Beatty riled by sheriff’s substation closure

Sheriff Joe McGill got an angry earful from residents and board members at a heated Beatty Town Advisory Board meeting March 11.

The source of heat was McGill’s plan to move the sole person manning the Beatty NCSO substation to Pahrump to deal with the workload there.

The sheriff said that in his budget he had asked county commissioners for an additional person for the office in Pahrump, but had been denied.

Several townspeople and some board members said they were puzzled and confused by the move, and all were against it.

At times the level of emotion was enough that BTAB Chair Erika Gerling called for people to “take a breath” and calm down. She, herself, was at the point of tears.

McGill was reminded that he had promised Beatty the same level of service as Pahrump, and was advised that it was bad community relations to take the only person providing office services in Beatty.

One fact brought out in the discussion was that more people visit the Beatty office for service than show up on the computer record because their questions aren’t entered into the system.

Resident Dee Crawford said that the sheriff was “beating up on Beatty” and taking away the good will of the community.

McGill said that the plan is to have the office in Beatty staffed one day each month, but that was far from acceptable to the crowd.

Some suggested that instead of making Beatty residents drive to Pahrump for services, some Pahrump residents could drive to Beatty.

“When Beatty’s losing stuff that bothers me,” said Gerling, and that was the sentiment of resident after resident.

“This community gets everything taken away,” said Joannie Jarvis.

“We’ve lost and lost and lost, and nothing ever comes back,” said Teresa Sullivan. “I won’t be convinced someone in Pahrump is more important.”

Justice of the Peace Gus Sullivan said that having someone staffing the sheriff’s part of the Justice Center provided a much appreciated enhancement to security in the building.

People suggested a number of alternatives to the move, including having the employee in Beatty handle some of the telephone calls and paperwork remotely to lessen the burden on the staff in Pahrump.

NCSO Supervising Administrator Tammy Engle said that having the work done remotely would not take care of the need for a person in Pahrump to cover when others were on vacation or on leave. It was then suggested that the Beatty person could just go to Pahrump on those occasions.

The board voted to send a formal letter of protest and to copy it to the BOCC. They said they were willing to work with the sheriff to try to get the funding that was denied.

The board also is re-sending a letter asking for a public safety action plan and is requesting an update on plans for the anticipated surge in population in Beatty.

The sheriff said he’d been hearing about the anticipated boom for two years, but had no idea when it was actually going to happen.

Residents commented that it has already started. There is construction all over Beatty to provide housing for the increase in population.

In other action at the meeting, the board granted the Beatty Chamber of Commerce $2,500 for roof repair and exterior maintenance on their building and $1,350 quarterly to lease a billboard in Goldfield. Both of those expenditures came from the town’s tourism fund.

They scheduled a workshop on their fiscal year 2025 for April 8 at 5:00 p.m.

They postponed sending a comment letter on a proposed alley and street abandonment request until they get more information.

Richard Stephens is a freelance reporter living in Beatty.