By Mark Waite

A $50,000 request to train volunteers in the Court Appointed Special Advocate CASA program of Pioneer Territory will be submitted to the Community Development Block Grant program as the second choice of county commissioners.

It would be the first award of federal CDBG money for a Pahrump project since No To Abuse received $74,901 in 2003. Nye County Budget and Fiscal Analyst Amy Fanning said the county has received 35 grants since 1982 totaling $2.9 million through the program, which is directed toward low to moderate income residents.

Nye County Commissioners could submit two applications. The first choice for the CDBG application, made by Commissioner Dan Schinhofen in a motion and passed by commissioners, will be a request from Nye County Public Works Director Dave Fanning for $100,000 to reline a water storage tank in Gabbs.

The Beatty General Improvement District requested money to repair the community swimming pool, another application to replace non-compliant playground equipment, install horseshoe pits and still another application to install shade structures over a bandstand.

Friends of Pahrump Valley Hospice filed a request for funding, to build office spaces for nurses and administration, along with a two to four bed in-patient unit for Nathan Adelson Hospice patients.

The cost of the 8,000-square-foot building was estimated at $1.5 million, the group wanted $125,000 to break ground. But Amy Fanning said the friends weren’t ready to move forward with their request at this point.

Willi Baer, the executive director of Pioneer Territory CASA Inc., said the $50,000 would give her organization two more years to recruit and train volunteer advocates for children in foster care who have been abused or neglected. It would also allow them to monitor the CASA advocates.

Her application stated it costs $2,500 per trainee, who have to undergo 33 hours of mandatory training plus 12 continuing education hours per year. By the end of October she said there would be 20 trained CASA volunteers sworn in to serve the Pahrump area.

The $50,000 would train 20 more volunteers next year to serve almost half the 100 children in foster care in the community referred to the program by the Fifth Judicial District Court, Baer said.

Baer told commissioners the CASA program in Pahrump had a spotty history, but this time organizers aren’t going to walk away from it. They officially opened their doors in February and were given office space by Tim Hafen in the Hafen Commercial Center for two years.

CASA of Pioneer Territory received a court improvement grant to help them get started, but Baer said money is tight. Clark and Washoe counties CASA chapters have foundations, she said.

In her argument for the money, Baer told commissioners:

“We would love it if the court could do some funding, but we haven’t been real successful in that because the court is undergoing renovation and all sorts of other things. We will be approaching them eventually. Because of the economic situation, almost all of the children in foster care are from moderate to low income families. As you know the State of Nevada is No. 1 for unemployment and Nye County is No. 2 for unemployment within the state.”

The high unemployment rate, coupled with low incomes, contributes to family instability, which is directly related to children in foster care, Baer states. She told commissioners she was recruited to help form the local CASA chapter from her 35 years of experience in non-profits.

Baer’s application states the grim statistics: the Nye County School District reported last May 262 homeless children were enrolled in school, which increases by 10 to 15 children per month. The youth are impacted by the closure of the local Boys and Girls Club.

The unemployment rate in Nye County as of May was 16.3 percent and one of every 57 homes is in foreclosure. The Associated Press economic stress index ranked Nye County third highest in the nation. Nevada state welfare and the Pahrump Community Food Bank noted significant increases in need, many from the newly impoverished. There is a lack of transportation to access services in Pahrump Valley, which measures 312 square miles.

Commissioner Joni Eastley wanted the board to know the money for CASA Pioneer Territory Inc. would also go to Esmeralda and Mineral counties as well, though Baer said she didn’t approach county commissioners in those counties for funding.

Dave Fanning said the residents of Gabbs — 388 in the latest county population estimates — would benefit from the county rehabilitating their only water source. The county needs to drain the tank and install four, temporary tanks on the scene to sustain the town’s fire needs and personal water supply while the tank is rehabilitated, he said.

Commissioner Butch Borasky wanted to know how many people would be affected by each project before ranking them by priority.

“How many live in the community and how many are actually affected by the grant?” he asked.

Neil King, a maintenance worker for the Beatty GID, said if the problems with the Beatty swimming pool aren’t addressed it will probably be shut down. He said there’s a failing deck and a leak under the deck that can’t be located.

“Without this grant I don’t think we’re going to be able to afford to even fix it,” King said.

The cost to fix the pool has been estimated at $281,450, of which the GID has already contributed $41,850, he said.

Nye County received a $161,000 CDBG award in 2007 for inspection and repairs to the Gabbs sewer system and another $56,000 in 2005 for Gabbs water and sewer system improvements.

For the 2011 program the Tonopah Belvada rehabilitation project was awarded $250,000 in CDBG funds and the Beatty Water and Sanitation District $40,000 for a master plan. In the 2010 cycle, Tonopah received a $190,000 CDBG award for a wastewater effluent reuse plan, the previous year Tonopah received a $40,000 award for a preliminary engineering report on wastewater storage and reuse, Beatty took home $30,000 to design a backup well.