CART to be Combined with Social Services

The Churchill Area Regional Transport (CART) program will be pulled under the county’s umbrella as of Oct. 1, 2025, following the approval of the transition plan at the Sept. 4 Churchill County Commission meeting.

Commissioners voted unanimously to align CART as part of the county structure on March 6 following the vote by CART board members a week earlier requesting the county to assume operations. Previously, CART was a stand-alone nonprofit organization with its own governing board.

The new plan calls to combine CART with Churchill County Social Services and Aging & Disabilities Service Division, and to keep the service located at the Pennington Life Center. Social Services Director Shannon Ernst presented commissioners with two transition options—establish a separate county department like the museum or library, or combine CART with Social Services. Commissioners chose the latter option, which should reduce overall costs by $20,000. The option to establish a separate department would have cost $393,635, according to Ernst’s calculation.

Ernst will roll out the transition in two phases. On Oct. 1, the six current CART staff members will be hired by the county as part-time casual employees and will continue operations as they currently stand. The second phase should be initiated by Jan. 1, 2026, and will see the CART drivers and dispatchers cross-trained to also handle Meals on Wheels functions. Ultimately, ten part-time positions will be converted to six full-time positions eligible for full benefits. Job descriptions for transportation specialists and dispatchers will be updated accordingly.

CART board member and Councilwoman Karla Kent told commissioners in March the service had been operating with an interim director since 2021 because they weren’t able to fill the director’s position due to the inability to offer full medical and retirement benefits. “This limitation has made the hiring process difficult,” Kent said.

When Ernst appeared before the commission in March, she was facing a time crunch for three grant applications made to the Nevada Department of Transportation. The grants were due in several days, but the new structure needed to be approved prior to the application submissions because NDOT doesn’t allow modifications within its two-year grant cycle. She told commissioners at the Sept. 4 meeting she had received full funding from those grants.

The CART service will now also be able to receive a portion of funds from the senior tax assessment property tax, whereas those funds would not have been available if it was a separate department.

Kent said CART has been providing service to Churchill County since 2000, with senior citizens being their priority customers. They currently run eight buses and are headquartered at the Pennington Life Center.