If you are unable to join the Zoom meeting by computer or cell phone, you may still submit issues to be discussed to Denise Davis (ivcbcommunityforum@gmail.com).
Denise Davis – Moderator, Citizen Advisory Board Member, IVGID Ordinance 7 Committee Member, Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) Member
John Crockett and Amanda McPhaill – Washoe County Library Zoom-masters
Ronda Tycer – Recap Editor
[The Chat Box and Forum URLs appear at the end of the recap.]
Denise Davis – Forum Moderator
Just a reminder for those of you in the room, you really do need to come up by the microphones so we can hear you.
Good morning, Forum. How’s everybody doing? I’m Denise Davis your moderator. Ronda Tycer is our Forum recap editor. And John Crockett is our tech guru. As a reminder, our meeting is being recorded. Before you begin speaking, please state your name. While speaking, please be respectful. Personal attacks will not be tolerated. For those online, if you’d like to share URLs, post them in the Chat Box and they’ll be included at the end of the meeting recap. We partner with IVCB Community 1s.t.org and IVCBA.org to get information out. So, be sure to visit their websites and sign up for their newsletters. To sign up for our Forum meeting notices and recaps, send an email to us at ivcbcommunityforum@gmail.com. All right.
I don’t see Kari online, but I have an introduction to make. We have our new Captain— Captain Blaine Beard—with us here today. Welcome Captain!
Blaine Beard – Washoe County Sheriff Office Captain
How’s everybody? I’m Captain Blaine Beard. I’ve been with the WCSO for 25 ½ years. I was promoted to Captain about 7 months ago. I was in charge of Special Operations. Two weeks ago I was informed I’d be taking over from Captain-now-Chief-Deputy Corey Solferino as the Incline captain. I’ve been in this capacity now for 4 days—2 days actually up here on the hill. It’s a pleasure to meet everybody. Just a little background about myself—I’ve done a little bit of everything in the department over the course of 25 years. I was an Incline deputy for 1½ years in 2010-2011. So I haven’t been up here too many times too often—other than the annual picnics—for over a decade. So I’m really looking forward to being back in the community again and serving you all. So it’s a pleasure to meet everyone.
Denise Davis
Does anyone have any questions for our new captain?
Margaret Martini – Incline Village Resident, IVGID Ordinance 7 Committee Member
We’ll you’ve been up here before so you understand all the little nuances of issues with the life….
Blaine Beard
I do, and it’s changed a great deal over the last decade. As I said I was here in 2010-2011. But I do understand a great deal about the community. But I need to brush up on that because there’s been a great deal of time. When I was up here there were just two deputies. And we’d be lucky to have a sergeant come up once a week for lunch. Now we actually have a thriving law enforcement presence. So it’s something I have to study up on.
Margaret Martini
What is your staffing right now?
Blaine Beard
We have 4 and soon to be a 5th sergeant.
Joseph Colacurcio – Washoe County Sheriff Office Sergeant
We have 16 deputies, 2 motor officers, 4 sergeants with a 5th in training right now and projected to finish in about a month, and then we’re looking at 1 lieutenant and the captain.
Blaine Beard
And we have our Sheriff Support Specialist.
Joseph Colacurcio
Tiffany [?] who runs around and does a lot of community stuff. And also our front desk Office Support Specialist – Karen.
Margaret Martini
Did Tiffany replace Leslie?
Joseph Colacurcio
Yes, Tiffany has taken Leslie’s place for 1 ½ years. My mother-in-law retired a year and a half ago. For those of you who are [inaudible 4:21] in the community [4:27 ] I really hoped it would be. My mother-in-law is Leslie Barnes—the past Sheriff Support Specialist, for those of you who don’t know. I married the good twin. And I’ll leave it at that.
Blaine Beard
[inaudible 4:35]I’ve known him for a long time and I didn’t even know that.
Denise Davis
I know he used to work in landscaping.
Margaret Martini
[inaudible 4:50]
Joseph Colacurcio
[inaudible 4:53]
Denise Davis
Sergeant Cola, while you have the floor do you want to fill us in on anything?
Joseph Colacurcio
Sorry I missed the meeting last week. Chief Sommers and I were out —hopefully for the future—acquiring some equipment for Incline Village. We went down to Bridgeport to the Mountain Warfare Center, better known as Pickle Meadows. They have some Tucker Sno-cats that will be coming available to law-enforcement agencies throughout the nation. We get them through the military through a decommissioning program at no cost to the WCSO. We’re hopeful to get a couple of those for rescues up on Mt. Rose or the backcountry.
They are Tucker Sno-cats. One can handle 16 passengers, the other handles 4. They are just tools, some things that we can get at a low cost for low operation and maintenance down the road. That’s what we were doing last week. There’s no real timeline set because the military does what the military does. When they decide to put them up for decommission, then we’ll hopefully have our chance to get our hands on some of that equipment at minimal cost to us but at great benefit.
