Council: No easy fix for medical center closure

The Fallon City Council discussed local medical service needs, adopted new parking requirements and approved an auditor during a regular meeting on March 19.

At the beginning of the meeting, Celeste Buswell made a public comment addressing the imminent closing of the Fallon branch of the Northern Nevada Medical Center on April 5. Speaking on behalf of local patients who are losing their doctors and can’t travel regularly to Reno or Carson City for medical care, Buswell asked if there was anything the council could do to keep general practitioners and specialists in Fallon.

While Mayor Ken Tedford did not have an immediate solution, he explained that he and the council were aware of the situation and had drafted a letter to send to the holding company to express their concern.

Tedford said he is the chairman of the Nevada Central Health District board of health, and representatives from the underserved rural communities have discussed working together to recruit doctors directly from medical school during their residency.

• Returning to the agenda items, the council held a public hearing for, and subsequently approved, each of three bills introduced at a previous meeting held March 5. Bills 796, 797 and 798 change off-street parking requirements in the R-2 limited multiple residence districts and parking space sizes in the R-C transition use residence districts and LI light industrial districts.

Bill 796 amends the Fallon municipal code to increase the required number of off-street parking spaces in R-2 districts from “one and one-half” spaces to “two spaces” for each dwelling unit. The bill also clarifies that two spaces are required for each unit when there are at least four units in the area. 

To provide for more off-street parking, Bill 797 changes the gross floor area requirements in R-C districts from the current “one parking space for every 400 square feet of gross floor area” to 250 square feet.

Bill 798 also changes the relevant gross square floor area footage from 400 to 250 to create similar requirements within the LI districts. Deputy District Attorney Sean Rowe said current businesses are “grandfathered in” and the requirements only apply going forward.

• Eide Bailly LLP has been approved as the city of Fallon’s auditor for the 2024 fiscal year ending June 30. The council also approved the company’s estimated total fee of $106,050 and authorized Tedford to approve additional fees, if necessary, to complete the audit.