Denise Davis – IVCB Community Forum Moderator
Good morning, forum. 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, 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 in the meeting recap. We partner with IVCB Community 1st.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. And we are in election season, so if any candidates have joined us, we’ll have time for a 3-minute statement from each candidate before we end at 10:00. There’s a short time for Q&A following all statements. And please remember we need to be out of the room by 10:20.
Kari let me know she is still driving, so we are going to begin with Mr. Crockett.
John Crockett – Washoe County Incline Library Head Librarian
Good morning, everyone. Lots of great stuff going on here at the library as we get into the spring programming. This past Thursday we had our first Tahoe Talks of the season. This entire year we’re focusing on civic engagement and topics related to that. So, Tuesday was about Independent Redistricting Commissions. And all the topics are recommendations from this publication: Our Common Purpose, which include some different goals and recommendations that can help bring us together and reinforce our democracy. Coming up in April will be campaign finance reform, May will be Supreme Court term limits, then in the fall we’ll focus on voting equity and access. As always, we’ll bring in guest experts. We always learn a lot. We get to share opinions and experiences face-to-face with our neighbors. So, coming up in April, campaign finance. Please stop by and grab one of these.
Then on Saturday, we have Japanese taiko drummers—Tsurunokai—a group from Reno. Large drums will be shaking the library at 1 pm. So, if you’re coming to study, that might not be the best time. You can use the Zoom room. But it will be a fantastic performance by Tsurunokai.
We’re also launching our Time Out Tuesday program. This will be twice a month in April over at the Community Center. It’s part of our adult programming that we’re rolling out over there. We’re doing hydroponic gardens. If you have any plastic tubs like the Lisa Belgium mini cream puffs, we would love some of these to use for the program. Tuesday, we have our book group Inclined to Read, and our title will be Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist. As always, if you want to see all of our events, check out our website and limit to Incline Village to see what we have here, or stop by and sign up for our email newsletter so you can get all the events each month. Thank you. Any questions?
Judy Simon – Incline Village Resident, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Advisory Planning Commission Member
I have a question about the plastic tubs. What kind?
Denise Davis
So, any kind of plastic containers. Kari, are you still driving?
Kari Ferguson – Incline Village General Improvement District Communication Coordinator
No, I’m here, thank you. I’m going to be off-camera because I had dental work this morning and I look kind of like a chipmunk with my face drooping.
I want to let everyone know we have a new General Manager. Hopefully, everyone received that announcement. Bobby Magee is our new General Manager for IVGID. I’ll put the link into the Chat for the news article for that.
Also, we have a lot of meetings coming up. Let me run through those really quickly, and then I’ll do some other events and programs
• March 27th, we have a Board of Trustees Town Hall. At the beginning of that, we’ll have an education session with Kevin Lyons. I’ll put the link in the Chat and that’s on our website as well so you can get more information.
• March 28th at 4:30 we have a special Board of Trustees meeting just recently added. That was updated yesterday on the website.
• April 10th and April 24th, we have Board of Trustees meetings.
There are a couple of Golf Advisory meetings. We just had one yesterday, so I can put a link from the livestream in that. It was a 3-hour meeting, so I don’t know, but I’ll put it in there. We talked about lots of interesting things. And you can see our new head of golf – Timothy Sands. I’ll be sending out an informational bulletin about him to all the community today.
• April 11th there is another Golf Advisory meeting. I’m just confirming the time before I put it on the website.
At Diamond Peak, the conditions are amazing thanks to Mother Nature and that storm recently. So, it did bring some good to the area. We’re still rocking at Diamond Peak. We enjoyed our season-pass BBQ last Sunday with the band and Demo Day from Village Ski Loft collaborating with Diamond Peak. That was a fun day even though it was a bit chilly on the mountain. Today, definitely check the conditions at Diamond Peak before going up because of the wind. Just doublecheck to make sure Crystal Lift is running. I’ll put that link in the Chat as well.
We have a Community Snowshoe hike planned for Friday March 29th. That’s the Community Snowshoe up to Snowflake Lodge led by the Parks and Recreation staff. It’s a very fun event if you’ve never done it. It’s about a 1 ½ mile hike up to Snowflake. We take Freeway on our snowshoes and we snowshoe down the same route. We enjoy that spectacular view especially because it’s a little lighter later. So that’s another fun event happening.
And then of course we have all our regular programming like our ski schools on Tuesday at Diamond Peak. We have our Ladies ski clinic and our 55+ ski clinic on Wednesdays, which I’ve enjoyed. I’ve been a teacher there the last few weeks filling in for a couple of people, and it has been just a blast. So, hopefully you guys can come join us out there on the hill.
Also, we’re still looking for a fix for Tyner road. It is temporarily fixed, but that’s not the fix forever. But don’t worry, we didn’t forget about it and we’re working on it. And we’re still looking for input on the Water Service Line survey. So, any input you have would be great from your home. There is a waterline video that makes it easier. Hold me accountable, Denise. Did I forget anything?
Denise Davis
You covered everything I have on my list.
Kari Ferguson
Yea! I’ll call that a win for today.
Denise Davis
Well. happy recovery from your dental work this morning. Sergeant Tone, do you want to fill us in on what’s happening at the Sheriff Office?
