During their regular meeting this week, Churchill County Commissioners heard a report from Jake Vialpando, Field Manager of the Stillwater Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management. He introduced the new District Manager for the Carson City District office, Kim Dow. There are currently four geothermal projects that Vialpando is working on including a modification to the Dixie Meadows utilization plan brought about by the conflicts and litigation over the Dixie Valley Toad brought by several environmental groups.
According to Vialpando, Ormat has agreed to reduce the plan for the geothermal plant which was originally approved at 60 megawatts and 18 well sites to one utilization facility producing 12 mw with only nine well sites. He expects the BLM to issue the new decision before Christmas.
Commission Chairman Pete Olsen asked about the ongoing Resource Management Plan process and Dow answered that it has been paused because there is no funding. The intent is to do one Environmental Impact Statement process that will cover each RMP in the state, but due to a lack of funding, the BLM has prioritized the RMP processes across the country that are in litigation. Because Nevada does not have any litigation ongoing regarding the RMPs there is not currently any funding. She also said that during this year while waiting for funding the BLM will be doing stakeholder outreach to see what communities want to see in the RMP when the process resumes.
Deputy District Attorney Jeff Weed made a presentation regarding the public hearing for the ordinance that abolished the Churchill County Board of Health and establishes the Central Nevada Health District. The founding members of the Health District are Churchill, Pershing, and Mineral Counties, along with the City of Fallon. The health district will have all the powers of the current board of health and will also become the Rabies Control Authority rather than the Sheriff’s Office. It is expected that the board will be approved on December 2 by the State Board of Health and the first meeting will be held on December 8.
Commissioners also agreed to endorse Logos Christian Academy in their request to the Nevada Department of Transportation to extend the school zone speed limit on Sheckler Road from the High School to their facility. Andy Allen, a board member at Logos, said the school has grown from 60 students to 110 and the traffic has increased accordingly. Olsen said that the Highway 95 and Sheckler intersection has long been a top priority for the county, but now, along with the increase from Logos and the high school and the 3C Event center, “traffic has reached a crescendo.”
County Manager Jim Barbee said he and Gary Fowkes of the road department recently met with the regional manager for NDOT about the Sheckler corridor and were told NDOT does not accommodate speed limit school zones for charter or private schools, only public schools. The project would be possible, however, by extending the CCHS school zone.
The Canvass of the 2022 Churchill County Official General Election was presented by County Clerk Linda Rothery and accepted by commissioners. Rothery said the election in Churchill County went well. “The election went great and was efficient and transparent. We were the first county to report, again, and I want to thank the staff that was stretched a little thin with two polling places.”
The turnout for the 2022 General Election was 63.69%, as opposed to the 2018 General Election where 70.05% turned out, and the 2014 General Election which had 61.16%. There were 134 people who did same-day registration, with 131 ballots counted and 3 ballots being rejected because the resident did not provide proof of residency as required. There were 42 mail ballots rejected; 21 that were postmarked after Nov 8 or received after Nov 12, 9 that had no signature on the ballot envelope, 10 with signature mismatch on the ballot envelope, and 2 that were canceled voter registration because the voter had registered in another county.
Commissioners approved the request from the fire department to dispose of surplus property, authorizing disposal in any manner. Alex Haffner said that the department will donate the equipment to departments around the state that have not gotten funding needed to upgrade their equipment including Valmy, Jarbidge, Kingston, Paradise, and Austin. The Fallon/Churchill Fire Department recently upgraded some of their equipment, and Haffner said they had already used it in two recoveries, saying it is faster and worked well.
Commissioners also approved a contract with Innovative Communications Systems, LLC, for a portion of the $97,694 cost to finalize the installation of video production equipment at the 3C Event Center. The City of Fallon has provided $50,000 toward the project, and the county will cover the remaining $47,694. The equipment will allow for live streaming video during events and instant replay on the two jumbotrons and six video screens already installed in the facility. Use of the equipment will be charged to event producers as part of the fee structure in their rental contract.
The county commission meets twice monthly on the first Thursday at 8:15 a.m. and the third Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. Agendas are available at churchillconv.portal.civicclerk.com.
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