It will be part of Search and Rescue. The whole goal, to be honest with you, they have five pieces that will be coming at a [?]-compliance for California, which is why they’re getting rid of them. The hope is that down the road to get four total for the WCSO. Two will stay in the valley for Search and Rescue purposes. They can be used not just on snow but where low ground pressure is needed, such as on the “playa” at Blackrock Desert and things like that. The equipment is able to be trailered normally. They are only 8 ½ feet wide so they don’t need any special trailer equipment. The other goal is to get a troop-transfer one so that would be the 16passenger one up in Incline and the 4 passenger in Incline. We’re going to work with the Fire Department so we have the ability if we need to get up to Upper Tyner, Apollo, up in all the “planet” streets during a winter storm for medical emergencies or anything of that sort—so we have the ability to work closely with NLTFPD.
That’s the goal. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts and red tape that we have to cut through. But we’re working our way through that and hopefully we’ll make it happen.
Denise Davis
I’d like to ask a question about Red Day/Green Day parking. Before I start I’ll remind everyone that the URL will be in our recap and the phone number to find out if it’s a Red Day or a Green Day is 775 833-5555.
My question is, yesterday when the blower was trying to clean my street there were construction vehicles parked on the street. It was a Red Day. So explain how this works.
Joseph Colacurcio
So this is a very, very tough subject. We want construction to continue, we want these things to happen. If you do have an issue—if it’s an actively snowing day and they are actively plowing, speak with Rich Thompson—head of Washoe County Roads. Right now he plans on it remaining a Red Day, so there is no parking on the streets. What that allows me to do is it gives me the ability to cite—or not—for parking on the roadway. We understand that construction is still going on in houses. If there is an issue like this morning—we’ve already dealt with one construction area—the Road guys normally call us. We go out and make contact with the construction workers and get them to move their stuff, get them to clear the roadway, and widen the roadway with a blower. We try to mitigate that without issuing a citation or towing a vehicle.
So if you’re able to actively move your vehicle, we try not to cite you. And as long as you’re nice and respectful to us we go that route. If you tell us something else, then my guys are given the ability to go ahead and have the car towed. Then let them deal with getting the vehicle back that way. This is for the Red Day/Green Day. I look at it more for those folks who decide to just park their car on the side of the street and leave it there so that it inhibits snow plowing and snow blowing. And when they refuse to make that contact, that gives me the legal ability to cite and tow the vehicle. So that’s why those are in place. If you have an issue, please give us a call. If they’re blocking the roadway completely and we can’t get by, give us a call and we’ll deal with it as best we can.
Denise Davis
I’d like to give you a comment about calling in. The last time I called in to report a problem, they needed a lot of information about me. I understand they want to know who’s repeatedly calling in, but here’s the problem. We’re often told in our meeting that if there’s a problem we should report it. But when we’re the one’s reporting it, then we start getting the reputation of being problematic.
Joseph Colacurcio
The reason they ask all that information is because it’s a standard question protocol on a system called Pro-QA. Don’t ask me what that stands for. But every call in, it delineates how the call goes. At the beginning of the call, it always starts asking for the same information—location, who you are, telephone number, what is the nature of your call.
Denise Davis
I believe I had to give my address,
Joseph Colacurcio
Your location is normally first, then, they’ll ask the nature of an emergency if you call 911. If it’s not an emergency, they’ll ask the same questions to determine the nature of your call. Then they ask for your information, confirm your phone number or the number you’re calling from, then they ask for a description of what’s going on.
Blaine Beard
You can also ask to not be contacted by the deputies, or if you’re not willing to cite, the deputies will know that so they won’t go up and actually make contact with you. So the people that you’re calling in on will not know it was you who called. That’s specified in the actual call if you request it.
Denise Davis
I’d like to just share with you that I’ve talked to others and they’re really put off by the whole system of “I have to give you a lot of information about me to report a problem I’m seeing that I kind of think I shouldn’t have to be calling you about in the first place.”
Joseph Colacurcio
Well, we can’t be everywhere all the time.
Denise Davis
This isn’t just me. I’m sharing feedback.
Joseph Colacurcio
I understand that.
Denise Davis
It seems like you guys want to know an awful lot about the person calling in, which is off-putting to the public who goes, “Okay, I’m not doing that again.” I’m just saying that when we’re instructed that if you see something say something, but when people try to do that, they’re really off-put by this process. So I’m just sharing that.
Joseph Colacurcio
That’s fair enough. But this is the way we conduct business. If there is a major issue or something else was to go on, we would like to be able to contact the reporting party to say, “Hey, you observed this, we’ll follow up on this further,” or if there’s more information we’re looking for—that’s what the benefit of all that is. It also prevents… we’ll go bigger. This is probably a low-level parking problem, speeding, or things like that. If we have issues with swatting calls and things like that.
