G Wop
Around the County
Commission meeting October 14, 2015
Public comment –
Judi Bourbeau – commentated on the Pool schedule. She would like the schedule to remain the same.
Bunny Hill – the SSCC will be moving their office to Ely. This is good news.
George did not attend and was greatly missed. I do hope all is well.
Fire Commission – Brett Waters
Comments on excessive calls from some people for EMTs. There needs to be more home health services to call. Mike Coster felt all calls should have an on scene evaluation.
Insurance for buildings, etc. need to be evaluated. Who should do this Brett Waters or Elizabeth Francis? There is a need for new bids for insurance. New bids should take place in January.
Brett is checking in to sharing the cost of a trained vehicle maintenance person to be shared with other counties.
Sixteen local firefighters attended a HAZ-MAT class in Reno.
The purchase of a fire truck for McGill was approved. This is to be paid for by a loan and McGill will have the income to pay the loan.
Grant Priorities – Elaine Blackham, White Pine County CDBC Representative
Elaine commented on 5 categories of funding and explained the requirements to qualify for each. The County is no longer eligible to apply for area-wide benefits.
Using the 2010 Census the moderate to low income in White Pine County is under 51%. Therefore White Pine County does not qualify. Since 1982 White Pine has received over $4 million in grant funds.
Aquatics Center – Megan Brown
Fall/spring program schedule. The pool will be open 57 1/2 hours a week. The times will remain the same, but closed on Sunday.
Richard Howe felt it should be open on Sunday’s.
Votes – 4 yes 1 no.
Bids for the Demolition of the Annex Buildings – Bill Calderwood
(Amounts rounded off)
Oflaherty – $847,000.
Carson – $396,000.
Titan – $213,000.
Great Basin – $390,000.
Dirt Works – $249,000.
Walker – $222,000.
Reck Brothers $399,000.
JCR – $398,000.
Person – $370,000.
Country – $147,000.
Question asked about potential over rides, no this is to be full cost.
No landfill fees included in bids.
Richard Howe asked about the time frame. With the Library extension and demolition at the same time there could be problems.
Vote to except Country’s bid was 4 to 1 with Mike Coster abstaining. Mike Coster felt there was not enough information and there are questions.
White Pine County Airport Advisory Board
Tim Parish explained the Airport Operating Certification Part 139 should be given up before the up coming FAA inspection. The airport will not pass inspection and there could be fines levied by FAA.
If we give up the certification small commuter planes could still use the airport. Another advantage is that the airport will qualify for other grants.
Down side is when the airport goes for Certification in the future, the parts of the airport that are grandfathered in will need to be brought up to date.
Laurie Carson was quite upset about giving up the Certification.
This was approved.
I understand the item on scope and duties of Commissioner as Liaison was interesting, but had to leave before.
As reported by Mike Coster – the commission discussed the role of the liaison and the need to work with the liaison with any potential department problems that another commissioner observed.
Question & Answer
How much hay was eaten daily by Jumbo, showman P.T. Barnum’s famous 6-1/2 ton elephant?
A: Two hundred pounds.
What famous Englishman’s experiments with freezing meat in 1626 caused his death from exposure?
Opinion
G Wop
Philosopher Camus wrote “Always go too far, because that’s where you will find the truth.
We all did miss George Chachas, he comes up with interesting things.
Has anyone heard anything about the hard choices the commissioners have to make? They have been very quite about the budget lately.
Fire Commission commented that repeated calls for help can be a problem, like the little boy calling wolf. People do need to remember the EMTs are there for emergencies, not for things you can go to the clinic for tomorrow. Mike Coster made a point about on site evaluation of the situation. Persons must remember calling for EMTs when not needed could cause someone who really needs help their life. Don’t call unless it is an emergency!
I do not know what insurance company/companies the county employs, but a department head should be able to ask questions and get answers. In this case we are talking about fire department buildings, equipment, etc and Brett Waters should have some say so.
HUD changing the manner of establishing new rules for low to moderate income does create a problem for the county. These new rules only have a small area north of the golf corse as qualifying. There is a question as to what low income and what moderate income is. How do we correct this. The county may have to hire a firm to recount and get up dated information. Just another cost.
Demolition of the Annex buildings is quite an undertaking and everyone was shocked with the bids. There is nothing close in price, $847,000. To $147,000. I agree with Mike Coster on this one, why such a big difference?
I have been in construction most of my life and someone missed the boat on this one. To be fair to all questions need to be asked and comparisons made. I have bad feelings about going by price.
Richard Howe’s question on time frame is a good one, but if both jobs go at one time the roads and confusion will be cleared in a shorter time. The two jobs may interfere with each other.
Airport Certification
This is a hard one. I do understand the reasoning for giving up the certification, but don’t fully agree. This is one thing we have that could bring business in to White Pine and because money went els-ware we lose it bit by bit. Did anyone compare the cost of fixing it now and bring it up to standard later when the grandfathered items must be replaced or moved?
One thing keeps coming to mind, could there be a private group who would be interested in coming in? If so would this be good?
The scope and duties of County Commissioners as Liaison is a very important subject. Evidently there was a problem and Richard Howe brought this up to get the proper cooperation from other commissioners when dealing with departments. It is quite valuable to know these things. It should be in writing not just understood and I believe along with ethics this would not be a problem.
In Public Comment the subject of how the selection of board or Committee members are chosen. I know there is a new form for applicants fill out, but does this indicate any knowledge of the committees job. I know we need lots to board members, please apply, but know what the board is about and who you represent .
Geri Wop