Mosquito Abatement District Holds Open House, Dedicates Building to Former Chairman

The late Hal Newman, the longtime former chairman of the Churchill County Mosquito, Vector & Noxious Weed Abatement District, was honored at the district’s open house held June 21 when the building was formally dedicated to him with a presentation of a plaque to his family.

Managers also presented a plaque to former county manager Bjorn Selinder, and a plaque listing the names of all board members through the years.

“I think he would be beaming,” said Newman’s wife, Phyllis. She and three of the couple’s children were on hand for the dedication.

Phyllis said he began serving on the mosquito abatement district board because he was interested in being of service to the community. He eventually served 24 years on the board, from 1985 to 2009, only leaving after term limits were instituted.

Term limits were approved by Nevada voters in 1996, which limited local elected officials to 12 years total. The amendment required ratification a second time in 1998; the amendment was challenged in court, and the Nevada Supreme Court ultimately upheld the decision regarding term limits on July 25, 2008. That decision left both Lynn Pearce, Churchill County commissioner, and Newman ineligible for the 2008 election.

Newman graduated from Churchill County High School in 1948 and from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1960 with a metallurgical engineering degree. He was a Navy veteran, an instructor at Western Nevada College Fallon, and even earned the rank of Eagle Scout at age 75 (his family moved before he could complete the paperwork in 1945). His father was a mining engineer, and the Newmans were instrumental in excavating ichthyosaur fossils in Berlin in the 1950s. He was the proud father of 10 children from two marriages, and passed away Jan. 21, 2024.

Selinder, who served as Churchill County manager from 1976 to 2004, said prior to establishing a separate taxing entity, it was simply a county department covered by the general fund. He said informal talks with Jerry Frey of Frey Spray were “the spark that built the fire.” Frey Spray was, and still is, contracted to provide aerial spraying of larvicide and adulticide to abate mosquitos in the valley.

A Lahontan Valley News article from 1984 said the Nevada Tax Commission approved an emergency appropriation of $58,000 to Churchill County in May 1984 to fund a summer mosquito abatement program, but they told the county not to come back next year with the same problem. Selinder said the request was approved because commissioners placed an advisory ballot question on the November 1984 ballot requesting the formation of a special assessment district to fund mosquito abatement.

“It is unlikely there will ever be sufficient general revenues to fund a mosquito abatement department again,” Selinder said at the time. “The formation of a mosquito abatement district will ensure continued funding.”

A majority of voters approved the ballot question, and commissioners signed a resolution forming the district March 20, 1985. Newman was one of the first five trustees to take the oath of office in September 1985.

The tax rate—which has remained the same since 1985—is $0.08 per $100 of assessed value, or about 2% of the total county property tax rates.