Elko County Board of Commissioners

Transcription

1 Elko County Board of Commissioners Commissioners Delmo Andreozzi Demar Dahl Cliff Eklund Glen Guttry Rex Steninger Elko County Manager Robert K. Stokes STATE OF NEVADA ) COUNTY OF ELKO ) ss. March 16, 2016 The Board of Elko County Commissioners met in regular session on Wednesday, March 16, 2016, at 1:30 p.m., in Suite 102 of the Nannini Administrative Building at 540 Court Street, Elko, Nevada. There were present: County Commissioners Glen Guttry ABSENT Delmo Andreozzi Demar Dahl Cliff Eklund Rex Steninger County Manager Robert Stokes CFO/Asst. County Mgr. Cash Minor NRMAC/Asst. Mgr. Randy Brown Deputy District Attorney Kristin McQueary Deputy Clerk Marilyn Tipton Sheriff James Pitts Transportation Coordinator Abigail Wheeler Elko Ambulance Chris McHan Central Dispatch Sherri McCarty Chairman Guttry called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. He noted Commissioner Andreozzi was attending a health conference and would be absent for this meeting. Commissioner Steninger led the meeting participants in the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Guttry stated they would take items out of order today for some of the people from out of town to be heard first. He would address agenda item PAGE 1

2 III, XIII, V and then Enhanced 911 before returning back to the original listing in the agenda. 1:30:28 PM: I. COMMENTS BY THE GENERAL PUBLIC: Matt McCarty, representing the Chamber of Commerce and Government Affairs Committee, stated he would like to comment upon agenda item IV. He requested them to look into this matter a little further. He stated if E911 was decided today the Chamber does not have an opinion at this time. Matt McCarty disclosed Sherri McCarty was his mother who works at Central Dispatch and anticipated she would be testifying with regards to E911. Matt McCarty stated he worked at the Marriot Towne Place Suites and a couple of years ago there was a nationwide news story about a women who died in a motel room because her daughter was unable to dial He stated the Marriot Corporation has since insured that all hotels were able to dial 911 by dialing direct 911 or 9 and then 911. He stated many of the visitors to Elko do not know the address and may say the Marriott or the Towne Place Suites. Matt McCarty stated the front desk would be able to identify that someone called but Central Dispatch may not be able to know where they were located within the City. He asked that they take that into consideration. Pam Borda, NNRDA Executive Director, stated Southwest Gas had some legislation in the last session, SB 151, and she reported they were successful. She noted that legislation allows them as a company to invest in new development. Pam Borda stated she had been working with Southwest Gas over six years to get gas to the Railport. She noted previously the County paid for some of the engineering and the four companies would have had to cover $1.2 million to get the gas line to the Railport. She stated this legislation made it possible for Southwest Gas to discuss this line with the County, the Railport tenants and get approval of the PUC to put that line in. Pam Borda stated this would be good for economic development and for infrastructure type items. Commissioner Guttry noted the line would go past Osino and inquired if the line could be extended to other areas. Pam Borda stated Southwest Gas s territory serves to the hill past the Railport. Sheriff James Pitts stated they went to a new badge which was designed after the oldest badge he could find. He displayed the new badge. Commissioner Guttry inquired what era it was designed after. Sheriff Pitts replied it was designed by Rich Rutherford s Uncle and made by a Winnemucca blacksmith. He stated they did add Established in 1869 to the badge design. PAGE 2

3 Commissioner Guttry welcomed John Carpenter, Curtis Calder and Jolene Supp to the meeting. 1:39:23 PM: II. ELKO COUNTY ADVISORY BOARD TO MANAGE WILDLIFE APPOINTMENT: Appointment of one member to the Elko County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife with a term expiring December 31, Jim Cooney, Michael Xavier and Joel McConnell expressed interest and submitted applications for appointment to this Board. Commissioner Guttry stated these gentlemen were well qualified and asked that their applications be held for a year so if there were future openings. MOTION: Commissioner Steninger moved to appoint Jim Cooney to the Elko County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife with a term expiring December 31, Commissioner Eklund seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 1:41:39 PM: III. NEVADA DIVISION OF MINERALS Discussion and consideration of a presentation by Rich Perry, Nevada Division of Minerals Administrator, regarding the Nevada Proposed Sagebrush Focal Areas Amendment describing mapping and identification work completed by the Division of Minerals including recommendations for changes to federal restrictions on mineral withdrawals and land disturbance. Rich Perry, Administrator of Division of Minerals, presented work performed by the Division of Minerals and NDOW that was used in the Governor s comment letter dated January 15, 2016 regarding the BLM mineral withdrawal. He noted the Sage Grouse Resource Management Plan came out last year and a component of that was a proposed mineral withdrawal that had a lot of requirements. Rich Perry stated the actual boundaries of the proposed mineral withdrawal came out last September. He noted the State prepared these maps over the last several months. Rich Perry submitted copies of the Governor s 28 page letter with maps. He noted within the Governor s letter he stated they do not want mineral withdrawal and that the BLM was moving too fast but if they were going to proceed they needed to look at the boundaries of what they proposed because the State saw some problems. Rich Perry displayed the impact slide of the boundaries of the proposal and they overlaid it with the active unpatented lode mining claims that exist for the FY 2016 of which there were 163,542 for the State of Nevada. He stated there was a table that showed how many of those were in habitat areas within the RMP. Rich Perry stated the largest acreage was within Elko County with 55% of the active claims within habitat areas and 45% were not. Rich Perry stated that those restrictions would have to be worked PAGE 3

