Town board discusses lobbyist, Fall Festival date

Though Pahrump Town Board members were grateful for the offer, they chose not to appoint Gary Hollis as an official Pahrump Town Board lobbyist.

The former Nye County Commissioner and town board member approached town officials about representing Pahrump in Carson City for services not to exceed $5,000.

Pahrump Town Manager Susan Holecheck said this week that while she appreciates Hollis’ proposal, the town is not in a position to accept the offer.

“Mr. Hollis has been very generous and he does have some history with the town and the county. He wanted to know if the town would like him to advocate for us,” she said.

Additionally, Holecheck said that there’s not much a lobbyist can do in the state capital due to Pahrump’s status as an unincorporated town.

“I say this with no disrespect, but the reality is, as an unincorporated town, we are not entitled to recommend any Bill Draft Requests,” Holecheck said. “Right now, the legislatures are so busy at that time of year and they are reading all of these bill draft requests. Are they really going to listen to the desires of an unincorporated town whose governance is going to transfer to the county in two months?”

Town Attorney Bret Meich also told the board that while it’s legal to offer the position, it is highly unlikely the county would consider using a town lobbyist at this point in time.

“You can certainly give a contract to someone for services as an independent contractor,” he said.

“However, I must state that during the next legislative session, the board of county commissioners is going to be the governing authority of the town. I can’t imagine that they would want to retain a separate person to advocate on behalf of the town when the interests of the county and town would be aligned during the next session.”

Board member Dr. Tom Waters noted that if the town would continue to exist as its own governing body, he believes Hollis would have been a successful lobbyist.

“I think Mr. Hollis would be very successful if we needed a lobbyist. It’s just at this point, I don’t think we really have a need for one,” he said.

“The county has different plans for the town when they take over in January,” said Board Chair Harley Kulkin. I think it would be pointless to bring on a lobbyist at this time. My feeling is that we just move on and don’t take any action.”

Following a brief discussion, the item eventually died from lack of a motion to approve.

The date of the Pahrump Fall Festival was another issue board members spoke on.

The board considered changing the date of the annual event to a different weekend in October.

Board member Robert Adams said the fact that the town board will be dissolved in January precluded any action on the item.

“It’s not up to the town board whether we have a fall festival anymore,” Adams said. “I think that’s a decision that could be made in January because we’ll have no control over what’s happening with it.”

Additionally, Adams noted that due to the annual rodeo at the festival, altering the schedule, would not be an option, thus board members did not take action on the item.

The board also approved sponsoring the annual Trunk-or-Treat event for Halloween this year at the Bob Ruud Community Center parking lot.