Letters to the Editor
Let your voice be heard, town board committee urges
The question I am proposing for the ballot is whether or not the Town of Pahrump should have an “elected” town board beginning in January 2027 as a result of the November 2026 election.
If this piqued your interest, then you (and your family and friends) need to find and sign the petitions that are currently being circulated in order to place this question on the ballot so Pahrump voters can vote “yes” or “no” to this question. A YES vote in November would “create” an elected Pahrump town board in 2027. A NO vote in November would leave everything “as is” for the town of Pahrump.
You’ve heard false statements like, “It’s only an advisory board with no real authority.” Anyone who makes this statement has not read the NRS (Nevada Revised Statutes), or that person merely wants to mislead you. It’s very easy to contact the “elected” Tonopah Town Board and ask them if they are merely an advisory board. As an example, the Tonopah Town Board identified the room tax collection problem that cost Tonopah and Pahrump tens of thousands of dollars, because as an elected town board, they could focus on the town’s finances.
If Pahrump had an “elected” town board, they too could focus on the needs of people and the town of Pahrump.
The NRS gives the elected town board limited powers and authority over Pahrump Fire and Rescue Service, Parks and Recreation areas (including the fairgrounds), cemetery, swimming pool, and financial oversight of the town of Pahrump, and Pahrump-owned buildings and grounds.
Please remember: The 47,000 people of Pahrump deserve someone (a town government) whose only job is looking out for Pahrump, not as a side project while managing an entire county.
So, if you believe that we need an “elected” town board, please sign the petition, OR if you believe that we do NOT need an elected town board, please sign the petition so you can vote and let your voice be heard. Let the people of Pahrump” decide.
For Information: Contact the Pahrump Town Board Committee.
Email – TownMail@Mail.Com
Facebook – Pahrump Town Board Committee
Dr. Tom Waters, Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
Reader says 20 years is too long to wait for park
When the fairgrounds land was first donated to Pahrump over 20 years ago, families were excited that we would finally have enough ball fields for their kids’ sports teams to practice and compete on. Some families have resorted to driving their kids to Vegas for their sporting practices and games. The practice field competition in Pahrump is fierce and I’ve been told from parents with daughters, that the girls get the worst schedules.
Twenty-four years! Twenty years equals a generation! Twenty classes of PVHS graduates; over 5,000 kids since the land was “gifted”.
We have five parks in town of which at least three - Simkins, Ian Deutch, and Kellogg all have adjacent undeveloped land (the others may too)! And, Pahrump recently bought an additional eight acres adjacent to Kellogg Park for $80,000. The town has $2 million just sitting in an account to upgrade that park!
It is much more cost-effective to add ball fields to existing parks where roads, drainage, parking, lighting, water, sewer, and restroom facilities already exist than creating them from nothing, in an area that is barren and quite possibly riddled with our famous “poo”’ dirt.
Since 2016 Pahrump has been awarded $2,228,928 in grants to improve the gifted fairgrounds property. All they have to show is two holes in the ground. Now they are asking for more grant money to connect the two holes in the ground. It has been 9 years since the initial grant money was awarded. Not one field been built! An OHV (piles of dirt pushed into place to form a track) serves a handful of kids while hundreds of Pahrump kids play on teams that have to fight for practice time.
IF our county actually cared about our kids, they would have put in additional ball fields at our existing parks long ago! Twenty years of inaction speaks volumes and frankly, says otherwise.
Tamie Pittman
