Supervisors see business plan, have blood test

A report recently completed by the College of Business Administration, University of Nevada, Reno will be used to help draw businesses to Carson City, but will also give residents quick access to the city's statistical information.

"This is not meant for light reading," Carson Chamber of Commerce Director Larry Osborne said of the Metro Business Activity Report. "This is meant for a company coming in saying, 'I want to make a multi-million dollar investment in this community. Tell me why I should.'"

The report was presented to Carson City supervisors for the first time Thursday. Heavy on statistics, Osborne said, it contains the "most sophisticated information available" for Carson City. It breaks the city into four areas and gives detailed information on everything from retail sales, commercial activity and traffic counts to employment, demographics, population and income.

Brian Bonnefant of the Nevada Small Business Development Center said someone has to approach the report with real-world applications before it becomes useful.

The report was paid for by a $13,500 grant and will be updated every six months. Osborne said the Chamber of Commerce plans to sell the books in the future.

In other action:

-- Supervisors Jon Plank and Pete Livermore, Mayor Ray Masayko and City Manager John Berkich, along with several other male city employees, rolled up their sleeves and let the blood flow to kick off a year of prostate cancer awareness.

Masayko, Reno City Councilman Dave Aiazzi, and Chris Ferrari from Gov. Kenny Guinn's office read proclamations declaring Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, 2000 "Nevada's new millennium commitment to prostate cancer awareness and support."

The men took a PSA (prostate specific antigen) blood test during the supervisor's meeting sponsored by Family to Family, Americans for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Support and Carson-Tahoe Hospital.

"If by this we've saved one man, one family, we've done our job," said Nikki Meloskie, Family to Family director and spokeswoman.

Family to Family promotes early detection of the disease which will take over 37,000 lives this year. The disease has no symptoms, making early detection the best chance of survival.

Maynard Berkowitz got his PSA test too late and has fought prostate cancer since March 1998. He has a word of warning for men over 40.

"I want to get every man to know that prostate cancer is deadly," Berkowitz said. "If you don't detect early, you end up like I am. I have a death sentence over my head."

To learn more about prostate cancer, call Family to Family, Americans for Prostate Cancer Awareness and Support hotline at 1-888-776-2262 or call Nikki Meloskie at 883-2527. Head to the Internet at www.pcafamily.org.

-- Supervisors looked to the future of the Carson City Landfill by approving a $61,700 engineering consulting contract with SECOR International, Inc. to help define bid guidelines the landfill's new contractor will follow.

Phase one includes SECOR performing a performance based bid proposal which will lay out how the landfill is to be developed. The second phase includes developing the bid specifications and the third phase is assisting the city in choosing a contractor. The landfill has been operated since 1996 without a contract and city officials hope SECOR's consultation will help them find a contractor to fulfill the landfill's 18-year lifespan.