City Council Meeting

MINUTES CITY OF FALLON 55 West Williams Avenue Fallon, Nevada February 16, 2021 The Honorable City Council met in a regularly scheduled Council meeting on the above date in the Council Chambers, 55 West Williams Avenue, Fallon, Nevada. Present: Mayor Ken Tedford City Councilman James D. Richardson City Councilwoman Kelly Frost City Councilwoman Karla Kent Police Chief Kevin Gehman Chief of Staff Robert Erquiaga City Clerk-Treasurer Sean C. Richardson The meeting was called to order by Mayor Tedford at 9:00 a.m. Mayor Tedford led the Pledge of Allegiance. Mayor Tedford inquired if the agenda had been posted in compliance with NRS requirements. Chief of Staff Erquiaga advised that the agenda was posted in compliance with Governor Sisolak’s Emergency Directives, the agenda and the supporting materials were posted at City Hall, on the City’s website, and the State of Nevada’s public notice website on or before 9:00 a.m. on February 10, 2021. Public Comments Mayor Tedford inquired if there were any public comments. He noted that comments are to be general in nature, not relative to any agenda items. No action may be taken on a matter raised under this item until the matter has been specifically included on an agenda as an item upon which action will be taken. Mr. Geoff Knell of 261 Serpa Place stated that he was going to preach today. He was preaching in front of the Country Church and he was almost run over by a sportster car. The church of today has become weak. He read from Hebrews 5, starting with verse 11. People that attend the local churches are still persuaded by the political parties and let the political parties define who they are. They are okay with sin; they take 1John 4:8 and promote that God is love, yet they are okay with sin because they are unskilled in righteousness and the leaders are unskilled in righteousness. He read Isiah 56:10-12 and explained that it identified the infiltration of Satan’s persuasion of the anti-Christ. Leaders of seminaries have been taken over by the communist agenda to infiltrate; from revealing Jesus Christ as much as they could through February 16, 2021 Fallon City Council Meeting 1 socialism. Socialism is what we are seeing today, making Christianity a religious crutch. It is frustrating. The Methodist and Episcopal Churches promote perversions, not at the local churches so much but definitely in Reno and Sparks. They take the influence of a political party and they do not talk about sin and they do not talk about repentance so when people get in government, they are okay with sin. The Tenth Amendment says sovereign to the states but also to the people. He asked where the believers were when they were in their diapers. The communist party ideology has restricted it. Look and grow to improve your senses to find the differences between good and evil. When you say God is love, it is just to make people feel good and they do not repent. They are okay with lesbians, homosexuals, sodomites – they can help the drunkards and the substance abusers – but will not help the ones that are guaranteed to go to hell. Revelations 21:8 is not read from the pulpit nowadays. He warned that people need to grow in the Word of God and do not let the state dictate our lives. We are the people. Mayor Tedford thanked Mr. Knell and inquired if there were any other public comments. No further public comments were noted. Approval of Council meeting minutes for January 19, 2021 Mayor Tedford inquired if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes for January 19, 2021. No additions or corrections were noted. Councilwoman Frost motioned to approve the Council meeting minutes for January 19, 2021 as submitted, seconded by Councilman Richardson and approved with a 3-0 vote by the Council. Approval of Warrants A) Accounts Payable B) Payroll C) Customer Deposit Mayor Tedford inquired if there were any comments regarding the accounts payable, payroll and customer deposit warrants. No comments were noted. Councilwoman Kent motioned to approve the accounts payable, payroll and customer deposit warrants and authorize the Mayor to sign the same; seconded by Councilwoman Frost and approved with a 3-0 vote by the Council. Consideration and possible adoption of Resolution No. 21-01, a resolution approving a contract with the United States Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration, Sierra Nevada Region, for electric service base resource, and other matters properly related thereto Chief of Staff Erquiaga explained that this proposed resolution, if adopted, would approve the contract that was submitted with the agenda packet. The contract would be between the City of Fallon and the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). The City is currently under contract with WAPA for output of both the Central Valley Project and the Washoe Project which February 16, 2021 Fallon City Council Meeting 2 are operated by WAPA. The output from those projects are offered to a list of preferential customers and municipal government is one of them. Our current contract is set to expire at the end of 2024. WAPA has gone through a lengthy power marketing plan process where they evaluate historical generation and output; balancing irrigation and other water users’ needs with their power marketing side. That process has been completed and WAPA has come back with a 98% allocation for all current customers, so if we do enter into this contract, we will retain 98% of our allocation that we had under our prior contract. He noted this contract references both the Central Valley Project and the Washoe Project; the output under this contract is just the Central Valley Project. We are under a separate agreement with WAPA – along with Truckee, California – for 100% of the output of the Washoe Project, which is Stampede Reservoir. Both resources are carbon-free, a lot of it deals with large hydro so in some cases it does not qualify as renewable, but it is certainly carbon-free. They have been good resources for both Fallon and Truckee. We do anticipate receiving a successor agreement on the Stampede Reservoir sometime next year. But the general terms of this contract would control that. The allocation gives us both capacity and energy, the environmental attributes of the output. These have both been good resources. The price and the output are variable, as it depends on hydrology and how good of a water year these regions have, but historically, prices have been below market. We did an analysis back to 2005 and the average price of the Central Valley Project output was about $30 per megawatt hour. That is well below the market price for that time, which was in the $40s and has inched upward in the last several years to the upper $40s. While in any year, the price may be less or more, the average has been well below market. This has provided us a nice resource