If you were to call from, say, Reno, about a house up here, we’re going to ask more information mostly to understand a bit more about that call, maybe to call you back or have that information, so we don’t put other people at risk. That’s a very far off thing, but it does happen for us. Those are things that we are aware of and have had to deal with. So that’s why we do go that route to collect that information.
You can file your complaints via 311, which is anonymous. You can file a traffic complaint online. Just know that takes time, and you won’t get an immediate response—maybe 3-4 days or even a week or week and a half down the road before I even see it by the time it gets routed to me. That phone number 775 785 9276 is for a
non-emergency. All your information gets thrown on my board and I’m notified and I can see that right away. That’s the difference. Those are your choices.
Margaret Martini
Is your office staffed so someone can go in and ask a question?
Joseph Colacurcio
Normally Monday through Friday we have office staff there. Monday through Thursday Karen works, and Tuesday through Friday Tiffany works. If you go to that front door of the substation and pick up the phone right outside the door if it’s locked, that goes right to Dispatch. We’re going to ask “Emergency?” or “Non Emergency.” Then they’ll ask the nature of your request, whether we have VID inspection logs up here, paper for drop off, all types of things. If there’s not a deputy at the substation to answer your question, they usually come back if they’re not dealing with something that’s an emergency.
Margaret Martini
There is office staff there to answer those questions?
Joseph Colacurcio
What questions? These questions?
Margaret Martini
What you just reiterated.
Joseph Colacurcio
Some of that they will. Some of that they’ll just show to an officer—myself or the sergeant. It depends on the question. If they can help you, they will. If they can’t because it’s something they’re not informed about, we’ll come help you out.
Margaret Martini
Without a constable here, what is the process if you need a constable for serving papers?
Joseph Colacurcio
In my new job… I’m going to eat up so much of your time… [That’s okay] My new job in this fancy uniform that you see me in is – I’m in an administrative role as a supervisor. I am responsible for the Incline Justice Court, currently working with Judge Tiras to get a bailiff picked for the Court. Hopefully next week we’ll have a bailiff picked. Washoe County provides services to the constituents of Washoe County—services of the Civil Act. Civil service of documents is what you’re asking about—lock-outs, [16:44] taps, evictions, subpoenas— anything you’d ask that someone would be served and document that they served them that can be verified through the court. Correct?
All those processes will work like they worked at the court: Monday through Thursday, 8:30-4:30. That bailiff will have the same schedule as the courthouse. All that civil service paperwork will be eventually in the same building, the same house, and it will go through the WCSO. So instead of paying the Incline Village Constable to have your paperwork served, you can choose to have either WCSO or a private certified server (which we’ll have available to you) to serve your paperwork. CPOs, EPOs domestic-30- days, things for which the court normally waives the fee will go directly from court clerk staff to the WCSO. They will then notify us and we will handle the service on that.
Margaret Martini
Okay, then we’ll be back to full-staff services.
Joseph Colacurcio
Yes, ma’am. All that information will be available for the civil service [inaudible 18:01]. As Chief Solferino said when we first started coming to these meetings, that is our goal—to provide full WCSO services and we are working on that. The abolishment of the Constable’s office was not anything we had a hand in. But in Reno, we provide bailiffs and these services already for the Reno Justice Court, Sparks Justice Court, the District Court, and the Judicial Court down there. So this is just another portion we’ve been asked, “Hey, can you assist with the bailiff for the Incline Justice Court?” Since we have a Civil Division, working with our Civil Supervisors down there, to get all that paperwork like you asked about, it’s seamless. So yes, you’ll be able to go to either the WCSO or the Justice Court in the very near future. But if you go to the Court, you’re probably just going to end up talking to myself or the deputy that’s there about getting your service done.
Margaret Martini
That’s fine. It’s just nice to have someone there.
Joseph Colacurcio
Yes, so if you’re looking to have all those papers served, you can actually go to washoesheriff.com. We have under our Civil Division, you can file for most of that paperwork that you wish to have done right through the internet. So, “Hey, I got my affidavit after my 7 day eviction, I want to have it done, I’m now on a lockout.” Boom, you can send that in and we’ll confirm it, we’ll get the trip ticket, we’ll take care of your lockouts up here. All that’s available at washoesheriff.com under the Civil Division for service and paperwork.
Denise Davis
Great. Does anyone online have any questions for Sergeant Cola? Thanks for joining us today Captain and Sergeant, and thanks for all the great information.
Joe Colacurcio
If you guys have any questions, I’ve put my email up here multiple times, but I’ll give John my information again, and he can throw it up in the Chat Box. If you have a question, I’d say email me, but don’t expect a rapid response. The best way is to call the substation. I get your voicemails on my phone through the landline. I’ll answer your questions that way. But I’ll give John my email here in a minute and my desk number is in there. Too.