Nick Tone – Washoe County Sheriff Office Incline Sergeant
Sure. I don’t have a lot of updates. I’ll just let you know that the storm we had last week took a few days. But we and all of our community partners pretty much got everything cleaned up. County Roads did a great job clearing up numerous downed trees. A lot of power lines were down. It was a busy few days, but now everything is cleaned up and back to normal as of yesterday.
Sheriff Balaam released his State of the Sheriff Office. That’s available online at www.washoesheriff.com. That’s a pretty comprehensive document covering everything related to our staffing levels, calls for service, what we did last year, crime trends, various programs we have throughout the agency, where we’re putting our resources, the new programs we’re doing including community programs and things like that. It’s only been released for about 24 hours, so if that’s something you’re interested in, go ahead and take a look.
We have a new captain up here to replace Captain Beard. She is Captain Amelia Galicia. She’s up here getting settled in. She’s not here today – but when you see her around town, say hello. You’ll see her at a lot of these meetings, and she’s anxious to meet everybody. She’s going to be a great addition up here.
Ryan Sommers – North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Chief
I’ll just echo what the Sergeant said. There’s a lot going on. That storm kept our crews busy, I know that for sure. Now we’re into adopt-a-hydrant. So, if you have a hydrant near your house and you need a bit of exercise, feel free to clear it out for us. If you’re not eligible, please let us know, so if we feel it’s a priority, we can get up there and take care of it, because our crews are digging out hydrants now. Tia, did you have anything else to add?
Tia Rancourt – North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Public Information Officer
No, I have nothing to add. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Just as a reminder, with all of the storms and fire season and everything, it’s important to have a plan and also to sign up for Washoe County’s Code Red alerts. So, when you’re developing your plan for your family, it never hurts to write down phone numbers. Something might happen to your phone, you might forget it, or you might break it. So, it’s always good to have the phone numbers written down and everybody knows the plan—where to meet inside the basin or outside the basin. Cell service might be limited. So, keep all that in mind and be prepared.
Mary Danahey – Incline Village Resident, Incline Education Fund
I’m with the Education Fund and I’m here to give you some updates on school stuff. I have two exciting pieces of news. Trina Kleinhenz, who is the Maker Space teacher at the Incline Elementary School, was just awarded by the Nevada Governor office the Teacher of the Year award for the Northern Nevada region. And now her application will be sent in for the state level Teacher of the Year award. And Incline Education Fund was also awarded Advocate of the Year. We are getting recognized by the Nevada Governor office for Science, Innovation, and Technology, and the good things that our schools are doing.
March 20 is a really busy day here in Incline. There are a number of competing events for your attention. It is Incline Elementary School Family STEM night. SWEP and AAUW are going to be presenting science and math experiments for the elementary school family.
At the Incline High School, the Engineering class was awarded 1 of only 8 awards nationally for the MIT Lemelson grant. That is for an engineering project they are working on. They thought of it, designed it, and developed it. It’s a snow-load detection device. They are actually building the prototype. As part of the grant they received, they are required to have a public forum, and a meeting, and a mid-grant review. That is happening from 4:30 pm on March 20 at the high school. They are looking fo— in particular—architects, lawyers, engineers, designers, and anyone in the construction field to come listen to their presentation and give them feedback on what they’re doing. That is from 4:30 to 7 pm. The tour of the school starts at 6 pm, so the really important part is 4:30 to 6:00 pm on March 20. That is competing with the IVCBA event that Linda will talk about in a minute and the SWEP night at the elementary school. So, you’ll have to choose what your interests are.
In April there will be an exciting gallery event with an art student at UNR Lake Tahoe who is working with the Incline Middle School Trash-to-Treasure program. You may recall we had a community event back in November where the middle-school students from the robotics class collected over 500 lbs. of trash. Since then they have been working on creating art projects under the direction of UNR art student Talia Schnell. She’s going to exhibit sometime in April. We haven’t yet actually set the date yet. But it will be the end of April, most likely at the Holman Art Center to show all the pieces of art that were created.
In May, the Star Follies is back for its 21st year. They were on a 4-year hiatus due to COVID. Now it’s back. The cast has been hired. They are practicing. The event will be May 3 and 4 with two performances each day and three on Saturday. Tickets will go on sale next month.
Later in May, the date has not been set, but it will be at the very end. There will be mock interviews and Career Fair Day at the high school. We are looking for lots of volunteers—professionals who wouldn’t mind being mock interviewers for some high school students. It will probably be a 2-3-hour event for which I’ll be asking a commitment. You wouldn’t have to do the whole time, but if you are a professional and are comfortable with interviewing high-school students and giving them feedback, I would love your help. I’ll put out more information as we get closer to the end of May.
Oh yes. There is a Rotary speech contest March 21st at 4:30 at Incline High School. There are two Rotary groups here in town, The noon one on Mondays and the morning one on Thursdays. They will host this event. There will be speeches, instrumentalists, and vocalists. It’s at Incline High School at 4:30 pm. That is a free event. You are welcome to just come and applaud the students. Audiences are very helpful.
Linda Offerdahl – Incline Village Crystal Bay Business and Community Association Executive Director
There are a number of things going on. Yes, we have a competing event on March 20, which is the annual meeting of our members starting at 6 pm at the Chateau. If you’d like to come and you’re not a member, you can go to ivcba.org and join as a community supporter.
