County's election winners sworn in

Churchill County office holders elected in November took their oaths of office on the second day of 2023 at the administration building’s commission chambers.

Judge Thomas Stockard of the Tenth Judicial District Court in Fallon also administered the oaths to four school board members who were elected in November.

For the first time in 12 years, outgoing Churchill County commissioner and chairman, Pete Olsen, was not part of the swearing-in ceremony. Olsen, who served three terms, was termed out. Myles Getto, who defeated three other challengers in June, took the oath and also had his first commission meeting after the 40-minute ceremony.

Re-elected county officials included Denise Mondhink-Felton, assessor; Linda Rothery, clerk/treasurer; Art Mallory, district attorney; Robert Getto, public administrator; Tasha Hessey, recorder; and Sheriff Richard Hickox, who defeated Daniel Sharp. Richard Grondin successfully ran for the Mosquito, Vector & Noxious Weed Abatement Board.

School board incumbents Amber Casey-Getto and Matt Hyde, along with newly-elected Julie Guerrero-Goetsch and Joe McFadden, were sworn in. Incumbents Carmen Schank and Fred Buckmaster did not seek re-election.

After each administration of oath, office holders opted to have a family photo taken before sitting down and watching the remainder of the ceremony.

A separate ceremony was conducted at the same time at the Fallon City Hall for council members Kelly Frost, an incumbent who faced no opposition for Ward 1, and Paul Harmon, a newcomer for Ward 3.

Once the county ceremony ended, the commissioners rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

In the first business of the day, the commissioners elected Harry “Bus” Scharmann as chairman and Dr. Justin Heath as vice chairman. The three commissioners also divided their responsibilities among the board’s numerous committees. Heath will now be the chairman of the Highway Commission, and Getto, who previously served on the county’s planning board, was selected as chairman of the CC Communications Management board.

Commissioners appointed Jeff Goings, Mark Hyde and Eric Blakey to the Churchill County Planning Commission to fill four-year terms.

Commissioners also took action on the following agenda items:

• Approved 3-0 a sending site application filed by C & A Rentals LLC, managed by Colby and Ashley Frey, for a sending site located at 9125 Flying K Ranch Road and 8500 and 9170 Pasture Road, consisting of about 707.5 total acres with about 408.35 total water righted acres in the A-10 zoning district.

• Ratified an agreement between Churchill County Social Services and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for $75,294, Dec. 1, 2022-Nov. 30, 2023, for the provision of Supportive Housing Programming.

• Ratified the funding agreement between the State of Nevada HHS Grants Management Unit for Community Services Block Grant and Churchill County Social Services for $109,033 for the provision of Community Action Programming.

• Tabled a nuisance complaint to noise and light at 2100 Trails End.

• Tabled a recommendation to reduce speed limit from 25 to 15 mph in the Onde Verde subdivision.