Jack Dalton – Incline Village Resident
I would just like to thank the WCSO. They have been very responsive at these meetings. I certainly personally have no problems with the questions they ask—if you want to have an immediate response—because of operational issues. They seem to me to be appropriate.
Every time you use your cell phone, the phone registers who you are calling. That’s part of our system. So I can’t be critical of that. So to have that kind of response is fine. Both the WCSO and NLTFPD come regularly to our meetings. Now we seem to be losing a lot of people who used to come.
TRPA did us another favor allowing the Tahoe Area Plan/Washoe County code changes. That’s a joke about them doing us a favor—sarcasm. The 947 condos, which they passed regarding IVCB housing, the commissioners passed 5-0 to allow this, as an exception. The Tahoe Area Plan just passed last year, now it’s going to allow market-rate housing.
That’s an insult along with the Old Elementary School (OES). We have no workforce housing here—none. People have left. People who work here can’t afford to live here. Not just the lower-level workers. It goes all the way, because it’s incredibly expensive. And that’s just unfair.
I have a problem with the CAB. I think we should not allow Washoe County to take it over like they did because it means we have no input with Washoe County—zero. They have taken it over. So it’s not an independent organization. Now it’s passed out by Washoe County. I would like the CAB to be like it was 2 or 3 years ago. I don’t have a problem with who the people are on the CAB. What I have a problem with is that Washoe County directs them.
Denise Davis
Well the Citizen Advisory Board is an entity of the county. So the county will run it.
Jack Dalton
No, that happened a couple of years ago. We didn’t have all the information that now comes from the county.
Denise Davis
No, the County has always been in charge of the CAB. The change made was that previously—until about 2 years ago—the CAB dealt with planning issues, and only planning issues. So it had to address things that were coming through the Washoe County Planning Department—typically Special Use Permits (SUPs) and variances, and special events. But we could only deal with things coming through Planning. And other CABs throughout the county—I believe there are 9 or 11—were also complaining that they weren’t able to address other community issues other than planning issues. So the commissioners decided to revamp the CABs and now they have swung in the opposite direction where we don’t deal with any planning but can discuss community issues.
Chris Wood – Incline Village Resident, Citizen Advisory Board Member
Jack, I just want to say that the CABs are set up by the State legislature. There are laws written in Carson City that say the county is in charge of these organizations. In fact, everyone on the CAB is appointed by his or her Washoe County commissioner. So if this were to change to have more local control, it would have to come through the legislature. I just want to make sure that’s clear to you.
Steve Dolan – Incline Village Resident, Friends of 3rd Creek Director
Chris, Jack is referring to earlier CABs where that was not exactly the case. This goes back 10-15 years, all the way up to about 5 years ago when the commissioner and those who do have power within the CAB began to usurp the authority from the CAB.
We used to review all kinds of plans for building. We used to do a whole lot more. Little by little they took that away. Then 2 years ago they had this evolution that transferred the management of our CAB—which basically was managed here with the rules of the county—they took that away and instituted a new concept that involved the commissioner managing the CAB at his or her discretion. That basically took our voice away. I’m in league with Jack. I’m dissatisfied with what the evolution has been over the last 4 or 5 years, and in particular these last 2 years where the commissioner and her staff dictate everything including the ability for us to review plans. We have a small voice. But it’s really not a representation of our community anymore. Thank you.
Then I have a question for Kari Ferguson after this, please.
Denise Davis
I have one follow-up comment. Our CAB chair Diane Becker determines the topics that we cover at the CAB meeting. Covering certain planning issues is currently out of the purview of the CAB.
Steve, Kari Ferguson is listening to our meeting but she posted that she can’t talk today, so do you have her email address? I suggest you send her an email unless it’s a topic you think everyone needs to hear.
Steve Dolan
I think it’s a topic everyone needs to hear.
Denise Davis
Let me circle back to you in just a second. Does anyone have a CAB comment before we move on?
Jack Dalton
I think we should request Ann Nichols to call in to this meeting. The emails she puts out like she did for the 947 issue—and up there in Crystal Bay and North Tahoe—her contributions have been significant. Unfortunately the stuff that happened with the 947 project on Tuesday—somebody was telling me it was like 3 or 4 people. But it would be nice to have Ann Nichols who has done a lot to participate here. If she could do that it would be really great.
Denise Davis
She was here at our last meeting. I’m not sure… maybe she has other things going on today, but, all I can tell you is, she’s normally here.
Steve Dolan
A few weeks ago—this is more or less addressed to Kari – but to the whole group and maybe to our trustees and anybody else monitoring the meeting. A few months ago—maybe 2 months ago—we discussed getting information from our IVGID lobbyist in Carson City regarding issues for Incline Village and the General Assembly and general group of our State representatives and senators down in Carson.
