INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The general improvement district Board of Trustees on Wednesday, May 12, voted to move forward with phase two and three of the Mountain Golf Cart Path Restoration project.

The board unanimously moved to award the construction contracts and other related contracts for the project, and spent much of the meeting discussing the need for a management consulting firm and the bids that came in from the request for proposal that Trustee Sara Schmitz and staff worked on. 

Overall, there were three RFP responses, but ultimately the decision boiled down to whether or not the board was interested in pursing engagement with Moss Adams, who the district has previously worked with in the past. 

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Trustee Ray Tulloch and Schmitz were apart of the intensive interview committee that went through the candidates, and felt that Moss Adams was a strong contender to help the district. 

There were five scopes of work that were described in the RFP put out by the district, including a strategic plan review, internal controls reviews, a review of the financial softwares and other systems, organizational and staffing structure reviews, and review of current policies. 

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Trustee Michaela Tonking had concerns about Moss Adams’ ability to assist the district in a review of the financial software systems, which was echoed by Trustee David Noble. 

General Manager Indra Winquest, who also served on the interview committee, did not feel the process was competitive.

“Overall, I feel this was not a competitive RFP process and that we should go back out on this engagement to see if we can get additional and possibly more qualified consultants to submit,” said Winquest. 

Winquest and Tonking suggested that the district take the scope of work related to software systems and create a separate RFP for the work in order to find someone who specializes in the systems already used by the district in order to yield the best results. 

Schmitz gave some background on the agenda item, explaining that it was brought forward in order to meet the needs of staff, who are currently struggling with the Tyler Munis software utilized by the district. 

“It is important that we are addressing the needs of staff,” said Schmitz. 

She also agreed that a separate bid for software systems was needed, and expressed her disappointment in Tyler Munis representatives not responding to her request for them to bid on their initial RFP. 

The board decided to accept the scope of work for Moss Adams without the financial software systems aspect, which would be reviewed with Moss Adams for further detail and is to come back at a future meeting. 

The meeting began with a report from marketing manager of the district’s community services venues Paul Raymore, who gave a general report that detailed the responsibilities of the marketing team for IVGID, along with their general operating budget for fiscal year 2023/24. 

The board requested more consistent data to read through and are looking for a cohesive, end of the year round up on results from projects and promotions that were run throughout the year. That being said, Chairman Matthew Dent was appreciative of the budget that was presented to them. 

“I do like the fact that the baseline budget and the tentative budget for 2024 shows a 10% reduction,” said Dent. “I’m glad that you guys heard what we asked for and applied that to marketing, especially if we’re not spending the money over the last five years, we’re constantly over budgeting. It’s nice to see us get rid of that budget.” 

The consent calendar faced some changes, with only two of the seven items remaining after board members requested some be taken off. The public hearing date of the water and sewer fee amendments was set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 14, and a contract with Clean Tahoe was approved. 

The meeting minutes formally on the consent calendar were moved to general business in order for Schmitz to make some minor edits, which led to a larger conversation about the need to discuss what format the meeting minutes come in, which was added to the long range calendar. 

The board also approved the change order for professional services for the redevelopment of the district’s website YourTahoePlace, and suggested that the scope of work being done by the marketing department be expanded to include more of the district’s venues. 

During discussion of edits that were made to the disclosure of community groups policy that was created by legal counsel at the direction of the board, Tonking and Noble felt the need for senior level management to disclose their participation in outside for-profits, not-for-profits, and nonprofits was unnecessary. 

Currently, the disclosure policy would require the trustees, the general manager, and senior level employees to disclose their participation in relevant outside organizations. 

“I’m trying to figure out what is the problem we’re trying to fix,” said Noble. “To me, there doesn’t seem to be any problem that we’re trying to fix right now that has been expressed in discussions of this.” 

Tonking agreed and openly announced that she would be voting against the policy, as did Noble. 

“I do not believe it should apply to employees,” said Tonking. “I also think it’s deterring people from being involved in our community.” 

Tulloch and Schmitz didn’t see it as a deterrent, but as a protection to staff.

“This is not to be a deterrent in any way,” said Schmitz. “It’s for transparency.” 

The item went back for further edits and will be brought back at the next board meeting. 

To see the entire agenda and meeting visit http://www.yourtahoeplace.com/ivgid/board-of-trustees/meetings-and-agendas.