After a discussion that began as possible action to restrict future funding for a community organization until certain conditions were met, the Fernley Convention and Tourism Authority, which is comprised of the five members of the City Council, instead decided at a special meeting Feb. 4 that the city’s Temporary Use Permit process needs to be streamlined and clarified.
The agenda item concerned whether to restrict future FCTA funding for the Fernley Arts & Culture Event Squad (ACES), which hosts events throughout the year, including the Music, Murals and Margaritas Festival as well as the Halloween Haunted House.
City Attorney Aaron Mouritsen said the meeting was requested by FCTA Chairman Albert Torres to address concerns about compliance with city standards for Temporary Use Permits (TUPs).
Staff from the Planning, Public Works and Building departments said ACES did not obtain a permit for a Backyard Beach Party event on Sept. 13, 2025; did not remove the buildings from the Christmas Village at the Main Street Art Park for a week after the TUP expired; and submitted inadequate plans for the Community Center building, which is being repaired after a fire in 2024.
Mouritsen said the original resolution passed by the City Council in 2010 that established the FCTA board includes no requirement that groups receiving FCTA funds obtain permits or comply with city ordinances and codes. He said it only outlines the allowable uses for those funds and does not place conditions on the individuals or organizations who receive them.
“It would be a requirement for those events to be held; however, it is not a requirement for the disbursement of funds,” he said.
Torres asked for a rundown on permits or plans the city requested but did not receive from ACES.
Assistant Planner Lisa Warner said ACES did not apply for TUPs for two events that were advertised on Facebook, the Backyard Beach Party and the construction of walls for the Haunted House. Later in the meeting, ACES Vice President Skye Long and board member Jaimie Daniels said those Facebook posts were reminders for volunteers, not promotion of public events.
Asked whether there was formal communication by email or letter to ACES about those issues, Warner said she was fairly certain there had been, but she did not have the documentation on hand.
Building Official Charity Birkel said there have been many events in the past where she was uncomfortable signing off on permit applications because they did not meet minimum requirements, and that she had been directed by a former city manager not to be involved in the issuance of special event permits.
“I think turning away and not being involved is negligent as well,” FCTA member Joe Mendoza said.
“I have no disagreement with that at all, and I’m happy to do whatever you folks direct me to do,” Birkel said. “But I want to make it known that there will be ‘no’s’ involved, and I can’t help that.”
Mendoza asked Birkel whether she had been told not to inspect or be involved with certain organizations or all special events.
“So you don’t go out and inspect the carnies?” Mendoza asked, referring to the traveling carnivals that occasionally set up in the city. Birkel replied that she had not done so for the past two years.
“That is unacceptable,” Mendoza said.
After hearing Birkel’s explanation of how the decision was made to instruct her not to conduct inspections for temporary use permits, FCTA member Felicity Zoberski agreed the problem appeared to be the city’s process, not applicants’ noncompliance.
“The longer this meeting goes on, it’s getting harder and harder to justify the meeting, because it very much feels like this is an inside issue, not an outside issue,” Zoberski said. “If there’s certain rules that are being followed with this city manager, and then the city manager is gone, and now we’re reinforcing rules that city manager got rid of, then I have no idea how anybody could follow.”
Birkel said there has never been a written city policy specifying which departments are involved in TUPs or a procedural document outlining how the process works.
“Those are things that we are working internally as staff to improve,” she said.
Mouritsen said there is a written temporary use process as well as a written park policy, and the special event TUP is included in the code, but Birkel clarified that the policy does not specify who is responsible for inspecting or reviewing applications or plans.
Mouritsen said that is correct, and that each individual department has its own specific policies it follows.
The board expressed consensus that there are major deficiencies in the city’s TUP process.
“And the more we talk, the deeper the hole gets that we’re in and sort of uncovers more and more deficiencies, which the council and the FCTA board looks like we need to work on,” FCTA member Ryan Hanan said.
In response to a question from Mendoza, Mouritsen said the board could not make a motion to place conditions that would apply to all FCTA applicants because only ACES was listed on the agenda. Rather than placing conditions on ACES, board members agreed the City Council needs to make policy changes to outline a clear process for all applicants and city departments to follow.
Regarding the Community Center building under renovation after the fire, ACES President Dana Uhlhorn said the building is owned by the Fernley Improvement Club, not ACES, and the FCTA has no jurisdiction over it because the Fernley Improvement Club does not receive FCTA funding.
Uhlhorn expressed appreciation that the FCTA board acknowledged ACES has made attempts to comply with permitting requirements.
“Every time we've been notified about something that is going on with our permits that is out of line, we've done all we can to correct it,” he said.
Ultimately, the FCTA board agreed.
“I can tell you, speaking for myself as well as for this board, we appreciate that,” Torres said. “But we also cannot ask you to improve and do a better job if we're not willing to look within ourselves and make our processes better and communication clearer. We have to fix that, and that was more than obvious tonight.”
Comment
Comments