4 through the current resource management plan. Rich Perry stated they coordinated with the UNR Bureau of Mines and Geology and obtained the historic occurrences of metals and industrial minerals from their archives then put together a series of maps showing historical occurrence of metals and industrial minerals. He stated they obtained Plans of Operations (POO) and Notices of Intent (NOI) for exploration and mining projects from the BLM LR 2000 database. Rich Perry stated they acquired information on townships with drill projects from the annual Nevada Bureau of Mining and Geology archives. He stated they mapped active patented mining claims and held discussions with active mining companies that were within the mineral withdrawal boundaries. Rich Perry stated they compared those on a township scale and parallel to them doing this the Division of Wildlife was doing similar maps of actual bird counts. He stated they overlaid those maps addressed the conflicts and redefined their boundaries. He stated this resulted in the proposed plan. He noted they came up with twelve areas to be removed from the BLM withdrawal and eight of the areas were within Elko County. They suggested redrawing some of the boundaries. He displayed a map titled: Area 2: Areas of High Mineral Potential in Nevada s Sage Brush Focal Areas with Outlined Areas Proposed NOT to be Closed to Mineral Entry. Rich Perry stated these were the boundaries of the proposed mineral withdrawal from the State files and they could not stake new claims and the claims that exist in them go into a nebulous and existing right zone that may require a mineral validity test at some point in time. He stated people within that zone could see impacts; costs for holding their claims and have limitations with developing their mineral deposits. Rich Perry pointed out areas of high mineral potential because of the historical activity and productivity going on today that were within the proposed mineral withdrawal area that they believed should be removed. He pointed out the historic mining districts of Wood-Gulch, Mountain City, the Jarbidge District, Charleston-Polymetallic District, the Snake Mountain Mining District, Contact Mining District, Delano and the White Rock District within Elko County where they proposed to have the boundaries redrawn. Rich Perry stated Tony Wasley was unable to be present today. He noted these maps were developed in a similar fashion by NDOW and they have different criteria such as the habitat areas and actual densities of birds per square mile. He noted the Department of Wildlife believed the Contact/Delano areas were not good habitat areas and should be withdrawn and there was not much bird density there. Rich Perry stated NDOW had proposed some areas be withdrawn and in those areas where there was high bird density they proposed that those be included. Rich Perry gave an overview of Table 1 in the Governor s letter showing areas that should be excluded because of limited quality habitat and areas proposed from exclusion which conflicts with existing mining claims. He PAGE 4

5 noted of the 2.7 million acres the proposed net change would be 161,000 acres. Rich Perry gave a synopsis of the Governor s letter wherein Nevada proposed a no action alternative and prefers the State Plan and CCS developed by the Sage Brush Ecosystem as the proper management and conservation plan. He stated they disagree with the urgency of the mineral withdrawal when there were other threats that have not been adequately addressed. If the withdrawal application was approved, Nevada had developed maps that propose better boundaries. There was much confusion about protecting valid and existing rights within the mineral withdrawal area and there were approximately 3,700 claims in the SFA. There was a world-class lithium deposit within the SFA mineral withdrawal area that the State proposes a comprehensive socio-economic analysis of the direct, indirect and cumulative impacts from the mineral withdrawal area. Rich Perry noted the Secretary of Interior was required to do that analysis under FLPMA. He noted the LUPA will have far-reaching consequences to local and state economies. Rich Perry stated through collaborative efforts it was a win-win for conservation of the bird and protects more birds, it removes 99% of the active mining claims that were in the 12 mining districts so 99% of the validity would go away and it would protect those claim holders and their active projects. Rich Perry stated the Division of Minerals has maps and information related to the Sage Grouse Management Plan. Commissioner Dahl requested Rich Perry to expand upon the owners validity test. Rich Perry stated there was a federal definition. He stated when land was removed from mineral entry; unpatented claims typically go into an area were as long as they can prove that they have a valid mineral deposit. He noted it was not just paying the assessment monies on the claim every year. Rich Perry commented companies come and stake large blocks of claims and then they do exploration. He stated mineral validity tests date back to when the federal government had to do a validity test before a claim was patented. He commented there was lots of work in that and there was not a lot of people left who have done these. Commissioner Dahl noted before they go to patent there was a lot of work already done. Rich Perry stated he was just giving the analog of mineral validity testing that was used for patenting. He stated unless there was Notice of Intent or Plan of Operation already on the property or if they just own claims and don t have a valid plan for exploration drilling or development then it could fall into one of those mineral validity tests. PAGE 5

