Philosopher Camus wrote “Always go too far, because that’s where you will find the truth.”
White Pine County Commission Meeting, January 11
Public Comment:
Donna Bath commented on the language being changed in the public lands bill. The new language will allow rural areas to get more money when buying and selling land through SNPLMA. Land in the other counties has a greater value than it does in the rural counties. This bill should increase the amount of money the county gets in these endeavors.
George Chachas commended on the uncollected landfill fees owed by the county residents. These people could be taken to small claims court rather than being added to their property taxes.
Fire Commission:
There were 70 calls last month. 31 Medical, 11 auto accident, 2 fire and 36 life flights.First Reading of Ordinance 466 – this will raise the total hotel & Motel tax rate by one half 1% from 11% to 11.5% providing for additional revenue raised to go to the White Pine County Golf Course.
Discussion/action/possible approval of ordinance 466.
This will take affect February 1, through June 30, then will have to apply for this on June 30, 2017.
Vote 4/1 Stork voting no.
First reading of Ordinance 468 – amending the code to allow for other enforcement officers to issue notice to update a nuisance and creating two chapters of the White Pine County codes 6.29 and 6.30.
Wheable – “We do not have a comprehensive ordinance on nuisance abatement. This code may not be perfect but it is used by several other counties.”
This ordinance carries a possible fine of $1000 or six months in jail. This allows the sheriffs department to cite.
Discussion only – notice of Ely City Councils intent to terminate the Interlocal Building Service Agreement on July 1, 2017.
A negotiation for a new agreement needs to occur. Switzer stated that he had mailed a letter to Howe, but Howe says he has not received it.
Discussion/ Action/Possible Approval regarding the placement of monthly landfill maintenance fees on property tax rolls.
This program had been in effect previously and resulted in a lawsuit in 1993. The lawsuit resulted in the refund of over $500,000. Wheable said he would like to look in to this and talk to the AG before going further. Today there is $376,776.67 past due landfill fees, the majority of this is County residents. (A reminder – not paying this fee is a lien put on your property.)
Proposal to postpone the recruitment for a permanent full-time administrative assistant position in social services.
The social service department has hired a full-time temporary employee, and this proposal is to decide to make her fulltime or continued to make her part time.
The vote was 4 to 1 to continue employment as temporary with Perea voting no.
A proposal was approved to send a letter to the City of Ely requesting the city of Ely to transfer its interest in 1785 Great Basin Blvd. The county is offering in exchange A lifetime lease in favor of the city for it’s the Municipal Court and office space for its clerks at no charge to the city for the duration of the lease.
Approved 5/0
The Horse Breeding Agreement of the White Pine County Fairgrounds will have a increase from $50 per month to $75 a month effective March 1, 2017.
Approved 5/0
Discussion/interviews for the position of airport manager. The applicants being interviewed are Michael John Coster and Lance M. Gale. Both candidates seem to be very well-qualified to be manage the airport. The decision to choose was tabled until next meeting. The reason given was no salary was stated in the contract.
(The new commissions seems to work well together. They do seem to want to save money and also get along with the City of Ely. Let’s see how long this lasts.)
January 9
People seem to be shocked that there is a fine for removing things from the landfill. The ordinance is posted at the landfill and we have all seen it. The city employees at the landfill are not being mean, they are fulfilling their agreement of employment with the city.
Ordinance – State and City NRS 450.640 Employees and staff of
hospital: Appointment to board of chief of staff of physicians for district hospital; appointment by board of chief executive officer and necessary assistants for hospital; compensation; removal; admission. The board of trustees may:
1. After the board is formed pursuant to the provisions of NRS 450.620 or 450.625, increase the number of members who serve on the board by appointing, as a voting member of the board, one physician who is the chief of staff of physicians for a district hospital. The term of office of a member who is appointed pursuant to this subsection is 2 years, commencing on the date of appointment by the board of trustees. A vacancy in the term of a member appointed pursuant to this subsection must be filled in the same manner as the original appointment for the remainder of the unexpired term.
2. Appoint a chief executive officer and necessary assistants for each hospital, and fix the compensations of such persons.
3. Employ physicians, surgeons and interns, as the board determines necessary, and fix their compensation.
4. Remove such appointees and employees.
5. Remove persons who are appointed or employed pursuant to this section.
6. Control the admission of physicians, surgeons and interns to the staff by promulgating rules, regulations and standards governing such appointments.
(Added to NRS by 1969, 1389; A 1987, 390; 2001, 469)
A. Designated: The city dump is hereby designated as being those city lands more particularly described as follows: E1/2NW1/4, section 10, township 16 north, range 63 E., MDM, and such other lands as the city may designate by resolution from time to time.
B. Use Required: Every person hauling garbage, trash and waste matter shall dispose thereof only at the city dump site designated by the city council and such disposition shall be in accord with all provisions of law, rules and regulations. (Prior Code § 11-8.1)
C. City Dump Operator: One or more employees of the city shall be designated as the city dump operator with authority to direct any and all dumping operations at the city dump, including, but not limited to, the placement of dumping and segregation of dumping materials as to type, etc. (Prior Code § 11-8.2)
D. Operation: All dumping of any material, of any nature or description, be it garbage, trash or waste matter, shall be in conformity to the following provisions:
1. Hours Of Operation: Dumping shall be performed during, and access to the city dump limited to, only those hours of operation adopted by the city council and posted at the main entrance to the city dump.
2. Dumping: All dumping of any material, of any nature or description, be it garbage, trash or waste matter, and all access within the city dump area, shall be at the direction of the city dump operator.