There are a number of fund-raisers coming up in the organization, but rather than spend time on those right now, I want to give an update on what’s going on with the Housing Committee and Mainstreet. As you know, the Washoe County Commissioners approved the Washoe-Tahoe Housing Partnership Roadmap, but didn’t provide much guidance beyond that. So, there is a housing engagement committee within IVCBA, which is attempting to look at what kind of structure would work, and how can we get more information and more discussion around housing. There’s going to be a survey coming up this week about what kind of information and what kind of speakers, and what kind of topics would the community like to hear. We’ll distribute that survey and ask others and then the community will help get that word out so we can start moving forward with some community information and conversation about housing.
There is the Incline Village Mainstreet program. I don’t often speak of this because things are just so slow moving. It’s very hard to make progress on any of these. But right now, within the Mainstreet program, we have Jonathan Garner who is a community engagement liaison, and project manager for Mainstreet. We actually have Bill Horn here today—our former general manager of IVGID who is volunteering his time to help with the leadership with some of these programs. Right now, we’re working on beautification. We’re looking to do a needs assessment of the roundabout. Could it be designed better so that people don’t keep running into the bear? Could there be a more welcoming sign to Incline? We’re also looking at flowers and planters, things that would fit within our native landscape but would help to enhance the commercial buildings. I think everyone would agree the town could use some enhancement with something.
Tied in with that, we’ve met with NDOT, and we have permission to clean up their easements along Tahoe Boulevard. John, we’d like to tie that into the June 1st library’s block party and cleanup. It’s just making an awareness that those boulevards need cleanup. So, if the subject of beautification is of interest to you, we’ve been having focus groups with various members, stakeholders, and constituents of the community. We have another one next week with some organizations–some service clubs and agencies that haven’t been involved. If you are interested, we’re having another focus group next Thursday March 21 at 10 am probably at the Mountain Workspace.
Judy Simon are you going to talk about any of the TRPA housing amendments.
Judy Simon
It’s kind of stuck.
Linda Offerdahl
Jacob Stock sent me some proposed amendment changes. I think it was something with the climate, something about lighting, something with multiuse buildings and condominiums. I’ve forwarded those attachments to you, Denise, and maybe you can give them to Ronda to put into the recap.
Then one other thing. I don’t see anybody here. There’s a neighborhood development meeting March 22 about the proposed school zone change. Does anybody have that information? I’ll let you make the announcement. I just wanted to make sure that topic got covered.
Denise Davis
Do you know anything about the Tahoe Living Working Group? There was supposed to be a meeting at the end of January but it got cancelled. Have you heard anything about it being rescheduled?
Judy Simon
Yes, the meeting was cancelled. I really don’t remember the date. But they made several changes to Phase 2 housing amendments that were put before them. Staff was supposed to work on that to make sure it was what the TRPA board wanted so the Phase 3 group could look at what was actually approved. As I said to Linda, it looked like it was just stuck. I don’t know what happened. We were supposed to review that at the end of January, but that meeting was cancelled and hasn’t been rescheduled to my knowledge. I’m supposed to be on it.
Denise Davis
Kathie Julian are you still on the Tahoe Living Working Group?
Kathie Julian – Incline Village Resident
No, I’ve never been on that working group. I’m anxious to find out who is. I think Judy Simon is the only person from this area, unless it’s associated with a business group that is on that working group.
John Crockett
We are seeking funding for an upgraded microphone and speaker system for our meeting room. We host the Community Forum, and we also host Washoe County Commissioner (WCC) meeting virtual public comment on Tuesdays, as well as the IVCB Citizen Advisory Board (CAB). We offer hybrid programs. And for all these the sound in the room is a challenge. We have to get right up close to a microphone. So, our Washoe County IT department has recommended a microphone and speaker system that is wireless so we could have these little cubes stationed around the room, and give them to people to speak into. And it would really help to facilitate our meetings. The cost is $2900 for a wireless microphone and speaker system. And we would love a generous donor to swoop in and fund that or a portion of that so we could upgrade our system and help facilitate these community meetings. Let me know if you have any questions about that.
And one more thing to put on the calendar, as Linda mentioned, our summer-reading kickoff block party in conjunction with Waste Not’s cleanup day is Saturday June 1 in our parking lot. We are going to be grilling food. There will be local nonprofits and lots of activities. Last year was our first, and we’re going bigger and better this year on Saturday June 1.
Denise Davis
Thank you, Mr. Crockett. Before we move on, we’ll circle back to the Neighborhood Development Meeting that was mentioned. As you may recall, the County has switched its procedure for giving public comment on local development projects. Now, the developers sponsor Neighborhood Development Meetings to get community feedback. We now have a Neighborhood Meeting to discuss the Special Use Permit request for two new private schools—the Saint Claire’s school and the Village Church school. The meeting is on Friday March 22 at 6 pm on Zoom. “This is your opportunity to review the proposed request, ask questions, and provide feedback prior to submittal of a formal Special Use Permit application. The links to the supporting documentation can be found online at the county’s hub.” I also will put the link in the URLs and it will be in our recap. The applicant’s representative is Anne Marie Lain (laain@dowl.com). And if you have questions regarding meeting requirements, you can contact Courtney Weiche at cweichi@washoecounty.gov. So, if you have questions or comments to make, that is Friday March 22 at 6 pm on Zoom.
