INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — The Incline Village General Improvement District Board of Trustees voted to move forward with remodeling the upstairs bathrooms at the recreation center, but delayed the locker room remodel project.

The upstairs bathroom project was brought to the board during its April 29 meeting. The board was asked to approve designs that they hadn’t seen. Chairman Tim Callicrate and Trustees Matthew Dent and Sara Schmitz expressed frustration about the process the project had gone through, especially that the board didn’t get to weigh in on the design.

During the Wednesday, May 12 meeting, the project was brought to the board again. One of the main concerns by staff is that the bathrooms are not ADA accessible, and while no one is requiring the district to make the bathrooms accessible, staff felt it was prudent to do so.

The board voted 3-2 to move forward with the project. Schmitz and Dent voted no because of the issues surrounding the process. Callicrate, while still expressing issues with the process, voted yes to move the project forward.

The locker room project ran into the same issues as the bathrooms; it was presented to the board without the board weighing in on design. Director of Public Works Brad Underwood recommended extending the contract with the architect and having them present the design and get feedback from the board.

Trustee Kendra Wong asked that an agenda item be brought forward so the board could clarify the process they’d like to see for projects moving forward.

The board also had a lengthy discussion on gold, silver and employee beach access. Legal counsel Josh Nelson looked into the history and legality of allowing non-resident employee access to the beach.

Gold and silver passes are lifetime passes given to employees after they’ve reached a certain amount of time employed with the district. There are 139 gold and silver pass holders. However, several, including General Manager Indra Winquest, still work for the district and their employee benefits are greater than the gold and silver pass benefits. Therefore, Winquest said they are more ceremonial than anything else, until the employee stops working for the district.

Nelson said these benefits have been given since the late 80s, and are legally allowed under the beach deed because the employees are considered guests of the district.

The board discussed limiting beach access benefits to those pass holders and employees. The consensus was allowing employees and dependents but not guests to have access to the beach. Nelson is going to bring back official language for the board to vote on at the May 26 meeting.

Trustee Michaela Tonking recused herself from the discussion because her sister is an employee of the district.

The board unanimously approved a contract with Clean Tahoe for $40,000 to take over solid waste field response and enforcement duties. The contract allows for 10 hours of work per week and while this is not enough time for the work to be fully completed, it will allow the district to see how the partnership is working out. If it goes well, the district can extend the contract after the first year.

During the meeting, the board received an update on the effluent pipeline and pond lining projects. Granite Construction, which was chosen as the Construction Manager at Risk, has reviewed the history and current state of the pond and pipeline.

They recommend partnering with HDR for the pipeline and Jacob’s Engineering for the pond lining since they have worked on the projects in the past and are familiar with them.

Granite recommends beginning work on the pond lining first so that it can have additional storage space to use during the pipeline project. However, they did say they believe they could start on some repairs of the pipeline at the end of summer 2021.

They also updated the district on a leak that occurred on Monday May 10. They shut down the system overnight and were able to patch the hole and get the system up and running again on Tuesday.

Finally, the board discussed returning to in person meetings by June 9. Logistics still need to be worked out and Winquest will update the board at their May 26 meeting. Unfortunately, food will not be provided at the meetings until further notice.

The board’s next meeting will be held Wednesday May 26.