MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF CHURCHILL COUNTY …

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF CHURCHILL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

155 No. Taylor Street, Fallon, NV Fallon, Nevada

May 21 , 2014

CALL TO ORDER The regular meeting of the Churchill County Board of Commissioners was called to order

at 1: 15 p.m. on the above date by Chairman Erquiaga. PRESENT: Carl Erquiaga, Chairman

Pete Olsen, Vice-Chairman Harry Scharmann, Commissioner Ben Shawcroft, Civil Deputy District Attorney Eleanor Lockwood, County Manager Alan Kalt, Comptroller Jackie A. Bauman, Deputy Clerk of the Board

ABSENT: Kelly G. Helton, Clerk of the Board Pamela D. Moore, Deputy Clerk ofthe Board

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by the board and public.

VERIFICATION OF POSTING OF AGENDA: It was verified by Deputy Clerk Bauman that the Agenda for this meeting was posted in

accordance with NRS 241 . ACTION ITEMS: AGENDA:

Commissioner Olsen made a motion to approve the Agenda as submitted. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

MINUTES: Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to approve the Minutes of the regular meeting held on May 1, 2013 as submitted. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

PUBLIC COMMENTS : Chairman Erquiaga inquired ifthere were any public comments on issues that were not

listed on the Agenda but there were none. APPOINTMENTS: THE BOARD MAY REQUIRE THE PROVISION OF AN OATH OR AFFIRMATION BY ANY PERSON PROVIDING ORAL TESTIMONY AT A PUBLIC HEARING. 1:15 p.m. Consideration and possible action re: Subgrant Agreement Between The Nevada Administrative Office of the Courts Nevada Supreme Court and The Tenth Judicial District Court Fiscal Year 2014-2015, Sue Sevon, Churchill County Court Administrator.

Court Administrator Sevon reported that funds will be used to establish a Court Appointed Special Advocate Coordinator position for the CASA program for children in Churchill County. There will be no impact to the General Fund as in-kind match is not required. These funds will be used to hire a contract employee as a CASA Coordinator since we did not

Minutes of the Churchill County Commissioners' Meeting May 21,2014

receive the $70,000 requested in the CDBG grant and only received $11 ,700. Those funds will be used to implement the program but we have to be able to fund a Coordinator, which these funds will be used for. We will be advertising for a Coordinator via contract to do that and it will be for the amount of the $10,000 at this point.

As time has gone on, because we have applied to the National CASA and have been accepted, we have recently learned that we will qualify to apply for a national grant right now. De Vere Karlson has been asked by the CASA Steering Committee to act as the temporary Coordinator. She will be going to the National CASA training for new directors in June and will come back with all of that information, which will be shared with the individual that is hired for the position. They will coordinate with HR Director Stark and the District Attorney's office as to how that contract should be done and how the model for the program should be done. She also understands that there is a question about the in-kind match for this grant. It is our intention not to use funds but to match it with the use of the office for the CASA Coordinator and by having them do some volunteer hours and other things to make the in-kind match. She asked if there were any questions.

Commissioner Olsen asked how much is the national grant that they can apply for. Ms. Sevon replied that it can be up to $40,000 on that grant, which is the maximum for a local CASA Program. There are other grants that they have but it is done through the state. For us to go after a grant with National CASA as an individual CASA Program, the most we can receive for this year is $40,000. We may not receive the full amount but, of course, we will ask for the full amount. We will not have an answer until June or July. Commissioner Olsen asked how much is our need. Could we use the whole $40,000? Ms. Sevon said we could use the whole amount. It would make a difference in how we advertise for the Coordinator. We would intend to use those funds to get a quality Coordinator for the program because everyone that works under the Coordinator is a volunteer and the expense for operating the program would mostly be covered by the CDBG grant of$11 ,700 and, ifwe receive the $40,000, then we would use that for the Coordinator's position and then this $10,000 can be used either for the Coordinator's position or to implement the program. We would probably take this and move it over to implementation rather than using it for the position. Commissioner Olsen asked ifthe Coordinator is envisioned as a full-time or part-time position. Ms. Sevon replied that, at this point, we are hopeful that it would just be a part-time position but, as we work through the process, we are hoping that we can get anywhere from 15-30 volunteers. It will depend on how many neglect/abuse cases we have where we need to appoint CASA Volunteers to the cases. Each CASA Volunteer would only be assigned to 1 or 2 cases. It is the intention of the program to eventually have CASA Volunteers involved with divorce cases involving children, custody cases involving children, temporary restraining orders that are issued out of Justice Court, which may have need of a CASA Volunteer because children are involved. That is the future plan so, as we process in this next year, we will be able to come back with a really strong recommendation for whether the Coordinator needs to be full-time or not. Her staff at the District Court will be the support staff to the Coordinator so, at this point, we do not anticipate having to hire additional staff to do that piece for the Coordinator. Commissioner Olsen said what he is hearing is that a big part of this depends on the community response. Ms. Sevon said that is correct. So far, we already have 12 volunteers lined up but, because the process is so intense, we want to make sure that our volunteers understand what they are getting themselves involved in, there is a very strong vetting process to this, not only an in-depth background search that will be done but also 40 hours of training. These people have to really understand that it is a two-year commitment because there

Minutes of the Churchill County Commissioners' Meeting May21, 2014

is so much training involved. Many of the volunteers that have come forward already are former teachers within the district that have retired and they have a very strong interest in children already and connections with some of the departments that they will be interacting with, as well as the skill set to write reports, which will also be part of what these volunteers have to do. We are very excited about the initial response. Yesterday, they were speaking with Christina Kuklica from the Lahontan Valley News, DeVere Karlson, and Kelly Weishaupt, from the Division of Child and Family Services. There will be an article in the newspaper soon about the upcoming CASA Program and that we are looking for volunteers. We are already disseminating information and CASA is coming here in August, so our response has been extremely good from the community. Commissioner Olsen asked if we have any experience from other communities about the tum-over rate for volunteers. Ms. Sevon said it depends. If we model after Douglas County's program, which is what we are doing because it is a court-run program, they say that they have more people that want to be CASA Volunteers than they have need for, so they have about 30 with others on a waiting list. We are hopeful, because of the strength of this community and how this community always steps up for its children, that we will have that same response.

Commissioner Scharmann said the implementation of the CASA Program is really dependent upon this $10,000. There really are no other funds right now to support that because the CDBG grant was not awarded for the full amount we applied for, correct? Ms. Sevon said that is correct and we have to have money to pay a part-time Coordinator to come in. Instead of going out and advertising and hiring a position, we are going to proceed and hire a contract employee, so the employee will know that it is only a one year position, it is limited by the amount of the contract as to how much we can pay, which will be the $10,000, and that they must get the job done on that amount because that is all that we have now. Again, if we are able to get the $40,000 from the federal CASA grant, we may renegotiate that contract. The important piece for the Tenth Judicial District Court right now and for the children that are in Foster Care with the cases where the children have been removed from their home, they need an advocate; they need someone who can speak for them; so we are going to get this program off the ground, even if it is on a very limited basis to begin with because it is so critical for these children. Commissioner Scharmann said that is what he was going to say. People cannot just expect this CASA Program to be fully implemented on a $10,000 grant. He asked how many people will there be? She said they have 12 people on a list now and they are going to do a newspaper article, which might generate more. Realistically, how many people will a $10,000 grant be able to train? Ms. Sevon said the $11 ,700 grant awarded by CDBG will fund the implementation. That will pay for training and that aspect. The Coordinator will oversee the program, conduct the training, so they may have weeks where they put in 15-20 hours and then 2 or 3 weeks later, they may not be doing anything for this program because of the status. They may put in more time when training is being conducted and less time at other times. What they are going to be told to do is that they must implement the program with the funds that we have right now. Commissioner Scharmann asked where this $10,000 person will be housed. Ms. Sevon said it will be at District Court. There is a copier already there; there is already a computer; there are resources there already that will help that individual. Again, her staff will be their support staff. If the Coordinator needs some copies to be made, if they need things created, that will be done by her staff and we already have a volunteer that is assisting in developing a website that will be linked on the county's website. Again, that will be part of the in-kind match for the grant.


Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Olsen made a motion to approve the Agreement between the Administrative Office of the Courts, Nevada Supreme Court, and the Tenth Judicial District Court that provides grant funds in the amount of $10,000 to implement the Churchill County CASA Program. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

1:20 p.m. Consideration and possible action re: Renewal of the lease agreement for use of the School District Buses for the Parks & Recreation Department's SUMFUN Summer Day Camp, Danny Gleich, Parks & Recreation's Recreation/Athletic Supervisor. Recreation/ Athletic Supervisor Gleich reported that Parks & Recreation Department is requesting permission to renew the lease with the Churchill County School District for 1 bus to be used for SUMFUN Summer Day Camp in transporting campers to designated field trips. The terms ofthe lease agreement extend for 3 months from June 12, 2014 through August 14, 2014. The fees for the SUMFUN program will be based on the listed lease terms of $2.25 per mile and there will be no adverse fiscal impact.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to renew the lease agreement for use of the School District Buses for the Parks and Recreation Department's SUMFUN Summer Day Camp. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

1:25 p.m. Consideration and possible action re: Presentation of the NPAIP and PACT Insurance Pool Update, Alan Kalt, Churchill County Comptroller.

Comptroller Kalt presented a PowerPoint Presentation reviewing the activities ofthe Nevada Public Agency Insurance Pool and the Public Agency Compensation Trust for the annual renewal board meeting held in late April. There will be a formal renewal presentation in the first meeting in June by Wayne Carlson and our local agent Fred Rogne. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is attached hereto, marked as Exhibit "A", and made a part hereof by reference thereto.

There was no action taken as this was for informational purposes only. 1:35 p.m. Public Hearing- Consideration and possible action re: Bill2014-B, Ordinance 7, an ordinance amending various provisions of Title 3 of the Churchill County Code, Geo(Stark, Churchill County Human Resources Director. Human Resources Director Stark reported that, at the Board of County Commissioners' meeting on April23, 2014, the board approved and passed Bill2014-B. At that time, the Bill had been sent to Sterling Codifiers by the Clerk/Treasurer's Office for review and proofreading but staff had not yet received the results and recommendations from Sterling. Sterling recommended several small corrections, including numbering issues, word agreement, and typos. The District Attorney's Office recommended that these corrections be made and re-submitted to the board for approval of a "clean" Bill. The public hearing was advertised in the local newspaper. The "clean-up" modifications are as follows:

1. SECTION 1- Chapter 3.08- Definitions The codifiers do not use numbers before each defined word. These numbers have now been removed.

2. SECTION 2- Chapter 3.12.010- Equal Employment Opportunity


a. Paragraph A indicates several protected classes regarding employment practices. This list includes "pregnancy". Later in the policy, in Paragraph D, "pregnancy" had been omitted - it has now been inserted.

b. Paragraph H - the second word in the third line should have been "is" and it said "us". That typo has been corrected.

3. SECTION 4 - Chapter 3.12.030- Anti-Harassment a. Paragraph A gives a list of classes protected from harassment. This list

should mirror the list from the Equal Employment Opportunity section. "Marital status" had been omitted, but is now included.

b. Paragraph D - This paragraph speaks of "conduct/behavior" in the second and third lines, but in the fourth line it only says "behaviors" - "conducts/" was added so there would be word agreement.

c. Paragraph E had sub-paragraphs that were bullets. Sterling Codifiers changes those to numbers, to use proper outline format.

4. SECTION 9- Chapter 3.12.090- Political Activity Paragraph D had sub-paragraphs that were bullets. Sterling Codifiers changes those to numbers, to use proper outline format.

5. SECTIONS 10, 11 , and 12 The numbering of each of the Chapters was off, leaving a gap. Section 10 should have been Chapter 3.12.180 (it was originally listed as 3 .12.190). This affected the following two Chapters. All the Chapters have now been corrected.

6. SECTION 11 - Chapter 3.12.190 - Prohibition of Workplace Violence Paragraph E.1.a. had bullets for the next three paragraphs. Sterling Codifiers changes those to numbers, to use proper outline format.

7. SECTION 12 - Chapter 3.12.200 -Acquiring and Providing Employment References Paragraphs D.2.b. and D.2.d. had roman numerals for the sub-paragraphs. Sterling Codifiers changes those to numbers, to use proper outline format.

8. SECTION 13 - Chapter 3.40.070 - Family and Medical Leave Paragraphs B.2.a. , B.3.a. , B.3.b. and B.3 .c. had roman numerals for the subparagraphs. Sterling Codifiers changes those to numbers, to use proper outline format.

Since staff was seeking to ensure this was a "clean" Bill, the changes discussed at the meeting on April23 , 2014 were also incorporated. They were as follows:

1. SECTION 14 a. Chapter 3.32.040 - Salary Upon Initial Appointment - The Bill now

indicates the language that will be deleted from this section so that it now has the same wording that is included in Chapter 3.32.070 Salary Upon Promotion.

b. Chapter 3.32.130 - Call-Back Pay - Paragraphs Band D now specify callback will be paid as a two-hour minimum.

The fiscal impact will be up to $3 ,500.00 and will come from the General Fund: • Increasing the amount of education reimbursement may require more funds to be

budgeted and paid out to employees. The approved budget for the current fiscal year was increased by $3 ,500 to absorb the impact.


• The call-back pay policy may have some fiscal impact, but many ofthe departments currently pay time-and-a-half for a two-hour minimum.

• Savings will be found by not posting jobs in the newspaper. In FY 13, nearly $11 ,000 was spent on "help wanted" ads. In FY 12, over $8,000 was spent for similar ads.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Olsen made a motion to approve Bill2014-B, Ordinance 7, amending various provisions of Title 3 of the Churchill County Code, as submitted. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

1:40 p.m. Consideration and Possible Action re: Introduction and Presentation by Pontifex Consulting Group regarding a classification and compensation study, Geo(Stark, Human Resources Director, and Peter Ronza. Ponti(ex Consulting Group.

Peter Ronza from Pontifex Consulting Group was present to give an overview of the pending classification and compensation study. The study will begin with the classification portion, with presentations to the department heads, elected officials and employees on May 22nd. HR Director Stark said they would be holding meetings with employees tomorrow to start the process, to give them an overview of the process, start distributing paperwork for them to fill out on the Position Description Questionnaires (PDQs) as they hope to capture as much information as possible. As we have gone forward in notifying departments about the study, the District Court Judge has requested that the employees of District Court not be included in this study because they have their own study currently underway and feel this would avoid the duplication of studies and eliminate any potential unnecessary costs to the county or conflicts that might arise. At this point, staff is fine with that, Unless the board gives different direction, staff plans to not include the District Court employees per the Judge's request.

