Top 5 things from the Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting

County Commission approves funds to help seniors with housing, transportation and nutritious meals.

Reno, Nevada. Oct. 27, 2015. The following report highlights several important agenda items from the Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015. Videos of County Commission meetings are replayed regularly on WCTV (Charter Ch. 193). You may also watch videos-on-demand online.

1. County Commission approves funds to support transportation services for low income seniors and the disabled. The County Commission approved $214,409 to Access to Healthcare Network (AHN) that will match a portion of a grant which was awarded to AHN by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) to help low income seniors citizens and those with disabilities.

The first grant will allow AHN to create a transportation help line, utilizing their current call center to provide a centralized coordination hub for all existing, non-emergency transportation services in the community.  The help line will also support non-emergency, RTC-funded transportation services for seniors, individuals with disabilities and other low income, underserved populations. 

“I think the thought was this would be a way to use these services more efficiently and possibly share them across the community,” Washoe County Social Services Director Amber Howell said. “These services typically serve those who are unable or don’t have the means to provide their own transportation and live outside of the ADA area of RTC. They project a volume of 500 additional calls per month which goes to show this is really needed in our community.”

The second grant will provide non-emergency transportation services for seniors and individuals with disabilities and other low income, underserved populations.  Examples of this would include hospital to home, post-discharge in outpatient hospital services, doctor’s appointments, pharmacy pick up of medications or related items, pick up of durable medical equipment.  These clients would use the proposed call center to arrange transportation.  The intent is to do the following:

• Expand para transport services beyond the ¾ mile required by ADA (the ADA area is considered the McCarren loop)
• Enhance the current level of services by providing escorts or assisting riders through the door of their destination
• Provide a greater array of stops

This action taken by the County Commission supports their FY 16-18 Strategic Plan which aims to provide a safe, secure and healthy community.

2. Grants accepted for nutrition programs for seniors. As part of the County’s ongoing effort to help provide nutritious food for Washoe County’s seniors, the County Commission accepted two grants from the Nevada Aging and Disability Services Division for Older Americans Title III-C senior nutrition programs. The grants provide money needed to serve seniors nutritious meals at senior centers and the Meals on Wheels Program.

For the first time in more than a decade, both the congregate and Meals on Wheels programs received an increase in funding which will allow Washoe County to add two new meal sites and expand Meals on Wheels services.  More than 1,300 Washoe County seniors receive a meal. Washoe County Senior Services anticipates providing 425,000 congregate, home delivered and second home delivered meals during the next year to senior citizens over the age of 60 in our community.

3. County Commission approves the renewal of a Continuum of Care Grant Agreement for the Shelter Plus Care Program. The County Commission accepted a Continuum of Care Grant Agreement Renewal from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for the Shelter Plus Care Program. The HUD grant will pay for housing costs associated with bills like rent and utilities. Washoe County is giving matching funds for supportive services related to case management, substance abuse, mental health and counseling.

“We are able to intervene early and are able to maintain these individuals in housing, preventing them from continuing to cycle through the medical and criminal justice systems and when they do exit our program they have gone into permanent  housing,” Howell said.

Howell said about 50 percent of clients are 55 and older and nearly 33 percent of clients were approved for benefits and now have some income.

“These are all such great programs that align with the County’s priorities to help a growing senior population and are extremely beneficial to people in need of assistance. Thank you to all who serve seniors,” said Chair Marsha Berkbigler (Dist. 1 ).

4. Washoe County partners with Nevada Land Trust and Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful to manage and protect the Truckee River.  At Tuesday’s BCC meeting, the Executive Director of Nevada Land Trust (NLT) Alicia Reban and the Executive Director of Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful (KTMB) Christi Cakiroglu talked with the Board about the One Truckee River Initiative which they say would protect the river for future generations.

The One Truckee River Initiative is an effort lead by KTMB and NLT to put into action the One Truckee River Management Plan, aimed at providing stewardship, protection and long-term management of the Truckee River across all jurisdictional boundaries. NLT and KTMB are the lead agencies responsible for providing the plan and are now working to get local government agencies onboard.

“The One Truckee River Initiative’s goal is to promote social, cultural, educational and physical connections between people and the Truckee River,” Reban said. “A collaborative effort by public and private partners to support the One Truckee River Initiative will create more accountability and budget authority to make sure there is annual mapping, treatment and monitoring of the Truckee River."

You can learn more about the One Truckee River Initiative online.

5. The County Commission reviews flash flood response.  A series of severe thunderstorms roared through Washoe County from June 29 to July 8, 2015, dropping large amounts of precipitation in a short amount of time on Silver Knolls, East Prater Way, Mogul, Pleasant Valley, Sun Valley, Gerlach and Lemmon Valley (See video of the storms).

Washoe County Community Services Department Director Dave Solaro said the intense rainfall caused County storm drains to clog and overflow. He said flash flooding damaged landscaping and in some cases and flooded the interior of homes. Washoe County Community Services staff responded by cleaning significant amounts of sediment and debris from the County right of way in the neighborhoods that flooded.

“Washoe County’s storm water conveyance systems are designed to convey the regular and persistent storm water flows from small events and are regulated within Washoe County Code Chapter 110,” Solaro said. “However, this series of storms were extremely intense events producing large volumes of water. In Lemmon Valley, we had a one in 500 chance of this severe of a storm actually happening. Unfortunately, we can’t control nature and many residents were caught in the path of a powerful storm.”

Commissioner Bob Lucey commended Solaro and the roads team on their work to help residents.

“This is a large area and the population is extremely spread out which makes it difficult to respond,” Washoe County Commissioner Bob Lucey (Dist. 5) said. “However, the job Washoe County roads crews did to clean drains and respond to residents' needs is impressive.”

Washoe County has identified funds to help flood victims.

“The County Manager, staff and all Washoe County Commissioners all care deeply for the residents in Lemmon Valley,” Commissioner Jeanne Herman (Dist. 5) said. “We are all working hard to find solutions to help Lemmon Valley residents clean, rebuild and fix the damage done by July’s flash flooding.” 

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