Commissioners OK forgiveness loans

The Churchill County Commissioners unanimously voted Friday to approve two principal forgiveness loans for a water project to benefit residents of Casey Road Mobile Home Park, also known as Virginia Mobile Home Park.

The commissioners reviewed two contracts that would present loans worth a total of $256,476. The money would be used to connect the park to the county’s sewer system and to help provide water treatment.

Eleanor Lockwood, Churchill County manager, said the property’s well and septic tank are very old, and a number of problems have come up. The issues have been ongoing and the owners were asking if there was anything the county could do to help.

“When we have a water and sewer problem associated with a very old well not built to current standards, a very old septic system not built to current standards, we’re just asking for problems to continue to exist,” Lockwood said.

According to Marie Henson, a county building inspector, the current well is about 25 feet from a canal; she said the residents are “basically drinking canal water.” The owner has installed a chlorinator to treat the water at their own expense and has a temporary solution in place.

The septic system seems to be working but is very old and a health hazard in the making. Henson said, if they are unable to make changes soon, it will become a blight and the property will have to be abandoned.

“It’s very hard to continue a normal septic system for anything larger than a couple single-family dwellings, and once you start putting five, six, eight, 30 dwellings on a septic system, eventually you’re going to have a failure,” she said. “It’s not a maybe you’re going to have a failure; you’re going to have a failure.”

The situation also brings to light other mobile home parks needing water and sewage renovation. It was noted other locations also have old septic systems that were having problems. Henson noted that, while small-system water treatment systems are available, they tend to be expensive and are hard to maintain, and the old septic systems no longer live up to standards.

The commission also discussed information from the Nevada Division of Minerals about landowners not taking proper care of hazardous mine openings on their property. Under the statutes, the commissioners are tasked with sending information on the landowners to the Churchill County Sheriff’s Office.

Some landowners have not been maintaining mine entrances on their property, leading to dangerous conditions. If the NDM is unable to get the changes made, after going through their official channels, they go to the counties, and the court can order the landowners to make the proper changes.

The official canvas of the 2016 election was also approved by the county. According to Pamela Moore, deputy clerk of the board, there was a higher percentage of voters in this election than before. This year she reported that 83 percent of registered voters, or about 10,955 residents, voted.