Does a City of Incline Village make sense?

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UPDATE Sept 4, 2023: Local control of short-term rentals (STR)  has  been cited as one of the reasons for a city. But residents might have the power to take control – through the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District. The Hawaii Lahaina fire on Maui demonstrates the devastation of fire. The NLTFPD has the ability to set separate ordinances for its boundaries. Pursuant to Article 19, Section 2(3) of the Nevada Constitution, statutory initiative petitions to appear before the 2023 Legislature may be filed on or after January 1, 2022. To qualify for the ballot, petitioners must obtain the signatures … Continue reading →

REDACTED: Two emails – a must read

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Why are emails often requested by reporters? Because they reveal so much. About the authors. About relationships. About the organization(s) involved. And emails are available.  As the Nevada Independent reported in 2018, government employees’ emails  are public record – EVEN IF THEIR OWN DEVICES ARE USED. “The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that personal devices, such as cell phones or data stored on a server, used by public officials are subject to disclosure rules under the state’s public records law.” “In a unanimous decision published Thursday, the state’s highest court reversed a decision by Washoe County District Court Judge Steven … Continue reading →

Facts on TWO Gymnasium Projects: IVGID’s and Ponderosa Athletics’ (Cheryl & Dave Duffield)

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[Update Oct 20, 2022 INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The special meeting for the general improvement district in regards to the Recreation Center Expansion Project has been moved to 5:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, at the Chateau in Incline Village…. https://www.tahoedailytribune.com/news/ivgid-meeting-moved-to-monday-duffield-foundation-discusses-grant-termination/ ] Facts can get in the way of people who want to blame someone for a failure.  So here are the actual facts on the Recreation Center Expansion Project. There was never a $25 million commitment from Cheryl & David Duffield. Duffield already had a gymnasium project planned for 1100 Tahoe Blvd; the timeline with TRPA approval occured August 24, … Continue reading →

Why does IVGID pay golf fees for some voters?

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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

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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.

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Why were emails in the Mark Smith lawsuit kept secret?

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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

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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

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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

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    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 →