Contract awarded for the Pahrump Fairgrounds secondary water well, adult OHV track contract rejected.

Development at the Pahrump Fairgrounds continues to pace forward, with a contract recently awarded for the construction of a secondary well that will provide water for future buildout, including the much-anticipated multi-use sports fields that are in the works.

The Fairgrounds Well #2 Drilling, Construction and Testing project contract was taken up by the Nye County Commission last month, with the bulk of the cost to be covered by Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) dollars.

Nye County Contracts and Grants Manager Stephani Elliott explained that there was roughly $602,000 left of the $700,000 in CDBG funds that had been allocated by the Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development for the project in last year’s grant cycle. That leaves $64,392 to be paid for out of the Pahrump Fairgrounds Room Tax fund.

Nye County Public Works Utilities Superintendent Travis Smith noted that the project is not only to provide for an additional well at the fairgrounds but to also put the water rights associated with the site to use, as required by state law.

“Drilling this well - we need to do this to show beneficial use,” he told the board on June 18.

Commissioner Debra Strickland made the motion to award the contract for the Fairgrounds Well #2 Drilling, Construction and Testing to Great Basin Drilling in the amount of $666,862 and commissioner Bruce Jabbour provided a second.

“Just so the public understands, this is just to put the water service to the fairgrounds. It takes $602,000 from a grant that I believe is specifically for that and then $65,000 specifically out of the room tax for the town, that is earmarked exclusively toward the Pahrump Fairgrounds,” commissioner Ian Bayne emphasized before the board took a vote in an attempt to assuage concerns from those who have criticized certain parts of the fairgrounds plans in the past.

“You are absolutely right,” Strickland concurred.

The motion then passed with all in favor.

Also on that same agenda was another item related to the fairgrounds but this one did not meet with the same approval. The bidding process for the contract to construct the Pahrump Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Park’s adult Off-Road and Motocross Track only attracted a single bid, from CK Earthworks in the amount of $447,670 and this was far above what the OHV Park Advisory Committee was willing to pay.

“I have a comment that comes from the chair of this advisory committee [Jimmy Lewis ], which of course I am sitting as the liaison for,” Strickland explained as the item opened. “‘The advisory committee recommends we reject the bid because it was an outrageous overspend and we don’t want the community to get ripped off. We have decided that we’d like to proceed forward with our construction of the adult track using volunteers, and grant money to rent equipment, pay for the fuel and hire a consultant, to make sure that we do it properly, to keep with our goal of having a facility that does not provide excessive noise or dust.’”

Pahrump Buildings and Grounds manager Jimmy Martinez said there were essentially two options at that point – going with the route outlined by the OHV Advisory Committee or revising the scope of the project and going back out to bid. Ultimately, the board made the unanimous decision to revise the scope and repeat the bidding process.

Not long after the June 18 meeting, the awards for the 2026 CDBG program were announced in a news release from Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office and of the $3 million allocated, Nye County is set to receive $75,000 to help pay for an update to the Pahrump Fairgrounds Environmental Review.

“We’re proud to work alongside communities across rural Nevada to ensure these CDBG dollars are invested where they’ll have the greatest local impact,” GOED’s CDBG Program Administrator Jessica Sanders stated in the news release. “Every award represents a community’s vision for its future and our commitment to helping make that vision a reality.”

The $75,000 allotment this year is just a small portion of the CDBG dollars Nye County has been awarded over the decades, however. These grant funds have helped pay for drainage and stormwater detention, an environmental assessment, the first fairgrounds well, a wastewater system and utilities, for a total investment of over $2 million.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com