Commission Meeting Recap

Nevada Legislature update

At the April 15 Eureka County Commission meeting, in reporting on legislation being considered by the Nevada Legislature, assessor Mike Mears said, “Last Friday at midnight was the first big deadline for the session with committee passage,” meaning “anything that did not get voted out of committee is basically dead at this point.” Mears said half the bills he’s been tracking died by committee deadline. The next hard deadline is April 22.

Bills that are important to Mears include SB116, the Elected Officials Salary Bill, which passed out of committee on Friday and has been amended once again. Mears said there is a push from Senators to “push this down to local control and entirely out of the legislative hands in the future.” Mears has been involved with the bill since August of 2024 and wanted to address the misconception that elected officials will be getting big salary increases. Mears said people need to understand elected officials across the state’s 17 counties “haven’t had a cost-of-living increase of any kind in the last eight years while other employees including state employees have received COLA increases. If we don’t get something that kind of balances the scales, there won’t be qualified people in these elected offices down the line.” Mears said he thought there was a 95 percent chance of getting the bill out of the Senate. 

He reported AGR1, a joint resolution requiring a constitutional change, is still alive. As previously reported, the bill involves resetting depreciation and tax abatement upon the sale of a property.  

He acknowledged Nevada has one of the most complicated property assessment systems in the country, and he would love to see it simplified for both property owners and assessors.  

AB135, which would extend veterans’ exemptions for surviving spouses, has a lot of support and is still moving forward. 

Jake Tibbitts, Natural Resources director, is working on AB80, the Healthy Soils Initiative, modeled after what Utah did “when they brought water resources to bear to help producers” in agricultural practices, with companion bills AB104 and SB36 related to water retirement provisions in over-pumped basins in the state, of which Diamond Valley is one. 

Tibbitts said AB419, Assemblyman DeLong’s bill, impacts the water rights application process of the State Water Engineer’s office. “Right now, if somebody applies for a water right, you always see them in the paper, you protest.” Tibbitts said this would “get protestants and objectors and applicants to get together to work on issues.” 

Tibbitts turned to SB31, Senator Goicoechea’s bill. December 31, 2027, is the current deadline for all vested water rights claimants in the state to get their claims filed with the State Engineer’s Office. Tibbitts said without that statute in place, 10 years ago, people weren’t required to file their vested claims until there was an adjudication started on a water source. He said there was a recent case in Oregon in the 9th Circuit where the “federal government said, ‘we don’t have to follow that’ on a specific water source adjudication under the McCarran Act.” The same suit has been threatened against Nevada based on the current statute, so they’re revising SB31 accordingly to protect water rights. Tibbitts has been working with the attorneys on the amendments. 

AB479, the Agrivoltaics bill, would ensure continued agricultural tax deferment for coexisting use for producers who are making at least $5,000 in agricultural use. 

Housing for EMS

The commission held a public hearing to consider leasing county-owned property on Well Street to a new EMS employee. However, HR Director Tasha Dunlap reported the hired EMT found other housing, lessening the immediate urgency.

Chairman Rich McKay acknowledged this but noted the value of having available housing as a recruitment incentive. Vice Chair Marty Plaskett agreed, seeing it as preparedness for future needs. District Attorney Ted Beutel suggested discussing the property’s cost and exploring options with Public Works to potentially save money on EMS coverage for both Eureka and Crescent Valley.

The board decided to table the resolution for further dialogue with Public Works regarding costs and alternative solutions. Public Works Director Jeb Rowley pointed out the housing’s historical ties to specific medical service contracts and the need to recognize its value during contract negotiations.

Chairman McKay proposed more flexible usage of the property under a rental agreement to prevent indefinite occupancy and ensure its value is considered in future contract negotiations, similar to the school district’s housing arrangement for the superintendent where a portion of salary covers rent. The item was tabled for future discussion. 

Gallagher Dental Care

Gallagher Dental Care’s lease agreement to provide services at the Eureka Medical Clinic was approved. Dr. Morris Gallagher emphasized the paramount need for community dental care, hoping to expand access through grants and potential loan forgiveness for dentists. Registered dental hygienist Veronica Tognoni outlined services including preventative, therapeutic, diagnostic, and restorative care for Eureka and Crescent Valley, encompassing cleanings, x-rays, education, screenings, and telehealth for emergencies.

Gallagher stated that while emergency care is unpredictable, they would be available in Elko for Crescent Valley patients during the week and potentially on weekends for critical situations. The commission approved both the lease and a service contract for Gallagher Dental Care as an independent contractor at the Eureka Medical Clinic.

Senior Center transport service

The issue of how to get Crescent Valley residents to medical care in Elko and Battle Mountain was the next item on the commission agenda.  

Chairman Rich McKay noted there had been recommendations from the Crescent Valley Medical Services Advisory Committee. The intent is to provide free transport for Eureka County citizens to and from medical and dental appointments in Elko and Battle Mountain. 

The transport service for medical appointments and medication pick-up will be run through the Crescent Valley Senior Center and must be arranged by calling the senior center in advance, with departure and drop-off at the senior center, although home pick-up could be arranged.  

