Author Archives: admin

Why does IVGID pay golf fees for some voters?

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

While on a trip from the U.S. to Malaysia, I sat by a construction project manager. The flight is long, and we began chatting about work. When I could tell a rapport was developing, I asked one of my favorite questions: what is the worst project which you’ve been on – the project from hell?  He took a deep breath and said,” a hospital built in Taiwan.” It turned out that Taiwan has much more corruption than I knew. The project manager was told he  HAD to buy windows from a certain vendor – even if those windows did not … Continue reading →

Nevada Globe investigates IVGID

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

The Nevada Globe is investigating IVGID. Numerous ethics complaints filed against General Manager allege misuse of $693,000 in public funds. Read the full story here. The Nevada Journal published an article – IVGID’s efforts to conceal public records gets bizarre: Staff blandly admits felony-level destruction of email records. It is republished here under the Creative Commons license.

Continue reading →

Why were emails in the Mark Smith lawsuit kept secret?

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

Why did the Incline Village General Improvement District fight for years to keep its emails secret in the Mark Smith lawsuit? Some history: Longtime resident Mark Smith sued IVGID in 2018 because he was not getting straight answers to questions he had regarding IVGID’s contract with Reno Disposal DBA Incline Sanitation “Waste Management”. Some emails have been released. But others have not, under the guise of “attorney client privilege.” A recent lawsuit win for residents of Billings, Montana prompted us to examine what may be the real reason for not disclosing the emails: the franchise fees that IVGID receives from … Continue reading →

Trustee attacked | GM gets 12.5% raise

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

The June 8, 2022 IVGID Board Meeting will go down in the annals of Incline Village history as a day of infamy. At the opening public comment, Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID) Trustee Sara Schmitz was ridiculed by a former Trustee, Peter Morris, for lacking the mental capacity to be a Trustee and for being an “agitator”. Chair Callicrate made no objection to these comments even though he had told the public at the prior Board meeting that character assassination “would not be tolerated”. Instead, he chastised members of the public for audibly objecting to Morris’ personal attack. Not … Continue reading →

IVGID Chair and GM COLLUSION: BEACH ACCESS GIVEAWAY

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

To paraphrase Yogi Bera:  Incline beaches are too crowed – so residents don’t go there. So why was an agenda item placed on the IVGID Board of Trustees Consent Calendar [May 26, 2022] to give the General Manager virtually uncontrolled authority to GIVE AWAY recreational venue access? That would include THE BEACHES! The Consent Calendar means the Trustees do not discuss the item.  They just vote. And a yes is expected (consent = agree). The agenda is created by the General Manager with input from the Chair of the Board of Trustees, Tim Callicrate. The agenda item was written by … Continue reading →

Why are our beaches so crowded – Part 2

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

    Have you ever heard of “encroachment”? It means “to take over the rights or property of another little by little or in secret.” That is exactly what is going on with our beaches.   The problem is the Trustees have no intention of making things right – by following the original beach deed. Increasing revenue and being thanked for giving favors….it can be quite seductive.  Worse, the Trustees want to make you think they will do the right thing. In reality, the changes they propose do VERY LITTLE to rollback the encroachment of your beach deed rights.   … Continue reading →

Who is running for IVGID Trustees? (2022)

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

Six candidates are running for two positions on the Board of Trustees of the Incline Village General Improvement District. IVGID has revenues of about $39 million and over 900 full-time and seasonal employees. IVGID is the largest general improvement district in Northern Nevada. Special districts like IVGID have “little accountability”, as humorist John Oliver reveals in his video, “What’s so special about special districts?”  Oliver says, “Think of a special district like a cult.  It can take your money and you may not even be aware you’re in one.” To describe special districts, the State Auditor for Kentucky coined the … Continue reading →

Why are our beaches so crowded?

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

The IVGID Board is soon to take up an issue that may dramatically affect the value of your Incline property. Few Incline residents have heard of “Ordinance 7”: the regulation for access to our private beaches. If you drive by Sand Harbor during summer, you know the private, restricted access beaches in Incline Village are a unique asset. You may not know that the County Commissioners enacted an ordinance allowing unlimited short-term-vacation-rentals (STRs) in unincorporated Washoe County. At present there are over 600 STRs Incline Village. Our village is the only place in the Tahoe basin that has no limit … Continue reading →

Who do we want running IVGID?

Our Incline Village Crystal Bay Voice Posted on by

by Mike Abel Mr. Callicrate was, prior to the beginning of March this year, well aware that he is term limited out as a trustee (12 years of holding one office) for the upcoming election. Despite this, he filed to run as a candidate for Trustee in the coming election with the Washoe Registrar.    The CONSTITUTIONAL ARTICLE on term limits  Article 15, Section 3(2) of the State Constitution was affirmed in the Miller v Burk case of 2008 which Callicrate was also made aware prior to his filing for office with the Washoe Registrar. The 12-year rule was affirmed … Continue reading →