Eureka County Commissioners Meeting: Full Recap and Highlights

The Eureka County Commissioners held their regular meeting Feb. 18.

During department reports, Senior Centers Director Linda Gordon reported the centers deposited $23,911.28 in December. Meal count for Eureka was 279 for seniors and 751 home-bound, averaging 38 meals a day. Crescent Valley meals and home-bound went up in December to an average of 36 meals a day. January income was only $4,105.50. Some grants are taking longer to get money in from the state. Both centers had good turnout for Christmas. January had a lull, and Valentine’s Day saw cards from the Eureka High School Student Council passed out to seniors. The new senior buses have been received.

IT Director Misty Rowley worked on database health checks, attended the Cisco Virtual AI Summit and a Cisco best practices meeting, performed maintenance on the internet router and state connection routers, investigated the cost of Smarsh archiving solution for social media, attended various demos and investigated what other counties are doing as far as the length of time emails are archived. Presently the county keeps “all emails from the beginning of time.”

Rowley worked on social media policy with department heads and IT portions of their budgets as well as her department’s budget. She also worked with the sheriff’s office to review the 911 quote. Rowley reported Microsoft is moving away from on-premise mail servers, so they’re getting ready for that migration. In addition, she identified and worked on quotes for equipment that needs replacement as well as on the February newsletter and social media. She reported the Crescent Valley Clinic fiber circuits were fully functional on Feb. 2, and she is working on the network architecture to allow communication between Eureka and Crescent Valley.

JJ Hendrickson of the UNR Extension Program shared the results of the Eureka County Radon Visual Art Contest for ages 9-109. Hendrickson related that radon, which can’t be seen or smelled, is the seventh leading cause of lung cancer. One out of four Nevada homes have high levels of radon. Radon tests are available at the Extension office and the Crescent Valley Town Center. The contest ran from November 18, 2024, through January 6, 2025, and there were 11 entries. Winners’ artwork is posted on the County Extension page (https://extension.unr.edu/eureka.aspx). February is National Radon Action Month.

Nicole Cooley, EMS Medical Services Director, reported in January Eureka had 15 service runs and Crescent Valley had 4. The Crescent Valley census-designated area had 4, Dunphy 1 and Duck Water 1 for a total of 25. Ten were treated and transported and five were careflighted. There were six stand-bys and four patients treated and released. One run was canceled and one refused service.

There are interviews on Feb. 20 for the EMT1 position in Eureka and two EMT positions in Crescent Valley are posted. Cooley will be going to Crescent Valley for the medical board meeting to answer questions and issues.

Human Resources Director Tasha Dunlap reported anti-harassment training was taking place Feb. 19 for all staff and directors at the opera house. Trainings are coming up for media laws and finance training. Open meeting law training is at the end of February and finance training is in March. Supervisor training for reasonable suspicion will take place at the end of March.

Dunlap noted there is an EMT position open in Eureka and two in Crescent Valley. Acting Sheriff Miles Umina related that the sheriff’s office is hiring for a dispatcher. After April 1, they will have five open positions: two in the south and three in the north, with two in background checks who are good candidates for the north.

Umina reported that in 2024, the sheriff’s office had 15,826 total incidents, with 334 deputy cases with total misdemeanors, 45 felony arrests and 246 citations issued. Umina had been asked by the commissioners at the prior meeting about traffic enforcement on thoroughfares and related they have been picking random times to do traffic stops on Main Street. They have been instructed to be present at school games and “make their presence known to make sure parents and kids are taken care of.”

Umina provided a tentative patrol schedule for when they are fully staffed. He reported discussions over NHP coverage on State Route 306.

Public Works Director Jeb Rowley reported the opera house was closed for a week and a half in January, but it was still a busy month with mine safety trainings and BLM meetings. Four hundred and sixty visitors attended events and 20 drove through.

Many county meetings are upcoming.

The swimming pool had 82 daily swimmers, 2 pool parties and 21 senior swimmers.

They are still working on construction at the sheriff’s office, with ceiling installation and sheetrocking with bulletproof window installation five or six weeks out.

Rowley reported they are doing their annual contract with Western States Fires for the 13 county buildings, which have suppression alarm sprinkling systems, and held a meeting Feb. 5 with EMS, Fire and the sheriff’s office related to coordinated emergency services. They will be meeting with Nevada Gold Mines to review the annual Emergency Services MOU that will be held March 27 in Crescent Valley. The Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting will be held March 18 to identify this year’s grant requests.

Natural Resources Director Jake Tibbitts reported on Feb. 6 he attended a virtual meeting with Nevada Gold Mines and Trout Unlimited related to the watershed improvement project focused on Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Tibbitts related the county would like to be involved. He attended the National Association of Conservation Districts meeting in Salt Lake, discussed bighorn augmentation and release plans and heard about concerns worked through in Idaho, which provided an example of how to address bighorn issues.