I want to remind everyone that our next Washoe County Incline Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) meeting is Monday March 25.. We moved our meetings to the fourth Monday of each month. It is here at the library and online. We start at 5:30 pm.
The next Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting is March 19. That is the only WC Commissioner meeting this month. On their agenda is to appoint a member to the Washoe County Library Board of Trustees for one term. They are also going to go over the Board of County Commissioners handbook and Washoe County Code of Conduct.
We also have a public hearing—the second reading and possible adoption of an ordinance amending Washoe County Code 110—”modifying various sections regarding regulation of uses and development standards in order to update regulations related to Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), detached accessory structures, manufactured housing, and battery-charged fences.” There have been a few meetings regarding that. The second reading and possible adoption is scheduled for March 19.
Judy Simon
I have filed an application to continue as a member on the TRPA’s Advisory Planning Committee (APC). That was supposed to be at a meeting on the 19th but it has been deferred to another meeting. I was looking for the date. I think it is March 29. But I don’t know.
Denise Davis
Okay. They had it on their calendar March 19. Then they have a possible date with a star.
Judy Simon
I was looking for the notice I got that it would not be on the 19 but I can’t find it.
Denise Davis
Okay. As I mentioned earlier, it’s election season and today is the last day to file. So far, the two candidates for the Washoe County District 1 Board of Commissioners seat are our current commissioner Alexis Hill and previous commissioner Marsha Berkbigler. We seem to be stuck in a “re-do” rut.
On the IVGID front, we have candidates so far for IVGID trustee: Michelle Jezyski and Mick Homan [Ed: additional candidates as of 3-16-24 include: Harry Swenson, Michaela Tonking, Mark Case, Frank Wright, and Kevin Sammelman.]
Helen Neff – Incline Village Resident
This is just regarding the Board of County Commissioners meeting. I apologize if I missed this when you were talking about it. But the agenda item on ADUs in the staff report specifically says that the amendments don’t apply to the Tahoe region. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be applied sometime in the future. For this particularly agenda item, it does not apply to the Tahoe region. Again, I apologize if that was said. I just wanted to bring that up.
Denise Davis
No, it wasn’t said, so thank you for adding that.
Jeff Church
I have a lot of comments. Do you want me to wait on school stuff? And then I am a candidate, so I’ll wait for that as well. Is now a good time or do you want me to wait?
Denise Davis
I’ll circle back.
Jeff Church
Okay I do have an update on District 1. The website is outdated and I have some updates.
Denise Davis
All right. I remind everyone that, as Judy let us know earlier, the TRPA APC meeting for March 13 was cancelled. They said there was a problem with the noticing, so they’ll try again. There is a TRPA Governing Board meeting on March 27. I assume committees will also be meeting beforehand, that’s the typical layout. It says it will be starting at 8 am. So, another fun day of TRPA. And on April 3, the Tahoe Transportation District (TTD) has their governing board and committee meetings scheduled. The agenda is not yet posted so keep checking their website.
I want to remind any artists that the Tahoe Fund and the Forest Service are looking for some beautification of some of their restroom facilities. The deadline to apply is March 29. They want to work on the Stateline Lookout at Crystal Bay, Logan Shoals Vista Point on the East Shore Highway 50, and the Tallac Historic site. If you are an artist or know an artist, let them know there is a chance to get their artwork out.
The TRPA deadline for comment on their Active Transportation Plan (trails, bike paths, etc.) deadline for comments is today at 12 pm. I don’t know if that means noon or midnight.
Also, the deadline to comment on the draft of the TRPA 2024 Public Participation Plan is April 5.
I also want to let you know that I and some other folks attended the NV Energy Natural Disaster Protection Plan meeting this past Wednesday. We got a lot of good information. They completed their first tri-annual plan, after the legislature mandated that they start filing these tri-annual plans. Their first plan deals with these Tier 3 areas in the Tahoe Basin and down at Lake Charleston. They are through that first plan, and so their second plan which they will be filing soon, will be working on Tier 2 and Tier 1E. They are looking for long-term permanent solutions. If you have any questions about that and weren’t able to attend the meeting, send me an email and I will connect you to some of the folks who spoke to us. They said that by fire season they will have a dedicated phone line. So, if we see something… They do have cameras around the basin. They will also have a dedicated phone line, so if we see something, we can call it in and let them know what we’re seeing.
I also want to let you know that they are working on patrols, inspections, and system hardening. They annually check 2144 poles in the basin. They are getting rid of any tree limb attachments. If on your property you have electric lines attached to a tree, and you have not received notice from NV Energy, please contact them to let them know you are not on their list or they don’t have your correct contact information.
Kathie Julian – Incline Village Resident
Does it apply to public land areas, like if you see some electrical wire connected to a tree on Tunnel Creek Trail? And could you put in the Chat or URLs that phone number we’re to call? And secondly, on the comments on the TRPA Active Transportation Study, could you put a link for commenting on that?
