County OKs youth camp emergency water deal
Clark County commissioners approved a $250,000 agreement with a local company to continue supplying emergency water for the Spring Mountain Youth Camp.
The pact OK’d Tuesday will provide water to the camp, whose natural spring dried up earlier this month, for about 38 weeks.
County officials don’t know when the spring might start flowing again. The wait could end next spring, after several years, or be permanent.
The source of the spring is an aquifer that is normally recharged from snow melt on the mountain. With a heavy winter snowfall, the spring could start running again in March or April.
The youth camp, part of the county’s Juvenile Justice Services, is a correctional facility for boys between 12 and 18 years old based in Angels Peak in the Mount Charleston area northwest of Las Vegas. The camp can hold 100 youths, offering a residential program that includes education, life skills and work opportunities on U.S. Forest Service projects.
“This is something we need to look at long term because if it’s not going to get any better we need to decide what we want to do five, 10 years from now,” Commissioner Larry Brown said.
The camp’s water needs are 8,000 to 10,000 gallons a day, which includes water used in the kitchen, washrooms and showers.
When the spring stopped flowing, the county hired Kyle Mountain Fire, a company that does business as Water Pros for potable water. Under the agreement, the costs would include three days of water delivery a week.
If the spring starts flowing before the 38-week period ends, the county wouldn’t be required to keep using the vendor’s services.
Commissioners also approved:
— Fee increases for the Clark County Shooting Complex. The cost for the rifle, pistol and archery range is $10 an hour, up from $8 a person for community and nonprofit groups. For commercial groups, the increase goes from $12 a person to $20 an hour. For nonprofit groups with at least nine bookings a year, the cost is increasing from $5 a person to $8 an hour for using the rifle, pistol or archery ranges. Officials will review the increases next year.
— An ordinance that will allow the county to remove empty, unused news racks located off the Strip. If a news rack is empty for five consecutive working days, the county can put a notice on it and impound the news rack if it’s still empty after five more days and the owner hasn’t contacted the county.
— An ordinance that regulates the medical marijuana industry. Requirements include keeping signage at least 1,000 feet away from schools and not using advertising that caters to minors or implies the medical marijuana is for recreational purposes.
Contact Ben Botkin at bbotkin@reviewjournal.com or 702-405-9781. Find him on Twitter: @BenBotkin1.
