Denise Davis – IVCB Forum Moderator
Good morning, Forum. How’s everybody doing? I’m Denise Davis your moderator. Ronda Tycer is our Forum recap editor. And Amanda McPhaill 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.
Okay, Kari, What’s happening at IVGID?
Kari Ferguson – Incline Village General Improvement District Communication Coordinator
Diamond Peak. If you haven’t been out –oh, my goodness—the snow is fabulous. The snow is almost up to all the signs on the runs at top. It’s just fabulous. For a most enjoyable day—before the next storm comes in—you need to get up there and just do a couple of runs. If you can squeeze it in, do.
This Sunday is “Retro-Day” so that’s always a fun day to get out your old ski gear and do Retro-Day at Diamond Peak. We’re on hold for the Demo Day. I don’t have information on that. They’re not sure because of weather if the vendors are going to be able to get here. As soon as I know, I’ll let you guys know and post it on Facebook.
The Uphill-Downhill festival is March 25-26. That’s a very fun event for the whole family. You don’t have to be in a competitive race. We have non-competitive races. Or you can just hang at the lodge and enjoy all the music and fun.
We do have the Dummy Downhill on April 1, which is always fun. We’re always looking for more dummies. So if you guys can get a group together and build a dummy, we’d love to have you involved in that event. The swag and prizes for those events are pretty fabulous. So definitely try to do that if you can.
The IVGID Board of Trustees will meet on Wednesday March 8. I’ll link the agenda in the Chat as well. That’s everything at Diamond Peak right now. We’re working on our IVGID Quarterly summer information right now, which will be out in April. We’ll get that information to you as soon as possible.
Denise Davis
Any questions for Kari regarding IVGID? The new Public Works newsletter comes with your utility bill—your sewer/water bill. If you are a homeowner who lives out of town and have someone managing your property here, you may not get those. But every month we have a newsletter from Public Works with useful info. I’ll give you some highlights of the Board of Trustees meeting agenda March 8.
Kari Ferguson
Denise, can I interject something really quickly about the newsletter? I will post on Facebook and also put the link in the Chat here. On the front page, on the right lower corner, there is a way you can sign up for online billing. That’s something we’re asking people to do. We can then communicate with you by email for any situation. The more emails we have in the system, the better for everyone. So we’re reaching out to people to urge them to sign up for online billing.
Denise Davis
Can people give their email contact information and not sign up for online billing?
Kari Ferguson
[Submitted post meeting: “Yes. You should be able to still choose paper billing but still register your account with IVGID. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call: 775 832-1301.]
Denise Davis
The agenda for the Board of Trustees meeting on March 8 includes:
– They will set a date and time for a public hearing for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-2024 Budget and Recreation Roll
— They will be reviewing, discussing, and potentially approving revisions to Policy 15.1 regarding Audit Committee officers
— Review and gain Board approval on the draft FY 2023 IVGID Utility Rate study
— Accept FY 2022 Tahoe Water for Fire Suppression Partnership Grant
Review, discuss, and provide direction on the District General Manager Evaluation Process
Review, discuss, and possibly approve Golf Pass rate structure
Review, discuss, and possibly approve Diamond Peak Ski Resort 2023-2024 picture pass-holder daily lift-ticket rate
Review and discuss what’s needed to create and recruit for a Board appointed Capital Advisory Committee
Review, discuss, and possibly approve a Scope of Work for use in soliciting competitive proposals for the 1stst phase of a 2-phase consulting engagement focused on improving the district
Review, discuss, and provide direction regarding the contract with the NV Division of State Lands
Discuss redactions for pending public records requests
After the public portion of the meeting they will meet in closed session to discuss negotiating strategy regarding the Operating Engineers union contract.
So that’s what’s on tap for the Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday at the Administration Building.
Tia Rancourt – North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Public Information Officer
Good morning. I want to encourage and thank everyone for adopting fire hydrants. We have a lot of snow out there and more is on the way. So we’d appreciate anyone who can adopt a hydrant. Chief Sommers and I were talking yesterday. And we want to give you an update on the Perimeter Evacuation Software platform. The contract has been signed with Washoe County. That’s moving forward, so we’re really excited about that. Chief, do you have anything?