So I had these questions and still have these questions. It’s been 2 months so Kari is probably up to date on it. First, I want to get the names of those lobbyists. Second, I want to know if they identified any pertinent newly proposed laws. In Carson, the State Legislature only meets every other year. So I’m wondering if they’ve identified any of these proposals. February 1st is the opening date. And July 1st they start writing the new laws. They are going to assign these to the committees soon.
So Kari, if you would, please try to get us a complete update on the issues that our lobbyists have identified and, possibly, what IVGID trustees and General Manager Winquest are doing related to those issues, if in fact there are any.
I’m sure there are, but maybe the lobbyists haven’t identified them. I’ll start monitoring. I think the whole public, and everyone here… If you go online, you can find these issues. The next 120 days are going to be critical for public participation. You’re welcome to go to the meetings and the subcommittee meetings and the general public can give written and public comments for any of these things.
So with regard to workforce housing, I know it’s a big issue for the State. So I’m sure there will be some rules and proposals made. If I find them, I’ll let everybody know. But everybody should keep an eye on it, because I don’t devote my life to that. So anyway I thought I’d give everybody a heads up and ask those questions of Kari. If anybody here knows more about the beginning of the session for our State senators and representatives, please speak up.
Denise Davis
The Nevada Legislature session begins on February 6. The majority of “Bill Draft Requests” (BDRs) were due in September. So a majority of the BDRs are already available to look at online.
Margaret Martini
I was just looking at the different things going on at 947 Tahoe Boulevard. I’ve lived here since before TRPA and when IVGID was formed. And way back when TRPA was starting, right out of the door, the mantra by all of the residents who lived here was “With the TRPA”—and what’s going on right now—“If you’ve got the money, TRPA has the time.” Basically 947 is just a classic example of that and working with the commissioners. And I know that the commissioners— Alexis Hill is one—wanted the TRPA for itself. Again, voting matters.
Jack Dalton
Alexis is the TRPA representative for this part of Washoe County, and obviously here because we’re a part of that. She’s the one who directs them. She’s on the Governing Board as a paid member with 15 others.
Denise Davis
Commissioner Hill is on the Governing Board of the TRPA and I believe another subcommittee. She’s also on the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) board as the Washoe County representative, and on several of those subcommittees.
I’ll give a recap of the 947 issues. The issue that was discussed at the CAB is amending the Tahoe Area Plan, because the condominiums are single family, not multi-family units. And that parcel is located within an area in the Tahoe Area Plan that does not currently allow for single-family dwellings. So the County has decided to put forth an amendment to the Tahoe Area Plan to allow single-family dwellings in that area of the Tahoe Area Plan. So the County’s action on Tuesday was to approve submitting their amendment to the Tahoe Area Plan to the TRPA. Ronda, correct me if I’m wrong.
Ronda Tycer – Incline Village Resident, IVCB Community Forum Recap Editor
I was surprised to learn that the actual change being made at the meeting was to the County Development Code. I’m not sure how the change in the County code relates to the change in the Tahoe Area Plan. I’m thinking there are two steps here. And the TRPA is in charge of changing the Tahoe Area Plan. I’m not sure. But I heard Courtney say this vote [on Tuesday] was a change to the County Development Code. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Yes, at the CAB meeting in January, TRPA planner Joshua Stock explained that the county has to present an amended Tahoe Area Plan to the TRPA. So that’s one part of this process. The county is amending the Tahoe Area Plan, which then has to be presented to the TRPA for their consideration and approval.
Helen Neff – Incline Village Resident
I believe that’s correct, that there are a bunch of steps to go through in this process.
What is alarming to me is that the proposed code change says that condos are allowed “if they are part of a mixed-use development.” So I did a bit of research on that. I found that a town in Washington actually didn’t clarify what “mixed use” meant. So they had an issue that many of us see could happen here, which is old buildings were torn down and new condos were built without defining what makes a “mixed-use” development.
So I did a bunch more research, and codes that have been effective, have been written with wording such as “no more than 50% of the single street frontage at ground level may be occupied by residential uses.” And also, “If the intent building frontings are along designated storefronts or pedestrian retail streets, only commercial office or light industrial” blah, blah, blah. So the Washoe code, in my opinion, needs to be more specific as to what a “mixed-use” development is. That’s all I have to say now. I think I need to do more research on this.
Steve Dolan
The disturbing part of this is that the 947 proposal was for their single condo units, and then the commissioner and staff made suggestions to make the change apply to the entire commercial corridor for Incline Village. In this situation I would suggest it should have really been determined by our town CAB. But you heard what I had to say about that.
To add to this information, it is a Washoe County Development code change. It also affects the Tahoe Area Plan, which is a big deal, because if you recall It was May 25th in 2021 that the new Tahoe Area Plan became official. It identified all of our work zones and living areas, and commercial corridor. So that does have to be changed.