Mr. Ronza said he wanted to walk the board through the presentation that will be given to the employees tomorrow. They will answer any questions the employees will have tomorrow. After that, he will walk the employees through the questionnaire that they will fill out to make it less painful, although there is no pain-less way to obtain this information. Both the employees and supervisors will be completing this questionnaire because you need both the people who are doing the job and the people who are assigning the job to input into this process. To highlight his background, he is a practitioner and consultant and grew up in southern Nevada. Some of their recent clients include Douglas County, East Fork Fire, Carson City, and others in Southern Nevada, all of which had references provided in the board's packet. His partner, Bob Greene, was not able to be here today because of a big job with the Department of Energy but he is very well known in the profession and has many published articles. They are very familiar with this body of work and have done it both in the public and private sector as both practitioners and consultants.

Mr. Ronza said the purpose of the study, if you haven't done a study in awhile, is twofold. It is to determine what the work is that is being done at the county, which is the questionnaire where the employees will define the work, making a description of that work, making an internal value of that work, and then taking that description of the work out to your competitive labor market and valuing that against comparable work being done in comparable agencies. As part of the process, when they are finished with this, they will also give the Human Resources Department and administrative staff something that they can maintain. It is a guarantee that the day we finish with this study, something will happen. There will be a new function, the function


might split, a function will join, you'll have to go out and do labor analysis, which is to avoid having to do these every 5 years or so. This will enable the county to keep the system vibrant. He equates it to a car - you have to put the air in the tires and you have to change the oil to keep it going. They are going to give county staff the ability to be able to maintain this system and keep it viable for the present and the future. This also helps the county from a budgeting perspective. The county will be able to determine what the market trends are in the relevant labor market as the county develops its budgets for future years. He wants to make it clear what the study is not. They are valuing the work that is being performed at the county. They are not going to say that the county has 4 of them but needs 5 of them; it will not say whether an employee is doing well or poorly. They are simply valuing the work that is being done at the county. Those other things are other studies that are not being conducted, which they want to make perfectly clear. This is not some precursor to downsizing, rightsizing, upsizing, or anysizing. They are just here to look at what is being done at the county, describing that, and valuing that.

Mr. Ronza said their study tasks include describing the work, developing that internal structure, going out to the competitive market, and determining what compensation and benefits are in those markets. This will enable the county to update its structures. Throughout this process, through HR Director Stark, they will communicate with employees and answer any and all questions. The employees will have access to all of the team during the process, so they can ask any questions, especially the supervisors and manager because a lot of employees will go to them, a lot of employees will go to HR Director Stark, a lot of employees will go shopping and go to both, which is great. We do not want to have a vacuum of knowledge. We want to make sure that everybody has access to every possible answer to every question in this study.

One homework assignment that the county will have must be explained. Every organization has a compensation philosophy and that compensation philosophy is the foundation of the house that you are going to build your compensation system on. That is, what is the county intending to do with its compensation program? What is its position going to be in the market? What does it hope to achieve? He gives these general perspectives just so the board will know what they will have to develop during the study as we develop the study because they will build the system based upon the philosophy and strategy that the county comes up with and the position that the county decides to take. That takes into account a whole variety of issues, both environmental, cultural, financial , etc. They will talk at length with Commissioners and leadership about formulating this and assisting you in putting together a philosophy and strategy or revising one if you already have one in place. It is critical that they have this foundation for how the county will position itself and how it will decide its total compensation is to be practiced here.

The first thing is the classification study, which is being started tomorrow. That will be done by having these PDQs completed. As stated, they will meet with employees to instruct them on how to complete the questionnaires. Employees will describe their job. As soon as they are done, there is a portion of this questionnaire that the supervisor has to complete as to that job. His experience is that 95% of the input provided by the supervisor is usually what employees forget because the employee is close to the job and the supervisor has an advantage of catching some things. We are asking employees to do something unnatural, which is to sit down and describe what the employees do. They understand that that is difficult. The supervisor is a great partner in that in that they have perspective of the individual that is assigning the work. Those will come to HR, who will then provide it to Pontifex, and they will come back out on site to


interview every Department Head and Elected Official after they have done a first reading through the questionnaires and go through each and every one of their organizations in detail, based on the questionnaires, questions they may have, issues that they have, things that they discover through the process so that we can fully vet and get a good idea as to what is the environment and the work being performed at Churchill County. These are typical items because everybody thinks there is a secret word or secret phrase that they are looking for. That is not the case. This is universally when you are defining any body of work. These are the things that you look at to describe that work. In essence, they are the characteristics of the job, relationships, both internal and external. There is no secret to this. Those are the things that the questionnaire will be extracting from the employees and that they will be looking at as they determine what that work is and what the hierarchy of that work is at the county so that it answers these questions. When you get that job description, it should answer to anybody, whether they work here, whether they are a member of the public, whether they have never seen you before, it should be able to answer all of these questions about any job at Churchill County. What must be clear to the employees is that they are valuing the job. Again, this is kind of unnatural in that they are looking at the job as if the employee wasn't in it. He likes to be positive. Some people might say, "What would happen if Sparky got hit by a bus?" He likes to say, "If Sparky won Megabucks and you had to replace Sparky, what would you replace them with?" That description should be what that job is. It should provide you the information to be able to replace that employee. This is going to be difficult for employees and supervisors because they will have to extract the individual from the position. They recognize that and will help them through the process. They are not going to consider things such as how long an individual has been in a position. They are looking at the job. What is the position and what is the salary range? Do you have any training credentials or experience not required for the job? The ones required for and used in the job are what they want to see. You will have somebody who will go out and better themselves or maybe they came to the county with some body of work that is just not part of the job. We want to separate that and we want to describe what is required of the job, what is necessary to perform the duties and responsibilities of the job. The volume and quantity of work, especially with downsizing is a factor. Maybe he worked with two other HR Directors and they are both gone and he is now doing the work of three. What is important then is if the work of those other folks is greater in knowledge, skills, or requirements. If it is at the same level and the employee is just doing more workload, we don't take workload into consideration here. That is a manpower issue but we do want to look at whether the complexity, the responsibilities, the duties, knowledge, skills, and abilities have increased. Some employees will get a little tense with that because they have been doing this work and working these hours since they cut back and have not filled these positions again but that is where we differentiate workload from responsibility of work. He wants to make that clear. With regard to quality performance of work, he has already touched on that. They are not here to see if you are good at your job or if you are bad at your job. They are looking at the job, not the individual in the job because that is rewarded separately and looked at separately. They are looking at the actual job itself.

Mr. Ronza said Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) designations are basically per federal statutes. They will provide, as specified in the response, for those jobs that pass the salary test. He wants to quantify that because we are in the State ofNevada. The work exempt is used in the FLSA and it is totally different than the word exempt as it is used in the Nevada Revised Statutes. Exempt in the statute is an employee that is salaried and non-exempt is somebody who


is hourly. Those individual positions that they find that meet the FLSA designation of exempt or salaried, they will then provide the county with all of the back up so that they are ready for any audit or any contest by the Department of Labor. That is part of the contract.

Mr. Ronza continued that, once they have described the work that is being done at the county, then they have to go out and compare that to other agencies and find comparable work at those other agencies. We define comparability as around 60-70%. This isn't identical. No one is going to have identical work. No two entities, no matter how similar you are going to be, are identical. We are looking at comparable work being done at comparable agencies. Once we determine that we have a comparability and we go with job descriptions (not titles), then that is a match. If we do not have a match, then we will not use market data and then they will use that internal hierarchy that we described before to determine the worth of the job. They will only go out and identify a comparable job if it is comparable to what is being done at your other competitors. Competitors, to specify, are folks that you go to for recruitment and to retain. Who do you go to in order to get an employee and who do you prevent them from going to? A lot of your jobs only exist in the public sector but some of your jobs exist in the private sector. They will look at public and private. Examples for private organizations includes positions for HR, finance, IT. If you go out shopping for those folks, you can find those skill sets that could work here both in private and public but there are some jobs that only exist in the public sector. If you are going to get a Grade II or Grade III Treatment Plant Operator, you will pretty much compete with other people who are employing Grade II and Grade III Treatment Plant Operators. That is the market you have to be cognizant of. That is how they define the county's competitive market.

Mr. Ronza said that the reason that third parties, besides the anti-trust issues, are relied on to do this work is you don't necessarily want to do this work in-house. There will always be the accusation, especially in a public entity, that you are cherry picking your comparables or that your supervisors or HR people are cherry picking certain entities so that they can look a certain way or position themselves a certain way. Everything we will do, per their response, is going to be backed up by statistical analysis and data analysis, which will be provided to the board. You always want to make sure that this is something that you can maintain in the future. You want something that is viable. Not only does it have to be valid, it has to be maintained. It isn't a onetime thing because it will be important for the county, as you set salaries and budgets for future years and as you have issues with jobs that everyone else is trying to hire, you may then have to, using your philosophy and strategy, adjust those rates to be competitive. You can have the flexibility to do that, as well. That encapsulates what he just said. The county's competitors could be same skills, it could be in a geographic area, and it could be for services. It could be for all of those but the key is where do you go to recruit them and who do you keep them from being taken by? Recruitment and retention. That usually defines your competitive labor market. As he stated, they are going to do a custom survey of the public sector and they already have data for the private sector. This is similar to what they have been doing for other Nevada agencies. He provided a list of comparable public agencies that they have been provided and whom they will send out surveys to in order to get information from to provide the public sector of the labor market.

Mr. Ronza wanted to stress again what this study does not do because he wants to make sure that nobody is confused- this study will not value individual employees. Again, we are looking at the job, not the person. If the person, such as a Deputy DA, is outstanding, has won numerous awards, happens to have all of these certifications, that is something where the board


would want to reward them separately through either pay for performance, salary increases, etc. We are looking at the job ofDeputy DA period, as ifthere was no one in the position. They are not going to make a value judgment on any individual employees here at Churchill County. They also are not going to assess education or experience levels. That questionnaire, by defining the duties and responsibilities, which, therefore, defines the knowledge and skills necessary to do those. Federal law has stipulated that they will then quantify what the minimum requirements are for that job. Minimum requirements mean, in accordance with the law, what is the minimum for an individual to be able to accomplish the duties and responsibilities of that job at an entry level. It does not mean what you would hire at if you cast your net. One example he likes to use is his wife, who is a nurse. If he were to define the job of nurse, the first thing needed as a minimum requirement is a nursing license. He has to have that if he is going to employ a nurse in this state. However, to get that license, he could have 4 possible education levels. He could have an Associate's, Bachelor's, Master's, or a PhD. Any of those are possible but he must have the nursing license. As he casts his net and defines the job, his minimum requirement is going to be a nursing license, Associate's Degree and let's say 2 years in public health. As he casts his net, he may find people with a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree, etc. It is part of the recruitment process and interviewing process of who you want to hire to get the best person for the job. The job description will state the minimum requirements based on the job analysis. They make that clear to employees so they do not believe, as we are doing this process and giving them back a draft of the description to examine, that we are somehow playing a game on them and undervaluing their job but putting the job requirements lower than either they believe they have their qualifications or where they believe it to be. It all has to be backed up by the duties, responsibilities, knowledge, and skills. That is what we will do but we want to make it clear that the market is not going to assess that. As he stated before, the market does not care how you perform. They will establish the internal hierarchy but the one thing the market does not ignore is supply and demand. They will provide the county with a system that will give the county the flexibility to be able to maneuver as labor supply and demand ebbs and flows . This labor market is going in three different directions: we have jobs that are still going down as far as labor market and don't show signs of coming back up; other jobs that are trending more or less with the labor market; and jobs that were hot when the market went down and are still hot right now. The county must have the ability, if it has to employ that job here at Churchill County and you make the decision to employ it, then the county cannot ignore what the value is of that in the market. As he likes to say, if you are going to go buy milk, there isn't one price for Churchill County and one price for everybody else. There is one price and the county has to make the decision whether they are going to pay that price or do without the milk, so that is one thing the market also doesn't do. It does not ignore supply and demand. They will give the county the ability to flex and maneuver with that.

Mr. Ronza said he mentioned before that staff will be able to maintain this. As noted in the proposal, free of charge, they will support county staff for a year or more as they implement this. He has been on the other side as a practitioner as the consultants go into the silver bird and fly off into the distance with their last check. Everything always happens that you do not anticipate. They will be here to support the county, just as they have been for their other clients by answering e-mails or providing documentation. For example, they have been helping Carson City for 8 or 9 months to help them get through the process and they will continue to do so as long as it takes for them to successfully implement the process. That is in the contract. It is important that the county is able to maintain this so that you do not have to keep doing this every

Minutes of the Churchill County Commissioners' Meeting May 21, 2014

4 to 6 years over and over again. The county should be able to maintain this for quite awhile and have a viable system that allows the county to recruit and retain employees.

Mr. Ronza said the one beauty of being in the public sector is that everything will be contained in a report that will be delivered to the board and will be accepted by the board. The report will have all of the data, all of the analysis, everything you would possibly want to know and the board will be able to ask questions, ask for revisions, ask for other data, etc. All of that will be provided in a final report to the board at a public meeting. The final result will be to have an internal hierarchy of work, the ability to monitor and be competitive with the labor market, so that the county can recruit and retain talent, retain that experienced staff, and have a system that is financially sustainable in accordance with the financial resources that the county has available. Everybody will have his name, e-mail address, phone number, and website. They encourage employees to ask questions from somebody because the key here is that every single question, whether it is minor or major or indifferent, is answered during this study. The input provided by the employees in the PDQ and the input that the supervisors provide will be taken as gospel as to what that job is describing. They need them to do the best job they possibly can and they will help them in every way to make sure that they can do that. Mr. Ronza said he would be happy to answer any questions the board may have.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Scharmann asked him to clarify a couple of things, although the first question might be directed to HR Director Stark. Is there any other department in the county excluded from the study besides District Court? HR Director Stark said, based on discussions that he recalls, the Road Department has been excluded because that was done in December and all of our casual positions are not slated to be covered. This study will cover regular positions and the clerical positions at the Road Department because those were not included in that December study. Civil Deputy District Attorney Shawcroft said isn't it true that the Sheriffs Deputies and Dispatchers are also not included? HR Director Stark said that is correct. Any employees who are under a Collective Bargaining Agreement will be covered in the classification side for the job descriptions but they will not be included on the compensation side. Commissioner Scharmann asked if this is a comparative study. They·are comparing with other counties. He asked how many other counties of similar size, population, etc. will they compare Churchill County with? Is it 3 or 4 counties? Mr. Ronza referred them back to the slide that listed the counties. Those are the ones that they will compare Churchill County to and those are the public sector competitors.