Denise Davis
Mr. Crockett informs me that the link is already in the Chat but we’ll circle back through it. We don’t have the dedicated phone number yet because they don’t have it up and running yet. But if I get it, I will pass it along. Okay, Mr. Church, we’ll just circle around, candidates, but we’ll start with you.
Jeff Church
Thank you. I came into this meeting thinking I’ll just listen and don’t have a lot to say, but now I’ve got a whole list. First of all, I know Mr. Crockett is just up here in Incline, but it is still on the website that there is going to be a ballot measure on November 5 for extending a tax for libraries that ends I think June 3, 2025. So, our taxes will go down unless the ballot measure is approved and passes. I checked yesterday with the Secretary of State, and I’m not aware of any ballot measure to extend the tax. And I think it may be too late to get one going—pro or con. To get a measure on the ballot you have to have a petition, you have to file for that, and then you’ve got to get the signatures.
Denise Davis
He does have an answer.
John Crockett
We are in line to get that on the ballot. I don’t know the specifics. But my library director has assured me we are in process on that. And it is not true that taxes won’t go down if it doesn’t pass. This is a diversion. It’s not a new tax. It’s an allotment from property taxes which is 2 cents for every $100 diverted to the library. So, taxes will not be affected up or down whether it passes. And we are in line to get it on the ballot for November.
Jeff Church
Great. That’s interesting. I’ll look into that. And then the other thing, and again I am not being political. I am running for office but I’ll save my 3 minutes for later on that.
You are correct, the filing ends today. I’m not aware of anyone from Incline who has put in their candidacy for the Washoe County Commissioners board. The Washoe County website is outdated. It’s terrible. With due respect, the WC Registrar of Voters website is terrible. You have to go to the state website. There are 3 candidates for Washoe County Commissioner. Again, I’m not being political, I’m just stating a fact. I believe the third candidate is Melissa Fitch. We may have more coming in today in the next 7 hours. There are 4 candidates in District 1. And if I’ve counted right, 7 candidates in District 2.
And for the Washoe County School Board (WCSD) there is an at-large candidate West. You have 2 “at large, which doesn’t make sense. There is a candidate for District G—which represents Incline as does A—and there are 7.
Back to the school issues, I participated as a judge in a student debate, but unfortunately, we had that huge snowstorm. The first day was cancelled. The second day was cancelled. As far as I know, the poor kids came from all over the state but were stuck in their hotel rooms, which was unfortunate. By the way, more debates are going on today at Reno High School, but I won’t be a judge for those.
As far as Incline Village Middle School, I have no news. Obviously, I’m strongly opposed to closing it. I think it will really come down to the new superintendent. We’ll maybe have somebody identified by May. And then it would depend on how much notice they have to move up here and when they would start. But the sooner the better because we’re in a holding pattern right now with an interim superintendent.
I’m not sure if it’s on the right, but definitely keep me informed of zoning or speech issues at the high school. Weather permitting I’d love to attend. One other issue that’s come up… I had a meeting with my constituents and it’s been made in public comment many times… about controversial books in the school libraries. It’s in the school libraries for me, but it’s also a big issue for the Washoe County libraries. What is appropriate for the kids to see? The short version is that I think we all agreed at my constituent meeting there has to be some oversight and some restriction. I’d love to see us get a written policy on that at the school district, and get that on the board agenda. Right now, I don’t have a second for that. Clearly, you can’t have a book on how to make a bomb. There’s got to be some oversight. There are some books… a citizen brought up Mein Kampf from Hitler. Is that historical, educational, or offensive? I could go on and on, but we do have to have some kind of oversight.
And it is wonderful to see the great kids at the speech debates, and all the other functions I go to. It is so rewarding. We have incredible kids in our district. That said, we do have our at-risk kids. I care deeply. And our statistics continue to go down. Our graduation rates went down. The only things that went up were violence and chronic absenteeism. Those are just the statistics. And we have a $1.7 million deficit as of 3 weeks ago. I’m totally in favor of school vouchers. I know that’s political, but it’s a fact that as they move into private schools, it cuts our public funding. So, that’s an issue we have to deal with. In a few minutes I’ll talk for my 3- minutes on my candidacy. That’s it for now unless anybody has any questions.
John Crockett
I have a question. I’m taking off my badge at the moment and speaking as a resident. I see your name in the news a lot. And it is disappointing to hear that the school district had to divert $500,000 from their budget to address investigations related to you. I am wondering if you can speak to that.
Jeff Church
Absolutely. That’s not political. It’s absolutely totally untrue. It was a 90-minute bash-Jeff session, which was totally factually untrue. I had two petitions that are for the public good before the court. These are petitions, not full-fledged lawsuits. It’s not going to cost $500,000. And quite frankly, I think this comes down to ideology. I’m a conservative. I’m often the 6-1 minority vote. It’s up to the voters. That’s political, but it’s just factually untrue. I’ll be happy to address that with anybody in depth. The newspaper is looking into it. It’s factually “BS”, totally untrue. And I stand behind my record 100%.
Judy Simons
Yes, I was very concerned when I saw that $500,000 budgeted for that. That’s money that’s going to go away from our kids and our schools. So that does concern me. Then also, your remark about the library. The school district does have librarians, and they do provide oversight. So, I think that another level of oversight is unnecessary and overly bureaucratic. If you have questions about what is in the school library, you should take it up with the school librarians.
