Carson City town hall meeting draws mostly written questions from residents

Carson City department heads responded to questions from locals Monday in a town hall meeting. While the public was given plenty of opportunity and notice to attend and encouraged to speak, three actually came to the podium, including two Carson High School students and the chair of the Carson Animal Services Initiative.

Otherwise, the department heads took questions submitted in writing ahead of the meeting, which was opened by John Kinkella, dean of Student Services and Director of Athletics for Western Nevada College. One submitted question was about the status of the Ormsby House and whether it has an "expiration date" in terms of building and construction and whether the city can do anything about it.

Community Development Director Lee Plemel explained the owners of the Ormbsy House continue to submit construction plans and have done so for the past 10 years. He said building permits have been issued and extensions made with the last permit issued in April 2012 that will expire in April 2015.

A second question was the fate of the unoccupied former Jack's Bar adjacent to the Ormsby House, its current status and what might be done with it, including the prospect of using eminent domain. Plemel explained the city has limited ability to use eminent domain and has never used it before. The city can step in if it is a public nuisance and can order the property owner to clean it up. Otherwise the city cannot force the property owner to do much of anything else with it.

A question was submitted about the city's offered settlement with the owner of a dog that was euthanized in July. Supervisors will consider a draft ordinance Thursday to settle with the owner of the shih tzu, Rollie, for $41,500. The question asked was how the city could pay the money for the settlement, stating that was a lot of money being spent on the settlement.

Carson City Manager Larry Werner said because of the litigation the matter can't be discussed at this time but said more would come during Thursday's Board of Supervisor's meeting.

Public safety questions were also submitted, such as the attention paid to the Highway 50 East Cooridor after recent fatalities. Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said Carson City, Lyon County, Churchill County and the Nevada Highway Patrol are working together to patrol the road better and are seeing encouraging signs after stepped up patrol. Also the Nevada Department of Transportation did an assessment in August.
On the law enforcement side, significant changes have been made with patrolling, including a public campaign to encourage caution on the road and zero tolerance of speeding and cell phone use among motorists, but when it comes to funding for physical highway changes to the roadway, the process moves much slower, said Furlong.

Another question field by Furlong was whether or not Carson City Sheriff's Office was top heavy, which Furlong noted that through the recession, the sheriff's office lost 19 positions including two in management. There are 92 sworn positions in the sheriff's office, including the sheriff himself. He said the sheriff's office has been doing more with less, answering to 1,500 calls a month, writing 400 to 500 citations and giving out 300 warnings. At any given time there are 5 to seven deputies on the streets of Carson City. Under the collective bargaining agreement, the officer minimum is 4 officers, Furlong noted.

Carson High School Student Sam Bruketta asked the sheriff about what was being done with the traffic and parking situation on Robinson and Saliman during school peak periods. Furlong noted that he and the district recently observed traffic patterns at the intersection, which peak about 20 minutes before class begins and 20 minutes after it ends. He said there are measures that are options, which may be costly and not necessarily efficient. One would be a crossway for pedestrian traffic and the other a traffic signal at the intersection.

Fire Chief Stacey Giomi fielded questions about disaster planning in which the city has a plan in place that involves law enforcement, the health department and public works. Another question Giomi fielded was whether or not it was necessary to have a fire truck respond on emergency ambulance calls.

Giomi explained that it is necessary given the nature of an emergency call where someone's life is at stake. An ambulance has two people and when someone may have a heart attack or stroke, there needs to be more personnel responding. He added that in an emergency room setting there isn't just one doctor attending to a critical patient but several needed in order to save a life.

A question was raised about how residents are charged a 3 percent fee for credit card use when paying their bills online. City Finance Director Nick Providenti said the fee is not reclaimed by the city but charged by the service of the credit card service. To avoid paying the fee, residents can use auto check, he said.

Carson High School Student Jody Ostrander asked about how students could get involved in city government. Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell said he wants to engage with the school district on this in a joint meeting and come up with ways for students to become involved. Currently the Carson City Library is working at a partnership capacity with the high school through various programs and more is promised, said interim Library Director Tammy Westergard.

Carson Animal Services Initiative chair Lisa Schuette encouraged the city do do more meetings like Monday's and said the best way for issues to get resolved is to openly address them in public and ask for solutions.

"I think we need to move beyond the finger pointing and assumptions," said Schuette.

Photo information: Fire Chief Stacey Giomi answers a question during a Town Hall meeting at the Community Center in Carson City on Monday. Representatives from many Carson City departments participated including Marena Works and Larry Werner. Photo by Cathleen Allison, Nevada Photo Source courtesy of the Carson City Library