During the Churchill County Board of County Commission meeting last week, Public Administrator Bob Getto presented his annual report for 2022. He is just beginning his second term and said when he came on board five years ago, he was given nothing but a cell phone.
“The job of the Public Administrator is to manage the estates of those county residents who die without a known will or without next of kin. The public administrator secures assets until next of kin can be found. Also, when there is a will, but the person named in the will to act, can’t act,” he said. Once the Public Administrator is involved a process begins that is different in every instance. “I try to go out of my way to make sure people know that the Public Administrator is a public office and I always encourage questions from the public.”
In other business, Pete Olsen, former commissioner and chairman, was appointed to serve as one of the Churchill County representatives on the Central Nevada Regional Water Authority, with County Manager Jim Barbee as the alternate.
Administrative Services Manager Julie Guerrero explained that the county has established an in-house Public Defender’s Office and an in-house Alternate Public Defender’s Office, contracted with Appointed Counsel Program Coordinator Sue Sevon, and contracted with an attorney for conflict counsel. Currently, if Jacob Sommer or Wright Noel have a conflict with a case, the case would be assigned to Charles Woodman. If for some reason Woodman was also conflicted, Sevon then has the responsibility to find a qualified attorney to be assigned to that case. The qualified attorney would be retained at the newly approved, by the Commissioners, rate of $150 versus the previous rate of $100 per hour.
A public hearing was set for February 15, 2023, at 1:45 p.m. to hear an appeal of the Planning Commission’s denial of a Temporary Use Permit for temporary quarters filed by Ruth Miller for property located at 4810 Schindler Road, in Fallon, where Miller has proposed to have some people live in an RV on her property because they are homeless. Dean Patterson, Public Works and Planning, said the Planning Commission voted on January 11 to deny the application, and the appeal hearing was set.
During commissioner and staff reports, Commission Chair Bus Scharmann said that he attended a meeting with the City of Fallon which covered the SNPLMA reports and the projects the county is looking at if they are funded.
Commissioner Myles Getto attended a water rights class in Reno.
Shari Weideman said she sent out the sales tax report for November and there has been an increase of 0.9% since last year to date and up 2.5% since the last fiscal year. Joe Sanford, Civil Deputy District Attorney said that he is compiling the legislative plan for each county department and will be sending out a report on legislation that will potentially affect the departments.
The county commission meets the first Thursday of each month at 8:15 a.m., and the third Wednesday of each month at 1:15 p.m. Agendas can be found at churchillcountynv.gov.
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