Carson City supervisors eye traffic enforcement program

The Board of Supervisors on Thursday will vote whether to reestablish the Carson City Sheriff’s traffic enforcement program.

The program was downgraded and its staff reduced in 2011 due to budget cuts. Between 2004 and 2011, the program helped reduce traffic accidents by 55 percent, according to the staff report for the board meeting. Since the program was downsized seven years ago, traffic accidents have increased 66 percent and driving under the influence incidents, or DUIs, have nearly doubled.

The Sheriff’s office is requesting $267,826.46 annually to fund the program. It would be staffed by two deputies and a support specialist, and provide both enforcement, and education and prevention.

The board will also consider two items to make technical corrections to the Carson City Lands Bill. The proposed corrections to eight properties in the city were first heard by last month in a joint meeting of the Open Space Advisory Committee and Parks and Recreation Commission.

The two panels voted to recommend changes on seven of the properties and held off on one property for further staff work after nearby residents voiced opposition to the plan.

That property is 17.45 acres of vacant land located east of Edmonds Drive at Bennett Avenue surrounded by residential development.

The city is considering returning it to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to auction it off for possible development. After hearing from neighbors, the two committees decided to recommend staff look into the land’s value for flood mitigation and to assess the costs of retaining it first.

Staff is still recommending relinquishing the property. According to the staff report, a better flood mitigation site is upstream north of Clearview Drive, and estimated maintenance costs to the city are $7,000 every 3-5 years if it were to keep the property.

The board will first consider changes to the other seven properties, which include 39 acres adjacent to Silver Saddle Ranch for open space, and 220 acres to be acquired from the BLM for stormwater control and flood mitigation, and then take separate action on the acreage east of Edmonds Drive.

The supervisors will hear on first reading an ordinance that would repeal the current senior citizens assistance program for sewer and water fees and replacing it with a program for all residential ratepayers based on the federal poverty guidelines.

The new program would be funded through charitable contributions made by ratepayers. It was created by an informal working group that included Supervisors Karen Abowd and Lori Bagwell.

The board will also accept the canvass of the vote for the recent election. The board usually accepts the canvass in a special meeting because it must be done within six working days of the election, but the meeting Thursday falls on the sixth working day since the election because Monday is a holiday.

The Board of Supervisors meets at 8:30 a.m. in the Sierra Room, Carson City Community Center, 851 E. William St.