Thank you. Any other questions? Commissioner Hill.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and yes, great presentation. Just two questions. For your students, what are the biggest barriers you're seeing for employment that this board could understand and see what we could do about? And then the second question is, what are other states doing that you wish you had the resources to do what they're doing?

Yeah, Milt Stewart, through you, Madam Chair, great questions. So, you know, from a resource, or what are other states doing? I would share this, that the National Association of Workforce Boards, which is really the industry association for local workforce development boards, there's about 550 of those across the United States. For the first time in their history, they held their national convention in Las Vegas, and that was intentional. because of the work that's being done here in Nevada. Both the two local boards here in Nevada are actually some of the most innovative local boards across the United States. And so I say that to say that both Jaime Cruz at Workforce Connections and myself are members of the National Association Board and also the US Conference of Mayors, Workforce Development Committee, which Mayor Schieve is past president. And so we're in that kind of group with about the 50 highest performing boards across the United States. And so we're constantly sharing best practices in both directions. And so what do I wish we could do? More of what we're already doing, right? And what I mean by that is this, you know, I'm not here with my hand out, but obviously funding, drives what we're able to do. And so in the current landscape with the uncertainty around federal funding, and if we all remember a year and a half or so ago where there was a panic that funding at the federal level was gonna cease, in fact it did in some instances, creates a lot of uncertainty around this. So as we continue to solicit additional funding, we're very grateful for the state stepping up and providing funding to Nevada Works so that we can continue to do the work that we're doing. I'm sorry, what was the first question again?

Oh, just what are your, yeah.

So it depends on where they are on the spectrum or the continuum. So... We leverage the work that the school districts do because they're good at what they do. And what I mean by that is the populations that they deal with are tough for the local board to really make any meaningful inroads on. So we rely on the school districts and we provide supports. Our end of the spectrum on that as far as training or supports is really... seniors, high school seniors and those that would be exiting, but also those individuals that might be dropouts. So what barriers do we see in general? Some of the barriers that we see just in general are transportation. So and, you know, again, not a political statement, but we know that gas prices are increasing. So so some folks have to make some hard choices around, you know, do I take that job? Do I stay home? Because the math doesn't work. Childcare expenses. Childcare is a huge thing. And we know that there are some families out there. that are making decisions on whether they would be a one- or two-income family based on childcare costs. We know that some folks, when they do the math, it just doesn't pencil out. And so that affects all of us. That affects employers, right, because the labor market shrinks. It affects the tax base because we, instead of having dual-income families, families, we have single-income families, access. And so just in general, so again, we're beefing up this hub system for those individuals to support them in person. And one of the projects that's happening at the state level is to reimagine this EmployNV.gov virtual system and make it a lot more user-friendly and bring more partners into the ecosystem to So that we can truly, from a workforce development perspective, no wrong door approach. It doesn't matter where you enter the system. If we're not the organization that can help you, we're going to get you through. And to the point around that virtual referral system, we may not be the organization. All right, we don't provide housing assistance, like use renal housing again. We're gonna make that referral, and we're gonna make sure that, you know, in that case, if somebody was unsheltered, let's do triage to get them to a place where they are ready for training or they are ready for employment. And so it's more than just kind of the quote-unquote workforce development partners. It's bringing all these organizations into this ecosystem. I mentioned earlier that we're reimagining our youth delivery service model. We've hired a consultant to do that. They have had conversations here in the Washoe County area with over 40 organizations to find out what are you doing in the sense that I hate the term silos, but I do believe that their organizations are really good at what they do. So let's lean into that. Let's bring you into this common ecosystem. So Eddie House, for example, they're good at what they do. They have a workforce development aspect. Let's weave that into the larger system so that if we have somebody that is a homeless youth that walks into any door, we know to refer them there. But also for the Eddie House, here's all the resources from a workforce development perspective that are at your disposal. We're not going to tell you how to do it necessarily. We're going to make sure that you understand that those resources are available. so that they can scale up their capacity without actually having to do it themselves. And that's really the idea behind this.

Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? I just want to thank you for a really in-depth overview of what you do. You know, I remember when you were at 560 Mill Street. I still can't believe I remember that. I was on the board, and that was a few years ago.

Yeah.

So thank you for what you do, and thanks for continuing to be the lead on workforce development and the Workforce Investment Board and partnering with everyone and leveraging resources. So get everyone to work.

Absolutely. Thanks for your time.

Thank you. All right, we'll now move to item six, Manager Thomas.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Somehow I skipped completely over that earlier, so it teaches me not to read from my iPad, but when I read from my paper, so I apologize that. We are now on the county commissioners and county managers' announcements, reports, and updates to include boards and commission updates, requests for information, or topics for future agendas. I have one quick thing. Chief Edwards, when he was speaking, reminded me that during the month of May and during the month of November, if you are a county unincorporated waste management customer, you get up to six bags, boxes, or bundles per service day that you can put out at the curb with no sticker. It's a free service that is part of our franchise agreement. So as we contemplate defensible space and I know there was a cleanup in Sun Valley, those types of things. Our service members here, the folks that have service through Washoe County's franchise agreement with Waste Management, gets put out during May, which is coming up on Friday, up to six bags, boxes, or bundles per service day. So if you have questions, you can certainly call 311. I can't speak to the Reno or Sparks contracts. I don't know what is in those, but I just wanted to make that reminder for the board.