A casual employee is being added to the senior center staff, which will ensure driver availability. 

Linda Gordon, Senior Center director, related that if children are transported, parents will need to provide their own car seats, and children under 18 need to be with an adult. Gordon asked whether the commission was thinking of waiving the fee for transportation since they charge $5 a person for the monthly men’s and women’s senior Elko shopping trips. 

McKay didn’t think “this was going to cost anybody anything.” 

The new staff person will be trained on the vehicles, enabling sufficient staff to both serve the senior center meals program and the medical transport service. 

Beutel advised making sure that people understand the consequence of acting out, which could jeopardize eligibility for service. The service is going to be subsidized by county money, not federal. He also advised the county’s insurance provider be contacted to “give them a sense of what the ridership will be” so they can include that as part of the umbrella policy.

Schoenwald suggested a $5 fee and picking people up from their homes. 

Comptroller Kim Todd suggested creating a separate line-item fund account to track the medical transportation. 

FANN

Rex Steninger, vice president, and Amanda Osborne, of Flight Alliance of Northeastern Nevada (FANN), request the commission consider a $250,000 annual membership in their organization. Both Elko and Lander County have joined. FANN seeks to ensure continued flight availability into and out of the Elko Airport, which is at risk of losing commercial air service due to the need to meet a minimum rate guarantee. 

Steninger questioned why it was Elko’s responsibility alone to shoulder the burden when the airport benefits the entire region. Elko supports the flight alliance at $500,000 a year, and Lander County now contributes $250,000 a year. Steninger asked the Commission to also contribute $250,000. Steninger said presently there is a single flight to and from Salt Lake from Elko daily. 

The current cost of the minimum revenue guarantee (MRG) is between $1.2 and $1.4 million dollars a year, which the addition of a Reno flight would increase. If there were an increase in fliers, the MRG could decrease. The county could adjust their tentative budget to accommodate the membership. The commission was invited to sit on the FANN board. 

New CV deputy sworn in

Sheriff Miles Umina said a new deputy was sworn in, who is living in Crescent Valley in the man camp. He’ll be attending POST in July, has started field training and will be fully on the force in January. A new dispatcher will start in the next couple of weeks, and it will take three to four months of training before they are on their own. 

Major drug bust

Umina discussed a recent discovery of 4,500 pounds of processed marijuana. 

“We’re going to really be pushing forward on the drug problem here. I’m pretty passionate about it,” he said. “Probably half my career I’ve worked with the Drug Task Force.” 

Public Works report

Public Works director Jeb Rowley reported in March the Eureka Opera House had 35 visitors and 170 events and he found someone to tune the piano. The pool saw 67 daily swimmers, one party rental, a movie night, 10 seniors and 11 students enrolled on the swim team. The landfill saw 426 deliveries with 75 tons of municipal solid waste and 12 deliveries for 100 tons of construction debris. 

Ruby Mountain evacuated over 100 refrigerators and freezers included with scrap haul-off and is getting the tire haul-off going. 

The screening and crushing operation at the landfill will involve concrete and asphalt recycling.  

The x-ray machine will be installed May 6 at the Eureka Clinic and the clinic countertops are finished. They are working on the heating system at the clinic and will then work on the Opera House. Rowley reported Western States is doing the biannual fire alarm inspections of county buildings in the north and south. 

Parks and Grounds are turning on water for the parks and bathrooms and doing fertilizing and weed control in both the north and south. Rowley said the generator for the medical clinic and Sheriff’s Office in Crescent Valley is off-line due to a coolant leak. 

Rowley said they conducted the mandatory pre-bid meeting at the Eureka Airport for the Windsock Project, with five potential bidders attending. He will bring that to the commissioners on April 29 with a recommendation. The FAA deadline is May 1.  

Natural Resources update

Natural Resources Director Tibbitts reported that the Nevada Division of Conservation and Natural Resources held its annual meeting to look at water-monitoring plans related to dewatering in the Cortez Hills and Carlin Trend mining operations. He said “they’re running out of space in Crescent Valley without putting water back in the aquifer.” The new rigs in Pine Valley, Aussie Summit and Grass Valley are to replace water that’s been pumped out of those basins for dewatering. 

He noted the Eureka Natural Resource Advisory Council met on April 9-10.  The Nevada Sage Grouse Conservation Plan South-Central Area Adaptive Management Response Team met in Eureka, with 22 people attending, including agency people, ranchers and gold mine representatives. Tibbitts said the crux of the sage grouse plan includes a model where if populations decline by a certain percentage, it initiates a trigger that brings together all affected interests to determine what is causing the decline.

The Sage Brush Ecosystem Council met April 17 to discuss the BLM Greater Sage Grouse Plans with the transition in federal administrations.  

The Humboldt River Water Basin Authority meeting will take place April 18.

Tibbits will attend the State Commission meeting and the Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife April 24.

Tibbitts will also attend the BLM’s mitigation meeting about the South Railroad Mine in Elko County, which has a proposed route to the project through Eureka County. 

