The Lyon County Commission is considering a change to a county policy that requires advisory boards to make recommendations whenever those boards have a vacancy.
After lengthy discussion with arguments presented both for and against taking input from the advisory boards, the Commissioners voted to table the item and directed County Manager Andrew Haskin to bring back another version of the proposal that says the advisory board may make recommendations, rather than shall. The proposal presented to the Board was to remove that recommendation and give the sole responsibility of filling board vacancies to the County Commission.
Haskin said while it is county policy that advisory boards make recommendations before the commissioners make the final decision, it hasn’t been done in practice by the various citizen advisory boards within the county, with the exceptions of the Lyon County Fair Board and the Lyon County Library Board.
Former Lyon County Manager Jeff Page said the current policy was put in place because citizen advisory boards formerly held their own elections to fill vacancies.
“It was an ugly era,” he said. “As time went on, all the other advisory boards except for the Lyon County Fair Board and the Library Board stopped sending in their recommendations.”
Commissioner Scott Keller argued against letting the advisory boards make recommendations.
“When you have a board pick their own board, you end up with like-minded people because they’re going to support people that only think like them,” he said.
Commissioner Tammy Hendrix, who originally requested the item, said she wants all the advisory boards to do things the same way.
“In the past we’ve had a hard time keeping enough people on different boards, and if we have to send the applications back to, say, a board of five that only has two, they can’t even vote on it,” she said.
Commissioner Rob Jacobson expressed concern about the perception that the commission doesn’t want feedback from the public.
“I feel like we’re over governing, overstepping here a little bit, by telling them we don’t want their input,” he said.
Commissioner John Cassinelli said he believes it’s important to have the feedback from the advisory boards.
Commissioner Dave Hockaday said he would support Keller’s recommendation to change the verbiage from “shall” to “may.”
Suzanne Prouty, who was recommended by the Library Board to fill its last vacancy, but was bypassed by the board, argued that candidates are carefully vetted by the Library Board and should remain allowed to do so.
“Taking that process away putting decisions directly in the hands of elected officials opens the door to politicizing something that up to now has been nonpartisan,” she said.
Library Trustee Nora Stevens said the Library Board is not an advisory board and shouldn’t be governed the same way as one. She pointed out that the Library Board is governed by NRS 370, which spells out its administrative duties of setting policy, planning, and fiscally managing the library system.
Illyssa Fogel, a former Lyon County Deputy District Attorney, said the Library Board has it’s own hiring and firing responsibilities and its own financial function. She also questioned the timing of the proposal and said it is a small step toward authoritarianism.
“I think it’s because we now have two vacant seats coming up,” she said. “It seems to me that it is the possibility that they might want to limit participation by political opponents. That’s kind of not okay.”
Jim DeChambeau, a former member of the Lyon County Fair Board, argued in favor of changing the policy to remove advisory board recommendations.
“Letting a board pick their own board members is sort of like letting a mouse guard the cheese,” he said.
With the majority of the Board seemingly in favor of changing the wording from “shall” to “may”, the Board voted to table the item and have Haskin bring it back for consideration with that wording change.
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