Ryan Sommers – North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Chief
No, I think Tia covered it all. Unless there are any questions…
Kathie Julian – Incline Village Resident, Washoe County Board of Adjustment Member
Chief Sommers will appreciate my perennial question. I really appreciate this software and the evacuation trial they plan to do this summer. But I keep getting back to the assumptions underlying the Washoe County evacuation plan, which does not factor in tourists. So it has undercounted 1000s of people who might be in the area needing evacuation. I’m just raising it as a point that we should raise with our Commissioner and Kelly Echeverria who is heading up the evacuation study for the county. It’s a multiphase study so there is time to comment on the underlying assumptions. Thank you.
Ryan Sommers
I’ll reach out to the Washoe County emergency manager again. All of Ms. Julian’s comments are duly noted.
Ann Nichols – Crystal Bay Resident, North Tahoe Preservation Alliance Director
Does the evacuation study consider the short-term rental population?
Kathie Julian
My understanding, Ann, is that it takes the number from the 2020 Census. So it uses a figure around 8300. It calculates vehicle traffic from that Census number. So it simply does not factor in tourism. Insofar as there is double-counting of the STR-people, I don’t know. But if you figure our average occupancy in our neighborhoods is 2.3 per house, and STRs are advertised for 6-10 people and some of the larger ones I’ve seen advertised on line for between 10-20 people, then it certainly would be undercounting.
Denise Davis
Do you have any insight into that, Chief—whether visitors are counted in the evacuation numbers?
Ryan Sommers
No I don’t. And I don’t think they’ll single out STRs. It will just be a lump sum of visitors as has been noted already. So I don’t have any more to add to that. I’m trying to do my best, but the evacuations belong to the County not to the Fire Department. We’re just trying to address life/safety when it comes to evacuations.
Denise Davis
Thanks, Chief. We appreciate that. We have three members from our Washoe County Sheriff Office (WCSO) Incline substation with us today. Our acoustics are such that you need to come up by the microphones to be heard.
Nic Tone – Washoe County Sheriff Office Incline Substation Sergeant
I want to introduce myself. I’m Nic Tone, a sergeant with the Sheriff’s Office. I may have run into some of you guys during the last 5 years. I’ve been an Incline Village deputy going on 5 years now. I’ve been recently promoted, so I’m back up here. I’ll be in the capacity of supervisor. I’ll be doing the same thing, just supervising a handful of young deputies. Do you have any questions for the Sheriff’s Office today?
Janet Pahl – Incline Village Resident
I just want to thank you. I live on Lakeshore Drive and there used to be so many speeders – and now you guys are out there and now people are obeying the speed limit staying under 25. I appreciate it when walking my dog, and there are a lot of people walking. They were driving too fast. So thank you for protecting the whole town but specifically Lakeshore.
Nic Tone
Certainly.
Denise Davis
There was a question about an incident over by the Chevron station on Monday. I’ve had people asking questions about that. Can you fill us in on what happened?
Nic Tone
I’ll be happy to. On February 27th about 11:30, the deputy was dispatched to the Chevron station for a vehicle/pedestrian accident. Ultimately what happened is that a 63-year-old male was standing behind a Jeep SUV, the Jeep began backing up, struck the male and ultimately ran over him. North Lake Tahoe Fire transported him to the hospital where, unfortunately, ultimately he did pass. As of this time, the entire incident is under investigation by our major accident investigative team. They’ll have their findings at some point in the future.
[Speaker?]
Was he a local person?
Nic Tone
I’m not sure about that.
George Cholico – Washoe County Sheriff Office Incline Substation Sergeant
He was originally from Washington where his wife was residing as well. We made the notification to her, but she couldn’t fly in because of weather. He did have a business here in town. He was a courier bouncing back and forth from Washington to Incline Village.
Helen Neff – Incline Village Resident
I’m in Honolulu. I have a question for the Sheriff or maybe for North Lake Tahoe Fire. Where was the victim of this crash being transported to and—I’m assuming because of the weather—he was transferred via ambulance rather than helicopter?
George Cholico
Yes. He was transported to Reno by ambulance to Renown Regional Hospital, which is the only Level 1 trauma center in the area.
Helen Neff
Yes, unfortunately, I’m familiar with that. It is actually Level 2, not Level 1. And I know that NLTFPD is required to take a victim to the Level 2 in Reno. Barton and Truckee Hospitals are Level 3. I’m just wondering if because of the weather, is there any way that—I mean it’s water under the bridge at this point unfortunately—but could the victim have been taken to a level 3 quicker and been helped faster rather than going over Mt. Rose to a Level 2 trauma center?
George Cholico
I’ll let Chief Sommers speak to that. On that particular day of the storm, 267 going into Truckee was extremely backed up. So I’m not sure what was better. As I said, I’ll let the Chief speak to that.