6 Commissioner Dahl noted they were calling a claim a valid existing right and the claim was just a claim but if they haven t found the mineral then they would take away the claim. Rich Perry stated they could. Commissioner Eklund requested clarification that if a claim was not proven to be a financially valid claim prior to September 24 th then it may not be a valid claim today. Rich Perry stated that could be. Commissioner Eklund noted anyone going through the staking, surveying and cutting in roads to the claim leading up to the point of exploration where they could prove it valid had wasted their money. Rich Perry replied yes that could be. He stated this mineral withdrawal was unprecedented in the size of it. He noted 10 million acres in the west would be withdrawn. He stated mineral withdrawal was what they do when they designate national monuments. Commissioner Eklund inquired who drew up the map for the BLM and Forest Service for this mineral withdrawal and the SFAs. Rich Perry replied the BLM and the filing was by Neil Kornze. Commissioner Eklund inquired whose scientific evidence they went by. Rich Perry stated he did not know. Commissioner Dahl inquired if there were any nongovernmental organizations involved in drawing of the maps. Rich Perry replied he did not know. He commented the State believes the boundaries should be redrawn to take away the economic impacts and to protect more birds. Commissioner Steninger stated this withdrawal essentially had the effect of law and it would override the 1872 Mining Law. Rich Perry stated there were three pages in FLPMA that define the mechanism that was involved, a mineral withdrawal that can be done by the Secretary of the Interior has to go through a two year period process and evaluation. He stated in FLPMA it has a maximum of only 20 years that it can be withdrawn from because only Congress could withdraw locatable lands permanently. Commissioner Steninger understood that was in dispute also because he read the argument from the Ruby Mountain Legal Foundation that they could not do that. Rich Perry stated it was in dispute by a number of groups in different States. Commissioner Steninger stated they could see why when they have a Department of Interior making and enforcing the law. He noted they had PAGE 6

7 Quantum Minerals come before them and inquired how Quantum would protest this. He inquired who would be the judge over that. Rich Perry stated he could not answer that. Commissioner Steninger noted when they protest a BLM action they go before an Administrative law judge that was part of the Department of Interior. Rich Perry believed it was the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). Commissioner Steninger believed the Interior Department was making the law, enforcing and judging the law. He noted they were assuming all three branches of the government which seemed objectionable. Commissioner Steninger stated instead of the State quarreling about reducing the acreage by 163,000 acres then they should call their bluff. Rich Perry noted the Governor s letter states that as the first point. Commissioner Steninger had spoken to Dave Gray and knew he had asked Rich Perry how this was going to be implemented. He inquired if the State maps were accepted would they have to go through the EIS procedure again. Rich Perry stated they believe there were a number of ways for that to be addressed. He stated the negotiations between the Governor s Office and the Secretary of Interior were continuing. Rich Perry stated in the Land Use Management Plan in Section 4.2 there was a mechanism to change the Plan and there were other mechanisms to change the boundaries through supplemental EIS in FLPMA. Commissioner Steninger inquired if there had been a response to the Governor s letter. Rich Perry stated there were a number of meetings held but he had not seen a letter of response. Commissioner Dahl inquired if the Governor was still talking to Sally Jewell. Rich Perry replied yes. Commissioner Guttry noted they do not know if there was any progress on this or if anything would change. Rich Perry stated we don t. Commissioner Eklund stated they were seeing this not only in Nevada but also in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming, basically in all western states, and this had an effect upon the mining, ranching and recreation. He noted in Wyoming there was a moratorium upon coal leases. Commissioner Eklund inquired of Rich Perry what his opinion was of that path they should follow. He noted the County was involved in a lawsuit challenging this along with other counties and the State had joined in the suit. He inquired if there was something more they could do. Rich Perry stated he could not answer that from an opinion standpoint. He noted the Secretary of Interior was required to do 12 items under FLPMA with regards to withdrawals. He stated one was a detailed mineral assessment by a PAGE 7

8 geologist, mining engineer or geological engineer. He believed the mineral analysis had to be submitted within 90 days minus the Congressional meeting days. Rich Perry stated they were looking to see what that mineral analysis has in it. He noted mineral withdrawals require that there be a significant amount of work to be done to determine the impacts during the 90 day period after they actually draw the boundaries. Rich Perry noted mineral withdrawal has nothing to do with Resource Management Plans on ranching and does not change the boundaries of the SFAs. Randy Brown stated there were a couple of mechanisms that allows for the change of SFAs as part of the final EIS. He stated they were currently writing an EIS for these specific to the Sagebrush Focal Areas. He stated those boundaries were subject to change within that EIS. Randy Brown believed the Governor may be looking at that at this time. Rich Perry stated they had not seen maps from other groups but had heard there were some groups that had filed suits against the Department of Interior. He understood Nevada was the only entity that proposed changes in the boundaries. Commissioner Eklund stated they had discussed the financial impact to the mining companies and now there was the uncertainty of the investors backing away from them. Commissioner Guttry stated if this process went similar to the Forest Service road plan it does not look good. He noted they tried to stop the road closures over three years and had very little cooperation or response from them. John Carpenter believed the mining companies need help if NDOW adds all these areas because it will be a disaster. He stated in those areas there will be no livestock and no recreation because they would be close to the leks. He thought NDOW adding to these areas was a lost cause for the ranching and recreation because the BLM would want them off there. Commissioner Guttry stated if they had not noticed there were leks there in the past and did not include them, why remind them. He gets the question from people all the time of why are we still hunting this bird. Commissioner Guttry stated he could not get a straight answer to that question. Commissioner Dahl believes that verifies the bird was not the issue and it was only an opportunity to shut down the commercial uses on the public lands. 2:14:47 PM: XIII. NEVADA STATE ENGINEER ASSESSMENTS: In accordance with NRS Chapters 533 & 534, consideration of approval of the State Engineer s assessments as submitted by the Nevada Division of Water Resources and reviewed by the County Assessor s Office. Maggie Creek Groundwater Basin, Elko Segment Groundwater Basin North Fork Groundwater Basin, Boulder Flat Groundwater Basin, Steptoe Valley PAGE 8

