A map from Carson City showing areas in and around Prison Hill that would be part of fuels reduction and wildfire prevention efforts.
Courtesy
With fire season on the horizon, the Carson City Fire Department is seeking roughly $4 million in federal funding for wildfire prevention on Prison Hill in southeast Carson.
Thursday, the Carson City Board of Supervisors will be asked to ratify a grant application for the U.S. Forest Service’s fiscal year 2025 Community Wildfire Defense Grant.
The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. in the board room in the community center, 851 E. William St.
CCFD is asking for $3,967,780 “subject to a waivable 25% local match requirement of $991,945,” according to the agenda.
“CCFD has not identified a funding source for the local match; therefore, if a local match waiver is not approved, CCFD intends to rescind the CWDG application,” says a staff report.
The grant, if awarded, would be used from 2026 through 2031.
“As a result of the catastrophic July 2004 Waterfall Fire, CCFD has primarily focused on hazardous fuels mitigation projects located on the western side of Carson City’s wildland urban interface,” says the staff report. “These projects include hazardous fuels reduction, public and private lot defensible space inspections and educational public outreach.”
The report further states: “CWDG would fund activities focused on the 1,500 acres of non-federal land in the southeast quadrant of Carson City, specifically the Prison Hill Recreation Area. Through the (Community Wildland Protection Plan) risk rating process, this area has been identified as an area in need of hazardous fuels mitigation. The goal will be to provide defensible space on city lands adjacent to residential neighborhoods, hiking trails and recreation facilities.”
According to the grant application, a 2021 lightning-sparked brushfire burned 171 acres on Prison Hill, causing evacuations, power outages and road closures.
“(The proposed project) would reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire to life and property of approximately 573 homes in these vulnerable, at-risk communities, protect the Carson River watershed, Koontz water tower, and restore a natural fire regime,” CCFD wrote in the application.
In other action:
• Supervisors will consider a collective bargaining agreement between the city and the Carson City Sheriff’s Supervisory Association for CCSO lieutenants and captains.
According to the city, the agreement would be retroactive to July 1, 2024, and run through June 30, 2028.
“If approved, the fiscal impacts of the new CBA are estimated to be $4,235,069 for the five-year contract, which is estimated to be $1,093,815 above the five-year projections included in the FY 2025 city budget,” reads a fiscal impact statement. “The impact on the FY 2025 budget is estimated to be $175,621 more than what was approved for the FY 2025 city budget.”
The previous agreement ended in June. Changes incorporated into the proposed agreement are online: d2kbkoa27fdvtw.cloudfront.net/carsoncity/11f7a265b0f14acab922546434d83d5c0.pdf.
“Carson City and CCSSA have engaged in extensive labor negotiations, including mediation and arbitration processes, to reach an agreement for a successor CBA,” the report says.
Article 6 of the new agreement dealing with compensation would be “providing a 26.05% increase to base pay in FY 2025 and another 3% increase in base pay in FY 2026; creating a seven-step pay table that has a 4% increase between steps; establishing the step placement for employees in the bargaining unit; making annual performance evaluations due on the 12-month anniversary of hire or promotion to a lieutenant or captain position; providing a 2% cost of living increase in FY 2026, 2027 and 2028,” and setting other provisions, according to the staff report.
The city’s Human Resources Department lists the current annual salary range for lieutenants and captains as approximately $113,504 to $132,863.
According to a spokesperson for the city’s executive office, the agreement would affect three positions and one retired employee. It would require retroactive pay to July 1, 2024, although the affected employees were not part of the city-wide 5 percent pay bump last year.
• Supervisors will consider adoption, upon second reading, of a proposed ordinance prohibiting unauthorized sleeping or camping in public places.
Supervisors unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance March 20. It was designed in the wake of the 2024 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found in the case of Grants Pass, Oregon, local penalties for people camping on public property do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The ordinance fleshes out existing prohibitions on sleeping and camping, includes definitions of terms and spells out how the city would confiscate, inventory and store personal items from an illegal encampment.
It also says infractions are misdemeanor offenses and may be punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and/or up to six months in jail, which are the same penalties under existing code. It further specifies violators may be arrested or issued a citation.
The first reading of the ordinance sparked public testimony. Some worried the new policy would criminalize unsheltered individuals and exacerbate the problem of homelessness, while others, particularly those in the business community, supported what they saw as reasonable regulations for public spaces.
In removing illegal unoccupied campsites, the city would follow certain steps including posting a notice and inventory form at the campsite and alerting “an appropriate local agency which provides social services to homeless or unsheltered persons” about the location of the camp.
One change supervisors made in March was ensuring the inventory form had an address and telephone number “for the city department from which the removed personal property may be retrieved,” according to the updated ordinance.
The full text is online: legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3225994/Ord_2025_camping_in_public_places_Second_Reading.pdf.