Political Platform Backed by Recall Supporters

 

Political Platform Backed by The Committee to

Recall Trustees Schmitz and Dent

 

BACKGROUND ON THE RECALL EFFORT – The Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID), was established in 1961, and chartered to provide water, sewer, and trash services to Incline Village and portions of Crystal Bay. Over the next 60 years, its mission grew to support recreation services and venues for the communities of Incline Village and Crystal Bay, Nevada.  Recent actions by the Board of Trustees (BOT) majority have taken IVGID on a path that is negatively affecting those who live and work in Incline Village.

 

• The Board majority has moved away from sound and proven policies of the last 50+ years for governing financial planning, management of recreation facilities, and employee relations, in favor of policies championed by a vocal minority. This is at the expense of the broader community.

 

• They’ve led a movement away from the successful model of managing recreational venues as a portfolio of mutually reliant and sustaining venues to a model where venue operations must stand on their own.

 

• At the same time, leaving their sustainability at risk by stripping many of these venues of much needed recreational fees for upkeep, improvement, and expansion.

 

• They have slashed employee benefits and micromanaged District staff, usurping the authority of seasoned professionals, eroding staff morale and creating a toxic work environment. This has led to dangerous and unprecedented departures of senior staff across virtually all functions, creating a general health and welfare public safety emergency.

 

They have made these moves despite feedback from the majority of community members who have expressed overwhelming pushback. This led to an effort to recall two of the offending Trustees (Trustees Sara Schmitz and Matthew Dent) who were eligible for RECALL given their election in 2020.

 

The Committee leading the Recall wants Incline Village to be governed for the benefit of those who work and live in the area. Our vision the way IVGID should be operated is as follows: “We support fiscally responsible investment in, and maintenance of, superior utility infrastructure/services and community-owned recreational facilities and programs in order to make Incline Village an attractive place to live, work, and invest. We support the operating model for recreational facilities that has made the community successful over the past five decades, one that manages the collection of venues for the benefit of the community as a whole.” Not surprisingly, this vision is fairly consistent with the mission statement set forth on the homepage of IVGID’s website.

 

Below is a summary of the platform that supports this vision. We will vet potential Trustee candidates against this platform. We support:

 

• Proactive investment to maintain and improve the operating capacity and efficiency of our utility infrastructure. We have a bias for action as opposed to the paralysis we’ve seen from recent Trustees.

 

• A District operating model where Trustees operate in an oversight and guidance role. A model where the Board, acting through consensus decisions, is responsible for managing the General Manager (GM), working with the GM and his/her designees to develop clear annual and longer-term strategic priorities and plans, and then moving aside to allow the GM and the staff to execute against those priorities/plans.

 

• Fair and Equitable treatment of IVGID employees, including:

 

o Compensation and benefits informed by market conditions. We will utilize access to our superior recreational facilities/programs as a tool to attract and retain talent, including engaging parcel owners in a transparent discussion and referendum to allow beach access to non-resident employees.

 

o An environment free of harassment of any type, where offenders are held accountable and where consequences are clear and decisive.

 

o Reinstating and strengthening Silver and Gold card policy in recognition of years of long service.

 

• Preservation of the Incline Village Beach Deed restricting access to beaches in our community. Investigation of options that may be available to allow IVGID employees access to the beaches as long as this can be done without jeopardizing the beach deed.

 

• Support for efforts to encourage Washoe County to limit the expansion of STRs into our neighborhoods, and strictly enforce STR regulations.

 

• Proactive, smart investment in the recreational facilities owned and operated by the District that will enhance the quality of life of Incline Village residents and the attractiveness of Incline Village as a residential community. For example, we will prioritize the replacement of aged and dysfunctional dining facilities at Incline Beach and Diamond Peak’s Snowflake Lodge, expansion of the Rec Center to support more programming, refurbishment/reconstruction of tennis and pickleball courts, along with ongoing maintenance and improvements at the golf facilities to retain their premier status.

 

• The view that we are a common interest community, and as such, that the recreational venues and other assets owned and managed by the District are made available primarily for the benefit of the community as a whole. As such we support the return to an ongoing collection of a reasonable annual facility fee from all parcel holders that will provide the necessary level of investment needed for the venues. In addition, operating policies related to the venues (pricing, preferential access, etc.) should prioritize residents, their guests, and our employees, with visitor pricing being informed by our competitive peer group.

 

• A “portfolio” approach to managing our recreational facilities that seeks to operate the recreational venues as a mutually reliant and sustaining set of venues at the total District level. We support the utilization of the facility fee, along with excess funds from the more commercially viable venues, to subsidize those venues that cannot generate sufficient funds on their own. We DO NOT support the view that each venue should stand on its own.

 

• A Board of Trustees that partners with, and is accountable to, the residents and other property owners of Incline Village. To demonstrate this, we support the following set of operating procedures:

 

o Public release of all reports and presentations at least seven (7) working days before meetings to facilitate community input.

 

o Seeking valuable input from the community through not only public comments, but also through on-going and ad-hoc committees of informed and engaged parcel owners and residents to address crucial aspects of IVGID administration, including; capital and operating budgeting, employee relations/retention, utility, and recreational infrastructure.

 

o A responsive and responsible approach to public records requests that recognizes residents’ right to access IVGID information, but does so in a way that compensates IVGID for abusive behavior. Specifically, we support the development of a policy that allows all residents the ability to make a reasonable number of requests free-of-charge but institutes a cost recovery charge for requests that exceed a to-be-defined reasonable number of requests.

 

o Adherence to Nevada Open Meetings rules, including a process to facilitate monthly reports by the General Counsel summarizing conversations occurring between trustees outside of Board meetings on topics recently on or reasonably expected to be on, the Board Agenda within the next 90 days.

 

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