Ryan Sommers
That is a good question for the group here. There are medical protocols in place. When a person meets trauma criteria, we have to take them to the highest-level trauma center available. That’s why they went to Renown. We’ve got a lot of experience. If we go to a lower level trauma center, all they will do is evaluate and transfer the victim out anyway. So let’s get him to the proper care immediately without that second leg of transport.
Helen Neff
That makes sense. Thank you very much.
Kathie Julian
I have two questions. First, this was in the confines of the commercial establishment’s parking area, so it wasn’t on the road?
George Cholico
Yes it was on their property.
Kathie Julian
Secondly, when things like this happen, where can the community go to find out the basics of what happened? I too was wondering. I saw it on Nextdoor. And the rumor mill was getting going. I went to your Facebook page, and there was nothing on the WCSO Facebook page. Is there anywhere the community can go to just see—“Yes, there was an accident involving a car and a pedestrian at this time in this place… Investigations are ongoing”—something as simple as that?
George Cholico
Sure, depending on the incident, we do try to get some of that information to RPI O’Brian’s studio, which is a local news station around for quite some time. Whether it was released on that day, I’m not sure. But you can also always give us a call. One of us will call you back with whatever information we can give at that time. Like you say, the investigation is ongoing. That’s always a question we’ll be happy to answer with what we can.
Ryan Sommers
To get an immediate notification of what the basic complaint is or basic incident and what apparatuses are responding, you can download PulsePoint. All of that goes to PulsePoint as soon as all the buttons and information is entered into CAD and they hit return, it goes to PulsePoint and that’s pushed out on the app.
Denise Davis
Good plug for PulsePoint, Chief.
Ryan Sommers
I do my best.
Ann Nichols
On the 28th of January, Squaw Valley/Palisades sold 19,000 tickets. That’s more than Truckee’s population. I was coming back over Donner Pass on Saturday. There was terrible weather, but I got over the pass, everything was great. I got to the exit onto 89 and that was backed up onto 80. The only trouble I really had was getting from Truckee to 267 because Northstore was completely backed up to the bridge. People were trying to leave Tahoe during the open window of opportunity.
There was a meeting with Vail and Altera at Palisades at the Event Center a few weeks ago. And their basic attitude is we can’t—we’ve each sold a million passes—we can’t control it. They said they can’t control it because people might want to come to the ski areas for something other than skiing. Do you remember when Northstar used to close at 3000 people? Anyway, what do you guys think about all this? Do the big corporations have the right to pretty much land-lock us? People were pissed at the meeting.
Jack Dalton – Incline Village Resident
Well, I can add a little bit more to that. First of all it was on a Saturday. I was coming from my grandson’s race at Sugarbowl at 8:30 in the morning. It took me 1 hour to go from the Truckee airport traffic light to the turn into Northstar. 1 hour. On that same weekend you’re talking about, I heard it took 3 hours to go 13 miles from Alpine Meadows to Highway 80. I saw the same thing getting off on 80. I think it will be interesting to see from the Sheriff’s Department the issues about emergency because it is a countywide [inaudible ]. It would be nice if we had a Number 1 Trauma Center but we don’t have the population to support that. Most hospitals in large cities are not Level 1 designated hospitals. But this is really restricting travel. I also know that the World Cup was at Palisades last weekend. The other part is that people can’t get out of there onto the road. Forget about the Fire Department. They can’t get out. It seems to me in this day and age of the Internet that they can limit the traffic.
Ann Nichols
They say they don’t know how.
Jack Dalton
That’s ridiculous.
Janet Pahl
I’ve seen the backup so bad we get off of 80 to come on 267, that we go straight on 80 through Reno and come back up Mt. Rose, which is actually faster than waiting in all that traffic.
Denise Davis
In the summer, it’s an hour’s creep from Lakeshore to Sand Harbor, that whopping 2 miles. When I’ve asked emergency personnel what would you do if you had to get through all of that? They said, “We just hope people can get out of the way.”
Jack Dalton
It’s not WCSO’s or NLTFPD’s fault. I thought that Nevada was limiting tickets to Sand Harbor. I thought that was supposed to start last summer. I don’t think it did.
George Cholico
They were closing Sand Harbor early—sometimes as early as 9am.
Jack Dalton
And they would let no more cars in?
George Cholico
NHP [inaudible 23:10] Nevada State Police were handling the traffic and pedestrian [inaudible 23:19]
Jack Dalton
Was that by a ticket? Or was that by just showing up at the gate?