and would continue to do so. The contract is lengthy. If approved, it would start in 2025 and run through December 2054, but there are several provisions where we could exit the contract. So, if prices or transmission – or whatever other factors may occur – no longer became beneficial or cost-effective, we have many opportunities to terminate the agreement without any financial penalty. In summary, this was one of the agreements the City worked on when we left NV Energy, around 1999/2000, and it served us well and we believe it will continue to serve us well. Staff is recommending approval of the resolution and the contract. The contract is in the name of the City of Fallon with WAPA, but this would run through Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), they do all our scheduling and all our ancillary services, and this would be no exception. The contract would just be between the City and WAPA. Mayor Tedford inquired if the Council had any comments or questions. No comments were noted. Mayor Tedford inquired if there were any public comments or questions. Mr. Geoff Knell of 261 Serpa Place stated that he was a history buff and looked for what kinds of newer technologies were out there. It is amazing what Tesla has done; the guy who experimented with energy and found ways to energize people’s homes without using as linear of a method that the City is talking about today for a contract to continue a process of greed. He wondered if anyone had looked into using a newer technology to lessen the burden. When he was preaching, a man came to him and told him he was a retired engineer and that he researched and developed an incinerator system to create heat to take care of the trash and to use the heat to run the turbines. Mr. Knell reminded that he was a businessman with a business degree and that was why the engineer asked him about this. He did not know where the engineer was today; he lived over by Airport Road. He reiterated that newer technology is out there, and we are looking at resources to rely on companies and to pay their fees, so we should look at newer inventions today. Cars can run off hydrogen now, they have tanks with minerals inside of them that store February 16, 2021 Fallon City Council Meeting 3 the hydrogen and it gets discharged a little bit at a time and can run your car at highway speeds. He asked when we were going to change to the newer technology. He brought up water systems and water generation; we could supply water without arsenic if we put a newer system in place. There are many different options today and he wanted the Council to be aware of it. Mayor Tedford thanked Mr. Knell and inquired if there were any other public comments. No further comments were noted. Councilwoman Kent motioned to adopt Resolution No. 21-01, a resolution approving a contract with the United States Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration, Sierra Nevada Region, for electric service base resource, and other matters properly related thereto; seconded by Councilman Richardson and approved with a 3-0 vote by the Council. Presentation of the Police Department Report for January 2021 Chief Gehman presented the January monthly report. He added that the January incidents and activities were primarily in line with previous months with no exceptional variances. • One officer was sent to POST Supervisor School for two weeks. • Detective Goodrick provided the indoctrination lecture to newly stationed Navy personnel. • VIPS donated 59 hours to the agency in January. • The citizen survey results were positive. Mayor Tedford inquired if the Council had any comments or questions. Councilwoman Frost noted that DUI arrests were higher in January and asked if there was a program targeting DUIs in January. Chief Gehman said no; sometimes there are grants that come up for selective enforcement, but they did not participate. Mayor Tedford thanked Chief Gehman for the report. Public Comments Mayor Tedford inquired if there were any public comments. Mr. Geoff Knell of 261 Serpa Place stated that his previous comments today were for the Council to reflect, lament, and study to get an understanding of what our culture has become. The proper order has become anti-Christ spirit, government, man, society, then God. It should be God, man, society, then government. They have the freedom to live in righteousness, but God gave free will so people make choices. They are not taught properly by the pulpit and are not combat-effective. Churches in the United States and Europe are restricting the Word of God because communist parties have infiltrated the churches. Pastors do not want to stand up against evil. Truth needs to be encouraged in government so you can make righteous decisions and not be controlled by a government that has anti-Christ spirit. It restricts the ability to make the right decisions. He was at the school board meeting and the president referred to their legal obligations and that is what he was seeing during this Council meeting. The Council is in this position to be a servant to the people but, with legal obligations, the government leaders are okay with promiscuity, death, anger, bitterness, restricting freedom of speech, and limiting the reaches of the government under the First Amendment. He wanted the Council to think for themselves. He referred to Mayor Tedford confirming legal terms of the open meeting laws and stated that he looked at the record of the open meeting laws on the website. They are exactly the match of February 16, 2021 Fallon City Council Meeting 4 California open meeting laws. He asked if we could not even think for ourselves. The Tenth Amendment is the power of the state, but the state is so contaminated that it comes down to the people. He asked how the people are going to fight evil unless you tell the legislative session to submit a bill to alter certain things in the Constitution to bring back freedom of speech. He said that Clark County and Nye County had 947 bills at his last count that actually did something, but nothing from the City of Fallon or Churchill County. He asked how things were going to change if we do not stand up against the wickedness. He told the Council to really think about what he said today. Mayor Tedford thanked Mr. Knell and inquired if there were any other public comments. No further comments were noted. Council and Staff Reports Mayor Tedford inquired if there were any Council or staff reports. No Council or staff reports were noted. Executive Session Mayor Tedford tabled the executive session, as it was not needed at this time. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Council, Mayor Tedford adjourned the meeting at 9:27 a.m. ___________________________ Mayor Ken Tedford Attest:___________________________________ Sean C. Richardson, City Clerk-Treasurer February 16, 2021 Fallon City Council Meeting 5