Confusion reins at QC meeting

By John Miller, 10/11/23 10:38 AM

PRESCOTT – When everyone’s talking, nobody’s listening.

This was the situation at the October meeting of the Nevada County Quorum Court Tuesday evening. Nevada County Judge Mike Otwell presented the court with a problem and a simple solution, however, few justices of the peace appeared to be paying attention to his explanation, choosing, instead, to try and talk over one another.

Last year a road grader the county was leasing burned up. A hydraulic line burst with the fluid spraying on to a hot surface and catching fire, destroying the grader. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. However, the grader wasn’t insured at the time. This was compounded by the fact the county stopped making lease payments to Riggs Equipment, the owner. Riggs sent the county a bill for $242,621.02 for the repairs. The company offered to make the county a deal – if the county would make substantial payments for three months, it would be done at no interest. Should the company approve, this could also be done at six and nine months. Afterwards, Riggs might be willing to allow the county to renegotiate the contract and pay off the rest of the bill based on the original lease payment of $1,700 a month. County Treasurer Ricky Reyenga suggested paying Riggs $6,000 a month for the first three months to see if the company would accept it.

This seemed to be, on the surface, fairly straight forward. It was anything but. Most of the JPs began talking at the same time, making it impossible for anyone to follow the conversation, or any decision to be made. It was pointed out Riggs Equipment would sell the grader to the county for $500,000, but Otwell said there was no point as a brand new grader could be bought for $305,000.

JP Chris Fore pointed out there’s $30,000 in unused Covid money that can be used for anything. He suggested making three payments of $10,000 to Riggs. Reyenga chimed in, saying he was planning on using those funds to make the $6,000 payments as this is the only money the county has available for this. Reyenga said the county has to make good faith payments at three, six and nine months.

JP Herbert Coleman suggested the county paying what it’s behind on the lease and refinancing it. JP Willie Wilson was confused, asking why the court hadn’t been told the grader had burned before this, saying it wasn’t right for the court to be blindsided with such news. He was told the court was informed shortly after the grader burned.

Eventually, it was agreed to pay Riggs $5,000 for three months and see what the company is willing to do. The court was told the county can’t get a loan to make the payment because it has no collateral in this case.

Other portions of the meeting went smoother. Jamie Hillery, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce, said there will be more than 70 vendors at Saturday’s Fall Festival, which will include new activities. She added Love’s made a $2,000 donation to the Hamilton-Blakely Senior Adult Center at the ribbon cutting of the second Love’s store. She closed saying the Chamber will be doing its giving tree again this year, with registration starting the first week of November. This event isn’t to provide toys to children, but to make sure needy families get necessities, such as socks and coats.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, said Explore Success, a program where students in the eighth grade in the region, can learn about manufacturing jobs available. This will be held at Hempstead Hall on Nov. 8, with around 1,000 students expected to attend. She said the county had a great fair with the same carnival as last year, but the people who operate the carnival told her it did only about half the business as last year. She added there were conflicts as the football games on Thursday and Friday nights were both out of town, but they’ll be home games for next season. She urges everyone to support the carnival next year or it may not come back.

Godwin continued saying Love’s district manager said the old Love’s store will be remodeled and the company could tear down the tire shop for more parking.

Stacey Stone told the court 43 children participated in the fair, with 27-28 going on to the district fair and more than 20 expected to go to the state fair. “The kids are learning they can compete against better competition.”

JP Fore brought up interlocal agreements between the city and county, saying some were done in the mid-1990s and need to be updated because no one seems to know what’s going on or who’s doing what. He said there’s a lot of confusion where they’re concerned, asking if the court needed to vote to stop the agreements and regroup the first of the year.

JP Pat Grimes said the county needs to meet with the city. Reyenga said the county can’t legally just cancel the agreements. In the end, it was decided the county’s budget committee will meet with the city’s budget committee to discuss them. Otwell appointed Wilson, Coleman, Fore and Grimes to the committee.

Otwell said he’ll be getting with the county attorney to have an ordinance drawn up requiring contractors to get a permit with the county before working on or near county roads. He said the county has been cutting utility lines which were buried three-inches underground, adding gas lines have been laid on top of culverts.

Because of the school elections in November, the quorum court opted to move its meeting to Nov. 15 at 5 p.m.