TRPA is not in charge of it. It’s a partnership between TRPA and Washoe County that will determine our county zones. It was 4 years ago that TRPA and Washoe County proposed blending the zoning from both to make it consistent throughout the area because they weren’t consistent at that time. But on May 25 that all changed. Anyway, the disturbing part for me is that this expansion of the definition of the zoning goes into our commercial corridor. And that was sponsored all the way by our commissioner and her staff. And now it’s evolving into TRPA and all these other things. So I don’t know why it had to go from one unit at 947 to the entire commercial corridor. But that’s the way it is right now.
Denise Davis
Okay. We’re going to move on to some new topics. I want to cover a few announcements. Kari was on earlier, but she’s now on another meeting. She wants to remind everyone that there is a Board of Trustees meeting coming up on January 25 at 6pm. The agenda is posted. But last night the meeting packet had not been published. She also wants to remind everyone that Community Ski Week is coming up. That URL will be in the meeting recap. After our last meeting, Kari let us know that radon kits are available at the front desk of the Recreation Center. You just have to go in and ask for one to get a free radon kit.
The Board of County Commissioners will not be having a meeting on Tuesday January 24th. But they will have a Special Meeting on Wednesday January 25th.
Ronda Tycer
Isn’t the Special Meeting on the 31st?
Helen Neff
No, the agenda just came in via email . It is on the 25th. It’s a Special Meeting at the Tahoe Meadows Fire District Headquarters. It can be viewed by Zoom, but no public comment by Zoom. I just posted it on the Community 1st calendar. So that just happened.
Denise Davis
Thanks for the update Helen, because I checked it last night. Our next CAB meeting is Monday February 6th here at the library and on Zoom. On the schedule to speak to us is Andy Chapman of the Travel North Tahoe Nevada Visitors Bureau (formerly the Incline Village Crystal Bay Visitors Bureau) and our Post Office.
The Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) has two meetings scheduled on Monday January 23rd. At 10am the Regional Partnerships and Communications committee is meeting. At 1pm the Program implementation Committee is meeting.
Also from the TTD, on Monday January 30th, the Incline Village Mobility Hub Committee will be meeting at 5:30. No meeting packet has been posted as yet. But the URL to check out will be in our meeting recap.
The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) Governing Board is meeting on Wednesday January 25th, beginning at 10:30. These are usually all-day affairs.
Prior to that on January 24th, which is Tuesday, at 1pm the members of the TRPA Governing Board who are available and able to make it will be touring the Waldorf Astoria – previously Tahoe Biltmore site. The public is welcome to attend. Parking is at the Biltmore. Jeff Cowen said go to the Biltmore and they’ll help you with parking and direct you to where you need to go. At 2:30 the Governing Board will go over to Kings Beach for a field trip in the corridor there.
Linda Offerdahl – Incline Resident, IVCB Business and Community Association Executive Director
I just want to make a comment about the CAB. I think the new version of the CAB has provided a much-needed vehicle on issues that our community faces to bring people that can actually give us good information and has brought us together. Prior to that there really wasn’t a good way to get speakers coming to the community. [inaudible 47:11]
IVCBA publishes an electronic newsletter called Snapshot. This week’s story was on the Incline Education Fund. This is a charitable organization that raises money for our schools. And they were able to get two $50K grants in the last 3 months—one in October for a STEM program through Washoe County. The recent one featured in this issue of the Snapshot was from the State of Nevada for technology. The Technology Department got $50K to implement a robotics program.
IEF has worked very hard to have progression of technology education from elementary to high school. If you subscribe to the newsletter you can see it at ivcba.org or subscribe for free to get it every week.
We are busy strategically planning. I hope to be able to come to this group in a few weeks with some information about what our plans are for the year. Events in the community include the Ullr Fest starting February 3. That’s the torchlight parade. It’s a fundraiser for the Diamond Peak Ski Education Foundation.
The community is busy making plans for the 4th of July weekend. It’s an awkward event because 4th of July is on a Tuesday. There will be a drone show. That’s sponsored through the Travel North Tahoe Nevada Visitors Bureau. We’ll have the pancake breakfast, all of the military events, the parade, and the community [inaudible 49:20].
John Crockett
What time is the Biltmore tour?
Denise Davis
The time for the Biltmore tour is 1pm on the 24th. If you go to the TRPA Governing Board agenda, it’s listed in a little chart that lists the field trips. The EKN/Old Tahoe Biltmore/future Waldorf Astoria tour is at 1pm on the 24th. The Kings Beach Community Revitalization field trip will be at 2:30 on the 24th in Kings Beach. The actual TRPA meeting is on the 25th.
John Crockett
The only news from the library is that on Tuesday we have an artist reception for Will Barber at 6pm. He’s a photographer whose work just got installed in the gallery. We continue to have Storytime on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 with Jackie Robbin. We have a regular group that comes whether it’s snowing or not. Jackie does a fantastic job of reading stories.
