On Tuesday, December 6 the Fallon City Council voted to adopt Bill 789, an ordinance for the City of Fallon to become one of the founding members of the new Central Nevada Health District along with Churchill, Pershing, Eureka, and Mineral Counties.
Washoe and Clark Counties already maintain their own separate health districts but having done so left the Northern Nevada counties out in the cold during the pandemic.
When Mayor Ken Tedford asked for public comment on this specific agenda item, Geoff Knell came to the podium to express his opposition to the ordinance. But his lengthy commentary had no bearing on the topic at hand. The mayor eventually asked, “Did you even take time to read this?” Knell replied that he had and that it was all superficial. The mayor continued, “Nothing that you commented about had anything to do with the formation of the Central Nevada Health District.”
Knell continued to interrupt the mayor as he tried to explain how a public comment period works for an agenda item. Knell eventually walked out yelling causing the mayor to scold him. “You’re out of control always, always in here out of control. Under public comment, you can say what you want apparently in here. But when you talk on an agenda item, you have to talk to what the agenda item is about. You did not comment on what the agenda item is about.” Knell attributed his lack of appropriate comments to the heating system noise in the Council Chambers.
The mayor spoke about the CNHD. “It’s a combination of counties that are getting together to help each other’s citizens to make decisions about health care in their communities This is good for the people of The City of Fallon.” Knell continued arguing with the mayor about topics unrelated to the CNHD until the Mayor said, “I’m going to tell you one thing, then I’m going to end my discussion. All of that you talk about is going the opposite way. This is something that the people are taking back, it’s a smaller viewpoint. They’re not giving it back to the federal government, or the U.N. This is taking it back to the people. Five rural counties are getting together. We’re not giving it to the bigger counties. We’re not giving it to the state government. This is totally opposite of what you are always espousing.”
The mayor asked the council for discussion and a vote to which Councilwoman Karla Kent replied, “This is a tremendous attribute for us, and especially to have the City of Fallon on this board. I just wanted to commend everyone on this board for having the foresight and initiative to get this through.” She then proceeded to make the motion to approve adopting Bill 789, Councilwoman Kelly Frost seconded, and the motion was approved.
When referring to the new health district the mayor said, “It was born out of the pandemic and the frustration with that and our being told what to do. This will give us more independence, and the ability to make decisions quicker. It will take health care to a new level.”
The story covering the background and formation of the new health district can be found on The Fallon Post website, https://www.thefallonpost.org/news/4934,formation-of-central-nevada-health-district-progressing
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