Commissioners deny easement abandonment for second time

Churchill County commissioners restructured land parcels, clarified language related to personal leave and moved forward on the county health lab project March 7.

An application by Ralph and Deborah Mills for abandonment of a 60-foot easement and related parallel easements located on Bebe Ann Way was denied in 2-1 vote with Commissioner Myles Getto dissenting. This was a second attempt for approval by the Mills; their application was denied two years ago.

Ralph Mills said an alternate route to their in-progress dairy isn’t available as it would require cutting across three ditches. County Public Works Director Dean Patterson said that at some future date the county wants to use the easement to make a connection from Lima Lane to St. Clair Road through that block of property.

In other business, commissioners:

• Approved a reversion to acreage map in conjunction with a request to abandon adjacent streets and alleys filed by Allen Hughes and other property owners.

Approximately 22 acres of properties located in block 52 of the Hazen Townsite map are now combined into a smaller number of lots. The abandoned rights-of-way are for Utah Street extending east of Hazen Avenue to Tahoe Avenue, Tahoe Avenue between Nevada Street and Utah Street and the alley located between Nevada Street and Utah Street extending between Hazen Avenue and Tahoe Avenue.

• Approved the creation of seven lots on Desert Hills Loop implementing a tentative parceling plan which was approved last October.

• Approved an amendment to the Churchill County Code relating to accrual and use of annual leave. The amendment provides some clarification including redefining “vacation leave” as “annual leave” throughout the code and reiterated that annual leave cannot be used for overtime.

• Approved to transition of the state public health lab, Satellite Churchill, to a county public health lab named Churchill County Rural Public Health Laboratory. Director of Churchill County Social Services Shannon Ernst was authorized to execute the necessary applications to complete the certification and licensure process.

• Approved the purchase of property at 245 Miners Road for $265,000.

• Approved an application to the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System to renew the certification of the emergency manager position for Churchill County as a critical labor shortage position.