The Board of Supervisors authorized County staff to place the old Mohave County Animal Shelter up for public auction. Located at 950 Buchanan Street in Kingman, the facility was vacated by the County in May of 2024 and the Animal Shelter was moved to 3423 N. Burbank. The property has been appraised at $387,000 and the auction will be held on April 21st, 2025.
District 4 Supervisor Don Martin proposed placing stanchions and ropes around the Supervisor’s dais during Board meetings for security. District 5 Supervisor Ron Gould requested if the item were to be approved, that there be an opening in front of his seat so that his constituents could approach and speak with him. After a comical debate where Martin tried to goad Gould into admitting he carries a firearm, Martin was unable to get another supervisor to second his motion, and no action was taken. Martin later went on a social media posting spree to deride Gould for exercising his 2nd Amendment right to bear arms.
Two items were brought back from the February 3rd meeting. The request for a waiver of $3,600 in fees for the Home and Garden Show by Desert Canyon Events, LLC was denied. The Board did approve a $3,210 grant from Best Friends Animal Society for the Animal Shelter Director to attend training, despite Best Friends being a religious cult. Supervisor Gould was the lone dissenting vote.
A Kingman area housing development project request for rezone brought back for reconsideration from December 2nd by District 1 Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter was sent back to the Planning and Zoning Commission because the Commission failed to ask the developer questions during their meeting.
Chief Financial Officer Luke Mournian gave a presentation regarding Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB). Former Supervisors Buster Johnson and Hildy Angius each had tried since at least 2015 to implement ZBB to no avail, and now Gould is trying. At the March 3rd meeting, Gould agendized an item to instruct the Development Services Department to begin implementing a ZBB for fiscal year 2026. After much push back from Mournian and County Manager Sam Elters, the Board rejected financial transparency and accountability two to three, with only District 2 Supervisor Rich Lettman voting with Gould. Supervisor Gould pointed out that the People are very much in favor of DOGE, the federal Department of Government Efficiency implemented by President Donald Trump.
Also at the March 3rd meeting, the BoS’ Rules of Order were updated. There is no longer a dress code, although it was pointed out that the meetings are broadcast via the County Television District and the FCC rules do restrict some content that could be displayed on clothing. The People continued to object to moving the Call to the Public to the end of the meetings, but that issue fell on deaf ears, again.
Supervisor Lingenfelter brought forward an item regarding the implementation of biannual reporting on the progress of the Mohave County 2023-2028 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. The Board voted to replace restaurants and hospitality with data centers in targeted industry sectors.
The Board voted four to one with Martin dissenting, to split the opioid settlement money equally amongst the five districts, similar to the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. County Manager Elters complained that it strained staff’s capabilities when working to implement the many requests of the Supervisors for the ARPA projects. Supervisor Borrelli asked for some parmesan on the word salad given by Elters. Lingenfelter told whiny Elters “ I think you’re overcomplicating it ”.