Nevada Rural Development Council
Board Meeting March 14, 2013
Minutes
Call to Order:
Des Craig called the meeting to order at 10:05 AM.
Roll Call:
Board members present were Des Craig, Winnie Dowling and Audrey Allan. Others present
were Clint Koble and Carl Dahlen. Des said he would keep the meeting open until he could
contact other board members to ensure a quorum and request their votes on any action items
taken at this meeting.
Approval of minutes:
The minutes of the December 6, 2012 meeting were approved by those present with the addition
of the work “not” on the first page in the second paragraph under Discussion of Board
Membership in the next to last line of that paragraph.
Treasurer's report:
Winnie Dowling emailed the Treasurer’s report prior to the meeting. The current cash balance is
$5,617.10.
Pending Receipts include:
$1,650.00 for two invoices to Western Nevada Development District for work completed
on the Stronger Economies Together follow-up activities in January and February 2013
Outstanding obligations include:
$137.95 for online Quickbooks subscription
$775.00 for Beehive board insurance
$525.00 for 2012 990 tax return preparation from Bertrand and Assoc
$990.00 for Carl Dahlen for SET II
$4,508.54 for Gerlach expenses
$150.00 Secure Benches
$250.00 Maintain Flower Barrels
$1,500.00 Develop Town Website
$2,608.54 Lassen Applegate Trail Mural
$6,936.49 Total Outstanding Obligations
The unobligated balance is $330.61.
The Treasurer’s report and the above expenses were approved by the board members present.
Discussion of Board Membership:
Des reiterated that it is the desire of the board to expand its membership and make it more
representative of those who live or work in rural Nevada. Clint Koble from USDA Farm
Services Agency volunteered to be a board member. Des had a conversation with Sarah Adler
from USDA Rural Development and she would like Shane Hastings from her office to be a board
member. Those present voted to appoint both Clint and Shane to the board making the total
membership at this time eleven. Other names mentioned as possible board members included
Bill Verbeck with RNDC, Christy McGill with Healthy Communities Coalition, Tom Stone with
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Rural Housing, George Kleeb with Great Basin College in Elko, and Ann Louhela with the
Nevada Certified Farmers Market Association. Concern was expressed that expanding the board
to the maximum of fifteen will mean needing at least eight members to make a quorum. If we
have problems currently with making a quorum, would expanding the board just make that
problem harder? Directors present agreed to hold the number of directors at 11 for the time
being and all directors should do more to encourage better attendance at future meetings.
Stronger Economies Together (SET) Program:
Carl Dahlen reported on activities with the Stronger Economies Together (SET) follow-up. The
WNDD board agreed to contract with NRDC for follow-up activities for SET. The agreement is
for Carl to help coordinate the nine workgroups formed through the Economic Development
Blueprint for Western Nevada. NRDC will bill for hours spent on those activities at a rate of
$50.00 per hour and will pay for any travel expenses incurred. The initial agreement is from
January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2013 at an average of 20 hours per month. If there is a
need to increase the hours, that can be negotiated later. The board requested that a formal
document be written to cover the details of the agreement. To date, all but one of the
workgroups has met. Some are more active than others. On Wednesday, March 13, Carl
attended a presentation in Silver Springs by Comstock Mining. Because of the SET program,
residents were appreciative of his attendance from a regional perspective.
Community Assessment Update:
Carl reported that the next assessment is scheduled in West Wendover for the week of April 22.
The Resource Team will consist of Des Craig, Tim Mueller, Steve Lewis, George Kleeb and
Carl. Carl said he would prefer if a woman could join the team. Audrey said she would consider
joining the team and Kathy Halbardier was also mentioned. Carl met with Buddy Borden and
David Foster in Las Vegas last week to consider assessments in Laughlin, Moapa Valley and
Mesquite. He is arranging another trip there to visit with representatives of those communities.
Winnie mentioned she had recently been in Mesquite and would pass on contact information
there. Carl also mentioned that Jolene Supp in Wells might consider another assessment there
since it has been five years since the first one. Wells is carrying out several of the projects and
initiatives noted in their assessment. Audrey suggested that Dayton could use an assessment.
