Douglas County officials reject Carson proposal

Douglas County commissioners have rejected a pact proposed by Carson City officials that might have resolved Carson's objection to a federal sale of 144 acres in northern Douglas County.

Carson City supervisors were hoping to reach an agreement with the neighboring county before considering filing a federal lawsuit to stop the land auction, now set for Aug. 6.

The proposed agreement made it on Douglas County's agenda for Thursday but was pulled off by County Manager Dan Holler after getting reactions from commissioners.

"It didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to take an agreement forward that we would change substantially," Holler said. "The agreement that we would want to approve would not look a whole lot like the one on the Carson City agenda."

Commissioner Kelly Kite said Carson was offered more during a meeting of the two boards in January and rejected the ideas at that time.

"I don't see any need for a written agreement," Kite said.

Mayor Ray Masayko and Supervisor Shelly Aldean said they were disappointed with the decision by Douglas to not consider the agreement.

"It doesn't look like they're interested in conducting public business or conducting their business in public," Masayko said. "If they're oblivious to everything in this issue except for their own agenda, I'm sorry. We are making an effort."

Aldean said she thought the agreement was reasonable and an effort to reach concurrence on a limited number of issues.

"I think we've done our best to engage Douglas County short of litigation," Aldean said.

Carson City protested the land sale in November, effectively stalling it, by citing a lack of economic impact studies. The city's protest was rejected two weeks ago by the U.S. Interior Department. The city may still file suit in federal court.

Carson officials are worried commercial development in Douglas County will further drain sales-tax revenues, particularly if an auto mall is created.

On Friday, Douglas County officials looked through Carson's latest propsal. Drafted by Carson City Manager Linda Ritter, it calls for the two counties to work through a mitigation process whenever development occurs near the border on either side.

"The process wasn't something that was too exciting," Holler said.

Carson was also asking Douglas to agree to identify potential problems such as public safety, traffic, housing, water resources and a host of other issues, Holler said.

"It was a little bit of an overreach," he said.

Under the proposal, Douglas and Carson would also agree "to not offer public incentives, cash or in-kind, to developers or businesses in an effort to lure existing auto dealers from one community to the other."

Holler said the two counties are still working together on many issues, including business recruitment, water issues and public transit, even if they two can't agree on development at the border.

"There's still more in common than there is not in common, so we'll let this thing run its course and go from there," Holler said.

Carson supervisors plan to discuss the proposal on Thursday, but will also consider taking the matter to court.