Thank you. Thank you. We can hopefully push that out, too, so everyone will know. Commissioner Clark.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to talk about, I'd like to have a report in the future on a future agenda item. It's about what's taking place on item 12 now, and I don't want to talk about item 12, but I want to talk about the ability for limiting extensions. Sometimes we see developments that have extensions that go on and on and on and on. And so I'm not picking on this particular item, but I think we should have some type of limit there. Number one... we've got a housing shortage here and if it's a subdivision and the people continue to want to extend and extend we we probably need some more houses built to accommodate the housing shortage number one and number two be nice to have those proposed developments completed and on the tax rolls to supplement our ability to generate income for the county and deliver goods and services for the citizens. So I think we should look at that. When we see developments come back again and again and again, years and years and years, it should be a couple of, I understand a couple of extensions, but I think that we should have that as an agenda item to discuss. Again, not on this particular item, but future items and let the development community know that this is not an endless cycle of extensions. So that's a request I have.

Thank you. May I just make a comment to your comment, please? Sure. I think it might be helpful that we could have that discussion during the workshop because housing is on the, one of the items on the agenda. So just wanted to throw that out as, thank you.

Whenever you want to have it. My next item is I'd like to know what, and this is, Mr. Stewart gave us a lot of information, but You know, we have time limits for public speaking. What are the time limits for presentations? I mean, can we extend the three minutes to the people for five minutes if our presenters can go on? What is the time limit for a presentation?

Ten minutes. Thank you, Commissioner. Yes, it's ten minutes. And we do remind speakers before they arrive, we will work on that internally to make sure that we have a timer set.

Yeah, and again, nice man, nice information, but we don't need to know about how many stairs they have and how it goes to the mezzanine and how they share workspace. I mean, give us some good information and make it quick. Thank you.

Michelle. Thank you, Madam Chair. Yes there has been a lot of talk in the region about data centers and I know that this board discussed this when we were looking at priorities for the work of our team in developing new codes understanding that we don't have a ton of staff to be changing ordinances and I know we had prioritized the data center codes for later. But my understanding is now that regional is going to come up with some recommendations for local governments to consider that we just want to be part of those. And I'm curious if the manager could let us know what that would look like for us. And I just don't want us to have a data center come to us and we're caught flat footed. And then we're in a position where community members are mad at us because we're following the law because we have no other ways that we can properly regulate these uses that have legitimate concerns in our community. So, um, it would be helpful to understand how we can work as a region with sparks and Reno and make sure we have the same codes or as similar as we can be. So developers know what to expect, but also ensure that we have the proper regulations in place for whenever a development comes in our door.

Thank you Commissioner yes it's interesting we saw the writing on the wall and in our efforts to better communicate we put a little article on data center and policy and the regional partner efforts in the board brief on Thursday of last week so I'm going to if you'll forgive me I'm going to read a little bit from that just so we're all aware but We're moving forward with early discussions on a coordinated approach to data centered development which reflects the industry's interest across northern Nevada. We know the cities of Reno and Sparks have met recently and other regional organizations to discuss the potential for a unified policy that does address resource use, land use and compatibility. and long-term community impact. So the cities of Reno and Sparks have expressed interest in moving quickly. You mentioned commissioner that we have prioritized that so I know Reno has stated that they are going to begin that process along with and it sounds like regional planning as well. So since Reno's indicated a willingness to take the lead on developing the draft ordinance and then we'll coordinate public joint workshops and things like that. we're advancing this while balancing our priorities. So in the article, we referred to Edan, who weighed in last week on the region's economic competitiveness, along with the need to address infrastructure and resource considerations. So we linked to that article. And then the Desert Research Institute also did an interactive story map. So that is in there as well. So yes, we are working on it. And I refer you to the board brief. So thank you so much.

I just want to make sure the community knows that we are not just part of this discussion. We're drafting these. I'm assuming this is going to be something that will come, like we're going to have workshops maybe in the summer or something that will come in the fall. So just keep us posted on those discussions so we can make sure that we let constituents know. So thank you.

May I make a follow-up comment? Mm-hmm. One of the items when I was the chair of the Truckee Meadows planning governing board was to actually make that a priority and that was quite, it's been a while. And the update based on the governing board by Dr. Smith and the staff is that they just literally gave an update in terms of what the research is that they have discovered and then what the timeline that they're moving into in terms of setting from a regional approach so that the jurisdictions could look at the ordinance and then have some sense of consistency. And so I think it might be helpful to look at Dr. Smith coming and doing an update. I've recommended that not just for Washoe County, but having the jurisdictions all be caught up on where they're at. And I think that's really an important point because they have been working before I think data centers were on the tip of everybody's tongue. So over a year, maybe close to a year. And they've been working and having workshops and going all over and gathering information even from a national perspective so i i thought and i still serve on that board so i thought that might be something that we could look at in the future great yep and washoe county staff is participating in that as well so i think that's important along with the other jurisdictions so that i thought that might help vice chair garcia

Thank you, I know I'm the third person, so I'm not gonna talk about data centers, but I'm just gonna give a head nod, so that's my approval. I wanted to, well, Saturday we hosted our fourth community cleanup in the unincorporated part of Washoe County, and I just wanted to give special thanks to Brian Beffer, Candy Ramos, and Christine Kirkland from HR. Y'all did a fantastic job. It's overwhelming, the need that we've seen in some of our unincorporated communities in this regard. I also want to thank the volunteers from Hug High School who had the most amazing positive attitudes and they were so excited in the big dumpster flipping tires over their shoulders and to our amazing partners at Hero Environmental Services who collected a tremendous amount of e-waste. Most of the people that came were there already lined up, ready to go, wrapping around the shopping center well before 9 a.m. We had to open up at 8.40 just because the line was starting to get close to the Sun Valley Boulevard. Tremendous success. Most people had both tires and e-waste, but positive trend. We're seeing less tires, y'all, so this is good news. But these events are really critical for our unincorporated. You know, the city of Reno really does a great job. So I just wanted to, again, thanks to our county manager for being so supportive, my colleagues for supporting this, and thank you to our volunteers and staff. Appreciate it.