9 Groundwater Basin Huntington Valley Groundwater Basin, Pine Valley Groundwater Basin, Starr Valley Groundwater Basin, Lamoille Valley Groundwater Basin, Mary s Creek Groundwater Basin, Mary s River Area Groundwater Basin. Goshute Valley Groundwater Basin, Rock Creek Valley Groundwater Basin, Dixie Creek/Tenmile Area Groundwater Basin, Little Humboldt River Valley Groundwater Basin, Humboldt & Little Humboldt River Distributions. Commissioner Steninger stated he had questioned the assessments and had several meetings with the Assessor, Katrinka Russell. He did not understand the assessments and had conversations with Dan Randles of the State Engineer s Office who explained these assessments were just upon the groundwater. Commissioner Guttry asked Dan Randles to explain why the Department of Water Resources assessed property taxes based upon groundwater usage to better manage the basins. Dan Randles, Nevada Division of Water Resources, stated they have created 256 basins within the entire State and the State Engineer designated 133 basins for additional work or additional monitoring. He stated the assessments pay for the additional studies and monitoring. Dan Randles stated in the 1960s was the first assessment in the Las Vegas and Pahrump areas. He noted as the mining increased and there were larger ranches then they began monitoring the areas for over appropriation. Dan Randles stated they were looking at the effects of groundwater to surface water. He noted part of the assessment would provide them the ability for personnel and for mapping. He commented Elko County had 20 groundwater basins that were assessed. Dan Randles stated for each basin reviewed they determine what their expenditures would be; create a report, and ask the County to bill the parcels within that basin to pay for the expenditures for that year. Dan Randles stated it was the same process for the nine surface water decrees within the State with the Humboldt River system being the largest. He stated they assess that system by County and for Elko County it was over $100,000 for personnel in Elko that manage the system. Dan Randles stated pursuant to NRS and the Commission had to review the assessments. Commissioner Guttry noted if a person had groundwater and surface water rights then may pay two fees if it was over allocated. Dan Randles stated the basin did not necessarily have to be over allocated for them to assess fees for them to operate. He noted this year they did a flat rate of 50 cents but if there was a basin that falls outside of that it could be 45 cents per acre foot. Dan Randles reported the Humboldt River system fee was set by the State Legislature because it was far reaching; the maximum fee was PAGE 9

10 $0.03 per acre foot. Dan Randles stated the State Engineer believed it should be moved up to a 50 cent rate which was what they have taken the groundwater to. Commissioner Dahl stated this was a good example of efficiency and commended the Division of Water Resources. MOTION: Commissioner Steninger moved for approval of the State Engineer s assessments as submitted by the Nevada Division of Water Resources and reviewed by the County Assessor s Office. Commissioner Dahl seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 2:22:25 PM: V. NEVADAWORKS: Discussion and consideration of the approval of an amended Cooperative Agreement for the Creation of Nevadaworks. Elko County joined the other 12 rural counties in 1999 to form Nevadaworks which provides workforce development services such as education, training and support services. In 2014, Congress reauthorized the Workforce Investment Act which requires the County to consider approval of an updated amendment to the 1999 Nevadaworks agreement. Commissioner Eklund noted most counties reviewed it through their legal counsel and approved it. He noted Nevadaworks works with JAG an organization that was within the West Wendover School District to train children and help them to graduate. He stated Community in Schools and JOB Connect receives some funding for student training and job placement for people out of work and in need. John Thurman, Nevadaworks CEO, inquired if they had any questions on the information provided. Commissioner Eklund inquired about the stance of support for the Community in Schools program. He knew a large amount of their funding was removed from the grant funding because of the percentage of people being trained outside of school. He stated JAG received a lot of that funding removed from CIS. Commissioner Eklund stated they have some private investors for CIS but they cannot replace the funding they lost through the grants. He inquired if there was a chance for CIS to get that funding back. John Thurman stated under the Workforce Investment Act a minimum of 30% of the youth dollars received must be spent on out-of-school programs. He noted under the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act which supersedes the WIA that number was now 75% goes to out-of-school programs. John Thurman stated the CIS program was an in-school program as well as the JAG program. He stated as a result of the large amount of funding to be spent upon out-of-school programs; at the last budget session the decision was made to go with the JAG program throughout northern Nevada. Commissioner Eklund inquired if the funding could be split. PAGE 10