Shirley Appell – Incline Resident, HOA President
I’ve been hearing rumors regarding both the Cal Neva and the Hyatt. Can anyone give me any information as to what’s going on?
Denise Davis
I can tell you that at the IVGID Board of Trustees meeting on the 11th, General Manager Winquest announced that the Hyatt didn’t secure their permit from TRPA for the demolition, so that is bumped a year down the road. I’ve also heard rumors about the Cal Neva but nothing solid.
The Hyatt was planning this summer to demo the cottages and the Lone Eagle Restaurant – everything on the lakeside of the resort and reconstruct that area. That is going to be a multi-year project. But they did not get their permits for this season, so it will begin in 2024.
Does anyone else have a subject they’d like to bring up? If not, I’d like to give a quick update about the IVGID effluent pipeline project that was given at the January 11th Board of Trustees meeting. For those not familiar with our process for the effluent pipeline, we’re using a CMAR, which is a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR). The point of doing it that way is before we begin the project, the costs are going to be calculated, and the construction manager is going to say, “Okay, we’re going to do this job for this cost.” So in theory, we know going in what the effluent pipeline will cost.
We have been working pre-project with Granite Construction and another firm (I just forgot the name) to come up with estimates. The expectation is that it is likely that we would hire Granite as our CMAR. They are very involved in developing this estimate.
Director of Public Works Brad Underwood and Chris Burke of Granite Construction updated the Board of Trustees. Due to deadlines from the Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) State Route 28 project, it’s necessary to complete work in Segment 2 in May and June of 2023. I believe Segment 1 is all completed. That’s the segment we did during the East Shore Trail construction and recent construction on State Route 28 closest to Incline Village. So I believe Section 1 is complete or mostly complete.
A video inspection of the pipeline is planned while it is open. It will be evaluated along with the Pipeline Inspection and Condition Analysis (PICA) data, which we previously collected. They sent equipment down through the pipeline to tell us where our worst problems are in order to rank where we need to focus first.
The NDOT project will require road closures on State Route 28 during the summer. So it is not feasible to have additional road closures to work on the effluent pipeline project at that time. Work on 2000 linear feet in Segment 3, which is down closer to the Spooner Summit area—not at Spooner Summit but further down 28—is planned for September and October of 2023.
So the reason we got an update is because we’re at the 90% Opinion of Probable Construction Costs (OPCC). So we’re getting pretty close to the total estimate. Granite Construction’s estimate is $56,330,920. The 90% OPCC from Rock Solid Solutions, the other contractor, is $55,988,477.
Both of those estimates are more than $7 ½ million above the 60% OPCC. Adding an estimated $2.4 million for design, administration, and inspection, the total estimated project cost is $58,733,920 million. So that’s our estimate.
Here’s some funding information. Mr. Underwood reported the Clean Water State Revolving Fund loan has been preapproved by the State Treasurer. That would be a loan that we have to pay back, but the interest rate would be less than market rate.
Also, IVGID received a $1.6 million grant through the Federal Omnibus Spending Bill.
And the US Army Corp of Engineers has received increased Congressional funding. So IVGID will continue to work with the Army Corp of Engineers to obtain more Section 595 grants. That would be money we wouldn’t have to repay.
It’s estimated that the guaranteed back [?] price for Segment 2 which will be presented to the Board of Trustees in early March. The Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan information should be finalized by then. And then the guaranteed maximum price for Segment 3 work is anticipated for late April, but they will try to coordinate it with the US Army Corp of Engineers grant opportunities. We can find out here’s what we think it’s going to cost, and here’s a grant we think we can get. Basically, the trustees were asked to approve the phasing plan, and they did. That’s an update from a “non-construction person” on the effluent pipeline.
Margaret Martini
I think that the Board—and I’m not 100% sure—had voted to purchase the pipe necessary and store it.
Denise Davis
They did. Then working on plan with the estimators, one of which is Granite, it’s been determined that may not be the best pipe. So, they have put a hold on the pipe order. They weren’t able to order all of it at one time from one supplier. They only have an order for part of what they approved previously. There was discussion about perhaps not ordering the rest of the pipe yet. Because they’ve changed what they believe will be the best procedure especially for the high-pressure sections of the pipeline, part of the pipeline that pumps it over. They’ve had discussion among all the engineers and are reevaluating the pipe recommendation.
Margaret Martini
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe we’ve been trying to get funding from the US Army Corps of Engineers for 15 years or more. It’s been dragging and dragging. Had we stepped up and done this project 15 years ago, the cost would have been less than half. My perception is let’s move forward without the US Army Corps of Engineers. Because if they can’t get us funding within the past 15 years, what makes us think we’ll get funding going forward? And every year we put this off, the cost just exponentially explodes. Now we’re stuck with $56 million. Plus we’ve been paying through our utility bills $2million/year into a “fund,” which has been raped by IVGID poor decision-making. So we don’t have all of those funds available anymore even though we’ve been collecting more than $2 million a year. Maybe using a CMAR instead of relying on the ineptness of the staff—because it’s above their pay grade—I think hiring the CMAR is pretty much the way to go where you put a professional in there and get the job done.