Feb. 13, the Diamond Valley Rodent District met and reviewed cost-share requests that have come in and authorized bill payment with funding remaining for stream work. The Conservation District and Weed Board evaluated weed treatment priorities.

2025 is the 75th anniversary of the Eureka Conservation District.

Tibbitts will be going to Carson City for water-related meetings.

In considering the Nevada Department of Wildlife’s (NDOW) planned release of desert bighorn sheep on the Cortez Range, Tibbitts introduced guests from NDOW, including Caleb McAdoo, deputy director of operations, and on the phone, Chase McNamara, natural resource policy advisor for the governor.

Support letters were read from Tom Fennell of Nevada Bighorns Unlimited and Tiffany East of Great Basin Wildlife Conservancy, which spoke in support of release in the Cortez Range and urged the county commission to support the reintroduction effort and work collaboratively with all stakeholders. A representative of Nevada Bighorns Unlimited also spoke in support of the release.

McAdoo began by discussing “how we got here and why we’re here.” To set the stage, he said bighorn sheep historically occupied every mountain range in Nevada, including the Cortez Range. With the settlement of Nevada, human expansion extirpated bighorns so the herds shrank to southern Nevada, with remnants of herds in desolate country. 1968 was the first year NDOW translocated bighorn sheep. In the 1980s, translocation ramped up. Since 1968, with partners, NDOW has translocated over 4,000 sheep in a program widely held as one of the most successful conservation actions in the United States. Nevada boasts the most bighorn sheep of any state in the lower 48. McAdoo acknowledged translocation comes with costs and noted they face issues with collaboration, coordination and conflict, which are integral to how they approach translocations.

McAdoo related that in 2007 and 2008, NDOW endeavored to translocate bighorn sheep back into the Cortez Range, which saw conflict centered on “lingering domestic sheep permits still in play” and the department pulled the proposal. Separating domestic and bighorn sheep is what they seek and try to achieve.

Presently there is a situation in southern Nevada of over 225 days without rain, leading to range forage and water conditions that have created an emergency herd situation, particularly in the White Mountains. It’s one of the largest herds, meaning animals need to be moved. This has led NDOW to begin exploring which states could take extra sheep. In addition, they explored opportunities to translocate.

They had planned to do an environmental assessment, but that has been fast-forwarded in recent months due to the emergency, leading the BLM to issue a scoping letter for categorical exclusion to reintroduce 60 bighorn sheep into the Cortez Range.

McAdoo noted NDOW’s long-standing relationship with and financial contribution to the county. “We invest millions of dollars into this county and don’t want to create a divisive situation with your constituents,” he said, “while at the same time, we have a mission and a responsibility as well as an emergency.” He said they have talked to numerous permittees, including sheep permittees who are all comfortable with the release and NDOW’s hold-harmless agreements. They’ve also talked to cattle permittees and the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association. He said there are cattle permittees who are not supportive. McAdoo noted that since 1968 he has seen no AUM loss to the sheep or cattle industries from the release of bighorn sheep. He noted that Heritage Fund Bighorn Sheep Tags sold for $170,000, with funds directly put back into the state.

Tibbitts acknowledged the emergency situation created by Mother Nature, but noted a year prior in September 2024, the commission had voted to support if concerns were met. Tibbitts said he was committed to ensuring the concerns of those who do not support the release are addressed. He would like to see sheep on the range but would prefer to see an EA rather than a BLM categorical exclusion. Tibbitts noted the issue of connectivity and sheep migration that could impact domestic sheep. He said the BLM guarantees separation of bighorn and domestic sheep with a nine air-mile buffer. The scoping letter acknowledges that domestic sheep permits are expected to be impacted.

McAdoo said a conversion is underway in a large area from sheep to cattle, they take the nine-mile effective separation seriously and it has been factored in.

Tibbitts related the BLM allotted 140 AUMs for bighorn sheep in the Elko District and presently none of the allotments have bighorn sheep. Sixty percent of the land proposed is private and owned by Nevada Gold Mines, which also owns the water rights.

McAdoo related Nevada Gold Mines is a “significant player in this conservation” and NDOW is coordinating with them. He said wildlife has customary use of water in Nevada but the on-the-ground reality is there are no longer thousands of wildlife horses in the Cortez Range and there is more than adequate forage for bighorn sheep. He thinks an issue-based EA is a good idea and has been working with Elko BLM on one, but doesn’t foresee that occurring soon. They are looking to capture in June and have asked the BLM for a yeah or nay decision by the end of March, hoping they don’t have to do something “drastic like shoot a bunch of sheep.”

A great deal of normal public processes are being bypassed to implement the translocation related to habitat management, but Tibbitts recommended the commissioners at this time support the release, with concerns to be addressed.

Sportsman Marcial Evertsen of Crescent Valley commented that with the 3,000-plus horses gone in the Cortez Range, the habitat and water are back, as are the grouse, deer and antelope. He said, considering the emergency situation, if they don’t relocate, 90 percent of the herd will die on the mountain in southern Nevada, thereby devastating the 70-year bighorn success story.