Commissioner Scharmann commented that Washoe County was on the list, although Clark County was not listed. He said he noticed the statements about what this study does not do. Commissioner Scharmann noted that Mr. Ronza talked about classification descriptions but it didn't really address education until the last two or three slides before the end where it mentioned that it does not consider or classify education. He is hazy on that. He asked to give a scenario to see how this study fits. Let's say that there is a management level position in Churchill County and whatever counties they are comparing it with and they are comparing that job description and they see that these other counties, although the job descriptions are very similar in minimum qualifications, they require a Bachelor's Degree or a Master's Degree or whatever it might be. Yet, Churchill County does not. Does Pontifex include that somewhere in the study so that Churchill County can see the salary that Churchill County has and here is the salary that the others have but these other counties are paying more because they are requiring a higher level of degree or education? Mr. Ronza said, on the compensation side, what they would


find, if they found that their minimum requirements were not matching, as in the example used where they were requiring a higher level than what we show is justified on Churchill County's side, that is where they will contact the entity to find out what the rationale is behind that and if there is something in the job that we are missing because they seem comparable but the minimum requirements are different. The reason for that is, on the classification side, they have to determine the minimum qualifications and cover the county's liability as to what are the qualifications for Churchill County, so they would have to determine what is their rationale behind having that and then that could be a reason for not using them as a comparable because those are different. However, they could find that the jobs are comparable but they believe, through a different kind of analysis or different conclusion, that they are justified in asking for a Bachelor's Degree as a minimum qualification. The other thing they have to clarify is that, in some instances, entities will put equivalent to, so they will clarify if this is a preference that they put in job descriptions. There is nothing wrong with that. He has had clients who indicate that the minimum requirement is an Associate's Degree but they like to put in their job description "equivalent to Bachelor's Degree" because they like to shoot for that when they recruit but, when they have done their analysis, really the minimum is an Associate's Degree. The key is the use of the term "equivalent". If you use the word equivalent either before or after the statement, that sends the message to those of us in the business that we are going to take into consideration a mix of education or experience. By Pontifex interfacing back with the entity, they will find out if they truly have a match or not. If they feel uncomfortable that their level is higher than Churchill County's and they do not believe that that, therefore, is a comfortable match, they will not use that data.

Commissioner Scharmann said his understanding of this is that the first steps of this is to look at the job qualifications and job responsibilities and to update those job descriptions. He asked if that is right. The job descriptions will also be changed or updated through this process before the comparisons are made by Pontifex? HR Director Stark said that is correct. That is the first half, which will start tomorrow with those Position Description Questionnaires. That is designed to draft new modified job descriptions that describe the work that is actually being done now as opposed to our older job descriptions, which may have not been updated for several years.

Commissioner Olsen said he would like the Road Department to be included in this study. He thought part of this process was to bring an extra set of eyes from the outside in to develop a system, as Mr. Ronza has mentioned, where we can maintain it on an on-going basis and don't have to come back and do this every 5 to 10 years. If we leave them out, we are still left with a system as we have been doing, so he doesn't understand the rationale for not including them. HR Director Stark said he would leave that up to a board decision. If that is the will of the board, staff is willing to do that. He knows it has been discussed but he knows that no decision has been made by the board. If that is the way that the board would like to move, then we could include them. Commissioner Olsen said that is what he would like to see done.

County Manager Lockwood said one of the ideas that we have discussed is that a lot of data was collected for the Road Department. The Board of County Commissioners has made the decision to partially implement and there is one particular position there that perhaps hasn't been looked at in regard to the internal hierarchy of the Road Department. Her understanding from the last discussion with the board is that we would show the data to Pontifex but, in regard to implementation of the study, that is when recommendations would come forward in regard to full implementation of the Road Department salary survey that has already been completed.


Commissioner Olsen said he just likes the idea of bringing in an outside expert to look over our shoulder and he thinks we should avail ourselves of it in all instances, not pick and choose the ones that we want to include and don't want to include.

Chairman Erquiaga asked what we would do in regard to District Court where the Judge has asked that we not include them. Commissioner Olsen said he is not real comfortable with that either but he does not know what the Judge is thinking, so he almost has to defer to him. He is not real comfortable with that either because we are kind of throwing at a dart board on that position too. He knows the one position that the Judge is concerned about and he would like some help on that position, as well. He doesn't know why we shouldn't avail ourselves of this for that, as well. Chairman Erquiaga said it is sort of the same situation. They have their own study going but, as far as relating it in future years to this study, it may not be. He goes both ways on whether or not to include the Road Department. He doesn't have a problem with it and thinks it might help looking at the hierarchy within the organization if they are included. Commissioner Scharmann said he would like to see them included. His thought is that he would like to include anybody for whom the board is calling shots on. It seems like the board is not calling the shots on the District Court, as the District Court Judge is, so we can't include that. Commissioner Olsen said we are and we aren't. He thinks this is where we can defer to our County Manager to negotiate with the Judge and see what his thinking is on this and offer the service, as we think it would be good to include the court. If he says absolutely not, then we can step away but let's offer the service. He thinks that would be the right tone. County Manager Lockwood said she can do that because one of the concerns that she has is nobody is really sure when the studies that have been undertaken right now might be completed and when there may be budget considerations for implementation. It may not be until FY 2016 when a plan comes forward for the board to consider for implementation. She can meet with the Judge and have this discussion and report back to the board. If the board moves forward with the salary study, she would suggest that they leave it open as to consideration of the District Court if the Judge is on board. Civil Deputy District Attorney Shawcroft added that, technically, excluding the Judge, they are all employees of the county, so it is up to the board to decide what their compensation is.

Chairman Erquiaga said he thinks a way to look at both of these is to include them in the study and then compare the results of both studies. If there is a huge disparity between the two, then maybe we need to analyze why that is. As far as District Court or the Road Department studies, he is not in favor of just throwing their studies away but he is also not against including them in this study. He thinks we should utilize both of them.

Commissioner Scharmann agreed with him. He does not want to throw what they have done away. If we can compare it with this study, that would be great. We made a major commitment to do this study, so to leave certain entities out it makes the whole study less valid. Civil Deputy District Attorney Shawcroft asked Mr. Ronza to help us, as he is not sure whether those numbers were included when we negotiated our contract. Would there be a change in the terms of that contract if we were to include the Road Department? Mr. Ronza said there would not be a change. With Carson City, they included the courts. With Douglas County that they are doing now, the courts have elected not to be included but wanted to see what Pontifex comes up with. In his experience, in southern Nevada, he had to play the role of the County Manager and speak to District and Justice Courts, it is a matter of just making sure that the courts realize that they do have autonomy but that the county is writing the check. They would be happy to include them at no additional cost addendum to the contract. He is happy to do that. They will just defer to whatever decision the board makes or what they manage to achieve and then proceed from


there. Chairman Erquiaga said he doesn't know how many positions there are in District Court. HR Director Stark said there are 4 maximum. Chairman Erquiaga said there are 6 or 7 at the Road Department that have not already been included. There may be 15 people represented but most of them fall under 2 categories.

Planning Director Johnson asked why only Fallon was chosen as far as a city and not Reno, Sparks, Fernley and places like that because, if you were getting a Building Official, for example, if we were hiring one, it would seem that a guy from there could come out here to do it or if we were hiring an accountant or Planning Director. HR Director Stark said primarily it would be because most of our positions we would hire from the local economy and local comparables. We have included Washoe County because we know that, for some of the specialized positions, that would be a competitor for things such as an attorney, for a planner, for someone of that ilk. That doesn't mean that we couldn't include all of the cities in all of the counties that we have listed. That would give us more entities to compare with. He doesn't know that it would substantially change the data. If Mr. Ronza has no issue with adding that in, we could include the cities in all of those Class III counties, as well. Commissioner Scharmann said, if you are going to do that, be sure to add Pershing County. Chairman Erquiaga asked which ofthose counties are not Class III counties, Washoe and the City of Fallon? HR Director Stark said another alternative would be just to go with the Class III counties and cut it off there. Chairman Erquiaga said that has always been our logic. He is not sure if that is a valid relationship. Let's say that Eureka County does not match us but Elko County does. He doesn't know what the thinking was in the beginning when they established what are Class III counties. HR Director Stark said he believes the rationale for the Class III counties is that all of their Elected Officials have the same salaries as our Elected Officials, so you could make the argument that they have the same financial ability to pay or financial status, so they might be comparable with us. Chairman Erquiaga said he understands the logic and sees why but he sees that Storey County is left off and he knows they are not Tier III but they have also been used a lot in our studies in the past. HR Director Stark said they were used the last time we had an external study done. The question he would raise is do we compete with people from Storey County? We would compete with people from Washoe County but he doesn't know that we draw a lot of people from the Storey County area regionally. That would be his only concern. Chairman Erquiaga said they are a smaller organization, so we would probably not lose a lot of people to that either but the same might be said for other counties.

Civil Deputy District Attorney Shawcroft said he thinks it would be wise to make a motion so that there is no question left as to which departments will be included in the studies and which will not.

Commissioner Olsen made a motion to include all departments in the study, including the court employees and Road Department and excluding the casual/seasonal employees and those employees under the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA). Commissioners Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

1:50 p.m. Consideration and possible action re: Application for Community Support Funding for the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival and Presentation by the Fallon Festival Association, Rick Lattin, Fallon Festival Association, Inc.

County Manager Lockwood provided a copy of the application for funding from the Fallon Festival Association. The Cantaloupe Festival is held August 291

h- August 31 st of each year and attracts both residents and visitors from the region. CC Communications and the


county have supported this event for many years; the county's contribution in 2014 was $5,000. In discussions with Rick Lattin, Fallon Festival Association Board Member, a concerted effort has been made this year to encourage greater participation from stakeholders. The Association recognizes the need to add a quality event, expand agricultural presentations, and educational workshops in order to attract more visitors and become less reliant upon donations.

The application has been reviewed by the County Manager and Comptroller. Further discussions were had with Rick Lattin who indicated the sssociation is requesting that the county consider supporting this event in the amount of $5,000, not $10,000 as indicated on the application. Staff recommends supporting the $5,000 request and encourages dialogue with participants and organizers of similar events to ensure optimal success.

Rick Lattin was present on behalf of the Fallon Festival Association, which runs the Cantaloupe Festival. He said that the Fallon Festival Association has run the Cantaloupe Festival for the last 4 years. They took over the festival after the Fallon Chamber of Commerce had passed the festival over to the Fallon Farmer's Market Association, which had a very difficult year and left the festival with a $15,000 to $20,000 debt they could not pay. The association came in and formed a new board and paid off the debt and continued to run the festival. They have a 4 year history now and have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of running festivals. They have aggressively recruited sponsors in the past. Last year, they provided a report to the board which showed that they had a drop off in sponsorships and involvement. The board has taken the effort to reconstitute and try to figure out how to improve the festival and get more sponsorships to increase the size of the festival and the success of the festival. They feel it has been a very successful event overall. He does several events in town as a vendor himself and he can say that, of all ofthe events he does, the Cantaloupe Festival has the biggest draw of out-of-town visitors and, over 39 years, has developed some loyalty with that. This year, they created a social media survey about what was right about the festival , what was wrong with it, and came up with some ideas for making it better. He thinks he can boil that down to about 3 different areas where they found the festival needs a little work. First, they have struggled since the separation from the Country Fair with some of the youth agricultural and farming related events and activities that people would like to see. They would like to see a higher quality vendor at the festival, particularly, crafts. They would like to see more activities for children and kids and more activities with community involvement, as well as more daytime activities. When they did the survey, they found that community involvement is something that they are going to try to achieve. They have set up a separate vendor committee that is canvassing the area quite aggressively. They put together a sponsorship package and are going around to businesses asking them to sponsor different things. They have a list of 1 0-15 different children's activities and are asking nonprofits and organizations to see if they would like to sponsor some of those events so that they can increase the local attendance at the festival. They have also made a proposal and are in the process of trying to implement, because there was a new law passed in 2013 called the "Cottage Foods Law", a program to aggressively recruit for cottage foods and have a cottage foods section, in addition to the Farmer's Market, so that we can put those two together. The fourth area that they took some criticism for that they would like to work on is calling it the longest running and oldest agricultural festival in the State ofNevada, which they believe is right. As fairs and other events have struggled in the past decades, one of the things that has done well, because of the emphasis on local food and healthy food, is food festivals seem to be in the upswing rather than in the downswing, so they think they need to involve the whole agricultural food industry and go back to our roots as an agricultural festival,


which means adding more of the types of things that are typically done at county fairs and those types of events. They have been careful not to step on the toes of the existing fair in the town, which has limited the types of things that they can do but they think the cottage food industry is one where they can establish a new group of people to come and participate. In the urban areas, the cottage food industry has really caught on and there are food festivals, food trucks, and food things going on all over. They think they can bring some of that to the Cantaloupe Festival.

Mr. Lattin said they have had some difficulty this year and one ofthe reasons that he is here today is because their Chairperson is seriously ill and is not able to be here. They wish her well and hopes she will recover. They are a little short on staff right now and are actively recruiting board members. They are excited about this year and believe they can make some improvements over last year's festival.

County Manager Lockwood said she has indicated in the Agenda Report that they had initially requested $10,000 but she understands that they would be happy with something a little less than that. Mr. Lattin said they would be happy with $5,000, as has been done in the past. They will put the money to good use. He thinks the people who have reviewed their financials would agree that that is one thing they have done an excellent job of in giving detailed financial reports. They have tried to be an open organization. The good news is, after a couple of years of work, they have received their 501(C)(4) status as an organization, their books are up to date, they have hired a bookkeeper, and have caught up on IRS reporting. They are now an officially IRS recognized nonprofit organization, which was their goal from the first year they took over the festival. He added that this festival has been an outstanding event for those of them who are in direct sales of agricultural products. It not only goes for the festival but also for a full week before the festival and several days after the festival in that their sales pick up at their roadside stands, they pick up for the people who are hanging out at the road in their pickup truck selling melons, and it generates an awful lot of activity and interest. He does six markets a week in the Reno area and he can say that a month before the festival starts, the number one question he gets on the streets of Reno is, "When is that Cantaloupe Festival in Fallon?" We are a readilyrecognized event in the foodies industry and the festival gives a set time that people know they need to come down and pick up melons.