11 John Thurman stated they could not move between the two programs due to federal guidelines. He stated Communities in School will have the opportunity to submit their request for proposal during the following February. Commissioner Guttry inquired what JAG stood for. John Thurman replied Jobs for American Graduates and noted the Governor sat upon the National Board of Directors and JAG was within 34 states. He noted the JAG program was operating within 50 schools statewide. John Thurman stated JAG was a larger program and the portion Nevadaworks funding was a small piece of their yearly budget. Commissioner Guttry inquired what their yearly budget was. John Thurman replied $7 million dollars for all their funding. Commissioner Eklund stated both JAG and CIS work within the Elko County School District but JAG was only operating within West Wendover. Kristin McQueary stated according to the cooperative agreement they would follow-up with a Resolution. MOTION: Commissioner Eklund moved to approve the amended Cooperative Agreement with Nevadaworks pending the Resolution that would be prepared by staff and brought back to the Commission. Commissioner Dahl seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 2:30:24 PM: IV. ENHANCED 911 (E911): Discussion and consideration of authorization to initiate the process for the development of E911 in Elko County. The Central Dispatch Board recommends taking the steps required to improve the current 911 System to an Enhanced 911 System including the installation of the necessary upgrades of equipment and software, creation of the statutory advisory committee that will develop a plan to manage the upgraded system and consideration of a monthly per telephone (landline and cellular) surcharge of twenty-five cents and trunk line surcharge of two dollars and fifty cents to fund the upgrade project. This will require a county ordinance process including a public hearing for implementation. Curtis Calder reported there was a contingency of the folks that represent the executive board and operations board for Central Dispatch present today. He stated the Central Dispatch Authority was established through an interlocal cooperative agreement and not all cities participate. He noted West Wendover and Owyhee has their own dispatch center and they also contract out to several entities within the County to provide those services. Curtis Calder noted started in 1968 and over time the service became more technically advanced. He reviewed Central Dispatch s mission statement and explained the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) system which was not an Enhanced system. PAGE 11

12 Curtis Calder stated for the Enhanced 911 they would need additional components and gave an overview of the features of the Enhanced 911 system. He noted there would be an upfront cost in capital of $230,000 with a recurring cost of approximately $150,000. He stated the option of the selected router could be brought in later years. Curtis Calder stated there was a funding mechanism under NRS 244A.7643 and most of the other counties within the state have established this fee. He noted it was $ 0.25 per line fee for those services which would include the mobile phones as well as their landlines and their trunk lines. He stated they estimated $171,000 from the lines. Commissioner Guttry inquired if the cost per cellphones was charged similar to the landlines and questioned the technology to locate a cellphone. Curtis Calder believed Enhanced 911 had some level of cellphone analysis but it was not as good as the Next Generation (NexGen) which could locate it down to a foot. He stated Bill Hance could clarify that. Commissioner Eklund requested clarification upon the trunk line which was at $2.50 per line. Curtis Calder explained trunk lines served more than one such as for the college and most major employers. He stated the surcharge would be used to pay for the required capital components for the Enhanced Curtis Calder noted the statutes required that an advisory committee be established by the County Commission for the oversight of these monies and their 5 year plans. He gave an overview of the proposed 5 year plans. Kristin McQueary inquired if they had coordinated with the Assessor s Office and their GIS data base. Curtis Calder stated they were aware of that data base and felt that would be a starting point. He stated a lot of the cities have Master Street Address Guides and GIS systems as well which were great resources. He commented they had not started that process and reviewed the support from the different participants inclusive of West Wendover which would benefit from the Enhanced 911. Commissioner Guttry had received comments from the Ruby Valley Fire service and read that into the record as follows: Ruby Valley Fire and others have given the Dispatch Center a sheet of GPS coordinates for ranches and homes in Ruby Valley three or four, or five times. Then, we would be talking to Dispatch to send resources and they will ask if we had a GPS coordinate. It was really frustrating. At the last medical call I helped with it happened exactly as I have described. Since there is a good chance that someone from the Dispatch Center will be at the meeting tomorrow could you ask them how we can have a more cohesive effort to use existing GPS that the Dispatch Center has at their disposal. I am not against the Enhanced 911 but there was a disconnect with the PAGE 12