Thank you, I'll just add that on Saturday is Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful, great community cleanup and if you're interested in helping, you can go to ktmb.org and it's amazing. I participated in it and I'm gonna participate again. It's, to Vice Chair's point, I mean, you go to these various areas and you're just pretty surprised at the amount of leftover things that you just almost can't believe that are happening. And so this is their annual great community cleanup. So I hope everyone can think about giving back. It's at 8 a.m. and they serve an amazing lunch for the entire volunteer group throughout the entire community. So I hope everyone, I'll see everyone there. All right, we are now going to move out of Item 6 and move into Item 8, which is donations. Vice Chair Garcia. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Today I move to approve a couple of donations for the Sheriff's Office, a gift card for $53.39 for food and $3,326.69 in supplies for the Citizen Corps program who worked hot August nights.

Is that in the form of a motion? Okay, we have a motion by Vice Chair Garcia. Second. Second by Commissioner Hill. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Oh, I guess it's on our screen, too, to confirm. Great. Okay, we're going to move to consent. Consent.

Yes. If I may, I'd like to make a quick disclosure on item 92 for $8,000 grant to the University School of Medicine. I'm an employee of the University of Nevada, Reno. I am not affiliated with this funding, no procurinary interest, but I did want to put that on the record.

Thank you. Anybody have any questions on any item or anything to be pulled? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

Move to approve.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hill. Second. We have a second by Garcia. Any further discussion? I'm actually going to call for public comment now before we actually take the official vote.

There is nobody in chambers that would.

Hearing no public comment, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously, thank you. We'll move now to block, and I'm going to ask Commissioner Hill to actually do the block, please.

Yes, I recommend 10, 13, 14, 15, and 16 in the form of a motion, please.

Thank you. Commissioner Garcia, do you have anything that you'd like to add? Yes, Madam Chair. I'd like to echo the same disclosure on item number 16 of the block. Thank you so much.

We have a motion by Commissioner Hill. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Garcia. Do we have any public comment? There's none. Hearing none, any further discussion? All right. Call for the vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. And use the tablet. I believe that is going to any... Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. We're now going to move to item number 11.

Manager Thomas. Thank you. Item number 11 is a recommendation by the Community Services Department to one, adopt resolution R26-23 directing staff to initiate the introduction and schedule a first reading of an ordinance that repeals and replaces ordinance number 1552 which decreases stormwater management fees effective July 1st 2026 from nine dollars and thirty one cents to two dollars per residential parcel or equivalent residential unit for non-residential partial parcels and other matters properly relating thereto and to direct staff to initiate the design of the North Spanish Springs floodplain detention facility phase two project which allows utilizing available program funds to further reduce flood and stormwater impacts in this area of North Spanish Springs. And we are joined by Duane Smith, who is available to answer any questions should the board have them.

I'm gonna actually call for public comment. Do we have any public comment on this? Thank you.

Yeah, Tammy Holt still. Thank you.

Tammy, hold still for the record. I have spoken to residents in Spanish Springs and they are just downright absolutely concerned about the fact that you are reducing this down and that later on when the flooding comes back and the residents have an issue, that there's not going to be the money there or the funding there that should be there because you just approved a whole bunch of development that ends up being specifically to a development behind a school that you guys approved that does not have to pay the $9. They're going to pay the $2. The GID and the residents that I talked to within the GID are very concerned about this. They feel they're getting the short end of the stick and it being in a low-income housing area to begin with, people have a hard time affording to pay what they need to pay to the GID. And then to have the GID have to be responsible for anything else because you're reducing this down is just appalling. You're not looking at your citizens as a whole. You're looking at special interest. And again, taxpayers are stakeholders. There's not just the developers or other interest involved. There's also every single individual who puts money into the coffers that you are responsible for. And you need to do that. So the people that I spoke to from Sparks do not like the idea of this being reduced. Thank you.

Thank you. There's nobody else signed in. Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for Mr. Smith? Mr. Smith, do you want to add any, enlighten us with any information, maybe a quick summary of this and why the reduction is the $2.00? and the commitment that the county made to actually give this back.

Good morning. For the record, Dwayne Smith, Director of Engineering Capital Projects. I appreciate the opportunity for the board to consider this item today. This follows along the commitment that staff made to the board when we raised the fees to $9.31. We knew that the time would come when the bonds would be paid off. The last bond payment, as I indicated in the staff report, is this summer, June. And so with that, we now are in the position to reduce the user fees. These are user rate fees. These are not tax. This is not a tax. These are user rate fees. to accomplish the required ongoing operation maintenance repair and replacement of the facilities so as we included in the staff report there's there's significant information regarding our current fund balances our operational costs and how we plan on moving forward through this approach the second piece that's really important in there is that we recognize that this program really does bring significant benefit and value to the unincorporated folks within Spanish Springs. And our commitment is to carry forward with this and the second part of that request is to direct us to initiate the phase two of the capital design using available fund balance to bring more and additional benefit to the community through additional flood management approaches. And so I think this really marks, I'll say, a milestone. It's a milestone in that we're paying off the bonds. It's a milestone in that we're following through on our commitment that we've appropriately managed this fund to allow Washoe County U, the decision makers, to reduce those fees for those folks down to $2 a month. As we do with all of our utility approaches, we keep a very close eye on our fund balances, our approaches, working closely with our comptroller and our and our budget manager to make sure that we're in conformance with the Washoe County policy requirements. So I just finally put a pin in it to say that we did make sure that we're in full conformance with Washoe County fiscal policy in this approach.

Thank you. Any questions for Mr. Smith? Yes, Vice Chair Garcia.

I just wanted to clarify a comment made during public comment about the GIDs being impacted by the Sun Valley or incline. I'm not sure which one was referenced in the public comment, but I looked at the staff report. Can you speak to that point?