George Cholico
That was “first come-first serve.”
Jack Dalton
So they got rid of the ticket idea?
George Cholico
Unless something has changed.
Jack Dalton
That’s great because I go along with first come-first serve. I don’t go along with January 1st you buy a ticket for access July 4th.
Aaron Vanderpool – Incline Village Resident, HOA President
Every storm over here by the Old Elementary School, we have cars completely stuck going up Southwood there by the light. I may be putting Ryan Sommers on the spot here about Oriole Way as this is an emergency route. In the winter we have all these cars parked around here, and just the emergency access … I don’t know, maybe Ryan has some comments about that… coming through here and the cars getting stuck on the slope. And on top of that they want to build a Sand Harbor bus mobility hub station. So I’m just adding to what everybody else is saying.
George Cholico
Parking is more your deal, so go ahead.
Nic Tone
In terms of parking … we’re talking about parking and road conditions. If the road is particularly bad, please reach out to us and we’ll contact County Roads. I can send in a request to try to mitigate some of the problems – people sliding around or having trouble getting to and from—especially if you live in that area.
In terms of parking, we still run the Red Day-Green Day program. So, especially early in the season when people aren’t aware, we’ll put a piece of paper in a plastic slip and put on cars to notify them it’s a Red Day and the number to call. And letting them know that on Red Days you have to move your car or you will be cited and/or towed—circumstances permitting. Then we can take action. But early on in the winter—we’re well into it now— we try to do a little bit of education to get people to make those phone calls and move the cars themselves. If it’s a parking issue, and it’s a Red Day, and they’re not moving their car, we can cite. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s not feasible because there’s 9 feet of snow or the plow has buried it. So it’s a case-by-case basis. We try to do education early in the winter to let people know to get ahead of the problem.
Denise Davis
If there’s a parking problem, would you prefer people call the nonemergency dispatch number or Washoe 311? Which number would you like them to call?
George Cholico
The nonemergency number.
Nic Tone
That’s the way that information goes. It still goes to the Dispatch Center on the nonemergency line. They can offer service. Then our computer inside our cars—that’s where it will start populating those calls. Then we can start [inaudible 26:34] … and we’ll start handling them one at a time.
Denise Davis
And the nonemergency dispatch number is: 775 785 9276. Are there any other questions for the Sheriff office? Thank you. We appreciate you being here.
On a related topic, at the last Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting, Community Services gave a presentation. They reported that in 2022 they received over 100 requests for traffic calming and engineering. I have a URL for how to report issues that you’d like the county to look at—for unincorporated parts of the county. Mainly they want you to go through Washoe 311, so I will put that URL in the recap.
I want to remind everybody that your property taxes are due March 6th. The Board of County Commissioners will not have another meeting until March 28th.
The Washoe County IVCB Citizen Advisory Board (CAB) will hold a meeting this Monday March 6 at 5:30 here in the library and online. On our agenda is Waste Management to address some of the most common questions regarding Waste Management services. Madonna Dunbar, Resource Conservationist at IVGID’s Waste-Not program, will be on hand to answer questions. We will also be discussing putting together a presentation to give to the full Board of County Commissioners just to explain some of the problems we face in our community here in IVCB. If you’d like to give some input or make comments to be included in that, please attend our meeting and let us know. It is at 5:30 Monday both here in the library and online. The URL will be in our recap. You can also find the agenda online by going to washoecounty.gov and looking for CABs.
Kathie Julian
I just want to stress to people—and also have it in the recap—that there is a public comment period both before and after the CAB presentation. This is an opportunity for members of the community to raise issues of concern regarding development, zoning, safety, or whatever. Sometimes the agenda contains what I would consider to be “innocuous”—informative but not noncontroversial—matters. But you do have a public comment period. And you can make your voice known to our commissioner and to county staff by making a public comment. There can be no discussion on it according to Open Meeting law. But it is a chance to voice your concerns. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Just a reminder… The difference between the CAB and this Forum and others is that the county runs the CAB. So we have to follow Open Meeting law and stay within their guidelines.
Jack Dalton
There’s been some discussion about information. We suffer from a lack of information. I walked around Incline a lot this past fall for candidates and parties, and it’s very clear that a lot of people don’t know about our issues. They don’t know about the effluent pipeline. The chair of the IVGID Trustees Tim Callicrate said, “Really? $65 million—$70 million, really?” Then we have the effluent pond that sort of died after several iterations. We have no idea how much that will cost. Then the next little thing is the golf course. Last year the golf course was $2 million in the hole. What’s the solution? The solution is more information for the community.