13 Dispatch Center and the resources they already have. I have begged, pleaded and cajoled to no effect. Even if E911 is installed, there are a lot of areas that don t have cell service where the pre-documented GPS coordinates were really important to effectively locate the patient or fire. Make no mistake any dispatcher can get an ambulance to 540 Court Street; the rural areas were more difficult. Whatever encouragement the Commission can give the Dispatch Center to work in a more serious and a more seamless manner with local resources would be appreciated. The Dispatch Center needs to be less than an ivory tower and more of a user friendly branch of the County EMS system. You will get a plethora of excuses about the NCIC computers. It is my hope that you will ask for solutions not excuses. Specifically, what is the Dispatch Center doing to train personnel to effectively send resources to an incident at locations in rural Elko County? If passed, I hope the fees will sunset after the enhanced system was paid off. We may end up dusting off the tax later in the event that we need to pay for other County-wide radio systems but I am uncomfortable about the idea of it becoming a slush fund in perpetuity. Bill Hance, of the Executive Board, stated he had dealt with the Dispatch Center technically and administratively for the last 15 years. He has tried to get 911 at the Dispatch Center since 1991 because they were at the 1968 technology. He stated they have just improved the hardware for reliability. Bill Hance stated they moved into the new facility at the airport in 2000 which had backup power. He explained when someone dials 911 the phone company converts it to a seven digit number and forwards it to Dispatch. He reported in 2006 they upgraded the telephone system and they could get caller ID. Bill Hance stated they have to do a backwards trace through the carriers to find a location if the number was blocked. He stated if the Dispatch Center does not know the telephone number they do not know where to start because they cannot tie it to a set of coordinates and that was where the Master Street Address Guide helps to give them the coordinates. Commissioner Guttry noted the written comments sounded like they had worked with Dispatch and gave them the GPS coordinates. Bill Hance stated it was in a paper binder and they have to research it which takes time. Commissioner Guttry inquired if Enhanced 911 would solve this problem. Bill Hance stated if they dialed in from a 753 it would show where that number was assigned to either through a street address, an assessor s address or the coordinates if it was rural without an address. Commissioner Eklund had worked with Bill Bauer when he was the Carlin Chief of Police and they had a rollover in the middle of night by the river between Elko and Carlin but the responders could not locate the car. He stated they called PAGE 13

14 in for help but it took a helicopter 2 to 3 hours to find them. Commissioner Eklund inquired if this enhance system would relieve that problem with cellphone calls. Bill Hance replied a lot of the 911 systems were at the ability to triangulate between multiple cell towers to give a rough location to a quarter of a mile. He cautioned if there was only one site it was still difficult. Bill Hance stated NexGen was the next step with a selective router built in so they could get GPS address from a cellphone. He commented this technology change would require different equipment. Bill Hance stated cellphone providers were not required to provide the information from the GPS until they have the equipment in place and they tell them they were ready to take it. Bill Hance stated once they start this process then they go to all the carriers and inform them to gather the GPS data. He stated they have six months to comply and submit that information to Dispatch. Commissioner Guttry stated the Board members thought most of their taxpayers felt they had this service. He inquired why this had taken so long and if it was the cost. Bill Hance stated initially it would have cost the County but after under NRS there was the ability to initiate a surcharge. He commented people in Elko County may be paying for 911 services in another state if they brought a cellphone from another state. Bill Hance commented all the phones with Nevada numbers within the State of Nevada pay into the Carson City 911 phone system because currently there was no functionality for Elko to collect that. He gave examples of trunk lines within Elko. Commissioner Guttry noted Commissioner Andreozzi could not attend today but submitted comments upon this agenda item. He read Commissioner Andreozzi s comments as follows: I believe it would be a good idea to have a public hearing to get the word out and contact some industries and Chamber of Commerce. I feel they should handle it similar to how they handled the infrastructure tax. I support the concept and felt modern technology will save lives and money. I believe one of the bomb threats received at the City was on a landline that could not be identified. Commissioner Guttry noted the Chamber of Commerce had already weighed in on the subject and believed this process would take some time to go before the public and go through the Ordinance process. Bill Hance stated the Commission would have to pass the Ordinance before they could go forward. He reported Nevada has some of the last few counties within the United States that do not have the Enhanced 911 system. Commissioner Guttry stated they need to let the public know the cost, and the Ordinance needs two public hearings for passage. Kristin McQueary stated the County would also have to draft and approve a Business Impact Statement. PAGE 14

15 Commissioner Steninger inquired if the phone company collects the surcharge. Bill Hance stated the phone companies do collect the surcharge and then it was remitted to the County and under NRS it was the County s responsibility to fund the operation. Robert Stokes requested clarification that West Wendover and Owyhee was not part of the system. Bill Hance stated that was correct and Owyhee was closer to a 911 link. Robert Stokes inquired how the surcharge would work in those areas. He inquired if the enhancement would be available to them. Bill Hance stated Elko County would be the only County with multiple public safety answering points within it. He believed the advisory board would have to look at the requests from West Wendover or Owyhee to tie into the system. He stated if there was a selective router installed here it would be a benefit to any user. Robert Stokes stated staff was supportive of taking a look at this and appreciated the request from Commissioner Andreozzi for additional hearings so the public could ask their questions. He stated technically it only takes one public hearing but two readings for the Ordinance process. Robert States asked if in the interim would the folks from the Central Dispatch Center answer those questions by the public and give us some information. He noted the Commission would make the decision upon surcharge for payment of this service. Commissioner Eklund inquired with the remoteness of this County and the industries operating within the remote areas would it be beneficial to them. Bill Hance replied it would be better because they could get their location from cell phones but they may have some problems with getting the geo location from satellite phones. Commissioner Guttry noted their presentation stated 40,000 people would benefit from it but there were over 50,000 within the County. Bill Hance stated every resident in this County could benefit from it. He noted people with services such as Vantage would be required to give them their geo location of that telephone. Bill Hance stated the modern phone systems made since 2000 were designed to send a room number or extension number or location which may require programming. He stated getting addressing within the County would take time especially in the rural areas and it would be an ongoing expense. Robert Stokes inquired if a family of four had four cell phones would the surcharge be per phone. Bill Hance stated the family would be paying $1 per month and the Lifeline Service for the seniors do not incur the surcharge. PAGE 15