The commission approved support of the release of the Nevada bighorn sheep with conditions.

Dale Bugenig, consulting hydrogeologist, presented on the Diamond Valley water level monitoring program. They have been monitoring water levels in Diamond Valley since 2011, with six monitoring wells installed by the county followed in 2013 by an additional six installed by the DNRPCA with a grant from the county commission. Because of the Diamond Valley Ground Management Plan all irrigation wells are metered and have exceptionally good data.

Bugenig said farmers have reduced pumping even more than the Management Plan reductions required, helping effect positive change in water levels since 2019 and decreasing water level decline. Since 2023 when 16,000 acre feet of water came into the valley, water levels have become stable, indicating recharge and reduction in pumping. Bugenig said the efforts of the farmers “are achieving results that are ahead of what we had hoped to see in the Groundwater Management Plan.” Bugenig announced his retirement and was thanked by Tibbitts and the commission for his many years of service.

In the afternoon the commission continued budget review for Fiscal Year 2025-26 related to the Crescent Valley Town Board, Television District, Sheriff’s Office and Public Works, which includes Buildings & Grounds, the Road Department, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), Swimming Pool, County Parks, Emergency Management, Opera House and Museum, Landfill, Planning Board, Cemetery, Airport, LEPC, Eureka Town, Crescent Valley Town and Eureka Water & Sewer/Crescent Valley Water/Devil’s Gate Water.

 

Commissioners approved:

 

• Expenditures of $1,029,428.97, including pass-throughs to the Department of Taxation Room Tax of $2088.77; Nevada State School Tax, $224,367.90; Nevada State Controller, $4,212.29; Nevada Division of Minerals, $120 and Washoe County Crime Lab, $196.
• A Memorandum of Understanding with the Eureka Sheriff’s Office Sworn Personnel Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3 to add a physical fitness testing incentive effective Feb. 18, which gives officers an incentive of $750 if they pass the physical on the first try.
• Advertising, accepting applications and conducting interviews for the appointed sheriff’s position to begin April 1, 2025, and end on December 31, 2026.
• Out-of-state travel for the IT director to travel to California June 7-13 for the Cisco Live Conference.
• Quote #Q-91025 from Smarsh for the purchase of social media and text message archiving software for a one-time fee of $4,860 and an annual recurring fee of $4,165 to be paid, along with authorization for the IT director to sign the order form outside of the meeting.
• Authorizing the IT director to sign a consent form agreeing to accept services from the State of Nevada Department of Public Safety, Office of Cyber Security Defense Coordination provided at no cost to state, local, tribal and territorial governments under a grant to OCDC in coordination with efforts to create a Statewide Security Operation Center.
• A request from Robin Blanco for a donation of $1,000 from the commissioners’ miscellaneous grants account for the purchase of supplies and prizes for a community Easter Egg hunt in Eureka.
• A request from Marcial Evertsen for a donation of $1,000 from the North End Activity Fund to purchase supplies for the annual Easter Egg Hunt in Crescent Valley on April 19.
• Purchase of a warming table and salad bar from Webstaurant for an amount not to exceed $6,797.26 from the Capital Outlay Projects Fund.
• Reimbursing Emily Whittlesey $500 for materials purchased for the Crescent Valley Community Center History Wall to be paid from the North End Activity Fund.
• Waiving the rental fee for the opera house May 16-17 for hosting of the Nevada Old Time Fiddlers’ Contest.
• A request from the Northern Nevada EMS Consortium for a donation totaling $2,500 for the 3rd Annual Rural Nevada Trauma Symposium held on March 8 at the Elko Convention Center in Elko, Nevada.
• A quote from AT&T in the amount of $289,572.79 for a six-year contract for upgrading the existing 911 VESTA system and monthly service fees, utilizing monies from the Sheriff Capital Outlay account and Sheriff’s Office Services and Supplies account.
• Proposal LA23.875a from Lumos and Associates for professional services related to the Kobeh Valley Well and Transmission Main Project in the amount of $1,068,000, utilizing funds from the Capital Outlay in the Water Mitigation Fund with costs reimbursed under the Nevada Water Conservation Infrastructure Initiative funding agreement previously awarded to Eureka County.
• Accepting the 2024 Water Master Plan update prepared by Lumos and Associates with direction to explore future rate studies, water and sewer and consolidation plans.
• Out-of-state travel for the Natural Resources Manager to attend the Council for Agricultural Research, Extension & Teaching (CARET) annual advocacy meeting in Washington, DC, Feb. 24-26. Tibbitts is an appointed NV CARET delegate by the Dean of University of Nevada, Reno College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources (CABNR) and serves on the national CARET Executive Committee with all expenses paid for by CARNR.
• A response on scoping for the Elko BLM Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Grazing Permit Modifications and Range Improvements Project.