September 15th
Elections Director Allen Tempert gave a presentation on his testing of the Runbeck “Ballot Guard” enhanced security ballot that the Board had previously voted to use, and it performed poorly with a high rejection rate. Tempert suggested a possible alternative product made by ProVote Solutions. Options will be explored. No action was taken.
District 5 Supervisor Ron Gould was the lone “no” vote to increase funding for the courthouse remodel by roughly $300k, a 10% increase over the cost estimate from 2023.
Former Board Attorney, Chief Deputy Civil Attorney, Ryan Esplin became a new Judge Pro Tempore with the County’s Superior Court. He, along with local attorney Michele Holden were given the approval by the Board of Supervisors and were officially sworn in on October 6th.
The Building Code was amended to exempt permits for residential reroofs utilizing the same existing roofing material and to exempt the replacement of residential structural roof decking with a maximum of 128 square feet or ten percent (10%) of the roof surface, whichever is greater.
With the much anticipated upcoming retirement of County Manager Sam Elters, the Board has agreed to work with the Human Resources department rather than hire a head hunter. After much discussion, with District 5 Supervisor Gould reminding the other Board members that they were elected to run the county, and the department heads should not be “gatekeepers” filtering applications, the Board agreed that they will review applications and each will choose their top three, then let the advisory board weigh in independently before the Supervisors make a final decision.
District 1 Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter proposed changes to the county personnel policy regarding meal reimbursement during travel. Employees who travel 40 miles or greater, instead of the previous 75 miles, from their home and duty post and be in a travel status for more than six hours will qualify for meal reimbursement.
The “Call to the Public” was cut short when Mohave Free Press Editor Jennifer Esposito, a candidate for District 4 supervisor in 2028, was speaking. Chairman Lingenfelter interrupted and asked Esposito if her comments were within the jurisdiction of the public body pursuant to ARS 38-431, however there is nothing in that statute that allows preemptive restriction on speech based on perceived but not yet spoken words at an open “Call to the Public. The law does “allow individuals to address the public body on any issue within the jurisdiction of the public body”, and “any issue” is usually broadly construed. Lingenfelter, who had already been found to have violated Open Meeting Law (OML) while on the Kingman City Council, has received OML training on multiple occasions and had previously received legal advice in 2021 on allowing public comments. When Esposito attempted to continue speaking during her allotted three minutes Lingenfelter promptly gaveled the meeting to a close.
October 6th
The Board made a proclamation to honor Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on September 10th. District 5 Supervisor Ron Gould requested the proclamation be read into the record.
The Building Code was amended to allow additional attached and detached accessory residences, due to a change in state statute, see article on page 3.
Supervisor Gould proposed a new ordinance limiting the development of data centers. Mohave Electric Cooperative CEO, Tyler Carlson, had reached out to Supervisor Gould advising that the co-op would not be able to provide electric to a proposed data center in their coverage area. This prompted the Supervisor to look into the necessary elements for the resource-sucking technology. In an effort to prevent companies from purchasing cheap land in Mohave County and draining our limited, precious resources, Supervisor Gould proposed limiting data centers to those who could provide their own on-site energy and dry-cooling technologies. Supervisors Don Martin and Sonny Borrelli opposed the item as written, apparently not understanding this was a draft that could be revised later, and would lead to a conversation that the Board could not have outside of the meeting. “Scotty” McClure of Bullhead City reminded the Board of the “Road to Nowhere” that was created when former Supervisor Jean Bishop and Economic Development Director Tami Ursenbach had advocated for the Beehive Data Center that fizzled. The County ultimately lost nearly $750,000 on that failed project. The currently proposed ordinance was tabled by the Board and will be brought back at a future date in a modified form after further research.