By Nicole Barde

This week’s meeting agenda was pretty cut and dry and the summary sent out by Pat Whitten’s office does a good job of highlighting the key points. There is one that I want to amplify.

When Austin Osborne got up to talk about the Master Plan he mentioned that there are USDA  loans and grants available for residents whose wells have gone dry and need assistance for redrilling and mitigating the dry wells. I believe he said that these are available for low income people and seniors. Contact him for more details in the Planning Department at 847-1144.

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Hopefully the County is taking the water situation in Mark Twain and the Highlands seriously. I would hope that the efforts to help these communities continue and that they do an effective job of communicating these efforts to the communities affected.  I still believe that we need a full impact assessment in both communities with a solid set of options presented to the residents.  The cost of the assessment can probably be underwritten by a grant and if not then I am sure that County management can find the money in the general fund to do it. It’s the right thing to do.

Also, a note on the noxious weed abatement agreement between the County and Dayton Valley Conservation District. It is targeted at Six and Seven Mile Canyons, Gold Hill, Virginia City and American Flats. Jack McGuffey brought up that the Highlands also has a noxious weed problem. The white top is proliferating nicely with all this rain and is becoming more of a problem. The Highlands is in the Truckee Meadows district and the Dayton Valley agreement will not cover the issues there. Hopefully Jack can help to find the appropriate agency in the Truckee Meadows district to help with the weed problem in the Highlands.