Jeff Church
I’ll be happy to address that. The librarians work for the school superintendent who works for us. And we have no policy. The policy expired. We have an outdated regulation. There is a form they just invented on March 1 because people complained. So, March 1they invented a form to challenge books. But there’s no procedure for the form. And quite frankly, no. It shouldn’t be up to every librarian because you might have a librarian in Incline who is far right and wants all these books; and then you might have a librarian in Gerlach who is far left and wants different books. There has to be some uniformity. That’s why you hired us. That’s why you hired that superintendent through us and hired us as board members to make those tough decisions. We’re not going to say “this book, yes” and “this book, no.” But we have to have an “overall” policy as guidance for those librarians. So no, I’m sorry, I don’t trust an individual librarian to make that decision. We have to have a policy. The community is up in arms. We have to be responsive to the entire community. And that’s why we need to have a policy.
Judy Simons
There is definitely an element of the community that is up in arms. Whether that means we have to create something that is constrictive is ….
Jeff Church
I totally agree. That’s why we want a public forum. That’s why we want it on the agenda. Let the public opine. Let the lawyers come in. But I can’t in good conscience allow every single librarian to make a decision on what book is in. I won’t… I could read you some of those passages I saw, and it’s not LBGT. I’m totally supportive of that. I don’t care if it’s heterosexual or LGBTQ etc. Some of the language in there is totally inappropriate to be in a library… or at least behind the counter where you could ask for it. People say, “The parents can challenge the books.” There are 10,000 books in a library. You don’t know what’s in there. Just because the title of the book is Sunshine, doesn’t mean it’s about sunshine. There’s just no way. There has to be some kind of oversight of how this comes in. What if somebody donates 20,000 books to the library because their grandfather died. Are we obligated to take it? What if some nut writes a book? I’m serious. There’s a book out there somebody showed me which is about “let’s kill homosexuals because our particular religion is opposed to homosexuality”. That book is not going to be in the library on my watch.
Judy Simon
I think you’ve raised some interesting points. I can’t say that I agree. It’s a slippery slope. I’ll be watching with interest.
Kathie Julian
I have a comment. When we elect a school board trustee member, I do not expect that school board trustee to be interfering with our library system. That’s a separate area. It’s under the Board of Commissioners. They do the appointments to the libraries’ board of trustees. I don’t wish to have our school board involved in that.
Jeff Church
I agree. I am talking about school libraries.
Kathie Julian
Jeff, I am speaking here. Thank you. Two, I believe strongly that parents can guide their children in what their children can read. I do not want parents telling other parents what their children can read. So, I think as Judy mentioned, there is a slippery slope here. So that’s what I want to get on the record. Thank you.
Jeff Church
I’m so sorry for interrupting. My bad. Just to be clear, the libraries for the Washoe County School District are different from the libraries for Washoe County. I’m referring to what we have to do for a policy for our school libraries. I just want to clear that up, thank you.
Aaron Vanderpool – Incline Village Resident, HOA President
I have comments not related to that. Thank you for the link to the Incline Village post office situation. I did fill out that Survey Monkey. I am also having lots of problems with the Incline post office. I talked to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters. As of yesterday, there were 2 republicans and 1 democrat candidates running for Washoe County District 1. I’m disappointed that in our community Alexis Hill is running uncontested, because there are 8 candidates running in District 4. So, I looked into getting an option of “none of these candidates” on the ballot, that we could vote for. But it appears that’s only included for more of a statewide office seat. So, if that’s not possible, we might need to talk to our legislators to get the NRS code changed. I don’t know how that would work. But it would be nice to see that on the county level, or down below the state level. Because having “none of these candidates” as an option to vote for is kind of important. It just shows that we don’t want the uncontested person running even though nobody else is currently able to run. Thanks.
Denise Davis
Thanks, Aaron. [inaudible 54:00] but she’s Republican. Thanks, Jeff, for letting me know about the Secretary of State’s office because I did check the Washoe County Registrar ‘s office last night. So, Ronda, can you add this information into the previous discussion about candidates?
For County Commissioner District 1,
Alexis Hill-Democrat,
Marsha Berkbigler-Republican,
Melissa Fitch-Republican.
And for IVGID,
Mick Homan
Michelle Jezyski
Harry Swenson
Michaela Tonking
Mark Case
Frank Wright
Kevin Sammelman
It’s good to know we have some more choices to choose from, and thanks for letting me know about that site Mr. Church.
Kathie Julian
I have a comment about the US Postal Service proposal to shift mail processing to West Sacramento. I just wanted to mention that. There was a lot of confusion about this, but it does appear… And I know this because I had a conversation with Mark Robison of the Reno Gazette Journal. He is very knowledgeable about the USPS issue. They have proposed to shift all of our mail processing in northern Nevada to West Sacramento. That means that anything mailed by someone in Reno or Fallon or Elko or in Incline Village would immediately go to Sacramento, get processed there, and then come back to Reno for local distribution. This is especially important for anyone interested in maintaining mail-in ballots. Because this will certainly work to make it more difficult to vote by mail. If people are concerned about that… Fortunately, all the representatives—the two senators and the congress people, Amodei, and the Board of Commissioners unanimously sent letters to the postal service to complain about this initiative. So the community needs to be aware that this could certainly undermine mail delivery of things like ballots and cure notices – when you screw up on your signature on your mail-in ballot, the Registrar of Voters has to send you a little note saying you screwed up, and call this number to fix it. Well, those postcards aren’t going to get to you under this scheme, that’s for sure. That is confirmed by the Registrar of Voters, Carri Ann Burgess, who says that this will create serious delays. I just want the Incline community to be aware of that. We all know how it snows and how things get delayed going to Sacramento. In any case, that’s all I wanted to say. Thank you.