Through the chair, I'm not sure what GID, I'm not familiar with any GIDs in the unincorporated areas of North Spanish Springs.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Hearing no other questions, I'll entertain a motion to approve the resolution.

Move to adopt the resolution as outlined in the staff report.

Thank you. We have a motion by Commissioner Hale. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Vice Chair Garcia. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. And also press your tablet. Sometimes it comes up, sometimes it doesn't. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. We'll go ahead and close item 11 and now we're going to move to item 12. It's the first reading and introduction of ordinance and I'll go ahead and ask for the ordinance number and the first reading, please.

This will be bill number 1947 to adopt a development agreement for Prado Ranch North WTM 18-002 to extend the deadline for recording the final map to September 9, 2030. Do we have any public comment? Yes, we do. Great. We have Tammy Holtstill, followed by Danny Cleos. Thank you.

Good morning, or good afternoon again. Tammy holds still for the record. Again, this item is being read with special exceptions and special permitting. The issue I am going to address right now is the BFE. Your BFE that was raised in Lemon Valley by a gentleman in your staff that is not a hydrologist. To further show We in Lemon Valley did not flood in 2000 and or we flooded in 2017 but in the green you will find we didn't flooded those and it wasn't because of Swan Lake. We have an issue with the amount of affluent that is being discharged to that lake. One of them being, at this time, based upon what NDEP is showing, you have a unlicensed, unpermitted sewer plant. This is the last permit that they have available, last permit number. To remind you again of what it looks like And this is current. That's the BFE right now for Swan Lake. It is over the 47. It's almost at 49. Reminder of what it looked like 2017, where this property wants to be built in a floodplain that a state of emergency was called on. It goes back to, again, you approve to have a hearing and extend this permit with all of the issues that there are in Swan Lake, this NRS is what I and other residents will be using because you know that you've caused a problem. By approving this This development, it is going to flood us existing residents because Washoe County has done nothing to address the situation. Not at all. Our drainage is still the same, and this develop is going to take our floodplain away. So it goes back to this NRS. that talks about what Washoe County should be doing as a municipality. The funny thing about it is, it states right on it, throughout a drainage basin. We're a closed basin, we don't drain. So you guys have an issue that you haven't addressed since 2017. I've been before you many, many, many, many times and tried talking to you all personally about this situation. Thank you.

Danny Cleos.

Dan and Clea, for the record, I usually don't show up here because I don't like my civil rights revoked because of certain people on the panel. But this is important. This project should have never been approved in the first place. One, Quad and Knopf report, hydrology report, which nobody seems to want to read. But I used it in suing the city of Reno and winning. Next one, DRI report came out after the 2017 flood and says there shouldn't be high density building out there. That is what caused the flooding. So on top of that, FEMA, now this is a FEMA website, government website says, reasonably safe from flooding. The community must review all permit applications to determine whether the proposed building sites will be reasonably safe from flooding as one of the minimum national flood insurance program floodplains. Management requires established NFIP regulations. This has never been done. Plus, when you want a low mark, low mark, that's when you put dirt in somewhere that's going to be flooded, FEMA and their engineers have to come out to inspect it. Never was done. The other thing is, eight years is enough. If they can't get their stuff together by now, They're not going to do it. They want to continue this until 2030? What's it going to do? Just because he got approved, he needs to go back and redo everything. All of his drainage is shared with RTC. How do you do that? You can't even account for what you're going to drain. His drainage... From DRI report, is it right in the fan, drainage fan off of the mountains? Where's he gonna direct that water? To us again? Another thing, this was said back in 2018, I believe, by Mr. Smith, that you cannot build on silt. It is an unbuildable soil. Another one. It just doesn't need to be approved. It's doesn't fit our area.

Thank you. There's nobody else signed in. I just need an introduction. Thank you so much.

If we could, maybe we can have Ms Olander come up and um, but while you're coming up, um, Mr. Large, would you share some of the legality that, in terms of clarification, that was brought up with various statutes referenced?

Certainly. Just a reminder for the board, what's before you is an introduction and a first reading of an ordinance for the approval of a development agreement. That's the only thing that's before you. Item 12 allows the board to introduce and conduct the first reading of the ordinance approving the development agreement extended time for the PROTO RANCH SUBDIVISION TO FILE THEIR FINAL MAP. IF THE ORDINANCE IS INTRODUCED, A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE SCHEDULED FOR THE SECOND READING OF POSSIBLE ADOPTION OF THE ORDINANCE. TO THE EXTENT THE CONCERNS RELATE TO NOTICE PROVIDED FOR THE ITEM, THE INTRODUCTION AND FIRST READING OF AN ORDINANCE DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY NOTICE BEYOND THAT IS WHAT IS REQUIRED BY THE OPEN MEETING LAW. However, the second reading, as reflected in the staff report, the second reading in the public hearing will be scheduled for future BCC meetings in accordance with NRS 244.100 and Washoe County Development Code 110.814.25, which includes publication in a newspaper of general circulation, mailed notice to all property owners within 300 feet that is the subject of the development agreement. So in terms of notice, item 12 has been vetted by legal in regard to the proper notice being applied. if that answers your question.

Yes, thank you. Does anyone have any question for Ms. Olander since she is here? Mr. Lloyd, who's right there too, or anyone else? All right, hearing none, I'll go ahead and we just need a motion for bill number 1947.

Madam Chair, I move to introduce bill number 1947. by the county, oh, sorry, and set the public hearing and second reading of the ordinance possible for adoption during the meeting of May 26th, 2026.

Thank you. All right, we'll now move, we're gonna close item, well, we're gonna move to item 17, Manager Thomas. Gonna actually, I have to do this officially, right? Gonna open up a public hearing.

