County working to complete required mapping

Nevada Daily Mail

The Vernon County Commission faces a decision after meeting with the county's geographic information system director Tim Bourassa and county assessor Cherie Roberts Wednesday afternoon concerning their lack of compliance with a memorandum from the State Tax Commission.

Roberts said they have been out of compliance more than seven years concerning their GIS mapping, which Bourassa started work on during that time while also providing other information technology assistance to the county.

Because the digital mapping has not been completed, the tax commission recently sent Vernon County a memorandum saying they are required to contract out the completion of the task or the county will not receive more than $63,000 in reimbursements they are owed for the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years.

Bourassa said in most recent months the process was delayed by construction in his office as well as efforts to make sure the GIS information being developed remains closed records. Although staff has been added to Bourassa and Roberts' offices this year, neither is trained for GIS mapping nor fully trained for their new position, preventing Bourassa from focusing solely on the mapping.

"There's a lot to take in," Bourassa said of the training needed for mapping. "It's not like setting up a computer in your house."

Bourassa said he is ready to see the task complete, whether he finishes it or another group, adding he is ready to be in compliance and no longer under the pressure of the tax commission.

Vernon County will have decide on a course of action by June 12, request bids by June 30, and then sign a contract with an outside team by Sept. 15, if they are to receive that full reimbursement this year, otherwise, budget adjustment would have to be made for the tax assessor's office since that reimbursement had already been factored in.

Roberts said in previous years when they accepted bids for the job, they came in at about $125,000 to complete the entire process. Because Bourassa has already completed a portion of the task, the commission decided they would rather contract with a GIS-trained individual for about six months instead of with a company, which would cost more and also may not complete it for 18 months to three years because of the backlog of counties and other entities in need of the service.

The commissioners determined such a decision probably would not be worth it since they would be spending more than they will be reimbursed. They will first see if the tax commission would allow them to contract with an individual instead of a company, otherwise they may overlook the reimbursement in order to complete it on their own.

"Why spend more than that when we can finish it?" presiding commissioner Joe Hardin pointed out.

Bourassa said as soon as the project is finished he believes they will once again begin receiving reimbursements from the tax commission.

The commission also received a disaster related land use plan from the Kaysinger Basin Regional Planning Commission. The plan was created using state funding left over from 2008 and came at no cost to the county.

Austin Mount of Kaysinger Basin said they began working on the plan over a year ago, contacting county emergency services leaders such as fire chiefs and others for the data and mapping out regions of the area. Mount went over the plan, made up of four sections, and encouraged the commissioners to review the plan and give them feedback on any changes that might need to be made.

The first section of the plan included information on natural disasters that have occurred in Vernon County, such as tornadoes and flash flooding. The data listed the number of injuries caused by those disasters and, if possible, where they were located.

Other sections gave information and detailed maps of the critical infrastructure in the county such as police and fire departments, whose incapacitation could have negative effects on the county. It also gives up to date information on the number and locations of sirens in the county, available safe rooms and shelters and the flood zones in the county according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's flood plain data.

The final section included proposals concerning actions the county could take if they so desired, such as locations for sirens that would provide the most efficient coverage as well as where safe rooms and shelters could be located, including places such as churches or schools.

"We wanted to do something useful," Mount said of the plan they put together for the county, adding most such plans do not have details concerning the sirens, shelters and other information they provided. "They exist, but nobody ever talks about them in a plan."

Mount said they did four other, similar plans for other counties in their region, which has seven total counties. If Vernon County is interested in seeking grants to pay for portions of the proposals presented in the plan, Mount said there is pre-disaster mitigation funding available, which provides 75 percent of the funding for a project.

The commission will have the remainder of this month to look over the plan and make suggestions for changes.