I think that for the IVGID Quarterly there should be some parties that provide more information. Unless it’s done better, no question about the synopsis. The 1st was terrible. The 4th is better. It’s impossible to really look at all of this in any detail without putting in a lot of time.
The one solution of course is Ronda Tycer should edit and print everything that goes on with the IVGID trustee meetings. I think that would be an excellent solution. What do you think, Ronda?
Ronda Tycer
I’m leaving that to Susan Herron. Thank you.
Jack Dalton
She’s no longer there. Melissa’s done a better job. This meeting here—thanks to Ronda—is much easier, very easy to get information. The follow-up to IVGID Trustee meetings is very, very difficult. So I would think that the IVGID Quarterly should allow people to discuss the pipeline, the pond liner, the golf course, etc. That seems like an appropriate venue for it besides Facebook and NextDoor, and the rest of the stuff so we can get some more information. I think I have most of the information, but I can tell you, there are a lot of people who have not heard about any of this stuff.
Linda Offerdahl – Incline Village Resident. Incline Village Crystal Bay Business and Community Association Executive Director
I apologize for missing the last meeting. I was in Minnesota. Our Live, Work, Play magazine will be coming out at the end of March. [34:25 inaudible]. Second, we’re hosting a round-table discussion on workforce transportation. I think that plays into the whole traffic issue along with other things related to our community like housing. We are assembling transportation agency officials with major employers and business leaders in Incline next Thursday at the Parasol Building. It’s at 12 noon. Again we’re looking for business leaders and people who can communicate with transportation officials about their specific business and the problems they see related to the quantity of people who are having trouble with transportation, and the problem with employing people here because they can’t live here. It’s at 12:00pm. There is a registration and you need to speak to [35:30 inaudible].
Denise Davis
If people need more information should they email you? Any questions?
Linda Offerdahl
They can email me at linda@ivcba.org.
Ann Nichols
Is this the Tahoe Prosperity Center hosting this?
Linda Offerdahl
No, this is IVCBA. [35:04 inaudible]
Ann Nichols
I’m wondering why it’s mid-day if it’s for employers and such.
Linda Offerdahl
At lunchtime we have a good turnout. [36:17 inaudible]
Denise Davis
On the transportation topic… Just a reminder that today is the final day to get your comments in to the draft of the Washoe County Transportation Plan. This is the report drawn up by Amy Cummings at Parametrix. They’ve had several community meetings to talk about transportation issues. This is not the mobility hub at the Old Elementary School. This is the transportation study. Today is the final day to submit comments. [POST MEETING NOTIFICATION: The deadline for submitting your comments has been extended to March 17.]
Send comments to:
wctransportationstudy@parametrix.com at acummings@parametrix.com
It’s important to get your comments in.
Amanda McPhaill – Washoe County Library Librarian
You may have noticed the beautiful hydroponics garden near the front window. That was provided by a grant from the American Association of University Women (AAUW). We’re very excited about that. We’ll harvest whatever grows and let the community choose from that. We’re also working with Incline High School’s culinary program and sharing some of the produce with them.
Our Tahoe Talks season begins in March, The first program will be held March 14 at 6:30pm. We have University of Nevada Reno Professor Greta d’Jong and Assistant Professor Calla Ingraham. They will be talking on the history and understanding of systemic racism and white supremacy in the United States. A week later March 21st at 6:30 we have Tahoe Treks. A representative from TERC will come to talk about circumnavigating Lake Tahoe.
Denise Davis
Does anyone have any questions for Amanda about library events? As a reminder, we now have a lot of great equipment to use at the library: a 3-D printer, a cricket cutter, all kinds of great things to play with. They have a designated time for Maker Space, and also you can “Book a Librarian” who can help you learn how to use the machines. They helped me, so they can help anybody. The library is not just books and magazines anymore.
Amanda McPhaill
So we have a new program called “Write Your Life.” It is a memoir-writing workshop. We’re inviting people to come in for 2 hours, which kind of forces you to sit down and make time to put down your memories for your loved ones. That will be the 2nd and 4th Mondays every month from 2-4pm.
Kathie Julian
I just put the link to the Washoe County Transportation Report and emails to whom to send comments in the Chat Box for anyone who is interested.
Denise Davis
Thanks Kathie. Moving on. I was out of state the last 10 days checking on family members in Colorado and Arizona, so I wasn’t able to attend the Incline Mobility Hub Committee meeting or the TTD meeting or the TRPA meeting. So I cannot give you any updates on those. And people who were at the meeting are not with us today. So we will do our best to find out what happened at those.