The other thing they have done, with much thought and some heated discussion, is to change the name of this festival, although he notes that the Facebook account hasn't yet been changed. It used to be the Hearts of Gold Cantaloupe Festival. Some of you know that we have struggled over the years with that old heirloom melon and having enough of it at the right time. They have changed the name to the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival and are rebranding the Fallon melon as a Fallon melon so that it gives them access to a larger market. They can't sell Hearts of Gold melons wholesale; they can't put them in the chain where he sells most of his melons through a broker in Reno. They are actively branding that melon as a Fallon melon similar to Walla Walla, Vidalia, Rocky Ford, or some ofthe more successful branding of products. He thinks that helps the image of the community and it certainly helps the farmers involved in the venture of growing Fallon melons. His Yerington counterparts have even taken to calling their melons Fallon melons grown in Yerington.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Scharmann said the suggested motion deals with communication with the Cantaloupe Festival and Country Fair folks. He doesn't know how the other Commissioners feel but he feels it is important. He knows they have their plans for this coming year and he knows that the Country Fair folks do also but, if we could be assured that there is going to be some


communication between the two, because he personally feels that the two are two fairs that are maybe mediocre where we could have one really great event. Mr. Lattin may feel a bit differently about that but he wonders if Mr. Lattin has any opposition to the motion stating that the two groups will try to work together in the future? Mr. Lattin said he has no opposition to that at all. He has sat on the Boards of Directors of both organizations, has worked side-by-side with members of both organizations, has worked in organizations when they worked together and when they were separate, and his views are very well known within the Cantaloupe Festival group and the Country Fair group. He has no qualms about stating those here. He thinks the event was better when they ran them together and anything we could do to put those 2 events together, in his opinion, is helpful. In not putting them together, he thinks closer coordination and cooperation between them on what they do and who their market is and what they are trying to sell in the community would be good. He was a vendor at both events last year and he could sit here for an hour and tell you what he thinks was good and bad about both. Both events have strengths and weaknesses. He thinks it would be good if they could work more closely together. They had run the Country Fair and Cantaloupe Festival as an event for a couple of years and there are some philosophical reasons for parting. One is the Cantaloupe Festival is a fee-based event, where the Country Fair is a free event. Some people feel very strongly that country fairs or county fairs should be free events. He feels just as strongly that, if the future of the Cantaloupe Festival is tied to being able to charge an admission so that, hopefully, someday it becomes an event that stands on its own and has its own financial backing. He thinks volunteer events that do not have a fee continue to struggle where, if you can provide something that people are willing to pay to come to, eventually you can develop an event that can stand on its own. That is how he feels about it.

Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to approve funding for the Fallon Cantaloupe Festival in the amount of$5,000.00 for Fiscal Year 2015. Furthermore, following the festival, we request a presentation on the event and, prior to requesting any future funding, we request discussions be had with the Country Fair Board to evaluate alternatives to increase participation and attendance at these events. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

2:00p.m. Consideration and possible action re: Presentation of the 2015 Work Program and Fiscal Years 2015-2018 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) Process and request for approval of the same, Tom Greco, Asst. Director of Planning. Nevada Department of Transportation. State ofNevada Department of Transportation Director Rudy Malfabon was present to make a presentation to the board concerning NDOT's 2015 - 2024 Work Program and to ask for acceptance of the Work Program. He introduced some of the folks who traveled to the meeting with him: Kim Wallin, State Controller and member of the Transportation Board; Bob Ateman, Financial Manager for the Federal Highway Administration; Dale Wagner, Bridge Engineer, Federal Highway Administration; Thor Dyson, District Engineer; Paul Harmon, Supervisor for Maintenance in Fallon; Jason Van Havel, Transportation and Multimodal Planning; Rebecca Capular, Transportation and Multimodal Planning; and Catherine Cocarro, Transportation and Multimodal Planning.

Mr. Malfabon said they are operating under a Transportation Bill called Map 21 , which expires September 30, 2014. Unfortunately, the amount of revenue for the federal fuel tax is not sufficient to sustain the spending levels they have authorized to all of the state DOTs throughout


the nation. What they are hearing is that the Highway Trust Fund might run out of money as soon as August, before the expiration of the bill. Congress has their work cut out for them. They have advised their Transportation Board and the board is sending a letter to our Nevada Delegation in Congress, both in the Senate and House of Representatives. They are aware of this. They have also made personal visits to our delegation to apprise them ofNDOT's concerns with this issue of funding. There is action being taken in Congress and the President recently unveiled his proposal called the "Grow America Act" , which is a four year bill. It has a substantial increase in funding for various programs, not only highways but also transit, highway safety, and another program. President Obama proposes repatriation of some of the businesses in the United States that have invested in offshore business and international business. It is a global economy and what the President proposes is about $150B for substantial repatriation of some of that offshore revenue and then the federal government would benefit from those taxes on the offshore investments. It remains to be seen as far as Congressional action to approve that type of tax reform for corporate America. On the Senate side, the Chairman of the House and Environmental and Public Works Committee, Senator Barbara Boxer, has proposed a six year bill at the current funding levels that the states have received, with a little bit of adjustment for inflation. On the House side, Chairman Bill Shuster, from Pennsylvania, is the Chairman for the House Committee dealing with transportation, who recently won in the Primary but has to win in the General Election. They expect that, now that he has won the Primary Election, he can go forward to take some action with his committee in the House and work with Senator Boxer on a Transportation Bill. All eyes are on Congress to see what action they will take to continue funding. The issue is, with the gap in funding based on what they receive from the federal fuel tax versus what they have allowed the states to spend for transportation, there is a gap that must be made up. There are various alternatives, besides a fuel tax and, as he mentioned, President Obama was looking at corporate tax reform to help make up that gap. What the federal government has done in the past is a general fund transfer. It is an issue that has come up before.

Mr. Malfabon said the other thing with the federal Transportation Bill called Map 21 is rule making. It was a 2 year bill but it had a lot of good policies that they have to make regulations and rules for, so they go through the federal process of announcing to the public that these rules are out there as a draft and then the agencies affected or individuals that have an interest send their comments in. They are in that process now for a couple of rules that have significance across the state, which are the safety performance measures and the Highway Safety Improvement Program rules. Those have interest for NDOT because NDOT has adopted a Safety Performance Measure, such as the Zero Fatalities Program. They are looking across the board with partner agencies and law enforcement, emergency medical services, and educators, as well as the engineering groups throughout the state besides NDOT, to work together to drive down fatalities . The concerns expressed so far have to do with allowing the states to continue to have flexibility. They embrace the idea of having performance measures. The public deserves to know where the money is going and what they are getting for their taxes. The idea is to allow flexibility and not to penalize the states if they are using a variety of means. In other words, as an Engineer, in the past, he put a lot more emphasis on projects but they are learning that there are a lot of dividends paid through affecting people's behavior. You see a lot of commercials, such as the Click It or Ticket or the No Texting. You see a lot of emphasis on changing safety laws and legislation but it involves everybody working together, making sure that the emergency medical service responders can get out there rapidly to treat people and save lives on the highways when there is a crash with a serious injury. It is a matter of working together, for


which they have their Strategic Highway Safety Plan that brings all of those efforts together with those other entities outside of the Department of Transportation.

Mr. Malfabon said another thing NDOT is trying to do is to be more efficient and implement some electronic systems that will allow the counties or cities to submit projects for various federal programs. There is a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) where, in years past, they would put out a call for projects with a deadline. It is now an electronic submittal of the application, which can be done anytime and that system is available to anybody throughout the state to submit those projects. They are then ranked on a regular basis and the TAP program has a limited amount of funding. The board might remember the projects called enhancement projects for things such as sidewalks, trails, and those types of projects, which were funded through enhancements. Now, under Map 21 , the new Transportation Bill is called the Transportation Alternatives Program.

Another area they want to work on, which has not been implemented yet, is that they have an annual Statewide Transportation Improvement Program that the Transportation Board approves. It has the lists of projects for the annual work program, the near-term projects, and then the long-term projects. That list of projects they call the STIP is for the 4 year period. They work with the planning organizations across the state in the urban areas to develop those projects but NDOT has the responsibility for the rest of the state outside of those urban boundaries. The idea is that they want to get to an electronic process so that a concerned citizen or a County Commissioner could look online to see what projects there are for Churchill County and then see the latest amendments to that list of projects. They want to have a more usable, searchable program that gives that information readily on the internet.

Mr. Malfabon reported that they are also, in concert with guidance from the Federal Highway Administration, trying to do more for outreach throughout the year with County Commissions and with public works staff, as well as City Councils and Town Advisory Boards. They want to have workshops throughout the year to explain these different programs, whether it is a state program or a federal aid program. They had 10 last year. These enable them to inform people about the latest changes, about the state of play in the funding of transportation, and what programs are available to an entity to apply for funding. They did a lot more of that outreach to try to work more on planning and to be more proactive instead of reactive.

The Legislature passed a law that he wanted to mention. He has mentioned in the past about road relinqiushments. They had been working with NACO and the League of Cities on road relinquishments in general to have a fair and equitable process. They had a lot of the details worked out with NACO and the League of Cities. However, the final Bill that was passed and put into Nevada Revised Statutes had a requirement to establish regulations, so that requires a public process. They will work directly with NACO and the League of Cities on this issue and directly with the counties. The idea is to have a fair process and have a public meeting so that they can take those regulations and adopt them formally at a Transportation Board meeting. There are no real changes other than being able to adopt them as a regulation, which requires a different public process to have that hearing. The board will get more information about when that hearing will be held. The proposed method for road relinquishments and road transfers isn't going to be any different than what they have already been discussing with NACO and the League of Cities, so they have had general agreement on that process.

Mr. Malfabon mentioned that they work with their partner agencies and other folks and have adopted a Strategic Highway Safety Plan for areas throughout the state. They have worked collaboratively with the Department of Public Safety, with law enforcement, and the local


communities, with the educators that educate children and teens on driving, and even adults on the issues with new law changes. Recently, there was that law passed called the "Move Over" law for when law enforcement or emergency responders have people that they are assisting on the shoulders of the roadways. There was that 3 foot minimum clearance law to give people that are bicycling on the shoulders room to improve safety for them.

They have done a lot with road safety audits. With a road safety audit, they will get maintenance people, local staff from road maintenance crews and road supervisors, to drive along with them and law enforcement who patrols that road to identify, both at daytime and nighttime, issues with motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. Those road safety audits are conducted and then there is a long list of options that are available for improvement. What they see a lot of times on rural roads is an issue of lighting at certain intersections at night. In rural Nevada, sometimes it is open range involving animal hits, so they look at solutions for those things, as well. The idea is to work collaboratively with the local agencies, law enforcement, local maintenance, and state maintenance forces to work with NDOT Engineers to review those roads. Ultimately, what they want to do is reduce fatalities. They are aware that, a year ago, in 2013 , they didn't have a fatality in Churchill County but they have had one so far this year, which is unfortunate. They do not want to see that going forward.

As an update on what they have been doing with the Interstate 80 Corridor Study, they try to work with other states like California, Utah, and Wyoming to do these types of corridor studies. It helps to leverage when there is a federal grant available for operational management of the interstate system. It helps when you have these multiple states supporting each other on their grant opportunities under the Tiger Grant Program. There was a recent $600M available for entities to apply for related to transportation multimodal improvements on the highways and streets. That type of corridor study and buy-in from multiple states leverages us when we request grant funds. That study is expected to be completed in August 2014.

Mr. Malfabon moved on to past issues that we have talked about, such as issues with road relinquishments and concerns with the fact that the county doesn't have the wherewithal to take state roads. The state, having a limited amount of fuel tax revenue, also has to look at what maintenance projects they can perform to keep the roads in a state of good repair. Some ofthe lower volume roads still get surface treatments like chipseals or flushseals to keep them in fairly good shape, recognizing that we have to keep the interstate system maintained at the highest level. The state routes and U.S. routes are the next highest and then some of the lower volume state routes, unfortunately, they do not have as much money to spread around to repave those, so they try the cold, in-place recycling chipseals, some of the lower cost cheap maintenance treatments on those.

The previous comment from the Commission about the bridge on Harrigan Road was a Fiscal Year 2015 project and is still in NDOT's FY 15 plan to do that. They say it is subject to available funds as it is a federally funded project for that bridge replacement. They feel that Congress is going to take the action as they have never failed to address the issue in the past. They might take a little bit longer than the expiration of the bill and do a continuing resolution to keep things going along at the same rate.

County Manager Lockwood said, assuming that funding will become available, how will NDOT work with local entities on that Harrigan Road bridge? She knows that route is used by several people going to child care, schools, etc., so how will they work with local entities to have the least impact on traffic? Mr. Malfabon said, typically, when there is a bridge replacement, they look to define an alternative detour. He would have to confirm that they are doing this on


that project but, typically, that is what they do is assign a detour so that people will know. They usually put signs up that will indicate in advance that the bridge will be worked on and will not be available as a route. Sometimes, when you have wider bridges, you can keep half of it open while you work on the other half but that is not the case on this bridge. They will have to completely tear it out and rebuild it. The idea is to work with the county's Road staff and the City of Fallon on the detour routes and have that communication in advance and notify them what the schedule is in advance, subject to available funds. They will definitely bring that back to NDOT's designer to make sure that they close that loop with communication.

Mr. Malfabon said another issue that has been brought up before had to do with the maintenance program where they will use state forces sometimes because they try to stretch their state dollars but, for the most part, on larger projects they will contract those out in a low bid system. They received a lot of compliments and they appreciated those last year about the rural transit program, CART, and the assistance they gave on functional classification because that had to do with having certain local roads eligible to receive federal funding.

He wanted to mention about that safety rule making process that one of the things that was a concern to the state was to report data on all public roads. In this rule making process, the Federal Highway Administration folks know that it is a very strict process that they go through. They submit comments as a state but they also submit them through an organization of all of the state DOTs called AASHTO. One of the concerns was, if the state DOT has to collect data on all public roads, that includes unpaved roads. They would prefer that they concentrate on the higher volume roads and higher order roads. There are some local roads that they collect information on but there are many that they do not, such as side streets or residential streets where they do not collect a lot of information on condition and other factors that the rule is saying that the states need to collect. They have provided some comments back on that issue but it ties in with the issue of maintaining eligibility and functional classification. They try to concentrate on those higher classification roads that handle more of the traffic and leave the lower volume roads to the locals, whether it is a county, town, or city.