Thank you. This is a public hearing regarding a regulatory zone amendment with case number WRZA 26-0001 and consideration of Planning Commission's recommendation to adopt an amendment to the Truckee Canyon regulatory zone map to change the zoning on one parcel, which is APN 084-060-13, totaling plus or minus 624 acres from 27% Parks and Recreation and and 73% general rural to 100% general rural. And if approved, authorize the chair to sign a resolution to this effect. And there is additional information in the agenda item as listed.

Thank you. And I believe we have a presentation by Ms. Switchy, who's here? 10 minutes. 10 minutes.

Okay. Good afternoon. Courtney Wakey, Senior Planner with Washoe County. The item before you is WRZA 26-001 for Mustang RZA. Okay. So the specific request is to amend the Truckee Canyon regulatory zone map to change the zoning on a 624 acre parcel from 27% percent parks and recreation and 73% general rural to 100% general rural. The subject parcel is located at 12005 Interstate 80 East in the Truckee Canyon Planning Area. The parcel is located on the north side of Interstate I-80 near Exit 23, Mustang Road. The existing parks and recreation zoning, which is shown in kind of that brighter green, accommodated previous off-road racing events, which are defined as outdoor entertainment and isn't allowed use in the PR regulatory zone. The applicant notes the site is no longer being used for recreational purposes and they wish to return the property to its previous zoning in order to better align with the existing uses on site and surrounding properties. And to clarify, that's to go back to general rule. The proposed general rural zoning is consistent with the surrounding general rural on the parcel and adjacent parcels zoning. Expanded ag pit operations or any other future development will comply with requirements at such time the applicant chooses to do so. There will be no change to the existing access, traffic, or circulation of the site. Applicable agencies reviewed the application. Their comments are included in the staff report and no comments of concern were received. A neighborhood meeting was held virtually on December 9th of 2025. There were no members of the public that attended. Additionally, staff has received no comments or calls on the, on the request. The Planning Commission held a public hearing in March and made all the required findings and unanimously recommended approval of the subject request. And a possible motion can be found on page 12 of the staff report. And with that, that concludes my presentation. I am available for questions. The applicant also has a presentation if you would like and is available for questions as well, of course.

Thank you. Do we have any questions for staff at this point? All right. If the applicant would like to do a presentation, you're welcome to do so. Hi.

Yeah, I'm Melissa Smith with Wood-Rogers. I'm here representing our applicant, Q&D Construction. I do have a presentation prepared, which I'm totally willing to do, but it's very duplicative of everything that Courtney just said. She did such a good job presenting the project for you guys. I'm just going to skip ahead to one slide that does highlight just the benefits of this zone change. It returns the site to the original intended zoning. It eliminates split zoning across the site, aligns the site with the current existing uses and would facilitate future expansion of those uses. So this is really just a cleanup of zoning. Again, my name is Melissa with Wood-Rogers and we do have General Bath here for questions as well as representative for the applicant Q&A construction.

So there you go, thanks.

Thank you. But that was a very concise presentation. Any questions? Well, hearing none, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

I guess it was me. Madam Chair, I affirm the Planning Commission's decision and move to adopt the regulatory zone amendment as outlined in the staff report.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. And then I get to do this.

Public hearing is officially closed. Madam Chair, for the record, there was no public comment on that item. Thank you. Thank you.

Do we have another public hearing? I already did public comment, I thought.

No public hearing?

Yeah, it's public hearing.

18?

Yeah, now we're going to do the next one. All right. So we're going to close item 17, and now we're going to move to a new public hearing, which is item 18. So I'm going to officially open up the public hearing for 18. Do we have any public comment? There is none. Thank you. Great, so in the spirit of consistency and given the fact that I guess the previous public hearing could have, I don't know if you can do that, could have given you some time. But we are going to limit, we're certainly going to hear from staff, but we're going to limit the appellant, allowing the appellant to go first and the applicant to go second with 10 minutes on each side. So we'll open it up to staff to open this up, and thank you so much.

Good afternoon, everyone. Jolene Bertetto, Washoe County Planner. This presentation is for the appeal to the 515 Rhodes wall height variance. The request is for an appeal of the BOA's approval of a variance to increase the maximum allowed height for a wall from six feet to 15 feet eight inches. Varying the standard would bring into compliance an existing wall located near the applicant's eastern property line. The subject parcel where the wall is located is at 515 Rhodes Road. It is a little over five acres in size. It is in the low density suburban regulatory zone in the South Valley's planning area. This is a look at the site plan where the wall is located. You can see it's circled in yellow. It's close to the subject parcel's eastern property line. And this is a look at that wall. It is 15 feet, 8 inches in height. It's 95 feet long. According to the applicants, it was constructed eight years ago, and it is mounted with various birdhouses. In the diagram, you can see a picture of the wall in relation to the height of an average pedestrian, and you can see how those birdhouses are mounted along the side. And this is a look at that wall. This is from the neighboring property to the east, so the birdhouses in this picture would be mounted on the other side. And of note in this picture is that there is a separate fence that runs along the property line, so the wall is independent of that fence. When evaluating the application for the variance, staff did not find that there was exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape of the parcel, exceptional topographic conditions, or other extraordinary and exceptional situation or conditions. However, the BOA found there was a special circumstance, which was the removal of a mature tree and the creation of wildlife habitat with the wall, and approved the variance 5-0. And this is a look at those full findings that need to be made in order to approve a variance. The recommendation for today is to review the record and take one of the following actions. Affirm the BOA's decision and approve the variance, which would include the conditions of approval that are in attachment H, or to reverse the BOA's decision and deny the variance. Thank you. And the representative for the appellant is here with a presentation, as well as a representative for the original variance applicants.

Thank you so much. So we'll hear from the appellant at this time, and then we'll set the clock for 10 minutes. Thank you. We'll wait till you get up. And if you could introduce yourself, that would be great. Thank you.

