The Fallon City Council met in a special session on Friday, March 4 at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Chambers where they heard a presentation by Attorney Trent deBraga concerning a Cooperative Agreement with Churchill County for joint election services between the City and the County.
DeBraga began by explaining the history behind the need for Cooperative Election services. “In 2019, Assembly Bill 50 was passed by the Nevada State Legislature which required that all cities hold elections on the statewide election cycle beginning in the year 2022, According to N.R.S. 293C, City Elections, the City of Fallon is required to hold its elections for city offices at the same time as statewide primary and general elections. The Cooperative Agreement will allow the City of Fallon and Churchill County the opportunity to work cooperatively with each other by defining its respective responsibilities and obligations of the County Clerk/Treasurer and the City Clerk/Treasurer. By holding joint elections, the voters of the City of Fallon will be able to conveniently vote for city offices in addition to county and statewide offices on the same date and in the same location. This agreement is set up so that it will expire on December 31, 2022.”
Councilwoman Kelly Frost asked, “As for the other cities that were affected by Assembly Bill 50, are they doing something similar to this?” to which deBraga replied, “Yes. We did reach out to the City of Henderson and found that they did the same thing by entering into a Cooperative Agreement with Clark County. In addition, we have seen similar agreements from the City of Sparks, Yerington and Fernley. In particular, Henderson was as impacted by this change as we were.”
Mayor Ken Tedford described the legislative history next. “There were six or seven cities that preferred to have their municipal elections in June, while other cities had already changed their election date to November. Then Assembly Bill 50 came forward and some of the cities didn't realize what was happening to them. The Legislature changed the dates but didn't change the other statutes that affected the City Clerk/Treasurers, and that brought me great concern as the Mayor. That was when we started to look at what other cities were doing, and that's when we reached out to Henderson. The staff worked really hard on this, bringing us to where we are now.”
The Churchill County Commissioners passed the Cooperative Agreement during their first meeting of the month on Thursday, March 3. The City Council concurred that the County runs highly secure elections with Councilwoman Frost saying, “I think the County runs their elections very well, and I think this is a good idea.” The Mayor agreed, saying, “The integrity of the County elections is without question, and we and the citizens have always been able to rely on that.”
Councilwoman Karla Kent asked, “Do we think the Legislature will change the statute for the responsibilities of the City Clerk?” with Council members and deBraga expressing that would not be the case. The Mayor added, “Sparks changed their dates early on when cities had a choice to change or not. But that was some time ago, and in since then the Legislature never changed the statutes.” Councilwoman Kent then asked, “In two years from now, we'll have to enter into the agreement again?” to which the Mayor responded “Yes.” A unanimous vote by the Council approved the Cooperative Agreement as presented.
The City Council's regular meetings were recently changed to be held on the first and third Tuesday of each month, at 9:00 a.m. in the City Council Chambers in City Hall. Meetings were previously held on the first and third Monday.
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