He wanted to quickly cover some ofthe projects. You will see a lot ofthose chain control signs. They are trying to get those so that people will be drawn to these chain control signs that have flashers on them to draw attention when there are controls. When they come up to a mountain pass, they want the people to see those controls in place so they can know if they need to tum around at a site that is more opportune and safer if they do not have chains or snow tires. They are doing more with those chain control signs and dynamic message signs to get those messages out to the public as they are driving. Real time information is best, so they can make timely decisions on whether to continue if there is an accident ahead, whether they need to take a detour and things such as that. You will see a lot ofthe maintenance projects that they perform, as mentioned, the chipseals, flushseals . There is some significant funding being put to safety projects. They wanted to do some slope flattening and widening of shoulders on the U.S. 95 structure. What they see on a lot of rural highways is drivers getting fatigued. Even though they put rumble strips along the shoulders, drivers get fatigued and run off the road. They want to have some more recovery room, so the shoulder flattening and widening of shoulders is one way to address that issue and provides safety. He talked about the bridge project on State Route 115/Harrigan Road and continuing with the CART transit service for Churchill County. The way that the projects are listed, the last two digits is the Fiscal Year that the project will be delivered. There is a the 5 point $6.5M shoulder widening on U.S. 50 to be done in 2016, so they have one on U.S. 95 and another subsequent project on U.S. 50. It is part of a safety


program that will continue throughout the state on these rural roads that need to have some safety improvements.

Mr. Malfabon said he is willing to look into some other issues. He knows that there was an issue related to a median island that was more of a City of Fallon issue but that has been improved. Typically, they will do their best to work out those details and he wanted to say that often they are working with their traffic operations folks who look to reduce the instances of conflicts when people are turning out of private properties, schools, or post offices, they can create a conflict with opposing traffic on the main road. He asked that we bear with them on those issues. They typically try to find a solution but sometimes it takes time to work through staff concerns on safety and to find some middle ground where they can proceed with on those types of concerns that they receive locally or from developers. He then said he would answer any questions.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment. Planning Director Michael Johnson said he noticed that the one map had the exact same number in two locations (demonstrated on overhead screen) and thought one of those should be changed. He then asked to have the list of projects displayed and said the one with the first project is listed a $357,000 and item 5 on the list is CH20140013-15 but he could not find it on the map. He knows where it is located but it was not listed on the map. At the bottom of the page where it lists CART, he asked ifthey are saying that in 2012 they decided to spend $290,558 a year on CART in FY 15, FY 16, and FY 17 on the next pages? Mr. Malfabon said the CART program is an ongoing program funded through the Federal Transit Administration funds and that would be a continuing program. Mr. Johnson said it was on the next two pages but he couldn't locate those numbers and assumed it was because it was a CART item not necessarily a project. Except for that, he did not see anything else that he noticed was incorrect. Mr. Malfabon thanked him and said they will look at correcting the duplication of the project number.

Commissioner Scharmann thanked them for coming and said he wanted to mention the appreciation that the county has for NDOT's support and assistance for the CART program. It is a great program and is a huge benefit for our senior citizens but also for every age group that is affected by the challenging transportation in our county. Ernie Maguire does a great job but if we did not have NDOT's partnership in that, Ernie wouldn't have a job. He said the county really does appreciate their help with that program. Mr. Malfabon thanked him for those comments and said it is a very important program for people who are seeking medical treatment or to be able to shopping.

Commissioner Scharmann said, with the fire power that we have here today from NDOT, he would be remiss in not asking about I-11. The last presentation he saw on Interstate 11 was probably 5 or 6 months ago at a Western Nevada Development District (WNDD) meeting and, at that meeting, they were looking at three different routes. Of course the Phoenix to Vegas route is the huge route and we know that that needs to be done yesterday but then, as we progress through Nevada up through Idaho and so forth, they were looking, at that time, at 3 different routes. He assumes that that hasn't changed but one of those routes was U.S. 95. At that time, it was said that that was probably the most cost effective route to go through Churchill County up through Winnemucca and up through Boise, Idaho and so on. He wonders what the status is with that project. Mr. Malfabon said that is a very good question. On June 2nd, their Project Manager for the I-ll Study, which is a joint venture between Arizona DOT and NDOT, is going to present the latest update on that report to the Transportation Board. Either in late June or early July, there will be another public meeting in Las Vegas and that will open the formal ability to


comment. What they did with that study was to look at different factors. It was a different approach to identify what is the best recommendation considering different factors like economic development, movement of freight, and tourism. All of these different factors were considered, as well as the volumes of traffic that could be taking these routes that were proposed. It was a very high level study. The Transportation Board will receive that and there will be that public meeting and an opportunity for public comment. They will try to wrap up everything around August. They can provide a specific presentation from their Project Manager on that project here at the County Commission meeting if the board so desires. That could be coordinated if desired. The idea is to allow the Transportation Board to weigh in and, as the Commissioner stated, it is a very long-term proposal to see where the funding would come from. How the process works is that the next level of study would be a more defmed corridor study to start to drill down to a more well defined corridor study and look at the options. Eventually, an environmental study would be done, which, for something of this magnitude, would be an Environmental Impact Statement. They would probably do that in segments. The U.S. 95 route was one of the areas that was ranking highly looking at the business case assessment and the factors they considered for what the most likely route would be to connect going up the west side or east side of the state. U.S. 95 was one of the routes that was ranking highly.

Commissioner Olsen said, in taking a more local look here, we have a couple of intersections that he thinks have had fatalities in the past and one of those is Sheckler Cut Off where it comes into U.S 50. He knows a red flashing light has been installed after the last fatality there. There is also the Soda Lake Road intersection with U.S. 50 where we have had fatalities. On those two items, is there anything in the future plans to make any changes there? Mr. Malfabon said there are none that he is aware of. He will check with the safety staff and then they can respond directly in a separate letter to the County Commission if there are other changes to those two intersections anticipated. Typically, if it was in the near future, you would see it on the projects list. Sometimes, the safety folks will identify a project and then get it worked into an amendment of that document that eventually goes to the Transportation Board. This process of projects being added in there is a continuous process and that is why they want to get an electronic system so that you, as Commissioners, can look at the NDOT's website and see what the projects are in Churchill County. Specific to the question, they will look into that with their safety staff back at headquarters and respond in a letter. Commissioner Olsen said he appreciates that and knows that they are addressing one of the main problems. If anybody hears of a fatality here in Churchill County, the first likelihood is that somebody went to sleep and ran off the road and were ejected from the vehicle and killed. Secondly, if it is on U.S. 50 West somewhere, you can almost guarantee it is one of those two intersections. He thinks, if there was an analysis done, that it might prove to be a priority for some more intense safety features that could be done there. He is not sure but it is in a place where there are a lot of businesses intersecting and a lot of people coming in and out, a lot of traffic, and you have high-speed traffic going through there. It is just a bad mix. He doesn't know if it would warrant better lighting in the evening or what the solution might be because he is not a traffic guy. He doesn't think he has missed the mark too far on those comments, which was agreed with by the other board members by a nod of their heads.

Commissioner Olsen continued that, south of town, we have a bad intersection where U.S. 95 exits town and there is Sheckler Road, South Maine Street, Wildes Road, and U.S. 95 all there. He knows there has been talk in the past of a roundabout there. We have been told that there is enough property to do that. If you want to get held up in the morning going anywhere in


this town, you just need to go through that intersection. You will be late ifyou are cutting it close. There has been talk of a roundabout but he doesn't know if that is on the radar with NDOT. Mr. Malfabon said he would have to check on that, as well.

Thor Dyson, District Engineer, said he was just informed by Paul Harmon that two years ago, at Sheckler Cut Off, when they had that fatality there, there was intense review by NDOT. He believes they did a Road safety audit and took a lot of public input, law enforcement input, and county input. Since the red flashing light that Commissioner Olsen mentioned, they have had some accidents but they have not had a fatality. As the board is aware, last summer, one of NDOT's maintenance workers was involved in a very, very serious accident there. It was not fatal but their own guy suffered major injuries. He recently returned to work after 8 or 9 months of rehab. They are taking that seriously and, ifthere are any opportunities, to address safety issues on those areas, they will do them short-term, immediately. For the long-term, they can address those issues more thoroughly. Mr. Malfabon said they will follow up with the safety staff to see if there is anything in the works as far as other improvements anticipated.

Chairman Erquiaga said, when they were doing the safety audit, another consideration was at the 90-degree tum where Sheckler Cut Off meets Sheckler Road. There are some issues there too. He knows that has been looked at but, as Commissioner Olsen said, he gets a lot of calls and comments on that Sheckler Cut Off and U.S. 50 intersection. When something happens, people say we need a light or other things. He knows they are aware of it but the county would appreciate it if they would keep that on the front burner because the county does get a lot of calls about that.

County Manager Lockwood thanked Jason for the continued workshops that he has held here looking at future projects at the county with the developments that we have.

Comptroller Kalt thanked Mr. Malfabon for coming out. Every year, he advocates for CART and said he is glad one ofthe Commissioners chimed in so that he doesn't have to do that. He asked how Mr. Malfabon sees the financial challenges being solved. He talked about the challenges at the federal level with the lack of funding for Map 21 . At the state Legislature, there is not enough money for NDOT to fund the necessary projects. At the local level, there is not enough money for the counties and cities to do projects. What he is seeing, as the finance guy, is an infrastructure deficit where we do not have the money to do proper maintenance. The technical people in the field, the engineers, the Road Superintendents, the worker bees are saying that we need crackseals and overlays and all of these things that he doesn't quite understand. He agrees with them because they technically know what they need to do but he knows that we do not have enough money in the budget. We have taxes based on an excise tax per gallon sold and people, himself included, have bought a more energy efficient vehicle that gets higher mileage per gallon so that he can drive more on these roads, so he is not paying as much tax. What are some of the solutions that the state has looked at or evaluated that the Legislature is looking at to help bridge that gap? He knows we are not unique in Fallon and Churchill County. There are other rural counties or urban centers that have that same gap. He knows that NDOT and the state have those same gaps. He asked Mr. Malfabon what he thinks are some of the solutions available. Mr. Malfabon replied that, in the near-term, in November 2016, there will be a public ballot question regarding fuel tax indexing for statewide consideration. That state portion of the fuel tax indexing would go to the state highway fund. Right now, in Washoe County and Clark County, fuel tax indexing is enacted for that period of time up to 2016 and then that is why the public has to vote to continue that. There will be that statewide issue that could provide for the county of origin some additional revenue for road maintenance. In the long-term, there has been


a lot of discussion and consideration by many states, which the federal government has to consider, as well, to move towards a distance based fee rather than a cents per gallon gas tax or fuel tax. The idea is that people would pay for, to keep it simple, an odometer reading. The huge issue has been privacy and distrust of government putting a device in people's cars. People do not trust the government and do not want to be tracked. There are a lot of studies going on, including by NDOT, who are doing a study on what is called a vehicle mileage tax (VMT). You will hear different acronyms for things like Mileage Based User Fee or a Distance Based Fee. The concept is the same in the long-term, as it will take many years to get there because of all of the issues with neighboring states and sharing that revenue when you have border towns at the state line. There are all kinds of issues with visitors to our state and how do you collect the revenue from them when they are just visiting and then going back to their home state? We don't want to upset the apple cart in terms of trying to make people have a reason not to want to visit our beautiful state or to have their vacations here. The model as it currently stands he hit right on the head. The financing model of charging per gallon is going to continue to be a downward trend of revenue collection. Although the miles driven on the system is going to be either flat or rise eventually in the long-run, the concern is that we have to address that. They are going to study for what makes sense in Nevada, while considering what the issues are in rural Nevada and the concerns to Nevadans but they want the federal government to take the lead in having a national perspective on this issue. As he stated, they want to keep it simple in Nevada. In the two urban areas of Washoe and Clark County, people have to get their smog checks done every year because those are areas where they are trying to improve air quality, so there is an odometer reading every year but they do not want to charge people every year because it is charging all at once, similar to your car registration. They do not want to charge for their fuel tax every year, once per year. They are talking about those things and those are the solutions they are looking into with the Nevada study for going to a mileage based fee or tax. This would be instead of paying at the pump for your cents per gallon. Currently, people are paying about 18.4¢ per gallon to the federal government and about the same amount to the state that the state highway fund receives and then they put it back out in projects and programs. The idea is to do away with the cents per gallon collection at the pump and get more towards a distance based fee. Think of it in terms of paying a utility where you pay per killowatt hour on your power bill or you pay per gallon of water for usage on a tiered basis. Think of it as a utility you use when you want to use the streets and highways. Paying on a mileage based or distance based system would address the issue of the long-term viability of highway and street financing. Comptroller Kalt said he speaks of the government services tax for vehicle registration. As he understands it, the statutes provide for a supplemental tax to support transportation. He was trying to do some research but was not seeing where any governmental entity in the state currently has that supplemental amount for road projects. The other one he saw was where you could have up to one-half of a half of a percent for public transit in sales tax. Many jurisdictions, such as ours, have a quarter cents sales tax. There is another optional tax for another quarter cent. He asked if they envision a conglomeration of local governments getting together or for the state to advocate folks to try to pass that similar to what you are seeing on the ballot of 2016 for the indexing? If everybody did it, it might be more palatable versus just onesies twosies. Clark County has the highest state sales tax. They are not bashful about implementing these. Perhaps, if other entities came together to say that they have an infrastructure deficit, it would be better. If we do not address those preventative maintenance issues, the next thing you know, as the engineer types tell him, they will have to spend 4 or 5 times as much to reconstruct a road versus if they had enough


money to maintain the road. He asked if he sees any cooperation on the GST and the supplemental sales tax? Mr. Malfabon said he thinks all options will be on the table at the next session. One of the issues was the Department of Motor Vehicles and NDOT all receive and collect revenue and it goes into the state highway fund for their operations. The idea is, as the economy improves, there will be less of a strain on the general fund budget agencies and that the state highway fund agencies, which are Department ofPublic Safety, Department of Motor Vehicles, and NDOT, would see more funding available. He thinks that, in general, it is a discussion to be held during the next session of the Legislature. The Legislature is working very closely with the Governor on that issue. The Governor's position is that he doesn't want to raise taxes to the detriment of this recovery that we are enjoying. It is a moderate recovery in our state but we are seeing that trend in the right direction for job creation and more general fund revenue from sales tax. In terms of fuel tax revenue, we are up. They estimate about 1% or 1.5% growth in the fuel tax. It is pretty flat but it is still better than going downhill, which is the concern with that distance based discussion that we had. He will say that their role as the state Department of Transportation is to spend the money wisely, discuss where the money is being spent with the board, keep them apprised, and get the board's approval for the directions that they want to go in improvements and efficiencies and projects. That is a larger level discussion about revenue and definitely the counties have a role to play in that discussion through NACO, League of Cities, and your representatives in the state Legislature, as well as discussions with the Governor and other Elected Officials. It is a huge issue and is something that is really outside the purview of the agency that is sitting in the Executive Branch. They take their lead from the Governor and he supports transportation funding and having the money going to highway projects and keeping people employed, whether it is contractors or suppliers. The idea is to be cautious there, which is what he has heard from the Governor so that we do not negatively affect this uptick in our economy. If you raise taxes, it could have a detrimental effect. That debate will be held, although he cannot respond or take a position. All they do, as an agency, is provide information about what it costs to maintain roads and to do road projects. Comptroller Kalt thanked him and said, again, on behalf of CART, he thanked them for their support. Without that support and without the federal dollars, it would not be possible for our residents to use that program.