Yes, commissioners. Again, my name is Nathan Ahman at the law firm, Valoria Oliphant, Oster and Ahman. And I'm representing the appellant, Mr. Grimes here today. Uh, this, uh, there's a little bit of history with this. And at the, uh, board of adjustment hearing, I was not available. I was not there. My client was actually not, uh, aware of it until about two days beforehand. And he was out of the country and participated very minimally. So there was very little participation by the appellate side at that hearing. But going back, and I'm a litigator, so I apologize for not having the best PowerPoint presentation here today. I believe the pictures themselves speak for themselves. I appear in courts all over the state. We don't get to do a lot of PowerPoint presentations. But what I want to do is take a step back. There's a little bit of history here with Mr. Clark. You were actually part of this about the same time that I got involved in this. There was a letter from the culture's attorney back in July of 2025. That letter raised various issues. It was sent to 14 different people within Washoe County, the DA's office, various other offices. There were allegations in that letter about Mr. Grimes' property, which he is developing, which adjoins the culture property. In that, there were allegations that there was 12,000 cubic yards of dirt put on this property. But nobody did a calculation with that. When we finally did a calculation, that would build a hill 32 feet high with 70 degree slopes on this one acre. There were other allegations about violations of septic system codes. No septic system was even designed. The Coulters have intentionally tried to create every obstacle for Mr. Grimes to develop this property. It's been delayed multiple times. In fact, there's other variance issues right now. And when Mr. Grimes went to continue working on his property, he put in and Lo and behold, you have to have a permit for a fence over six feet tall. So now, after being called out, having this project stopped by the Coulter's, having all of these issues go forward, Mr. Grimes went back and said, well, isn't this a violation? This is a 16 foot, 100 foot long fence on this property, which is right next to another fence. So what my job here today is, and I understand the law that I have the burden of persuasion to try to get you to reconsider the Board of Adjustments decision today. But what we need to do is follow Ms. Roteto's presentation and follow the law. The special circumstances considerations is the law and you have to find all four of these. And that is Washoe Development Code 110804.25. And the staff report didn't find Subsection a special circumstances existed or subsection see no special privileges Existed well, let's go back to the presentation a little bit, and you all have the copy presentation You'll have the presentation from Council for the cultures Where it's a very nice PowerPoint presentation, and what does it show? It shows a 16 foot tall beds now What I find curious is the term wildlife preservation law. That's nowhere in the Washington County Code. We don't even know what it is. I give an A for creativity, but what is it really? The Board of Adjustment couldn't determine whether it was a fence because it's right next to another fence. They couldn't determine whether it was a structure because of the size and right because it was next to the fence. So it encroached on the property line if it's a structure. And if it's a fence, it nearly tripled what the code requires. So that's where we are at. And the idea in the presentation that we had to cut down a wall Or a tree fell down, so we had to put up a wall to preserve the trees. I don't really understand this. So it's on the east side of the property. There's something in the report that talks about you have to have this wall to protect the trees. But the wall doesn't protect the trees. Everybody who lives here knows the wind comes from the west to the east. So you'll see in the presentation by the cultures, all the trees are to the west of the fence. Now, if you want to call it a wildlife preservation wall, that's another curious thing. AGAIN, I PRESENT IN COURTS ALL OVER, WHAT WE HAVE IN A REQUIREMENT WHERE YOU HAVE A UNIQUE SITUATION, SCIENTIFIC ISSUES, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME SORT OF EXPERT. HERE, IF YOU WANTED TO HAVE SOME SORT OF SUPPORT, THAT THIS 16-FOOT TALL, 100-FOOT WALL HELPED MIGRATORY BIRDS, I LOVE BIRDS, BUT THERE'S NO ACTUAL SCIENTIFIC PROOF, THERE'S NO BIOLOGY REPORT, THERE'S NOTHING SAYING THIS IS DOING WHAT THEY SAY IT'S DOING. In fact, the bird houses were put up in February of this year. So it's a wonderful presentation, and I love the fact that there's history on the age of trees, but there is no scientific evidence that shows this has anything to do as something to do with wildlife. It protects birds. I have various books on birds that I'm kind of embarrassed to admit, but I got into it with my niece and we do birdwatching. So I'm involved in that. So I don't really see how this complies. And that's where the Board of Adjustment really never addressed the elements. They never came up with really anything to decide on special circumstances and no special privileges. Well, Mr. Grimes is an aggrieved person. That's a new argument that we're going to hear today. that he is an aggrieved person because, number one, he can't see it from his property. And mind you, Mr. Grimes' property that they're calling out in their presentation is not the property at issue. The property at issue is right next to the Coulter's property. And in fact, the Coulter's, in this ongoing saga, have constructed a light pole with a camera on it. looking directly into Mr. Grimes' property, which will likely be the subject of a lawsuit as soon as Mr. Grimes is able to build, and that invades his privacy. But what could he do? He could build a 16-foot fence, maybe 30-foot, to protect himself from the camera that has been built on that side. But where does it end? Now we're just going to start building 16-foot fences all around Washoe Valley? All around these houses? I represent fencing companies. They'd love for the opportunity to charge $100,000 to build a large fence. So we would request that the commissioners here review the Board of Adjustments. And some of the comments that were made during the Board of Adjustments hearing to justify the variance were, it's cool. What was another one? Looked like it was done in pretty good faith, but here's the reality. The letter, and these letters are in the file. They've been submitted, so they're in the record. The letter that Mr. Clark was copied on, the Colters demanded that Mr. Grimes return his entire property to native conditions. Remove the dirt, put it back to native, don't build here. I believe that the wall was really just put up for privacy. You had a big tree that fell down. The Colters wanted privacy. They put this up. Yes, they have talked to their neighbors. They have gotten their neighbors to be against Mr. Grimes for his construction on those properties out there. These are old properties. Nobody really wants a new neighbor. Nobody wants new construction. But that doesn't justify the variance here because you have to have concrete proof that there are no special circumstances. This would create a special circumstance that I'm sure Mr. Grimes would not be granted. This would create a, there are no special circumstances with this property. The staff report has laid that out very clearly. It detailed that this would create special privileges with this lot and we believe that the staff report should be adhered to. Now, when the commissioners here apply all of these factors to the Coulter's argument, it just doesn't hold water. It's a 16-foot fence. It should not be allowed. And what we're asking is Mr. Grimes, as an agreed party, as a future neighbor to the Coulter's, he wants them held to the same standard that he's held to. He went and applied for a fence permit I'm told that you have a six-point limitation. The Coulter's, on the other hand, went and built this eight years ago without looking at whether a board approval was required. Thereby, based on the application to the Washoe County Code, we don't believe this variance should be allowed and the Coulter's should be held to the same standards as Mr. Grimes. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll now call for the applicant.