Jeff Church – Washoe County School District Trustee from District A
I am your Washoe County School District (WCSD) Trustee. I care very much about Washoe County school issues. School violence has been in the news. It is out of control. Granted, it is more of an issue down below in the valley than in Incline, but it does rear its ugly head everywhere. The problem is not external. It’s internal with disciplinary issues with the kids. My strong opinion is that the state-mandated “Restorative Discipline” is a total failure. I also believe the school district needs to look at how they interpret that. I think we’re interpreting it too broadly. Last year we did not have a single expulsion out of 60,000 students. You cannot tell me that there is not some one in there. We’ve identified 95 gang members below the age of 18 in Washoe County. I would assume a good number of those are within the school district. To me, this is the number one issue we’re facing right now. We hope it gets addressed in the Legislature. We hope our superintendent addresses it. It’s an important issue that can’t be overstressed or ignored. It deals with gangs, crime, drugs, a lack of discipline in the classroom, at-risk kids. They are all intertwined. You can’t separate them. We have to deal with them. So I’m passionate about that.
I do have a newsletter. If anyone wants to get hold of me via the WCSD, I’m happy to send that out.
Finally, as of a couple of days ago, the lawsuit between WCSD and Washoe County over the Incline Village Tax Refund lawsuit is settled and done. It’s behind us. It doesn’t affect members in any way. It just divides the money between Washoe County and the School District, basically cutting the baby in half. That’s it unless anyone has any questions.
Janet Pahl – Incline Village Resident
Could you explain that lawsuit because I didn’t know anything about it?
Jeff Church
I really can’t. Hopefully somebody can explain it better than I can. There was a settlement over the Incline property tax. That was settled. The residents got their money. The question was whether the WCSD had to pay some of that refund back. We’d been given the money. But then Washoe County said we had to pay it back. We felt we didn’t because the County should have told us at the time. So we broke bread together and sang kumbaya and worked it all out. So it’s all water under the bridge.
Denise Davis
On the property tax refund that we got… If you look at what you got refunded, the actual tax you got refunded is almost equal to the interest that accrued over 17 years while we waited for it. And the WCSD was one of the parties who tried to argue that they shouldn’t have to pay anything back. They argued that they shouldn’t have to pay all of the interest because they weren’t the one that extended the lawsuit. So apparently we’ve come to some happy medium.
Jack Dalton
I don’t understand, since the county commissioners were the ones who dithered around paying us off. I didn’t get any tax refund. I didn’t live here at the time. But it just seems the commissioners made that decision whether to contest it or not. Even after the courts decided. So how is the WCSD expected to pay for part of it?
Denise Davis
The Chief would be happy to tell you about it, but basically, all parties who received property tax money from us needed to pony up the money to pay us back. Like I said, Chief Sommers will be happy to explain how that worked if you’d like to talk to him about it. He did talk to us about that about 2 years ago.
Jack Dalton
I remember him talking about it. But I see where my taxes go—to the school district, to the NLTFPD, and all of them. But the issue here is, it was the county’s fault. It was the commissioners. I went to a couple of meetings where Todd presented at the County chambers. The commissioners were the ones who said we’re going to contest this, and on and on for years, even after the courts said they were wrong. They were gong to appeal it—not only the taxes and the interest, but also the legal costs.
Denise Davis
That was part of the school district’s argument.
Jeff Church
It’s complicated. We had a couple of court decisions go against us. The judge agreed with the county on a couple of those. So it was in the best interest of everyone to resolve it.
Denise Davis
Are there any other questions for Jeff? All right, then, moving on. The March 1st TTD Program Implementation Committee (PIC) meeting has been cancelled. There are currently no meetings listed on the TTD website. As I said earlier, I was unable to log in Monday night to hear what happened at the Incline Mobility Hub committee meeting. I know Ronda joined late. Kathie Julian, were you able to join that meeting?
Kathie Julian
I joined the meeting. I confess I can only talk to one issue that caught my attention—the survey that will be going out. There was some vibrant discussion on that, and some concern that the survey was going to be worked out between the professional consultant HDR—who does know how to do surveys—and the TTD. And, that the mobility committee wouldn’t be privy to the survey to review or perhaps make suggestions or comments beforehand. There were some questions about that. It would be good to get the minutes of that meeting. I also raised the question of the efficacy of having the survey only reviewed by the consultant and TTD beforehand. Thank you.