3. Burning: There shall be no burning at the city dump except under the direction of the city dump operator.
4. Scavenging Or Salvaging: There shall be no scavenging or salvaging about the city dump nor removal of any material of any nature or description from the city dump without the written authorization of the employee designated as the city dump operator. (Prior Code § 11-8.4)
5. Use By Other Municipalities: The use of the city dump for the disposal of garbage, trash and waste matter may be made available to the commercial and residential premises of the towns of Ruth and McGill, Nevada, and their respective environs, subject to payment of all charges and fees and the collection and payment thereof, pursuant to an agreement between the city and the county. (Prior Code § 11-8.4; amd. 2001 Code)
6. Participation With County: The city will participate with the county in regard to the county’s collecting the charges and fees herein provided for from the county areas that use the city dump. Such fees and charges so collected by the county shall be remitted to the city by the county, less a needed percentage for the county’s administrative costs in regard to such collection and remittance.
7. Billing And Collecting: The city and the county, acting individually, shall each be liable for and do its own billing and collecting in regard to the charges and fees in this chapter provided for the use of the city dump. (Prior Code § 11-8.3)
E. Status Of Dumped Material: All material dumped at the city dump, of any nature or description, be it garbage, trash or waste matter, for any length of time, no matter how short, is deemed abandoned and becomes property of the city. (Prior Code § 11-8.4)
City Code 4-2-8(D)(4) prohibits anyone from removing items from the Regional Landfill. City code 1–4 – one makes it a misdemeanor for people to do so. A misdemeanor is punishable by up to six months in county jail and a $1000 fine plus assessments.
(The actual fine and sentencing will be done by a judge. This is this is the standard misdemeanor punishment and fine.)
Some items, such as scrap metal, are recycled by the city. This recycling helps to fund the landfill and the city. The cities income last year from recycling was $32,000. This keeps your landfill fee down.
The employees at the landfill are required to check your vehicle when leaving. They do not enjoy altercations with the public on these items. Please allow them to do their job in a professional way.
Tourism and Recreation Board – January 9
The new leadership is Shane Bybee as chairman, Marietta Henry as the vice chair and Lori Drew as secretary.
Geri Wop
White Pine County Tourism and Recreation
December 22, 2016
Public Comment:
Wyatt Cox from the USA Radio Network. “We have over 450 stations in the United States. The Tourism and Recreation board could use these station for advertising events.”
(Ely station 1230 am)
New Business –
Acceptance of Fiscal Year Audit
Robert Moore “There were no problems performing the audit. People do need to start using their vacation time.”
Unanimously approved
Approval of Salary Adjustments for Department of Labor Exempt Employee Compliance. (
Exempt Employees are Often Full Time Employees
The FLSA does not define what is a full time employee or a part time employee. What is counted as a full time employee is generally defined by the employer by policy. The definition of a full time employee is often published in the employee handbook.
A full time employee has traditionally worked a 40 hour work week with the expectation that exempt employees will work the hours necessary to accomplish their jobs. A non exempt employee must be paid overtime for time worked in excess of 40 hours.
Today, some employers count employees as full time if they work 30, 32, or 36 hours a week. In fact, fewer required work hours is considered a non-standard benefit in some organizations.
In many organizations, one differentiation between full time and part time employees is eligibility for benefits such as health insurance, paid time off (PTO), paid vacation days, and sick leave. Some organizations enable part time employees to collect a pro-rated set of benefits.”
The overtime rules were proposed to chang and raises the salary threshold to $47,776 for a full-time worker effective December 1, 2016. This would eliminate overtime pay and comp time. The employee in question earns $35,952.24 (a year) as a hourly employee, with comp time for overtime. With comp time being illuminated, the big question is if this hourly wage person was made a salaried person, would this save the board money? Setterstrom, Howe and Hansen raise the question as to how much overtime was there? The answer was “We don’t keep track of overtime we just estimate it.” Hansen “Can we hire a part-time person to do some of the office work and save money?” Answer “We haven’t been able to train and keep someone in this position.”
Luckily Nevada’s Attorney General along with several other states, did get a judge to put a stay on this for the time being. The board did not have to make a decision at this time.)
Setterstrom “Let’s just go back to the way it was.”
Unanimously approved to keep wage and salaried people as it was.
Approval of Christmas Holiday Bonuses for staff.
Setterstrom “Didn’t we decide hourly employees get a bonus, salaried employees didn’t.”
Howe “We didn’t give salaried employees bonuses because they had pay increases.”
(Lori – $600 and Meg – $500.)
Setterstrom “All the county and city entities have stopped giving Christmas bonuses.”
Vote passed 4/1 Setterstrom voted no.
( Setterstrom is correct, there are no Christmas bonuses, however the county gives a Longevity bonus.)
Old Business
Total expenditures for Sights, Sounds and Smells of Christmas was $2,800.98. $5000 went to the cash program. The convention center and ELy Nevada was voted the outstanding Christmas program in Nevada.
Review of the financial budget
As of date our revenue is $700,000. Our expenses are sitting at $580,000.
Report approved.
Special White Pine
County Commission Meeting
The commissioners voted Richard Howe as the new chairman. The vote was 3/2, Gary Perea and Carol McKenzie voting no
New liaison positions were chosen.
Shane Bybee – Public Works, Tourism and Recreation, Recreation and Golf, Fire, EMS, Tri-County weed, Cherry Creek, Ruth and Great Basin Historical
Steve Stork – Airport, Building and Planning, Public Health, Sheriffs Department, Library, McGill, and Forestry.
Complete list to come later.
The new tourism and recreation board will consist of Bruce Setterstrom, Shane Bybee, Marietta Henry, Drew Skeen and Caroline McIntosh.
(Being the week between Christmas and New Year’s, this was a very slow week. I do you hope everyone enjoyed the holidays.)
Geri Wop