Denise Davis
I’m asking you not to use the words “inept staff.”
Margaret Martini
Okay, sorry.
Denise Davis
Our projects are typically hired out because we do not have enough engineering staff to design, carry out, and oversee projects. So pretty much all of our projects are hired out to a firm to help develop, manage, do it, and wrap it up. A difference between this coming part of the effluent pipeline and previous projects is the CMAR aspect where the company comes in and says this is what we will do this job for. So we’re hiring at a given price. In the past we hired firms and paid the bills as the costs came in.
From previous discussions about the US Army Corps of Engineers grant money, the concern in prior projects was—if we do work before they give us a grant, they don’t necessarily give us a grant for work we’ve already done. They give us grants for projects we have planned and ready to go. That has been a concern discussed previously. And at a certain point I do know previous Boards also expressed frustration that for whatever reason—the US Army Corps of Engineers had the paperwork—nothing was getting done, and we couldn’t continue to wait forever for their grants. That was a previous board. This board may have a different opinion. That I do know from sitting through the meeting.
Thanks to everyone for joining us today. Look for our meeting recap. It will have URLs and any information that needs to be shared that comes in after our meeting. We will meet again in 2 weeks on February 3rd. Be safe and have a couple of good weeks.
Participants
Blaine Beard
Bruce Simonian
Chris King
Chris Wood
David Simon
Denise Davis
Helen Neff
Jack Dalton
Jeff Church
Joan Spelletich
John Crockett
Jon & Beth Davidson
Joseph Colacurcio
Judith Miller
Judith Simon
Kari Ferguson
Linda Offerdahl
Margaret Martini
Miranda Jacobson
Pam Straley
Reinhold (Reiny) Moeller
Ronda Tycer
Sam Levine
Shirley Appel
Steve Dolan
USEFUL URLS
our email is:
Washoe County Sheriff Office (WCSO)
non-emergency dispatch 775-785-9276
Incline substation Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/Washoe-County-Sheriffs-Office-Incline-Village-Substation-143827955640457/
RED Day / GREEN Day parking info 775-833-5555
https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/operations/roads/Snow%20and%20Ice/Winter%20Parking.php
Washoe County “Where’s My Plow” real time snow equipment operations
https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/operations/roads/Snow%20and%20Ice/snow_ice_ops_incline.php
North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District website
Jan 23 – TTD Regional Partnerships & Communication Committee meeting
Jan 23 – TTD Program Implementation Committee meeting
Jan 25 – Board of County Commissioners special meeting
https://www.washoecounty.gov/bcc/board_committees/index.php
Jan 25 – IVGID BOT meeting
https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/board-of-trustees/meetings-and-agendas
Jan 30 – TTD IV Mobility Committee meeting
Feb 6 – IV/CB Citizens Advisory Board meeting
https://www.washoecounty.gov/CABS/IVCB_CAB/index.php
Washoe County Planning – applications in Commission District 1
https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/planning_and_development/applications/apps_commish_district_one.php
IV/CB Community 1st meetings and community info
IVCBA (Incline Village Crystal Bay Community and Business Association)
CHAT BOX
09:07:50 From Kari Ferguson : I folks. I can’t talk today. Here is the only announcement. Events page at Diamond Peak: https://www.diamondpeak.com/events/
09:09:26 From Washoe County Libraries : Thank you Kari, we’ll mention it.
09:09:40 From Washoe County Libraries : Red day/green day 775-833-5555
09:10:11 From Kari Ferguson : Hi. Also, IVGID Board meeting on Wednesday, 1/25 here is the link to the page: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/board-of-trustees/meetings-and-agendas
09:10:36 From Kari Ferguson to Washoe County Libraries(Direct Message) : Thank you!!!
09:11:25 From Kari Ferguson to Washoe County Libraries(Direct Message) : My email for any questions anyone has for me: kmf@ivgid.org
09:22:34 From Washoe County Libraries : Sgt. Colacurcio jcolacurcio@washoecounty.gov
09:39:41 From Kari Ferguson : Sorry. I have to hop off. Have a great day everyone
09:40:39 From Washoe County Libraries : Thank you Kari. We’ll mention the Trustee meeting and Community Appreciation Week, 1/30-2/5
09:48:27 From Helen Neff : Denise – can you email me the info on the Jan 24 walk around at the Biltmore? I did not see that on the TRPA calendar. Thanks
09:49:47 From David Simon : What time is the Biltmore tour?
09:49:53 From Washoe County Libraries : ivcba.org/news/weekly-snapshot
09:52:16 From Helen Neff : Thanks, Denise. I found the info!