Good afternoon Madam Chair, members of the Commission, County Manager, Mr. Large, good to see you. My presentation will pop up. Perfect. Today I represent the Coulter's. We are certainly in opposition of the appeal filed that you're hearing today and ask that you uphold the board, the unanimous Board of Adjustment decision. The Colters received a code enforcement violation related to their wall. The violation alleged the wall was a fence or a wall in excess of six feet. Mind you, that wall or that fence, probably not a fence, I'll read that definition in a minute, but that wall had been there for eight years. not bothering anybody. We filed the variance application and went to the Board of Adjustment unanimously. Your Board of Adjustment is very smart. There's a lot of personalities on that board. A unanimous decision does not come out every day. A unanimous decision came out of that hearing. The Grimes, who you just heard from their counsel, appealed that decision. but you'll hear numerous times in this presentation, not only they don't have standing, but they do not have the arguments necessary because they can't even see this wall from their property. So a little background. The property was, and this is pretty cool, previous home to one of the largest trees in the state of Nevada. It was certified by the state for a Fremont cottonwood standing 105 feet tall and 42 feet in circumference. You can see a person there standing next to it. The size of the tree and the property's location within that migratory bird path meant the tree was home to substantial wildlife. In 2017, the Colters were forced unfortunately to remove that tree after it began to split apart with some weather events that occurred in this area. Because the tree was of exceptional size and ecological significance, its removal created a special circumstance. And that's what the Board of Adjustment found. This isn't creating precedent. How many 700-year-old trees with a circumference of 47 feet are in this neighborhood? None. Or in Washoe County? None. It was certainly a special situation with that tree coming down. And what the coulters do, rather than just ignore the situation and put up a couple ferns, they undertook some efforts at their cost to create an arboreum and a sanctuary to replace that lost habitat and protect the wildlife that had been there. The cultures embarked on this effort to create an arboreum by planting substantial new trees, and this effort led to a significant increase in the migratory bird population. UNR's classes come out here to observe this backyard and observe the wildlife, which include, you can see, A great horned owl, falcons, hawks, finches, woodpeckers, doves, pigeons, quails, blackbirds, bluebirds, blue jays. I mean, it is a nestling area, a bustling area of wildlife activity. Again, UNR sends students out here to observe. To protect and cultivate that local wildlife, the Colters built this preservation wall to shield the maturing arboreum from high winds and other environmental hazards to protect the bird. And you can see those birdhouses, which have been on there for years, and you just heard Council said they went on in February. We filed for the variance in December with pictures of the birdhouses. I don't know where February came from. It's been there for years. But certainly the height is important because in consulting bird experts, finches prefer at least eight feet high to ensure safety from predators. Cats, raccoons, wildlife, coyotes, they have to be up higher to be protected. So that's where the wall was built and the birdhouses were placed. So the variance hearing. So number one, Board of Adjustment unanimously approved this request. Two, they also questioned the authority of code enforcement to site this wall. Why? Number one, there's no definition of wall in code. But two, you heard council call this a fence. This is not a fence. It's not enclosing any space or separating parcels of land. There's already a fence on the border separating the parcels of land. This is not doing that. Or three, a structure. A structure is walled or a roofed building. So the Board of Adjustment, in addition to making every single finding for a variance, said we likely don't think there was even the authority of the county to cite this because there's no definition for wall, it's not a fence, and in fact is not a structure. So at the variance hearing, a comprehensive review was done by the BOA. And let me note, You can see the red dots here. So on the right hand side of this picture, you can see the long rectangle of where the wall is located. All these red dots are homeowners and residents who have sent in letters approving this wall, consenting to this wall. So I would argue to you, who would have standing to object to this? You can see in the far right hand side where the rectangle is located for the wall, two very big red dots. This is right behind those property owners. They have written consent on the record that they think it's fabulous. You can also see as you head around the neighborhood, eight different red dots there of saying, we consent to this. We appreciate what the Colters have done for our neighborhood. So today we're asking you to deny this request, but also I don't even think you have to get to the substantive question. You first have to say, does the Grimes have standing? And what does standing mean in your county code? It means injury to personal or property rights, not merely a party who is dissatisfied with the decision. I think what you just heard was there was no injury to personal or property rights. There was no argument they're losing value from their land. There was no argument that Mr. Grimes has suffered some personal injury that has cost him $1, $2, or any monetary value. None of that was put on the record you just heard. This is simply a party who is dissatisfied with the decision, and therefore, I would argue, there's a lack of injury and no even standing to get to the merits of the Board of Adjustments decision. And going on standing, you can see the wildlife preservation wall is on the right-hand side. The Grimes' property, you can see, is highlighted there in red. And here's some pictures. They can't even see this wall, like not even close. I would think I'd have maybe difficulty standing here if the property owner behind this wall said, I don't like it, it's too big, it puts shade on my porch, I can't sit out there and have a barbecue. No, we have consent from everyone around who can see this wall. But the Grimes, again, have no standing. And of course, the Board of Adjustment found that all of the findings could be made given the size of the tree, but did not take into consideration Mr. Grimes' argument. Because again, this is from the public road that goes in between their properties. Not only do you have trees, you have the Coulter House. You can't even see it. So just because they're dissatisfied with the decision doesn't give them the right to ask for you to overturn the Board of Adjustment. So standard lip review, the presumption was on the appellant there to make an argument that the Board of Adjustments decision was unreasonable or unlawful. I would say neither is the case. I would also say that based on your land use code, community support for the variants, environmental protection benefits, advancing the public welfare, it's been a great addition out there. And you hear some Board of Adjustment folks say, we drove out there, and there's a big pond with ducks, there's deer out there, there's all this wildlife. This has been a great addition for eight years. No one's complained for eight years to this area. And I'm running out of time, so I'll just close with number one. I'll just go back to the lack of standing. I don't even think you have to get to the merits, which I'm happy to answer any questions. But the appellant has suffered no injury. They can't see it. They haven't put on the record any personal or property rights that they're impacted. They tell a story about everything else that might be going on between these property owners. But we're here today for a variance. The Board of Adjustment unanimously approved it. And I unfortunately think Mr. Grimes and his counsel are merely just dissatisfied with that board decision, and there's nothing on the record to overturn it. So thank you, Madam Chair and Commission. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much. I'll open it up to questions at this time.

