By Richard Stephens – Special to the Pahrump Valley Times

Health care matters consumed most of the time at the Jan. 25 Beatty Town Advisory Board Meeting.

Red Carpet Committee members Joannie Jarvis and Teresa Sullivan came to the board with a request for $400 per month in housing assistance as an incentive for nurse practitioner Diane McGinnis.

McGinnis is looking to sign a two-year contract with Nevada Health Centers as the care provider at the Beatty Clinic. Since her husband is five years from retirement from a job in Las Vegas, and they have two daughters there, McGinnis plans to stay in a motel room or studio apartment in Beatty during the week and return to Vegas for weekends.

Board member Erika Gerling voiced some objections to providing the housing assistance. She said this did not correspond with the incentive package the board had worked out in and voted on — a package that specified a signing bonus and yearly bonuses for longevity.

“We voted very specifically. It was very specific,” said Gerling.

Jarvis and Sullivan, themselves former board members, said that the original agreement to provide $50,000 in incentives, matched by $50,000 from the county, was broader. Sullivan said that any final incentive package would have to be tailored to the needs and desires of the particular candidate.

McGinnis is applying for a government grant to help with the cost of her education. The two-year commitment is a requirement of the grant.

Based on this, Gerling asked, “If somebody is already going to be here for two years, why offer an incentive?”

Sullivan said that the board had committed to providing incentives for health care providers, and that to fail to do so would be like “false advertising.” She also said that this was far less than the incentive package the board had approved, but that the Red Carpet Committee, a group tasked with attracting health care providers and integrating them into the community, had opted for this lesser amount because the two-year commitment was less than the package had been designed for.

The board approved the requested housing assistance, with the provision that its continuance after June 30 would depend on the renewal of Nevada Health Center’s contract with the county to operate the clinic. The vote was 4-1, with Gerling voting no.

Meanwhile, at the same meeting, Doug Farinholt, of Nye Regional Medical Center, again outlined his company’s plans to provide health care in Beatty.

Farinholt said that NRMC’s mobile clinic, on the corner of Highway 95 and 2nd Street will have its grand opening Feb. 2. Initially it will provide service one day per week, but he said it will shortly be able to provide care five days per week. The building will also serve as a point of delivery for prescription service and as the site for transport of patients for services in Tonopah.

He also repeated the company’s plans to develop a “rural resuscitation center” in Beatty within 24 months. He said a provider has been secured.

Farinholt said NRMC plans to approach the County Commission again with a pan to ask the county to “support us for the first 36 months to a much lesser degree than Nevada Health Centers,” with the money used to build the Rural Resuscitation Center/Clinic. He said that the operation would then not require support from the town or county.

Most of the rest of the agenda for the meeting involved what secretary Carrie Radomski referred to as “housekeeping items.”

The board chose members to attend meetings of various other organizations in the community and directed Radomski to send out letters inviting various groups to give informational reports to the board at its first meeting every month.

Board members found a request from the County Manager’s office for a “point of contact” from the Nye County Strategic Pan Committee too vague. They decided to let the town office be the point of contact until they were given more information about what is expected.

They also directed Radomski to contact community members to invite them to participate in the Nye County Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Committee.

Board Chairman Dick Gardner said that the county had determined that various elements of the proposed skate park do not need to go to bid, but also that “the original location of the skate park cannot be used because a water main runs right under it.”

An alternate location has been recommended, and the county asked that the Beatty General Improvement District and Wendy Wilson, who spearheaded the project, be consulted.

Gardner also asked Radomski to research and find out as much as she can about the possibility of the election at large of county commissioners.