16 Randy Brown inquired if there was interface with the County GIS. He stated the County already had a lot of information available that they were looking for. He noted in the past they had talked about interface with the County and the county had over the years developed a data base of location and addresses. Bill Hance acknowledged the County did most of the footwork in putting the addresses onto to the buildings. He noted the Master Street Address Guide would tell them when a person moved from an apartment complex or when a phone was dropped. Randy Brown stated the County GIS system would address the rural areas within the County. He stated the Assessor and Appraisers have spent a lot of time going out to these ranches and gathering GPS locations into their system. He stated the County GIS could give you the coordinates immediately and inquired if there was going to be any ability to interface with the 911 system. Bill Hance stated that would work through an import to the selective router. He stated they would take the information from Frontier, Rural Electric, Beehive, AT&T and Century Link then Master Street Address Guide would tie everything together. He noted last time they spoke to Frontier they had 20 to 30 changes a day. Randy Brown encouraged them to talk to the County Assessor s Office to have that cross reference available. He stated they may be able to transfer some of that information into the 911 data base system. Commissioner Steninger inquired if the Advisory Committee could address Neil McQueary s concerns or would they only oversee the funding. Bill Hance stated the Advisory Committee was an oversight committee that would take the funding from the surcharge and allocates it to the entities. He stated the E 911 surcharge was for anything that would get the information from the caller to the responders which include the selective router, to the officer s responding radio, etc. Commissioner Guttry noted Neil McQueary had given Central Dispatch coordinates to the ranches within Ruby Valley but every time they called Central Dispatch they didn t have the coordinates. He inquired if that could be remedied. Bill Hance stated he would research that issue. John Carpenter voiced support in investing in this technology. MOTION: Commissioner Eklund moved to give authorization to initiate the process for the development of E911 in Elko County. Commissioner Dahl seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 3:11:43 PM: RECESS: Chairman Guttry called a recess at 3:11 p.m. 3:28:50 PM: PAGE 16

17 RECONVENE: Chairman Guttry called a recess at 3:28 p.m. 3:28:56 PM: VI. ELKO COUNTY AMBULANCE SERVICE: A. Discussion and consideration of the approval of an agreement with Dr. Robert Stefanko, M.D. to serve as the Elko County Ambulance Service Medical Director. The Ambulance Service Medical Director advises, reviews, and maintains ambulance service practices, standards, protocols and policies. The agreement provides for a monthly payment of $1,000 per month. Chris McHan, Interim Director, stated Dr. Duran had retired from being their Medical Director. He stated Dr. Stefanko had offered to assume that position; the agreement was reviewed by the Doctor and legal counsel. MOTION: Commissioner Dahl moved to approve an agreement with Dr. Robert Stefanko, M.D. to serve as the Elko County Ambulance Service Medical Director. Commissioner Eklund seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. B. Report of activities related to the operations and actions of the Elko County Ambulance Service. Chris McHan gave a summary upon their service volume and staffing statistics. Commissioner Dahl questioned how many transports they had. Chris McHan replied 3,316 transports in 2015 with four ambulances in service and that included the transports to Salt Lake City and Reno. He stated they had contracted out their billing services in 2015 to Health Services Integration. He noted the gross collection rate increased to 43.7% and the adjusted collection rate was 91.7% with claims submission time dropping. Chris McHan stated their in-house biller now had time to catch up with collections and was the go between for the billing company and crews. He stated they went to Image Trend for their charting and they can now report data quicker to the State. Chris McHan noted in 2015 the airport closure lasted longer than expected which resulted in overtime for staff on transports to Battle Mountain and Wells. He commented most long distance transports were declining with most of them being psychiatric in nature. Chris McHan stated they were still waiting for an OIG opinion on the ambulance subscription program. He stated with regards to Mobile Integrated Healthcare the Nevada Revised Statutes have been amended but the State EMS Office was developing the final rules and regulations. He noted there was an education element and GBC was being looked at. Commissioner Guttry inquired if HSI was able to address the backlogged receivables. Cash Minor stated there was $1.2 million on a gross basis. PAGE 17

