By Mark Waite
Nye County commissioners went with the staff recommendation and appointed Robert King, a former Nye County planner, to a vacancy on the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission last week.
Commissioner Butch Borasky, the BoCC’s liaison to the RPC, made the motion to appoint King; it passed unanimously.
King, in his brief letter to commissioners, said he is an eight-year resident of Pahrump and was drawn here by the independent nature of the residents, particularly the late Nye County Commissioner Dick Carver, who led the fight to reopen the road in Jefferson Canyon that put him on the front page of Time magazine in 1994.
King said he was a planning technician for the Nye County Planning Department until he retired last March. In his responses to a county questionnaire, King said he sees inadequate utility infrastructure as a major problem in Pahrump, with hundreds of unbuildable lots.
King said he’s in favor of bringing fully funded development to Pahrump including businesses, retail, manufacturing and residential.
Before coming to Pahrump, King worked in quality assurance for Boeing Company in Everett, Wash. from 1987 to 2003. He is a 20-year U.S. Air Force veteran.
King replaces Dave Richards, former Pahrump town manager from 2004 to 2008, who was appointed to the RPC June 5, but left by the August meeting to take a job as city manager of Fort Yukon, Alaska.
Other applicants included Walt Kuver, a former planner for the Nye County Water District board, who in his application urged the county to tackle water resource issues if growth is to be sustainable, advocated potential solar energy industrial development and tackling other complex problems.
Walt Grudzinski, a former city councilman in Sierra Vista, Ariz. who moved to Pahrump two years ago and was appointed to the RPC in December, reapplied for his position. Grudzinski left the RPC after less than six months to run for Nevada District 36 assemblyman, he was defeated in the Republican primary in June.
Deborah Meredith also applied for the position, she is a retired, 30-year federal employee. Meredith states she was a master planner for the Carrol Valley, Pa. Planning Commission and represented Fort Leavenworth, Kan. and Fort Carson, Colo., at regional planning councils.
Bobby Hartman, a retired law enforcement officer, also applied. Hartman was an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant from 1989 to 2008, Gillette, Wyo. police chief from 1981 to 1987 and city of North Las Vegas Police Department lieutenant from 1963-1981.
The other RPC members include Chairman Terry Hand, Vice-Chairman John Koenig, Secretary/Clerk Gregory Hafen II, Joe Goode Sr., Jennifer McCall, Pahrump Town Board liaison Vicky Parker and Borasky.
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- Mark Waite / Pahrump Valley Times – Robert King attended his first Pahrump Regional Planning Commission meeting Wednesday.
Correction: Deborah Meredith is a retired 30 year Master Planner and Architect for the federal government and a volunteer on the Planning Commission for Carroll Valley, PA. Never even contacted for an interview. A new, fresh point of view might have been good for the RPC and Pahrump, but, good luck to the new board.
No one was interviewed for the position. The County Clerk reviews the applications and the resumes and makes a choice from that.
Thanks for the info…the first that I had heard of any action on the appointment was in the paper yesterday. I was told that they were still considering the applications. I understand the selection of one of their own, since they know this gentleman. That’s the way it is…It happens all of the time in government.
The resumes are reviewed by the director of Human Resources, not the County Clerk.
I was mis-informed. Thank you, Joni.
My pleasure. It’s tough when we can’t select every qualified applicant who applies. Normally, we can’t find anyone to apply for openings on various county boards. It was great this time to have so many who were not only interested, but were qualified.