Commissioner Olsen made a motion to accept the Fiscal Year 2015 Work Program. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

NEVADA LAND TRANSFER TASK FORCE UPDATE: Chairman Erquiaga reported that they have not had a meeting since the last update. The next meeting will be held on May 30th. They are going to be advocating to have the Commissioners review the draft report and get back to them. He has asked County Manager Lockwood to provide the board with a copy of the draft and put it on an Agenda fairly soon. There is a press release, so he doesn't know if we will get a room full of people where maybe it would be better to do that in another venue. We will need to comment on the end result. LETTERS RECEIVED: A. Letter from the State of Nevada Department of Taxation regarding compliance of Fiscal Year 2014-2015 tentative budget.

Comptroller Kalt reported that that, in accordance with NRS 354.596 (5), local governments are required to submit a tentative budget by April 151

h of each year. The tentative budget is reviewed by the Department of Taxation for compliance with the various laws and regulations. The attached letter indicates that Churchill County's budget is in compliance with


the law and appropriate regulations. The Minutes must reflect that the board has reviewed the letter and related findings.

There will be minor changes to the tentative budget. The public hearing on the Tentative Budget and related tax rate was held on May 19th at 5: 15 p.m. in the County Commission Chambers. The public notice of the hearing was published on Friday, May 9th.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to note receipt of the letter from the Department of Taxation indicating that Churchill County's Fiscal Year 2014-2015 tentative budget, pursuant to NRS 354.596(5), has been reviewed and determined to be in compliance with the law and appropriate regulations. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

OLD BUSINESS: A. Consideration and possible action re: Appointment of a Churchill County Representative to serve on the Board of Directors for Fallon Youth Club, Eleanor Lockwood, Churchill County Manager.

Churchill County Lockwood reported that on May 1, 2014 the Fallon Youth Club (FYC) made a presentation and request for funding to the Churchill County Commission. The request for $10,000 of support was approved for inclusion as a line item in the County's budget. Due to the substantial contribution and ongoing commitment the County made to the Fallon Youth Club, the Commission requested county representation on the FYC Board of Directors. The FYC Board met on May 14, 2014 and approved a Board Candidate Application received from Commissioner Harry Scharmann.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Olsen made a motion to approve Harry Scharmann as Churchill County's Representative on the Fallon Youth Club Board of Directors. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

NEW BUSINESS: A. Consideration and possible action re: Approval of the Churchill County Water Conservation Plan, Michael K. Johnson, Churchill County Planning-Director.

Planning Director Johnson reported that ,per NRS 540.121 and 131, a water conservation plan associated with the county's water treatment facility must be adopted by the Board of County Commissioners and updated every 5 years. NRS 540.141 outlines the requirements of a conservation plan, including provisions to increase public awareness of the limited supply of water in the state, specific conservation measures such as identifying and reducing leakage in water supplies, and a contingency plan for drought. Our last plan was updated in November of 2007. This updated plan incorporates revised maps showing the current distribution system, along with a map indicating the extent of hydrological sub-basins 101 and 102 within Churchill County. This plan was sent to the State Division of Water Resources to make sure that all required sections and points were addressed to comply with NRS 540.121-151 and the state has given this plan their preapproval. This plan has been posted on the Churchill County website since April29, 2014 and a hard copy was located in the Library and the Planning Department if anyone wished to view or comment.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment. Jim Falk said that, in the Lahontan Valley News this morning, there was an article about the EPA planning some laws or regulations regarding water use in the state. He asked if that has anything to do with the plan


presented here. Mr. Johnson said he did not read the article so he can't really answer that. This plan talks about how our system got here, how we took it over if it was owned by somebody else, how many gallons it uses per year for the system, how many people are connected to the system, what our future thoughts are for the system, whether we have things in our billing cycle that show how much water was used in the previous month or previous year, whether we add pamphlets into our water billing about conservation measures, and things like that. It then addresses things like building codes that might require that they use low flow type of water devices. It addresses those types of things but he cannot comment about what was in the newspaper today. Mr. Falk said he probably didn't understand all of what he read in the paper and some may consider him as a conspiracy theorist but he can see this as another weapon in the continuing federal vendetta against the agricultural people. It looks like they could take some very strong measures to cut water off in places where farmers and ranchers need the water. He suggested that the board take a look at that and, if there is something that they could do to forestall any of that stuff, many of the public would appreciate it.

County Manager Lockwood said she hasn't yet read the paper so she doesn't know the article that Mr. Falk is referring to. The EPA is considering several proposed new rules in regards to the Clean Water Act. We are following that closely, as is NACO and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection. We will continue to watch that closely and, as anything moves forward, to keep the board informed.

Commissioner Olsen explained to Mr. Falk that, last month, he brought to County Manager Lockwood this same thing about the Clean Water Act and the expansion of the Clean Water Act. They talked about it and are following it, such as she said, and so is NACO. We are aware of it and it is a big expansion of federal power. We are concerned about it. Mr. Falk thanked him.

Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to approve the Churchill County Water Conservation Plan. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

B. Consideration and possible action re: Support of community clean-up projects to remove illegally dumped trash and other items, Michael K. Johnson, Churchill County Planning-Director.

Planning Director Johnson reported that public complaints have been made concerning two areas where there is significant dumping of household furniture and trash. Two separate geothermal companies are willing to volunteer their employees and work to clean up these areas. One location is west of Alterra' s geothermal plant near Soda Lake and their Plant Manager stated that, if the county could provide a dumpster, they would have employees work to clean the area up. Enel has volunteered all oftheir employees for a clean-up day on June 5 in an area west ofTarzyn Road and will provide some of their equipment along with lunch and refreshments. Walker Lake Disposal has also indicated they can support this effort.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Olsen made a motion to support a community clean-up effort authorizing the expenditure of up to $1,000 to fund two clean-up projects. The first is west of Soda Lake Geothermal and the other is west of the Tarzyn Road and Highway 95 intersection. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

C. Consideration and possible action re: Closing of Jail Commissary Account at Bank of America and opening account at Washington Federal Bank.


Comptroller Kalt reported that Bank of America has sold the local branch bank to Washington Federal Bank effective the first week of May. As part of the merger, some accounts were automatically transferred to Washington Federal Bank and others remained at Bank of America. Our Jail Commissary account was retained by Bank of America and not automatically transferred to Washington Federal. Since there is not a local branch of Bank of America, it has been determined that it is in the best interest to close the Bank of America jail commissary account and open an interest bearing checking account at another local bank to allow for local deposits to be made and manage the account. We are seeking permission to allow this to happen before Fiscal Year End June 30, 2014. We are not sure why this transfer did not automatically take place with the sale of the branch.

There is no significant fiscal impact to closing and opening the account with a new bank. The Jail Commissary account is for the financial management of the jail commissary funds used to operate the commissary and buy items to benefit the inmates and the Sheriffs Office. County policy requires all bank accounts be approved by the Board of County Commissioners for internal control purposes. This recommended action would allow us to close one account and open a new account for the same purpose. There would not be a "net gain" of accounts as the total number of accounts would remain the same.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to close the Jail Commissary business interest checking account at Bank of America and open a new business interest checking account at First Independent Bank of Nevada for the Jail Commissary account. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

D. Consideration and possible action re: Write-off of uncollectible accounts within the Water and Waste Water Enterprise Funds for Fiscal Year Ending June 30,2014.

Comptroller Kalt reported that the listing provided is the outstanding accounts receivable balances related to our water and waste water operations that have been deemed uncollectible by SPB Utilities and the Comptroller' s Office. The accounts have been closed from the period of May 2007 to March 2010. Extensive effort has been made to collect on these accounts and it appears we have exhausted all reasonable efforts to collect on these accounts as of April2014. It would be prudent to write-off the balances and suspend any further efforts to collect on these accounts. Policy requires that all customer write-offs must be approved by the Board of County Commissioners.

The total recommended write-off is $3,432.01 for the accounts listed in the listing. The write off results in an expense in the period the write off is approved.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Olsen made a motion to approve the write-offs of uncollectible accounts listed in the attachment totaling $3,432.01 for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2014 for the water and waste water enterprise fund operations. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

E. Consideration and possible action re: Declaring certain uncollected property taxes for the fiscal years 2010-2011 through 2013-2014 as uncollectable and striking those taxes from tax rolls.

Civil Deputy Ben Shawcroft reported that Pursuant to NRS 361.725, the district attorney is required to deliver to the county auditor a statement of the delinquent taxes. The statement is


required to be filed with the Clerk of the Board of County Commissioners. The County Commissioners are required to strike those taxes that cannot be collected. Attached as Exhibit "A" to the statement of uncollected taxes is a spreadsheet detailing those taxes that have been deemed by the Churchill County Assessor and the Churchill County District Attorney as unable to be collected. The comments section indicates the reasons why the specific tax cannot be collected but, on most cases, the responsible party is out of business, bankrupt, without assets to seize and/or unable to be contacted. The total amount oftaxes owed that will be removed from the rolls is $572.41 . All prior efforts to collect the taxes have been unsuccessful. Given the amounts owed by each individual, the cost of further collection efforts in stafftime, and the likelihood of collecting the money, it is recommended that the board strike the listed uncollected taxes. The cost associated with pursuing legal action for collection is not warranted.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any public comment but there was none. Commissioner Scharmann made a motion to approve striking the uncollected taxes from the tax roll as set forth by the provided Statement of Uncollected Taxes. Commissioner Olsen seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

CONSENT ITEMS (Action items generally not requiring discussion or explanation) All matters listed under the Consent Agenda are considered routine and may be acted upon by the Board of County Commissioners with one action and without an extensive hearing. Any member of the Board or any citizen may request that an item be taken from the Consent Agenda, discussed and acted upon separately during this meeting. 1. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS-

A. Consideration and possible action re: Carson-Truckee Water Conservancy District submits to the State ofNevada Department of Taxation a tentative budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015.

B. Consideration and possible action re: State FY 15 Assessments for Youth Parole and Youth Alternative Placement (China Springs/Aurora Pines) Notification.

C. Consideration and possible action re: Notice of Decision by State Board of Equalization with Gradient Resources, Patua Project LLC (Taxpayer) and the Department of Taxation.

D. Consideration and possible action re: Notice of Decision by State Board of Equalization with EP Minerals, LLC (Petitioner) and the Department of Taxation (Respondent).

E. Consideration and possible action re: Public Consultation for the Proposed Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation & Temporary Livestock Closure for the 2013 Willow Creek Fire.

F. Consideration and possible action re: Elko County Board of Commissioners letter to the Secretary of Interior regarding request for the de listing of the common raven from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to protect the greater sage grouse.

G. Consideration and possible action re: Nye County Board of Commissioners letter to the Secretary of Interior regarding request for the de listing of the common raven from the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to protect the greater sage grouse.


H.

I.

Consideration and possible action re: The US Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management's update regarding the previously submitted Draft Proposed Plan section of the Amendment for the Greater Sage-Grouse. Consideration and possible action re: Charles R. Kozak, Attorney at Law for Les Martin provides additional information related to Les Martin' s complaint against Kafoury, Armstrong and Company related to various development properties.

2. REVIEWA. The Churchill County Social Services Office provides notification of the

denial of an indigent medical application under Client #12350, which was denied for not meeting household indigent guidelines pursuant to Chapter 428 ofthe Nevada Revised Statutes.

B. The Churchill County Social Services Office provides notification of the denial of an indigent medical application under Client #12302, which was denied for failure to provide benefit and asset verification as required pursuant to Chapter 428 of the Nevada Revised Statutes.

3. COMMITTEE AND DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS -A. Treasurer's Report for March 2014. B. Planning Department's Report for March 2014. C. Planning Department's Report for April2014. D. Building Department's Report for March 2014. E. Building Department's Report for April2014. F. Sheriff Department's Report for April2014. G. Social Services' Third Quarterly Report for Fiscal Year 2013-2014. H. Recorder's Monthly Apportion Report for April2014. I. Senior Center's Newsletters, Menu, and Activity Calendar for May 2014.

Commissioner Olsen made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as submitted. Commissioner Scharmann seconded the motion, which carried by unanimous vote.

CONSIDER FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS- None. COMMISSIONER REPORTS: CHAIRMAN ERQUIAGA: Chairman Erquiaga said, on May 5th, he had the biweekly meeting with administrative staff. On the 8th, he participated in the Museum Ascensions Committee, which is always fun to see and decide what items to bring in.

On the 13th, he had Fire Board and the Lahontan Conservation District's meeting. Comptroller Kalt said the other day that when we approved our budget the other entities would follow behind but CWSD approved their budget before us because it was the third Thursday. He phoned in for that meeting on the 15th.

On the 19th, we had our budget meeting and the Museum Board meeting where Dorris came and talked to us.

This morning, the Regional Transportation Commission met. Over the weekend, he went up to northern Washoe County and volunteered on a project to build Big Hom Sheep guzzlers. They built two guzzlers there with about 80 volunteers. The Reno Chapter of Nevada Big Horns Unlimited does a fantastic job on those. They feed the volunteers and when you get there, there is a pile of materials and when you leave, it is ready for rain, which they have received since then. Those are always fun events.