Chris Wood – Incline Village Resident, Washoe County Citizen Advisory Board Alternate Member
Yes, I was there. And Kathie hit the nail on the head with one the two issues that came up. I thought that it was resolved that we— the community members on that committee— would get to see the questionnaire that was going to get circulated, and other materials that would go out to the community about what’s being done or what’s being requested. It’s pretty important that happens, because the community needs to buy in. And if they are not participating in materials that they will receive—If the consultants are missing points, or oblivious to certain things – it’s important that the community feel that the Mobility Hub Committee is doing its job well and is responding. That was brought up.
The other point, that is very interesting, is that because it’s a bi-state committee – meaning that it’s governed by both California and Nevada laws, there’s a new California law that kicked in March 1 that requires for all meetings of all members of a board to attend in person – no more zoom or other remote meetings. Anybody else from the public participating in the meeting who wants to ask questions can participate on zoom. I just bring this up because this may be a trend that comes to us as well. Anyway, from now on that committee must meet in person. There are 5 exceptions – none of which include blizzards. This was raised with the California members who were going to talk to their representatives about amending the statute. This is a new law. It does need to take into consideration when the National Weather Service says don’t drive. That’s all I have to say on that. Thank you.
Denise Davis
Someone brought to my attention that tentatively there is a public workshop scheduled with the TTD Incline Mobility Hub Committee for April 20 at the Parasol building. It will be from 4:30-7:00pm with a presentation at 5:30. So it would be similar to the meeting we had with Amy Cummings and Parametrix when we discussed transportation.
Kathie Julian
I have one comment. Chris. That wasn’t my takeaway that you would be privy to the survey. I believe you but we might want to clarify that before it goes into the minutes just to be sure. That wasn’t what I walked away with. I thought it was more vague. [POST MEETING COMMENT: The decision as to whether the committee members would be able to see the survey before HDR distributes it, has not yet been confirmed.]
The second has to do with the people on the committee. I’m not sure how they will get a quorum because some of the people on the committee don’t live in this community – like Cindy Gustafson and our commissioner Alexis Hill and others. So that could be a challenge, and I commiserate with the board on that. Thank you.
Ann Nichols
An associate of mine was at a meeting at TRPA on the East Shore about the new Event Center. They were going after Douglas County to give them $700,000 for transportation for the Event Center.
Lou Feldman, the attorney, said an interesting comment that, “We are waiting for the mobility hub in Incline Village,” because they want to connect the east shore with Incline. So they always have these overall plans that we don’t know about. So I thought that was interesting.
Denise Davis
The TRPA Advisory Planning Commission (APC) will be meeting March 8 at 9:30 am. One item on the agenda is a possible recommendation on the proposed amendment to Washoe County’s Tahoe Area Plan to allow single family condominium uses in Special Area 1 of the IV Commercial Regulatory Zone.
As I said previously, I was on an airplane February 22 during the TRPA Governing Board meeting. Was anyone else there who wants to give highlights of what happened? I don’t see any hands.
I want to let all know I received an email from Jeff Cowen at TRPA. I apologize for my previous imprecise language when I discussed funding issues of the TRPA at the last Forum. I’ll read you Jeff’s email:
“I wanted to clarify that the 7-7-7 funding formula is not a funding plan for TRPA. It’s part of the funding plan for implementation of projects in the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). He included URLs for a fact sheet on the “Sustainable Transportation Action Plan,” from which the bistate 7-7-7 emerged last year. Already, $60.5 million in annual transportation funding is going toward projects in the RTP including transit. To fully implement the RTP the bistate consultation on transportation produced the 10-year Action Priority Projects List and plan to fully fund the RTP, which has historically had funding gaps. Funding the RTP is a big task with a lot of moving parts. The overview of transportation funding in the basin is here: www.trpa.gov/transportation/funding/. For information about TRPA funding we just released the agency’s 2022 Annual Report (the URL is listed at the end of the recap), which has a section on funding at the end.
Again, I apologize for my imprecise language. If you want to know all of the exact details, there are three URLs that will be in our recap that you can look up. I did print out a few of the pages, but the print is really small and my eyes are getting old. So, you might want to look at them online because they are easier to read. Thank you, Jeff, for the clarification.
Jack Dalton
I have been traveling so haven’t been here a lot, but I haven’t seen Jeff Cowen here. So I was wondering how he was able to make comments to your comments. Did he look at the minutes? Because that goes to my point that Ronda does a superb job.