Tibbitts said that Nevada Gold Mines has maintained a permit to discharge water into the Humboldt River, which is both water of the state and the United States, but has not discharged into the river since 1999. “They haven’t had to. Originally, they thought they were going to discharge hundreds of thousands of gallons of water over time into the Humboldt River, but because of a large crack in the TS Reservoir, they were able to put a lot of water back in the ground.” 

Tibbitts explained there is a 1996 agreement in place between Barrick and Eureka County that is binding on all successors and assigns with conditions related to the volume of discharge. Eureka County had protested Barrick applications, which went all the way to the Nevada Supreme Court and led to a settlement between Barrick, the Attorney General’s Office and the State Water Engineer’s Office. If Barrick discharges water into the Humboldt River above a certain amount, they will pay a mitigation fee to Eureka County of $4 per acre-foot. Eureka County’s Water Mitigation Fund was established because of this settlement agreement.  

McKay asked if there was any indication they are going to start discharging into the Humboldt River. 

“You just never know,” said Tibbitts. “This gives them the option.” The permit would authorize the discharge of up to an average of 108.8 million gallons per day, 110 million gallons a day maximum, which is approximately 30 acre-feet of water a day. 

Commission approvals

The Eureka County Commissioners (acting as the liquor board) approved: 

• Minutes of the January 6, 2025, Liquor Board meeting;
• A liquor license application for the man Camp at the JD Ranch.

The Eureka County Commission approved: 

• The March 4 and March 18 minutes; 
• Expenditures of $1,864,668.30, which includes payroll of $528,978.18 and pass-throughs of $299.30 to the Nevada Department of Taxation, Room Tax; Nevada State Controller, School Taxes, $53,584.10; Nevada State Controller, $306,091.74; Nevada Division of Minerals, $320 and the Washoe County Crime Lab, $78;
• Signing the Indigent Defense Financial Status Report for the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2024-2025, detailing costs expended for provision of public defense services;
• Waiving the fee for the use of the Crescent Valley Community Center to hold Barbara Dugan’s funeral service on May 31, 2025; 
• The Nevada Division of Water Resources Fiscal Year 2025-2026 budgets for special assessments to be collected by Eureka County on behalf of the division for necessary expenses related to supervision over the following waters in Eureka County: (a) Maggie Creek Groundwater Basin; (b) Boulder Flat Groundwater Basin; (c) Whirlwind Valley Groundwater Basin; (d) Lower Reese River Valley Groundwater Basin; (e) Crescent Valley Groundwater Basin; (f) Pine Valley Groundwater Basin; (g) Diamond Valley Groundwater Basin; (h) Kobeh Valley Groundwater Basin;
• A donation of $3,650 from the Northern Activity Fund for the Crescent Valley Fun Days event to be held June 21, 2025, in Crescent Valley and to issue a check to Diana Kersey, chair of the Crescent Valley Town Advisory Board;
• Waiving the fee for the softball field for the 2025 Season for the Gold Diggers’ fourth through sixth grade 12U softball team;
• Updates to the communications supervisor job description; 
• Updates to the Civil Process Administrator job description; 
• Updates to the Records/Technical Support job description; 
• A proclamation declaring April 13-19 as Telecommunicator Week;
• Out-of-state travel for Undersheriff Tyler Thomas to attend the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Denver, Colorado, Oct. 17-22;
• Reviewing a list of personal property items (miscellaneous furniture, small equipment, etc.) that no longer serve a useful purpose to Eureka County in the conduct of county business and, pursuant  to Eureka County Code, Title 3, Chapter 20, Section130, declaring the items to be surplus property and authorizing the sale or disposal utilizing the methods outlined in Title 3 of the Eureka County Code; 
• Purchasing controls, SCADA and instrumentation from Great Basin Control Systems for an amount not to exceed $57,990, utilizing funds budgeted for capital outlay in the Eureka Water/Sewer Utility Fund and the Devil’s Gate Water Fund;
• The Construction Manager at Risk, Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract with Sierra Nevada Construction Inc., in the amount of $6,602,045 for Phase 2B Road and Utility Improvement Project, utilizing funds budgeted for capital outlay in the Regional Transportation Commission Fund and the Eureka Water/Sewer Utility Fund;
• The Proposal for Construction Services with Lumos & Associates in the amount of $797,100 for Phase 2B Road and Utility Improvement Project utilizing funds budgeted for capital outlay in the Regional Transportation Commission Fund and the Eureka Water/Sewer Utility Fund’
• The Construction Manager at Risk, Guaranteed Maximum Price Contract with Sierra Nevada Construction Inc. for a maximum cost of $2,589,484 for the Crescent Valley Waterline and Road Rehabilitation Project, utilizing funds budgeted for capital outlay in the Regional Transportation Commission Fund and the Crescent Valley Water Utility Fund’
• A response letter to the BLM on the Callaghan Wild Horse Complex Habitat Management Evaluation and proposed development of the Herd Management Area Plan;
• A response to the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers proposed rulemaking related to implementation of the definition of “waters of the United States” consistent with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA;
• A comment on the Rangeland Grasshopper and Mormon Cricket Suppression Program Draft Environmental Assessment.