Of the 54 people who have applied for a position on the Douglas County Stormwater Utility Task Force, only two list a connection to Lake Tahoe and neither are residents.
Douglas County commissioners are scheduled to discuss the makeup of the task force at their 10 a.m. meeting on Thursday.
Commissioners voted to establish a task force at their June 18 meeting. The task force’s goal is to come up with options and recommendations for the proposed utility, then ran into significant public opposition in May.
The report prepared by Assistant County Manager Wendy Lang notes the lack of representation among the applicants from Lake Tahoe residents, business owners or stakeholders.
She suggested the board may wish to limit the task force’s composition to East Fork Township or consider other ways Lake Tahoe stakeholders could engage in the process.
“Focused efforts might include collaboration with other organizations, such as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and the Stateline Stormwater Association,” she said. “Alternatively, the board may wish to provide further direction to staff regarding the solicitation of additional applicants for the Tahoe Basin.”
There is also the question of who would facilitate the meetings and whether to pull that person from the list of applicants.
In a memo to commissioners by County Manager Jenifer Davidson and Lang, it was reiterated that the task force would function under the Nevada Open Meeting Law, where meetings would be subject to public noticing.
The task force would be given broad latitude as far as its recommendations, including community input, budgeting, operations, framework, governance, funding sources and structure and credits.
While commissioners indicated they would be open to up to 13 members on the task force, Davidson and Lang are recommending nine members, with 3-5 residents representing different sized parcels in each of the county’s three watersheds, an agricultural producer, two business representatives and one builder. The task force would meet for 3-6 months.
“The county recognizes that the feedback received through this process has highlighted the importance of affordability, equity, accountability and meaningful public participation in the development of any long-term funding strategy,” according to the memo.
“The task force is intended to support a more deliberative and inclusive review process that allows additional time for evaluation, discussion and refinement of potential approaches.”