COMMISSIONER OLSEN: Vice-Chairman Olsen said he put a lot of miles under his belt since we last met by making a trip to China and back. He went there on behalf of DF A as they are trying to educate the board members about the markets over there. They landed in Beijing and had a chance to do some sightseeing there. The real goal was to see what is going on there in that country. We were talking a little bit about our infrastructure needs here. It was amazing to see what has been built over there in the last 20+ years, whether it was freeways, buildings, or rail. They rode the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai for 5 hours over 800 miles. It was an amazing ride. You wonder how things work over there because it doesn't work like things work here. They also went into inter-Mongolia where the folks from Yeli are located, the company that is working with DFA and has committed to buying halfthe product coming out ofthis plant. The plant is up to 32 loads per day now. They have strange customs there. They have this awful, awful alcohol that they drink there and they toast a lot. It goes on for hours. You learn to sip because it is terrible. It was very interesting. They were able to see some dairies and what their challenges are. The fact is that there is great need there. They were able to do some market visits and go inside a Walmart in Shanghai and see what was on the shelves. DFA had created another product that was basically an extended shelf life 1 liter product and they had gotten the first container through customs, which took 9 months to go from conceptual to shelf. To see that our product was there and to watch somebody walk up and buy it was pretty cool. There are 4 7 containers behind that one and they will have a full store launch here shortly. It was exciting to see that and that there was a lot of other countries represented there - usual countries you would expect to see like New Zealand, Australia, but also Germany, who had product on the shelves in the Walmart stores. It was interesting to see how they do things over there. It is different than how we do things here. He was there for 7 days and it was an 8 day trip.

Last weekend, he went to the Nevada Jr. Livestock Sale and, for some reason, the buyers are back. He complimented Bentley Ag as they purchased every grand champion and every animal to support that program. They wanted to make sure that every grand champion got more money than anybody else, so they spent a lot of money there. Our Fallon show down here was well supported the last 2 years, as well. The buyers are back, which is nice to see and to see that the kids are being supported.

He attended the CEDA breakfast this morning. Our new Superintendent of Schools gave a presentation on the plans for the school district. Dr. Sheldon spoke of the challenges that they are facing. Since we are hand-in-glove tied together financially, their problems mirror our problems on the revenue side. She has her problems, as well as the declining enrollment. There are lots of challenges for our school district but there are lots of positive things happening too. COMMISSIONER SCHARMANN: Commissioner Scharmann said, on May 8th, he attended and Chaired the Coalition for Seniors Board of Directors meeting in which they reviewed a draft time line. They are doing a lot of work on that and, in fact, they have a meeting coming up with Social Services Director Ernst to talk about the timeline for building a new Senior Center. They are looking at coming to the Commissioners in the fall to discuss what their plan of attack is for such a thing. It looks like it will probably be a 3 year timeline that can be adjusted as needed.

He also attended the Chautauqua presentation at the Museum by Dorris Dwyer, which was great. He counted about 80 people there.

On the 15th, he was asked to volunteer to take the 6th graders from the Churchill Middle School to see the Aces game, which was fun. That afternoon, he attended the Library Board meeting.


He and Lana still volunteer for presentations on adoption and they just did one at the High School yesterday entitled "Adoption is an Option" to all of the health and sexed classes. Those are always interesting experiences.

He also attended the CEDA breakfast this morning. He had a really good opportunity to visit with Rachel Dahl and Steve Moon afterwards. He got a feel for what is happening with CEDA and he felt that discussion was very productive. COUNTY MANAGER LOCKWOOD: County Manager Lockwood provided a written report and said she has decided to highlight what she has been doing under categories. She attended the Rural Campus Advisory Committee meeting related to WNC. She is really impressed with Chet taking control of the reins and there seems to be a plan of action. There is much more discussion with the high school. She was very impressed with that and it was well attended.

She had asked Jorge Guerrero to meet with representatives from WNC to see if the support that the Commissioners have shown for doing some repairs to the parking lot is moving forward. WNC representatives have taken a new look and, primarily because ofthe Convention Center driveway, they are hoping to find some money from somewhere to do a major repaving project to improve that.

With regard to economic development, she has had some fairly heated discussions in regard to NNDA, CEDA, and the City of Fallon. She is trying to keep the peace but there are lots of good things happening. She thinks there is just some miscommunication but she thinks we are all trying to move forward and get Churchill County moving in the right direction with the economy. NNDA has been working with our Chamber to put on a networking event on June lOth from 5:00 to 7:00p.m. at the Churchill Vineyards. She is not sure if the Commissioners will receive a private invitation as she has seen conflicting information on that. She is advising the board on that so that they are aware of the event.

There is ongoing work from Day Engineering on finding good cost estimates in regard to utility services for the various sites for the adult detention facility. She had a meeting with Mayor Tedford to discuss that and other issues.

She has had lots of discussions on the Museum. She is working with Donna and the Museum Association Chairman, Bob Getto, on various matters. She is also working with the District Attorney's office to see if we can provide some oversight and training to lead the direction forward to help out. With regard to the Nevada Sesquicentennial Committee Time Capsule Monument, she met with Frank Woodliff and members of the Museum Association this morning and they will make a presentation to the Board of County Commissioners to request some support at perhaps the June 5th meeting.

We are probably moving forward with a HV AC unit at the Senior Center. The board will recall that the roof was replaced at the back end over the kitchen area and much of that was due to the leaking swamp coolers etc. Jorge Guerrero is working with the city on that project.

She received an e-mail from NDEP Bureau of Corrective Services, who had contacted us last year, to say that, in a Cooperative Agreement with EPA Region 9, they wanted to put up health advisory signs at Lahontan Reservoir in regard to mercury levels in fish. Those signs were never put up, so they are moving forward with putting up those signs in the next few weeks.

She will attend a SLUP AC meeting on Friday and a Regional Partnership County Manager's meeting in Yerington. They have invited Bob Hooper, who had some major surgery for a hip replacement and, as he was being discharged, he suffered a heart attack, so was taken back into the hospital. She understands that he is recovering extremely well. They have invited Bob to that County Manager's meeting. Many years ago, there used to be a regular meeting with


NNDA, so they are trying to reconnect with Bob to address some concerns that they have with NNDA representing or being perceived to be representing certain people running for office. She hopes to have a good discussion with him.

May 30th is the date for the close of the RFQs for the Public Defender position. COMPTROLLER KALT: Comptroller Kalt reported that the Clerk/Treasurer deposited the proceeds from the property sale to the General Fund. There were three different TRs, which total $37,675.43. He provided a written report and asked the board to contact him if they have any questions or comments. CLERK/TREASURER HELTON: Clerk/Treasurer Helton was not present. CIVIL DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY SHA WCROFT: Civil Deputy District Attorney Shawcroft had nothing to report. PUBLIC COMMENTS

Chairman Erquiaga inquired if there were any public comments on issues that were not listed on the Agenda. Dorris Dwyer said she is here as a Churchill County Museum Member and Churchill County resident. She is here to express her grave concerns about the continued lack of funding for an Executive Director at the Museum, a position which has been vacant for over three years now. Like all people in the county, she recognizes the severity of the recession on county agencies and institutions that are supported in full or in part by the county. She also understood that appointing an Administrator in place of a Director was a temporary expedient. She also understands that the budget is nearly complete for this coming fiscal year. She is here to plead for consideration of a Director of the Museum in the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 budget. She believes there is wide community support for filling this position. She is hoping to galvanize some organizations in the community, as well as the Churchill County Museum Board in making this a priority. She is asking that the board look at the budget for FY 2016 perhaps with fresh eyes because, when a position goes unfunded for a certain period of time, it almost becomes an unfundable position. She is asking the Commission to view the budget with fresh eyes and to be willing, if the situation calls for it, to prioritize the funding for the next year. She is hoping that community members, including herself, would be able to provide information periodically supporting the necessity for that position. She is concerned about the membership structure. As a member, they have not been able to provide the membership benefits that have been advertised for the last year years and she thinks, at some point, that becomes unacceptable. She has more particular concerns, which she doesn't know if this is the proper forum for that, but she has spoken with County Manager Lockwood and with Donna Cossette, who is the Administrator of the Museum. She has also spoken to Churchill County Museum Board and received very receptive hearings, so her concern right now is to just place this issue for the next year and ask that it be made a more visible need than it has perhaps been in the last three years.

County Manager Lockwood thanked Dorris for coming forward. As the board knows, we have been constantly doing budget mitigation measures for a long, long time. In the current year, we have a hiring delay policy in place and an attrition policy in place. One of the primary intents behind that is to look at our organization and each department from a new perspective. When an employee decides to leave the employ of Churchill County, we will not immediately hire that position but have the Department Head and other interested persons to really look at the organization of the department to determine if we really need that position to be filled or ifthere is something else that should be filled and look towards restructure if that is what makes sense. She committed to work with Donna because there may be current employees who may be leaving fairly soon and she will be under that pressure, as well as keeping all of the events going


on. She is working with Donna to do that. She wants to make it clear that she is not stepping into an arena that is none of her business but the Museum Association Bylaws have been in place since 1971. As she has had discussions with Donna and other folks who have been involved with the Museum, when you look at those Bylaws, the responsibilities of the Association are extremely broad. Over the years, for lots of reasons, the budget support from the county has moved and varied. She suggested that, in strengthening the Museum Association Board of Trustees and the focus on building membership, she thinks we can work hand in hand as we go forward to say what does that role look like, i.e. the Board of Trustees of the Association, in conjunction with what should be the support and what can be the support from the county.

Chairman Erquiaga asked if there was any further comment. One gentleman spoke from the audience but the microphones did not pick up what he was saying.

Comptroller Kalt stated that the budget that was formally approved the other day is for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2014-2015.

Pam Thompson said she is a member of the Churchill County Museum Board. She has been on the board for approximately five years. She was on the board when Jane Pieplow was the Director and then when Donna came on board. It was their understanding that it was going to be an interim position and was not going to last forever. She thinks Donna is aware of that. The board has kind of let it go thinking that it was going to work but it has just come to the point now where it is too much and they need a Director, they need a Curator, they need someone with expertise because the Museum is getting larger, They just acquired a brand new piece of property from the City of Fallon, which they want to improve, so that has been a major concern of theirs. They have asked the Museum to do a time capsule for the Sesquicentennial, which has taken time away from Donna's other jobs. She was originally hired as the Registrar, so he has had to do the Director position, the Registrar position, and try to run the Museum, and then they also have a Museum Store that needs some expertise for financial gain. When she first started, she helped with the bookkeeping and deposits, which, at that time, was done on a handwritten ledger. Since then, it has been converted to a computer. They have assigned that task to another board member who has done an amazing job. They have several accounts that are geared for certain items; they can't spend it on just anything. She has had to keep track of that. They have decided that they have gotten too big and they have hired a bookkeeper, so that is another expense that they are faced with. Needless to say, our Museum is becoming quite an operation and is something that we can all be very, very proud of. She went to a Museum Conference this year with Donna and Peggy, the Education Curator, and she learned so much about Museums and how they are run. It is not just a little operation anymore; it is big business. In order to keep up with the times, she thinks our county needs to get behind the Museum Association and agree that it is time to get a professional in there to continue the Museum. They have been blessed with wonderful exhibits. They have a brand new one that is coming in, which they are very excited to put in place. They have the big room, which a lot of people rent. It has been a big success. They have been able to have major events at the Museum, so she believes that our county is getting a lot of use from it. She thinks our taxes should benefit the community and if we can use our taxes with the Museum and that entertainment, she thinks it would be money well spent but we need to start right away. As she said, the Education Curator is leaving right away and if we leave that open for the 90-days as listed in the policy, that will be right at the peak of the summer vacation when they could be really involving our youth, which is a detriment to our community. She appreciates the board's listening to her, knowing that the members are concerned. She believes the complete board agrees with her and that they see a need for things


to change. We need to improve because our Museum has gotten big and they want to keep it that way. They are very happy that Dorris brought these things to their attention.

Donna Cossette, Churchill County Museum Administrator, wanted to report that things are not all doom and gloom. They have an increase in visitorship at the Museum and they have been getting a lot more volunteers. They have been striving to gather people with special talents. As far as tourism goes, it is a very unique type of person to get on board for that. When she started with the Museum, they had a hiring delay and there were a total of 4 hiring delays that they had to work through. It was extremely challenging at that point. This time, they are faced with just 1 and it is to the point where they really need to get that position filled. She will be working with the review board on that. She has worked with the other departments, such as Comptroller Kalt, who has corrected her on things that she did not know. She is very willing to work with anybody if there are areas where she needs improvement. She appreciates working at the Museum and she understands it is a "soft" department but she thinks the Museum is one of the gems in the county as far as providing this type of service to the public through the public speakers that we have through the Association. Right now, they are going through their Lecture Series with fabulous speakers. Dorris was one of the first speakers. She saw Commissioner Scharmann at that presentation. They still have a lot to offer and they continue to move forward. She appreciates staff and the board and invited them to visit the Museum at any time. Chairman Erquiaga said there will be no action today but this provided an opportunity to make public comment, which is appreciated. CLAIMS AND PAYROLL TRANSMITTALS

The claims and payroll transmittals submitted for this meeting were reviewed and approved. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the board, the meeting was adjourned at 4:37p.m.

APPROVED :.~~~~~=====--""""""' ..... Pete Olsen, Vice-Chair

APPROVED: )\ ~s ~ ~ H~ Scharmann, Commtsswner

ATTEST:


Presented to Board of County Commissioners on May 2111, 2014

Annual Board Meeting Update

• Meetings on Thursday, April 24111 and Friday, April 25111 in Reno

• Thursday Afternoon Vulnerability 2030 Scenario Wo!Xshop Education and Training Session

• Friday: Joint POOUPACT, PACT,PCM, POOL and PRM

Thursday' s Training Sessions

• Future Focused: What economic option is likely to occur?

