Commissioners from the tri-counties met March 24.
Lander and Pershing County commissioners come from opposite directions and meet in the middle with Humboldt County commissioners in Winnemucca every spring. In addition to their shared Sixth Judicial District budget, they talked about other issues of mutual concern.
Pershing County Commission Chairman Pat Irwin broached the issue of Humboldt County residents' trash ending up in Pershing County's trash transfer station in Grass Valley. The transfer station is located over the Pershing County line but apparently its location makes it irresistible to some of Humboldt County's Grass Valley residents.
While it might sound like a small issue, Pershing County hauls the trash collected there to its county dump in Lovelock and that dump is approaching capacity - that makes the extra trash an issue because developing a new dump site with the environmental regulations in place is an expensive proposition.
Irwin said the amount of trash brought to Lovelock from the Grass Valley transfer station nearly equals the amount of trash generated in the rest of the county. Irwin said he wanted Humboldt County commissioners to know Pershing County was making an effort to find out how much of the trash was coming from Humboldt County residents.
On another issue, Pershing County was interested in hearing how Lander County's new ambulance service arrangement was working. Lander County Commissioner Patsy Waits said it's been interesting and they're still learning. Battle Mountain General Hospital took over the ambulance services in Austin and Battle Mountain and the county pays the hospital.
"We're supplying the money and it's a huge chunk of money," said Lander County Commissioner Brian Garner.
A proposal from Washoe Legal Services to bring the three counties together and access grant funding to provide legal services to underserved seniors and children was also discussed. The original proposal was then revised by Washoe Legal Services to take Lander County out of the picture and there were more questions than answers at the table. Lander County commissioners said they were still interested in being involved with the program.
Contact Joyce Sheen at j.sheen@winnemuccapublishing.net[[In-content Ad]]