18 Chris McHan stated Health Services Integration was getting 91% of the adjusted collection rate. Cash Minor stated historically they had one ambulance biller on staff and the Medicare-Medicaid rules kept changing but by using HSI people they were up on the new training for Medicare and Medicaid. He stated with regards to the liability issue of not having people trained in this type of billing this was a benefit to the County. 3:39:02 PM: VII. ELKO COUNTY HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT: A. Discussion and consideration of authorization of a request for leave without pay of an employee in the Sheriff Office. Ms. Alana Tsosie has been on medical leave since November 30, 2015 and has exhausted all paid and FMLA leaves. In accordance with the General Unit Labor Agreement, the management maximum 30 day unpaid leave through March 22, 2016 was approved. It is requested that additional unpaid leave be approved by the Commission up to April 15, Amanda Osborne, HR Director, stated they were requesting a couple of additional weeks for Ms. Tsosie and they have a release from her physician which would allow her to come back to work at that time. She noted there was a follow-up appointment next week so that time frame may be shorter. Amanda Osborne stated according to the contract the management group can approve up to 29 days for unpaid leave. She stated with the Sheriff s support they request approval of the additional leave. MOTION: Commissioner Dahl moved to approve the request for leave without pay of an employee in the Sheriff Office, Ms. Alana Tsosie, up to April 15, Commissioner Eklund seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. B. Discussion and consideration of the renewal of the agreement between the Nevada Department of Business and Industry Housing Division and Elko County for a no local match Welfare Set Aside Grant of $12,000 to provide assistance for rent and utilities for low income housing. Amanda Osborne, HR Director, stated they have been receiving the housing set aside grant for over twenty years of $12,000 to help individuals from being evicted or moving into a low income home. She noted this helps the low income people to stay in a home a little longer. MOTION: Commissioner Eklund moved to renew the agreement between the Nevada Department of Business and Industry Housing Division and Elko County for a no local match Welfare Set Aside Grant of $12,000 to provide assistance for rent and utilities for PAGE 18

19 low income housing. Commissioner Steninger seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 3:42:09 PM: VIII. ELKO COUNTY TRANSIT DEPARTMENT GET MY RIDE: Discussion and consideration of authorization for a grant application to Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division for $49,500 for transportation services. This grant requires a 15% match that historically has been fund by RTC contributions. Abigail Wheeler, Elko County Transit Coordinator, stated this was an annual grant that they apply for and there was a match associated with it. She stated historically the match was taken from RTC in the amount of $7,425. Commissioner Dahl inquired if this will continue to happen. Abby Wheeler replied yes this was their sixth annual application. Commissioner Steninger noted $7,425 was the requested RTC amount but on the application it showed $25,000 to $40,000 would be coming from the RTC. Abbigail Wheeler stated they come in every July meeting asking for a contribution and in April they would request a separate amount. She noted they use this money for grant matches. Commissioner Steninger inquired if the grants have a long history. Abby Wheeler replied the funding had been around a long time and was associated with the tobacco money. She stated if those grants dry up, they would pursue other revenue sources. Cash Minor stated if the Federal Transportation Grant went away then that transportation would go away because the County could not continue to operate that. Commissioner Guttry noted it was $1 million dollar budget with $200,000 from Elko County. Abigail Wheeler clarified the $200,000 would be reduced by the grant funding. MOTION: Commissioner Eklund moved to authorize a grant application to Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division for $49,500 for transportation services. Commissioner Steninger seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 3:46:32 PM: IX. FEDERAL LANDS MANAGEMENT ISSUES: A. Elko County Natural Resource Information Hearings / Congressional Field Hearings. Discussion and consideration of possible Congressional Field Hearings or County Resource Information Hearings to be to be held related to Sage Grouse Focal Areas and potential impacts to the environment, wildlife and public land multiple uses such as hunting, ranching, mining and outdoor recreation. PAGE 19

20 The Commission directed that the local County hearings be deferred for a time in lieu of a potential Congressional Field Hearing. Commissioner Dahl stated there was no commitment on that Field Hearing. Commissioner Steninger felt they should continue hearings such as with Rich Perry and ask NDOW to come in and ask why they want to expand the areas. Commissioner Guttry understood that was negotiation to take out the important mining areas. Commissioner Dahl suggested they move forward with the hearings because any information gathered would be important for the Congressional Hearing or court case. Commissioner Guttry inquired if the Governor s Sage Brush Ecosystem Committee was still going and would like to have them come in. Commissioner Dahl stated J.J. Goicoechea was their Chair and they may be interested in coming in at the same time as NDOW. Commissioner Steninger stated the maps were laid at the feet of the BLM. He suggested requesting someone come in from the BLM to answer questions. Commissioner Dahl stated they could ask for the new State BLM Director to come and talk to them. B. Discussion and consideration of Commission support of a letter forwarded by the American Lands Council addressed to the President and Congress encouraging legislation to allow the transfer of federally controlled lands to willing States. Commissioner Guttry stated had written comments from Commissioner Andreozzi and read them into the record as follows: I support efforts to gain control of our public lands but I am concerned with the tone of this Letter of Petition. I feel that it needs to be a direct request without any of the commentary remarks. Commissioner Guttry had spoken with Commissioner Andreozzi to clarify his concern about the remarks and found he had a problem with the metastasizing reference and also with the paragraph regarding the reduction of the Sheriff s Office in Oregon. Commissioner Guttry felt they should make a direct request. Commissioner Steninger stated when he received Commissioner Andreozzi s comments he had telephoned him and had a similar conversation. He pointed out this was a petition that they could not rewrite it. Commissioner Guttry inquired if they could change it. Commissioner Dahl stated it was not well written because someone took bits and pieces. He stated upon the last page they tried to tell a story in four lines and that does not work well. Commissioner Dahl noted it was a petition and PAGE 20