WALKING PAPERS!WALKING PAPERS!WALKING PAPERS!

The Report below was filed with the Nevada Attorney General after the RSCVA tried to camouflage a plan to tack a multi-million dollar taxpayer-funded parking lot onto its outlandish taxpayer-funded Convention Center expansion.
This massive assault on the welfare of the citizenry demands an Environmental Impact Study. The surrounding neighborhoods have already been severely damaged and will now be further devastated by the doubling in size of this gargantuan box.
The Nevada Legislature never approved this scheme; it is way outside the bounds of the $105,000,000 bond that they (witlessly) approved last year.

Note: The Fat Cats keep calling the RSCVA by the wrong name.
Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS 244A.599) correctly names this body as the "County Fair and Recreation Board". These critters have almost completely absolved themselves of their true duties... with a pittance of their bloated $38,000,000 TAXPAYER-FUNDED budget going to the betterment of the citizens of Reno and Sparks and Washoe County. The head of this top-heavy bureaucracy makes almost twice as much $$$ as the entire Sparks city council.

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The Complaint Letter:

Nevada Attorney General - 31 January, 2000
198 S. Center Street
Carson City, Nevada 89710 (via FAX and mail)
Subject: Violation of the Open Meeting Law - Reno Sparks Convention Authority (RSCVA)

Dear Nevada Attorney General,
Once again I come before the Nevada Attorney General to point out problems in northern Nevada government. Many times, previously, the Attorney General has not come up with logical findings. Citizens can only hope that such will not be the case this time. This is a "slam dunk" when it comes to Open Meeting Law Violations... but then so were all the other previous complaints against Reno city hall, the Reno Airport, and the RSCVA.
This time the RSCVA violated the Nevada Open Meeting Law on 27 January, 2000 when they presented an agenda that could not (by any stretch of the imagination) be understood by the Public. Agenda Item #6 stated: "*Discussion/Action on recommendation from Finance Committee to approve the lease/purchase for Harrah's Trust property."
NRS 241.020(2)(c) "requires that agenda items include the following as a minimum: (1) A clear and complete statement of topics scheduled to be considered during the meeting."
It must be noted that a strong case can be made that this "cover-up" was done on purpose so that the Public would not know that the RSCVA had failed to address "Parking" in last year's multi-million dollar Convention Center expansion scheme. Parking is an issue that, by law (and logic), should have been addressed prior to any funding of the convention expansion scheme.
The Nevada Legislature (wrongly in the opinion of many citizens) let the RSCVA create a huge taxpayer-funded bond to pay for the convention expansion. But the requirement for massive Parking expansion was not even included in the bond! And now (long after the fact) the RSCVA staff wants to try to purchase/lease a very expensive property for said required Parking.
This is a classic case of closing the barn after the horse has vacated; for they have not even gotten approval for the Special Use Permit for the massive Parking lot from Reno city hall (although there is every chance that they have had secret serial meetings with Reno city hall... since that has been proven to be city hall's perverted modus operandi).
No sane citizen could possibly have been expected to know the true facts about what was going to be discussed at the Public meeting. The aspect of from whom the land was being purchased/leased is basically irrelevant compared to the issue of WHAT THE LAND WAS GOING TO BE USED FOR. The critical aspect was the fact that RSCVA was going to discuss the creation of a massive Parking structure and wrongfully failed to properly notify the Public of that fact. They broke the law.
This should have been done at the time the bond was being floated... not long afterward. Parking is an intricate part of the expansion project, and the Parking, as well as the convention expansion itself, are of such a terribly disruptive nature to the environment, that an Environmental Impact Study was mandatory.
Notwithstanding the background of why they failed to properly inform the Public as to what was going to be discussed, the Open Meeting Law was violated, and the attorney general must now step in and correct the violation.
Furthermore, the actions taken on that wrongful agenda item must be declared null and void (NRS 241.036 states: "The action of a public body taken in violation of the Open Meeting Law is void, i.e., has no legal force or binding effect.")
Your immediate attention to this dire matter is anticipated... please contact me prior to your decision.

Signed,

Sam Dehne, Lt Col USAF (Ret) 775 825-1398

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