The following are highlights from Monday’s Sparks City Council Meeting:
Announcements
Sparks City Council proclaimed the Month of June as Alzheimer’s Brain Awareness Month and June 21 as the Longest Day, asking residents of Sparks to visit www.alz.org to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease and to get involved in the fight against Alzheimer’s.
General Business
• Council approved the Mayor’s recommendations of the following appointments: Brad Fitch and Andrea Tavener to the Parks and Recreation Commission and Scott Benton, Louis Dauria and Kaylee Spinhirn to the Civil Service Commission.
• The council approved the appointment of Councilman Kristopher Dahir to the Truckee Meadows Water Authority Board of Directors and Councilman Ed Lawson as alternate, due to a vacancy left by Mayor Martini resigning his position. Council appointed Councilman Donald Abbott to the Regional Planning Governing Board for a three-year term.
• Council appointed two committees to prepare arguments and rebuttals advocating and apposing approval of the advisory question adopted on May 29, 2018 asking voters if the office of the Sparks City Attorney should continue to be an elected, non-partisan office. Appointed to prepare arguments advocating the advisory question are Gary Hules, Bob Jacobson and Dennis White. Appointed to prepare arguments opposing the advisory question are Bob LaRiviere, Zanny Marsh and Tina Spencer.
• The results of the 2018 primary election were declared official. Ron Smith was officially declared elected for the office of Sparks Mayor, Charlene Bybee was officially declared elected for the office of Council for Ward 4. Ed Lawson, Ward 2 and James Spoo, Municipal Judge Department 2 were unopposed in the 2018 election and were officially declared elected.
• Council approved and accepted the State of Nevada Office of the Attorney General’s STOP grant award in the amount of $75,471 to fund a second victim advocate position at the Sparks Police Department. This award will continue to fund 75 percent of the additional victim advocate’s annual salary through June 30, 2019.
• Sparks City Council accepted a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in the amount of $50,000 to assist with development of an arts overlay masterplan for the downtown district in Sparks and directed the City Manager to apply for up to $150,000 matching funds to assist with development of commissioned artwork from the National Endowment for the Arts “Artworks” Grant Program.
• Council approved the $1,854,007.2019 Street Rehabilitation-Unit 1 contract to Sierra Nevada Construction. The project is part of the City’s Transportation System – Pavement Management Program prioritized through the City’s Pavement Management System and outlined in the 5-year Program of Projects.
• The Council approved the Return Flow Management Agreement, as proposed by the City Manager, between Truckee Meadows Water Authority, City of Reno, City of Sparks, And Tahoe-Reno Industrial General Improvement District for the management of various water rights.
• Council adopted an ordinance amending the Sparks Municipal Code to prohibit smoking and vaping in city parks.
Public Meetings
• Sparks City Council held public meetings and approved a development agreement between the City of Sparks, Jackling Aggregates, LLC and QK, LLC for the development of a 386.87-acre parcel located at 555 Highland Ranch Parkway, Washoe County, Nevada. Council adopted a bill to annex the property into the city of Sparks and certified a comprehensive plan amendment to change the land use designation of the property to Intermediate Density Residential and Commercial. Council also adopted to rezone the property to Single Family Residential (6,000 sq. ft. lots) and General Commercial.
Bejay Castle says
What is the City of Sparks doing about rent control? Developers and landlords are literally raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars by taking advantage of unregulated rent increases. People who have lived here most of their lives are fleeing the area because of moral crisis and the City of Sparks and Reno as well is allowing the problem to get bigger and bigger. Seniors on fixed incomes are being thrown out of their homes with no place to go, the animal control agencies are seeing more and more heart breaking pet surrenders due to the landlords now requiring a renter to pay $500 dollars extra for a pet even if they had the pet prior to the increase. Where is the morals and ethics of our leaders in this community? Your City is only as good as the people who live in it. Wages have not gone up and people can not afford to live here anymore. This will surely be a voting issue come November. If the elected officials can not take care of the people they represent, we don’t want them anymore. Why do the companies that move here get all the breaks and the people, our community, get taken advantage of? It is time for the companies to pay their fair share and make this a community that thrives and not dies. We wouldn’t need more homeless shelters if we did allow the rent to get out of control. Wake up.