What happened at the February Tonopah Town Board meetings?

On Wednesday, February 12, the Tonopah Town Board meeting opened with public comments in which community members acknowledged the triumphs of the Tonopah Fire Department involved with the Sierra Vista fire that took place on February 11.

“It was a long fight. It was fast and intense but we ended up with 13 of our 15 active volunteers,” says Yeager. No serious injuries or loss of life were caused by the fire though there were at least seven medical personnel on site for rehab and checking people out. Fortunately, with notice of the dark smoke on the scene, there was no suspicion of inhalation injuries.

“Every time it would jump a building it was like jumping into a firefighter’s chest and it tore their heart out because we don’t like losing buildings and structures,” expressed Yeager.

With the resources at hand and conditions presented, Yeager added that the outcome could have been much worse. For the future, Yeager and his volunteers now understand more of some of the possibilities and conditions that they could be presented with.

Additionally discussed in the Wednesday, February 12 meeting was the concern for amendments to the current town water ordinance and a boil order that had been placed due to water line repairs.

Currently the town of Tonopah is working on a waterline renovation, updating pathways and understanding the overall state of the town’s water systems. A special meeting for the water ordinance is scheduled for Friday, March 7 at 10:00 a.m to discuss rules and laws.

Board Member Douglas “Stretch” Baker noted, “We’ve redone the ordinance but we have one more meeting left to finalize.” Baker added that overall it has taken several separately scheduled meetings to complete.

The resolution of an updated water ordinance would appropriately time itself with the newly installed fire hydrants placed around the town of Tonopah along with updated water lines. During the last phases of work on this project, there would be some neighborhoods who may receive a must boil ordinance and some may have water shut off. Residents would receive door to door notices if that were the case.

Further into local finances, all members voted in favor of the Tonopah Fiscal Year 2023-2024 audit report to be accepted.

The Tonopah Speedway received a 5/8 Room Tax grant request approval toward the Tonopah Speedway Poker Run for 2025.

A grant request submitted by Lisa Westerlund for the Tonopah High School Booster Club was approved for the Tonopah Athletic Banquet.

At the February 26 meeting, it was confirmed that at the March 12 Tonopah Town Board meeting, a possible bid for a Tonopah Town Office siding replacement and roof repair project proposed by Joe Westerlund would be open for discussion for possible action.

At the March 12 meeting, up for possible discussion and action would be the decision to hold a secondary budget workshop for discussion on the Town/TPU budget for fiscal year 2025-26.

For more information about the Tonopah Town Board and reference for past and future agendas and minutes, you can visit www.tonopahnevada.com

Rachel Ebel is a freelance reporter living in Tonopah.