I don't have a question. We've had these variances before, and I just want staff to make a note for the future about whether we need to make changes in code on things like this. Because remember that variance in incline, which we reduced a setback because of... EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES WITH THAT PARCEL AND THAT PARTICULAR NEIGHBORHOOD BUT WHICH ALL HAD VARIANCES. I JUST THINK THAT FOR US IT'S ALWAYS WE'RE ALWAYS IN A BETTER POSITION IF WE TRY TO LEARN FROM THESE REQUESTS AND SEE IF WE NEED TO CHANGE OUR CODE AND WRITE ANY REQUIREMENTS FOR EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE THIS.

THAT'S MY ONLY NOTE, MADAM CHAIR.

Thank you. Any other comments? I'll echo Commissioner Hill. I watch the BOA, and one of the members had actually questioned the application of the modifications, director's modifications in Article 438 in the Development Code, which staff clearly stated did not apply. I believe, Mr. Lloyd, you helped clarify that as well. And I think that this has brought up opportunities to look at how we deal with variations and some of the requirements. So I will look forward to having that at a future item. So we have called for public comment. And we've heard from both the applicant and the appellant and staff. If there aren't any other questions, I'll entertain a motion at this time.

So moved, uh, to uphold the board of, um, uh, oh my gosh, a board of adjustment. Thank you. That's okay. Lost the, the word board of adjustments decision.

Okay. And I'll second. Um, any further discussion hearing none, I'll call for the vote. All those in favor, you can press the button or say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed motion carries unanimously. Thank you so much. We'll go ahead and close item 18. And I'm going to do this. Hearing closed. All right. We'll move now to item 19, which is public comment.

Manager Thomas. Chair, comment heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person. It may pertain to matters both on and off the commission agenda. Unused time may not be allocated to other speakers. And please make your comments to the commission as a whole.

First up, we have John Kilaran.

Good afternoon. John Kilaran, for the record, 46-year Reno and Washoe County resident and also a candidate for Washoe County Commission District 2. I stand before you right now and will state a qualifier at the beginning. If I am incorrect in what I'm about to say, I will stand corrected. But I just listened to a public hearing, 18, the item that you just took under consideration, and I did not hear a disclosure during this entire meeting from the district two commissioner, identifying that one of the principles in this public hearing is his single largest campaign contributor. For a candidate looking to be reelected, who places his platform on honesty, integrity, transparency, and ethics, I can't think of a more basic function within this body than the simple disclosure of that particular situation. In this very meeting, earlier, a different commissioner noted disclosures of relationships over two of the items on this agenda. These are not words that should be bandied about as political campaign rhetoric. They mean things to people, I know, because as I speak with people, they want people in positions, on commissions, and other jurisdictional bodies that manifest those very attributes. They can't just be campaign rhetoric, they have to be practiced. Now, I also want to make something abundantly clear. It is not the responsibility of either the applicant or the appellant to disclose. Although, during presentations, I heard Commissioner Clark's name brought up as having been apprised of these situations. He should be. It's the district that both he and I live in. But it's not their responsibility or job to disclose. It is his responsibility. It is a violation of the highest kind, I believe, in ethics, transparency, and honesty. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. There's nobody else signed in. Thank you. We'll go ahead and close public comment at this time and move to item 20, Commissioner County Manager's Announcements. Manager Thomas.

Thank you, Madam Chair. This is Commissioner's County Manager's Announcements, reports, and updates to include boards and commission updates, requests for information, or topics for future agendas.

I do not have anything. Anyone have anything? Commissioner Clark? Vice Chair Garcia? Well, I get. Please.

Apologies, Madam Chair. I know we want to end the meeting. I want to clarify a couple of statements that were made during public comments throughout the day that have legal ramifications that I wanted to address. The first was this morning in regard to the drop boxes and the location. NRS, in terms of the inaccuracy of whether there was an inaccuracy in regard to where it could be put at the CARES campus. NRS 293.269921, subsection three, allows the county clerk to establish a ballot drop box at any other location in the county where mail ballots can be delivered by hand and collected during the period for early voting and on election day. It does not need to be at a polling place. So that was inaccurate. Additionally, NRS 281A.420 subsection 2 subsection A does not require a commissioner to disclose campaign contributions during an item.

Thank you. Any other comments? We're going to close this meeting at 1.04. Thank you.