Denise Davis
Yes, he did read the recap.
Jack Dalton
Good luck with IVGID trying to find a recap. Good luck. It’s not going to happen. Thank you, Ronda. Thanks for volunteering for IVGID.
Denise Davis
Just in case you missed it, on March 1, our US Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto introduced her bipartisan, bicameral legislation to extend the authorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act. That would provide a lot of money toward projects. I see lots of numbers but I don’t see the number I’m looking for. So, I won’t make any statements. If you’d like, you can read her full press release on her website – www.cortezmasto.senate.gov. Look for her news and press releases. Her bill is supported by:
our other NV senator—Senator Jackie Rosen
—and CA Senators Diane Feinstein and Alex Padilla,
our NV Representative Mark Amodei,
CA Representative John Garamendi,
our NV Representative Dina Titus,
our NV Representative Susie Lee,
and our NV Representative Steven Horsford.
Aaron Vanderpool
I want to give an update. At the last meeting I talked about the legislative session, and the public comments not being visible on their Nellis website. And I never heard back. So I reached out again this morning, and apparently they will relay my message to Brenda Erdos –who is the director. They had a record of my call – but that was the end of that.
And then, quickly, I did attend the TTD meeting and I did submit a comment. I don’t know if it was included because I didn’t receive any acknowledgement. But I included some pictures of yet another car stuck on Southwood and more trash dumping near the Old Elementary School.
Ann Nichols
From what I understand, at the Legislature, there were a number of comments from the public regarding TRPA funding. That is, by the way, a $20 million/year budget. People are concerned about the direction TRPA is going to change the Regional Implementation Plan (RIP) to allow increases to height, density, and coverage—and all of that again after they just did it in 2012. So that was something.
And then at the TRPA last Wednesday, again there were a number of comments from the public concerned about: “Is there going to be an environmental impact statement done?” The whole lake will be affected. I really encourage you to get Washoe County…. Washoe County’s plan seems to be to let Placer County do it first. Placer is reviewing possible changes to its Tahoe Area Plan now. They are pretty much suppressing public comment – pretending they didn’t hear. But it’s heading this way. They can have workshops right now to educate everyone because no one knows. So I’d say get it out there, because it’s coming here.
Jack Dalton
I think that Ann Nichols and quite a few other people here in Incline are trying to get information out. It’s really important. I think one of our commissioner’s worst tragedies —was the Old Elementary School (OES). Forget 947. That’s a joke—a bad joke. But regarding the Old Elementary School, there were 2300 who signed a petition. We don’t count. “You don’t count. You don’t know anything.” That was 2300. Besides the people who are affected, there are of course others who are not affected. But it’s ridiculous. They don’t listen to us. IVGID doesn’t listen to us. The county doesn’t listen to us. TRPA… I have to give people like Ann and others a lot of credit. Because where our society goes from here – It’s like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.
Denise Davis
We are past 10am so we’ll have to wrap up. Aaron, did you have a final comment?
Aaron Vanderpool
I took advantage of the free ski week at Diamond Peak. And just getting on the chair lift with random people, the OES ended up coming into the conversation. People are against it. Just random people I came in contact with.
Denise Davis
Just another reminder… Yes, our NV Legislature is in session. The framework is the Legislative Council Bureau (LCB), that’s the structure of the legislature since we only meet every other year. That’s the staff that keeps it together. You can follow them at: www.leg.state.nv.us.
And another reminder that IVCB Community 1st maintains a very good website with meeting information on it. That’s at ivcbcommunity1st.org. And IVCBA also has a community calendar and lots of information at ivcba.org, so I encourage you to check them out.
Our local library just sent out their newsletter, so if you’re not receiving that, email Amanda and she will add you to the newsletter distribution list. We’re at 5 minutes after, so we’ll be wrapping up.
Please be careful this weekend. Our next storm is arriving soon. So, get out and get your milk and your bread and hunker down. Stay safe and we’ll see you at our next Forum, which is March 17, St. Patrick’s Day. Bye.
Participants
Aaron Vanderpool
Amanda McPhaill
Ann Nichols
Chris Wood
Denise Davis
George Cholico
Helen Neff
Jack Dalton
Jackie Chandler
Janet Pahl
Jeff Church
Joe Campbell
Kari Ferguson
Kathie Julian
Linda Offerdahl
Mark Sasway
Miranda Jacobson
Nick Tone
Pam Straley
Ronda Tycer
Ryan Sommers
Sam Levine
Tia Rancourt
Tiffany Clements