–
Aaron Vanderpool
Delayed or lost. I’ve lost so many packages now.
Denise Davis
I know Mr. Church is a candidate. I don’t see any other candidates. Mr. Church, would you like your 3 minutes for a statement?
Jeff Church
Sure.
Denise Davis
Okay, I’ll start my timer.
Jeff Church
My website is Watchdogjeff.com because I bring up issues all the time whether I’m running for election or not. My email is listed in the Chat. With the School District, I have to be careful which hat I wear. I’ll be happy to answer questions and address some of those questions that came up before. I think the bottom line on this is to have forums and debates. Whether it’s about controversial books in the school libraries or what candidate is better, please, folks, host some debates or forums, and let us get the word out. We can’t do it in 3 minutes. I want to debate my opponents. Right now, it’s a gal named Christine Hull— who is the hand-selected far-left candidate who made unsubstantiated quotes about me that she had to retract. In my opinion, she can’t be trusted. And then there is a lady named Stephanie Flores, who I think is a moderate. People think I’m too far right. I got it. She’s the moderate and you’ve got the lady on the far left, if that’s how you lean.
So, let’s get us all in a debate and see how we feel about books in the library or improving education et cetera. I’m proud of my record. As a former Incline resident, I’m very attentive to your needs. Here I am. I’ve been on this forum since it started. I’m here on a regular basis, not just because it’s an election year. I strongly support keeping Incline Middle School open. And I’m happy to answer any questions via email. Go to watchdogjeff.com and you’ll get hold of me. I will put my political email in the Chat Box. But I’d love to talk, love to debate. I’ll talk to any group of 2 or more. I have a 4-wheel drive so even if it’s snowing, I’ll do my best to make it up the hill or you can come on down. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Thank you. Did I miss any events to be announced?
Ronda Tycer – Incline Village Resident
I would like to do something very strange. It is to encourage Denise Davis to run for IVGID. First of all, she is a wonderful longtime Incline resident. She is a longtime financial professional and knows how to read the numbers. She is probably the most informed person in all of Incline Village when it comes to activities, interests, and groups. She is not only widely admired for her capacities as our forum leader, she is probably the most evenhanded and levelheaded person I’ve ever met. She has no hidden agendas. Yet, she is incredibly skilled. I am amazed that she has… if you will… limited her abilities to being on the CAB and leading the Forum when she has so many higher-level skills that are needed at a higher level of government. I’m going to put this out as part of this meeting, and let her make her rebuttal publicly if she wants to in the next 3 minutes as a “proposed candidate.” Or I can just suggest it to the community to see if they agree with me that she would probably be one of the best candidates for IVGID we could have. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Ronda, I thought you were my friend. Thank you for all those nice words.
Ronda Tycer
I know you too well.
Denise Davis
I appreciate that. But I’ll be honest. Right now, I am caring for a family member out-of-state. Since the beginning of the year, I have been here a week, and there a week. I don’t know when that’s going to end. So, I feel like I’m kind of maxed out at the moment. Yes, I know that could change, but it might not. So, thanks for the vote of confidence. I appreciate that. But I’m just maxed out at the moment.
Are there any final comments or any other activities I missed? If not, I’ll just remind everyone that March has 5 Fridays. So we will not see you in 2 weeks. We will see you in 3 weeks on April 5. So, celebrate St. Patrick’s Day safely. Have a Happy Easter.
Aaron Vanderpool
Just a last-minute thing. Ronda, could you give us an update on the Old Elementary School situation? Is it off the table? Are they selling it?
Ronda Tycer
I can and I can’t. All I know is that in the last report which TTD made public it was mentioned that they were going to be discussing in March with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) the “disposition” of the Old Elementary School parcel. Disposition means to me they are considering how they would dispose of it. It might be they are just checking to see whether or not they can dispose of it given the constraints of the grant they were given in order to buy it, or whether they are just looking at alternatives. There’s no definitive response from TTD whether they are planning to sell it or dispose of it. But they did have in a public notification that they would be talking with the FTA this month. So that’s all we know.
Aaron Vanderpool
Thanks.
Denise Davis
Thanks, Ronda. And again Happy St. Patrick’s Day on Sunday. Celebrate safely. Have a great Easter season, and we will see you on April 5. Bye.