Carl indicated that they would need an income survey to be eligible for CDBG and since the
economic down turn, there is a greater possibility that some areas of Dayton might be low- to
moderate-income communities.
Other NRDC Activities:
The board requested that Carl produce a quarterly report prior to the meetings. It was also
suggested that we develop a data base of those we think need to know what NRDC is doing.
Discussion of a rural summit continued from last meeting. Clint had emailed his thoughts to
board members and Carl included them in the announcement of this meeting. Clint indicated
that the Risk Management Agency might have grant funds that could be used for a rural summit.
He would be talking with a representative of that agency and would explore that possibility. Des
appointed a committee to plan the summit. The committee will be Des, Clint, Carl and Winnie.
Shane will be invited to be on that committee as well. The consensus was that October would be
a good time for the summit.
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Website update:
For the website to be useful there needs to be new content on a regular basis to encourage people
to go to the site. Winnie will have the announcement of Yerington’s assessment taken off the
site and will set up a way for the assessment questions from West Wendover to be posted for
residents to answer. Also it was suggested that we post our board meeting minutes on the site so
people can see what we are doing. In addition we might post a calendar that includes board
meeting dates. Later additions to the website might include the NRDC by-laws, member database and links to financial resources.
Operational Items:
Clint noted that there used to be an Executive Committee of the board that met monthly to assist
with operational activities. Des was considering having an operational committee for this
purpose. He will follow up. The board set the next three quarterly meetings; June 27, September
26 and December 19, 2013.
Rural Issues:
Three issues were noted, the financial crisis in most rural counties and cities, the need for
housing and healthcare in rural areas. The question was how can NRDC address some of these
issues? It was suggested that if roundtable discussions were to be a format, that there needed to
be a distinct question posed for people to respond to rather than an open discussion. Some of the
SET workgroups might be a place for this type of activity to take place.
Other business:
There was no other business.
Next Meeting Date and Time:
The next meeting will be June 27 at 10:00 AM.
Adjournment:
Des recessed the meeting at 12:05 PM until he could contact other board members to ratify the
actions voted on by those present.
On April 1, 2013, Des Craig sent the following email message to those board members not
present and asked them to approve or disapprove the actions taken by the board at this meeting.
At the last NRDC Board meeting on March 14 there were 3 directors present (Winnie,
Audrey and Des). We convened as a management meeting since we did not have a
quorum.
Business was transacted with the 3 Directors present in agreement on all issues,
however, to close the meeting we need agreement from at least 2 more Directors on the
items of business discussed and transacted. The items requiring additional ratification
and approval are listed below:
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1. Minutes from the Board meeting on December 6. One small word change was
made to these minutes, namely, the addition of the word ‘not’ on page 1,
paragraph 6 – see attached;
2. Treasurer’s Report. This was sent out prior to the meeting and is attached here
again for easy reference;
3. Expenses: Winnie asked for approval to make a number of payments. This was
approved; the payments are as follows:
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$137.95 for online Quickbooks subscription
$775.00 for Beehive Board Insurance
$525.00 for 2012 Tax Return – Bertrand and Associates
$990 to Carl Dahlen for work already done on SET Follow-up
$4,508.54 to Gerlach from funds held on their behalf (following the Community
Assessment)
After payment of the above, there will be a remaining balance of $330.61
4. Include Clint Koble and Shane Hastings (from USDA) as Directors on the NRDC
Board.
Grateful if you would send me your thoughts/approval on the above 4 items of business
by Wednesday this week, so we can formally adjourn the meeting.
Hopefully, going forward, we will have enough Directors at our Board meetings to be
able to transact and complete business on the day of the meetings. Our next meeting is
scheduled for June 27.
On April 11, both Ron Radil and Kathy Huber voted by return email to approve the actions taken
by the board. Des accepted their votes and the four actions were declared approved.
The meeting was adjourned by email at 8:30 AM on April 12, 2013.
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