• Vulnerability 2030 Scenario Worhhop • Adapted from the Future Society

Association

Exhibit "A" I

POOL/PACT Mission

• The POOUPACT member services consortium provides interactive risk management resources for public agencies. We excel in: lnnovllllve eolulioni!MI help Members- the public FiMnciel Slrenglh, Sealrity end Oo..nblllly Coat Efleclive Risk Slwing end FiMnclng lnt..-.c:li\111 CIIIIIM Servic:e Membln NelwMang end Reocurl:e Shering

Weare: lHrTfDer OIM!med, ~ dt1"1*1fiC lw-. ComrriiYIIIO 'lo au-lily Member Servtcea end Focuaed on 1he Future

Joint Meeting Topics • Board Orientation • Investment Advisor's

Report • Review Investment

Policies and Procedures and Money Management Controls

• Approve minutes: Executive Commlttae Audit Commlttae Human Resource Oversight Committee Loss Control Committee

• Loss Control Churchill County recognition for Loss Control Excellence

• Employee Assistance Program Report

• POOUPACT Human Resources

• Stewardship Reports ASC & Willis Pooling

• Ratify PARMS Contract

Investment Report • Ellgle Anet Manegement Funda et 3·31·14

PACT Claims Account $36,315,504 PACT Non-Claims Account: $14,288,359 POOL Account: $31 ,870,247 Public Risk Mutual $8,908,458

Retu of Retuma 1 yr 3yr PACT Claims: -0.63% 2.79% PACT Non-Claims: -0.40% 2.89% POOL Account: -0.17% 2.99% Benchmark: -0.76%2.35% PRM -0.43%2.76%

Syr 2.90% 2.97% 3.02% 2.35% 3.20%

2

Investment Report

• M.di\\oo&'. Fur.ds ~~ b'j Raymond James Financial Services Wells Fargo PFM

• Captives: Public Compensation Mutual and Public Risk Mutual may invest in equity investments. Great Risk & Rewards PRM FY 13 13.01% Inception 8.18% PCM FY 13 6.83% Inception 2.19%

Executive Director's Report

• Captive Progress: Increased funding PRM & PCM within policy guidelines

• Renewal Strategies with carriers • CLGF Presumptive Benefits Reporting

increase funding by 10% per board policy • Agreements to ratify: PARMS, Specialty

Health MCO/Cardiac Wellness • Building Leases • Cyber Liability Program: Partnership with

CRL & NetOiligence and eRiskHub

Horizon Health Employee Assistance Program

• utilization RMM Employees 3.1% Organizational13.6% Annualized Rate 16.7%

• Rehrrel Soun:n Co-Workers Family Human Resources Managers/Supervisors Orientation Self-Referred Web-site

• Topic. of Support My Family My Health My Time My Money My Benefits Manager Services

• Additional Servlc:ea Critical Incident On-Site Services Training

3

Loss Control Strategic Plan

• OSHA&ADA Compliance

• E-Luming Curriculum Development

• Eme~ge~~cy Planning

• Claims Analysis/ Benchmarking

• Enhancing POOL/PACT member communication

• Wellness/ Body Mechanics

• Auto I Driver Safety Training

• LOll Control Excellence Program

• Grant Program Administration

• Churchill County I'IICOQnized for LCEP

POOL/PACT Human Resources

• HR Oversight Committee Report • Training Courses: 3 new Revised 22 • New Briefings 30 throughout the year • Entity HR Assessments • Conduct a survey of services • Train individuals to become Certified

Mediators • 2nd Annual HR Seminar Oct 2nd & 3n1

POOL/PACT HR Strategic Plan Service Goals

• Develop and Revise • Continue to Improve Training Courses Use of Technology

• Enhance & Maf1(et • Conduct HR Practicel Online Training Assessments

• Continue to Improve • Develop/Deliver Enhance Client Service Plans Communications & • Melntain Sample HR Access to informetlon Policies

• Coaching and Problem Solving

4

PACT Agenda Items

• AQQrOYal of minutes • Financial Report:

Budget, Claims Activity Summary Report

• Approve Audit Report • Accapl Reports: Large

Loss Reports, & Actuarial update

• Approval of Budget • Update Stlatagic Plan

POOL Agenda

• Minutes • Financial Report,

Budget, Claims Activity Summary Report, Lllf'll8 Loss Report, Actuarial Update

• Accaptanca of Audit • Acceptance of Budget

• Specialty Haalttl MCO I Cardiac Wallnasa Program

• Accaptanca of Renewal • Review NAC for

compliance Members In Financial Trouble or Excaaa Claims

• Election of Exacutlva Commillea, Chair and Vice Chair

• ,.t,pproftl d POOL F0!1Tl etwngea M!eciiYe July 201<1

• Accepl8nceoiR.-I ~":'~ P111p0Ula end

• Oiacunlcn on H.rnmer ct ....

• Election to Executl.,. Comm~

PRM & PCM Meetings

• PRMMaatlng Approval of Minutaa

• Audited Financial Report

• Reinsurance Program ootions to provide NPAIP

• PRM continuaa to provide a layer of coverage to NPAIP ala diiCOUnted rata.

• PCM Mealing • Approval of Minutes • Capitalization and

lnvaatment Reports • Approval of audit report • Approval of

Reinsurance Program for PACT

5

Financial Overview

• POOL FYE6-30-13 ToiiiiAieela 142,911 ,189 CunWlllou R.--/ Lllobll.... $4,897,509 Non-CUINI1Ili8bilitiea ~DMSII,827,991

• Tollll R-..- $14,832,482 Pragrwn Elcp. t9,915,556 POOL Exp. t3,376,537 Net lrMt lnalme ($124,125)

I~Net~$1 ,416,264 Net~6-30 $31 ,165,669

• PACT FYE 6-30-13 ToiiiiAaeets S80,247,211 C.....,.. loa~/ lillbiiiiiM 18,1104,482 Nai-CutTwll Lllobllilie& R--..ell .. o$15,574,762 tte.tllung $13,360,780

o TOWI Rot-. $14,320,208 lou Fund/P.E. $10,045,490 Admln/Sellrioea $5,843,944 IINeslmenllnc. ($270,267)

oecr- Net AI- ($1 ,8311,483) Net AIIHII 6-30 $44,707,193

Financial Overview

• PRM FYE 12-31-13 • PCM FYE 12-31-13 Tollll Aaeets $24,710,634 lillbilitia • 2,494,190

• Income Premium• 1461,071 ln-lnoome$597,571 Tolllllnalme $1 ,058,842 . ,...,.,_ Admin F- S 66,051 ~MIIA4* $1 ,687,044

• Net LOA ($694,453)

Questions About

TIQI- $35,623,129 Lillbiliti.. S 1,565,840

• Income Premiums S 674,355 l_mo,..lncomo 11,307,0117 TcUIIIIClllme $1,1181 ,452

· ~ Admln Feaa Louei/Adjual

• Netlncorna

$59,972 $1 16,001

$1,805,479

• The POOUPACT member services consortium provides interactive risk management resources for public agencies.

We excel in: lnnoveliwiOiullons that help Memberi181Wihe public Firwnclel Strength, Security 811<1 Durllbll lty Colt Efleclive Rill< Shering 811<1 Fln.ncing ln-ive Claimo Servloo Membela Networking 811<1 Reoource SMring

Weare: Member Go.-nect, St-. of PubllcAaaets, Committed to au.llly Member Servtc:u 811<1 FoaJaed on lhe Futuno

6

WELCOME -. . -------------- ------- --. --. -- . 0 --- -- .. --. --. . --------- . ------. . .

0

BOARD MEMBER ORIENTATION

Board's Responsibilities [_ 0

Adopt a mission and vision that reflects the fundamental principles and values of POOL and PACT Members

N

Mission

0 The POOL/PACT 111em.ber services consortium. provides responsive risk and Dlanagetnent resources for public agencies.

We Excel In: Innovative solutions that help Members serve the Public Financial strength, security and durability Cost effective risk sharing and financing Interactive claims service Member networking and resource sharing

WeAre: Member-governed Stewards of public assets Committed to quality member services Focused on the future

Board's Responsibilities (continued)

0 --· l J

Maintain adequate funding ft>r th:e administration, services and r-isk transfer functions

Monitor finances and • Investments

Create and update a longrangeplan

BOARD CHAIR'S DUTIES

0 Responsible for the integrity of Board process through fairly and firmly leading the Board relationships and conduct so that it governs with wisdom and one voice.

Individual Board Member

Consider other points of view, make constructive suggestions and help the board make decisions that benefit those served

Serve on a committee

Represent POOL/PACT to: ndividua s

The ublic Other Organiza ion .

Contribute your ideas toward enhancing programs and services

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How to demonstrate duty of care?

0 Be informed about the pool

Review board materials

Request additional information

ASk questions

Attend meetings

Understand enabling laws

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How to demonstrate duty of obedience?

0 Perform Outies in accordance with all local, state, and federal laws

Comply with interlocal agreements, bylaws, policies

Seek competent professional advice

Monitor activities to ensure compliance with laws and pools' purpose

Key Services

0 Risk Management and Loss Control/Safety Services

Risk Management Grants and Awards

Risk Management Resource Library

Training on -site and e-Learning

MSDS On-line

Wellness Programs including Cardiac Wellness for Public Safety Property Appraisals

MOTTO

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We deliver public agency risk/management

solutions

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Executive Director's Report Apri12014

POOL and PACT Budgets:

Go to Agenda

The budgets reflect current economic conditions and a continuation of the actuarial 70% confidence level for funding. Amounts generally are flat or reduced with the exception of the PACT presumptive benefits postemployment rate that is scheduled to increase by 10% based per board policy. It is anticipated that medical inflation, while moderating, will continue to pressure PACT rates and substantial presumptive benefits losses can surprise at any time. For POOL, we expect a moderate increase in the schools ' liability costs due to a couple of very substantial settlements this year. Property rates should be stable and other liability rates also should be stable. Overall, the budget adds 3% to the gross assessments.

Amortization of contributions to the captives continues to reduce results from operating income, although that is a planned conservative strategy to grow the captives. PACT's loss of members to self-insurance pressures expenses. A modest shift of the HR. grant costs more to POOL than PACT was approved by the Joint Executive Committee since more issues are liability driven. Other costs have been reduced as well, but a reduction in net income even without amortization will occur. PACT has accumulated substantial reserves from positive years, so overall financial standing remains sufficient.

To demonstrate the volatility risks, two heart claims from incumbent employees led to reserve increases in later years that affected 2004 by $1 .9 million and· 2007 by $1.3 million. PACT retained a significant part of each of these losses, but they also affected reinsurers, thus total program costs. We saw unusual volatility in POOL in 2008 with the earthquake and canal breach litigation. Retaining sufficient net assets to absorb these shock losses is important to the long-term viability and stability of these pools.

Both program budgets rely on a 70% actuarial confidence level to generate sufficient margin. If the ratable exposures differ, gross POOL/PACT revenues will be affected as will potential reinsurance costs. The draft budget will need further revision following receipt of quotes prior to and at the annual board meeting after renewal decisions are reached.

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Renewal Strategies:

POOL:

The property coverage program is placed through Willis Re in various syndicates at Lloyds of London. We have scheduled our renewal negotiations in London during the week of April 1-4, 2014. Wayne Carlson and Bob Lombard of Willis Pooling met with the various syndicates and Willis Re London. Property market conditions have shown some rate decreases due to increased market capacity. Our broker indicates that we should be able to negotiate favorable rates based upon our experience and long term relationships. We will request an option to change the retention from $250,000 with a $250,000 corridor to $500,000.

Public Risk Mutual will offer renewal at current terms, but also may take up additional coverage layers in both property and liability depending upon opportunities to grow participation and reaction to renewal terms from other reinsurers.

County Reinsurance, Ltd. (CRL), a member owned captive insurance company in which NP AlP placed a substantial capital contribution, reinsures the liability layer of $2,500,000 above the POOL retention of $500,000 on an 80% quota share basis with PRM bearing 20%. CRL preliminary indications are for a nominal overall rate increase.

United Educators writes a liability limit of$1,500,000 excess ofthe POOL's $500,000 retention. Unfortunately, there have been substantial losses settled in 2013 in that layer that put modest upward pressure on rates. UE has been a very stable, cost effective partner. UE is a member-owned captive risk retention group in which POOL has a subscribers' surplus account. We intend to continue this relationship but will consider an alternative structure as necessary, perhaps utilizing our PRM capacity.

Government Entities Mutual (GEM), a member owned captive insurance company in which NP AlP placed a substantial capital contribution, reinsures the layer of $2,000,000 above the POOL retention of $3,000,000. Rates are expected to remain stable.

Specialty Health will present an update of the cardiac wellness program at the annual board meeting.

POOL Cyber Liability Program:

CRL established a relationship with NetDiligence and eRisk.Hub to provide training and resources on cyber liability issues for our members. They have developed a training program that was launched as a Webinar for POOL/PACT members along with the extensive risk management resources in the eRiskHub that members will be able to access. That website has extensive current information on risk management and cites resources that POOL members may wish to contract with for specific needs. The website will be co-branded for POOL/PACT. NetDiligence will be the advisor for initial response to a cyber breach via ASC.

POOL Form War and Terrorism Exclusion Proposed Changes

Section IV. General Exclusions - All Sections

1. WAR AND TERRORISM EXCLUSION: Coverage does not apply herein for loss, damage, cost or expense of whatsoever nature directly or indirectly caused by , resulting from or in connection with any of the following regardless of any other cause or event contributing concurrently or in any other sequence to the loss:

(A) war, invasion, acts of foreign enemies, hostilities or warlike operations, (whether war be declared or not), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, civil commotion assuming the proportions of or amounting to an uprising, military or usurped power; or

(B) any act of terrorism.

For the purpose of this exclusion an act of terrorism means an act, including but not limited to an act by any person or group(s) of persons, whether acting alone or on behalf of or in connection with any organization(s), government(s} , power(s) , authority(ies) or military force(s), (i) that:

a. involves the use of force or violence and/or the threat thereof against human life or property;

b. is dangerous to human life or property; or c. interferes with or disrupts an electronic or communication system; and

(ii) the purpose or effect of which is to a. intimidate, coerce or harm a government or the dvilian population of a country,

state or community; b. disrupt the economy or a country, state or community; or c. influence or affect the policy or conduct of the government of a country, state or

community.

An act of terrorism includes but is not limited to an "act of terrorism" as defined by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, as amended, ("TRIA") or any law enacted to reauthorize or succeed TRIA

Coverage does not apply to loss, damage, cost or expense of whatsoever nature directly or indirectly caused by, resulting from or in connection with any action taken in controlling, preventing, suppressing or in any way relating to (A.) and/or (B.) above.

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including particulars sufficient to identify parties involved, time, place , circumstances, nature of any injury or damage, witnesses and any other pertinent information .

2. Cooperation- The POOL may at its discretion defend an Assured against any claim for damages. Where the POOL has exercised its discretion to defend an Assured , the POOL has the sole right to investigate, defend or settle any claim against an Assured for damages. The Assured shall cooperate with POOL, its claims representatives and investigators, and attorneys assigned by POOL to represent the Assured, and if requested, attend hearings and trials, assist in securing and obtaining evidence, and obtaining the attendance of witnesses. The Assured shall not admit to any liability, assume any obligation , voluntarily make any payment or incur any expense other than first aid to others at the time of an accident. The Assured agrees to comply with all terms and conditions in all sections of this Coverage Form. The Assureds shall not waive any immunities granted to local governments.

3. Records - The records as kept by the Assured shall be made available to POOL or its representatives as necessary to determine the amount of loss or damage covered hereunder.

MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF CHURCHILL COUNTY …

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