PARTICIPANTS
Aaron Vanderpool
Beth and Jon Davidson
Bill Horn
Chris Wood
Dave Simon
Denise Davis
Doug Flaherty
Helen Neff
Jean Laurence
Jeff Church
Joan Spelletich
John Crockett
Judy Simon
Kari Ferguson
Kathie Julian
Kristina Hill
Linda Offerdahl
Mary Danahey
Nick Tone
Pam Straley
Ronda Tycer
Ryan Sommers
Sam Levine
Tia Rancourt
Yolanda Knaak
CHAT LOG
09:10:54 From Washoe County Libraries : washoesheriff.com for just published annual report
09:11:34 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : New GM announcement: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/news/ivgid-board-of-trustees-appoints-bobby-magee-as-new-district-general-manager
09:11:55 From John Crockett/Incline Village :
09:12:13 From John Crockett/Incline Village :
09:12:19 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : Town Hall announcement: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/events/ivgid-board-of-trustees-town-hall
09:12:30 From John Crockett/Incline Village
09:12:46 From John Crockett/Incline Village :
09:13:02 From John Crockett/Incline Village :
09:13:56 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : Board Meeting list and link: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/board-of-trustees/meetings-and-agendas
09:15:31 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : Community snowshoe event: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/events/twilight-snowshoe-hikes
09:15:59 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : Women’s ski clinic: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/events/womens-ski-clinics
09:17:01 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : Come ski with me for the 55plus ski clinic: https://www.yourtahoeplace.com/events/55-ski-clinics-at-diamond-peak
09:17:17 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : I would love to do the Mock interviews -Mary!
09:18:19 From kathie julian : FYI, upcoming Applicant initiated Neighborhood Meeting on 22 March:
09:18:38 From Washoe County Libraries : ivcba.org
09:19:06 From kathie julian : There will be a meeting to discuss a Special Use Permit to create a “school zone” for the anticipated expansion of 701 Mt Rose Hwy and 736 McCourry (church school). Applicant representative, AnnMarie Lain: alain@dowl.com, 775.284.7894.
Date: Friday, March 22, 2024 Time: 6PM. Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/bdf55kyv
09:20:08 From kathie julian : See Applicant initiated and run Neighborhood Meeting at this website and below: https://neighborhood-washoe.hub.arcgis.com/
09:22:05 From Beth & Jon Davidson : Linda was hard to hear; Microphone would pick up less reverb in the room if it were closer to the speaker
09:28:36 From Washoe County Libraries : cweiche@washoecounty.gov
09:29:18 From Washoe County Libraries : applicant rep AnnMarie Lain, alain@dowl.com
09:29:30 From Tia Rancourt : https://www.washoecounty.gov/em/RegionalAlerts.php
09:30:19 From Tia Rancourt : https://www.sierraavalanchecenter.org
09:31:15 From Kari Wingate – Ferguson : I failed to mention the Diamond Peak Early Bird season pass sale begins today! https://www.diamondpeak.com/tickets-passes-rentals/season-passes/
09:35:10 From Washoe County Libraries : Reacted to “I failed to mention …” with ❤️
09:39:05 From LtCol Jeff Church : Campaign related: WatchDogJeff.com yes filing ends today. Three candidates for A and I think 7- yes seven for G
09:56:40 From LtCol Jeff Church : my WCSD email: Jeffrey.Church@WashoeSchools.net
09:59:37 From kathie julian : Christine Hull is a licensed secondary school teacher. She taught for over 13 years at the middle school and high school levels. Christine currently serves as the Program Director for the Nevada Center for Civic Engagement, where she works with students, teachers, and community members across the Silver State to bring inquiry-driven civics and history education programs to classrooms in grades K-12. She has served on multiple committees for the Washoe County School District, including as chair of the Zoning Advisory Committee, the NV150 Commission, and the Blue Ribbon Commission for a Globally Prepared Nevada, and has worked for the Nevada Department of Education in the position of Education Programs Professional. Christine lives in South Reno with her husband and their three children.
10:00:01 From LtCol Jeff Church : ElectJeffChurch@Sbcglobal.net
10:02:48 From kathie julian : https://votechristinehull.com/
FORUM 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 info
775-833-5555
https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/operations/roads/Snow%20and%20Ice/snow_ice_ops_incline.php
“Where’s My Plow?” real-time map
https://www.washoecounty.gov/csd/operations/roads/Snow%20and%20Ice/snow_ice_ops_incline.php
North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District website
non-emergency fire dispatch (Grass Valley) 530-477-0641, then pick 7
Washoe County emergency alert sign-up
https://www.washoecounty.gov/em/RegionalAlerts.php
Washoe Regional Emergency Information Center
https://www.EmergencyWashoe.com/
IVGID water service line survey
https://bit.ly/IVGIDPWLeadandCopperSurvey
(URL is case-sensitive)
Mar 15 – deadline for comments – TRPA 2024 Active Transportation Plan
https://www.trpa.gov/trpa-releases-draft-bicycle-and-pedestrian-plan/
Mar 19 – Washoe County BCC meeting – 10:00 am
https://washoe-nv.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx
Mar 21 – annual Rotary High School Speech and Music Competition – 4:30 pm, Incline High Theater
Mar 22 – neighborhood meeting for St Clare’s School and Village Creek School special use permit requests – 6:00 pm, Zoom
https://neighborhood-washoe.hub.arcgis.com/events/st-clares-school-and-village-creek-school
Mar 25 – IV/CB CAB meeting – 5:30 pm
https://www.washoecounty.gov/CABS/IVCB_CAB/index.php
Mar 27 – TRPA Governing Board meetingReplyForward
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