Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council (2025)

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

Post Office Box 256

Nixon, Nevada 89424

Telephone: (775) 574-1000

Fax (775) 574-1054

SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES

Tribal Chambers ~ Nixon, NV

June 6, 2025, Special

Members Present:

Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman Edward Ely III, Vice Chairman

Loren Decker, Councilmember Judith Davis, Councilmember

Nicholas Cortez, Councilmember Nathan Dunn, Councilmember

Georgina Wadsworth, Councilmember John Guerrero, Councilmember

Della John, Councilmember Ceira Sampson, Councilmember

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Wadsworth called the June 6, 2025, Special Tribal Council meeting of the Pyramid Lake Paiute

Tribal Council to order at 3:04 p.m.

ROLL CALL

Brenda Henry, Tribal Secretary, took the roll call. All Councilmembers were present at the roll call and a

quorum was established for this meeting.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Chairman Wadsworth read the agenda with no changes noted.

Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve the agenda for June 6, 2025, Special meeting. Vice Chairman Ely

seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION

PASSED

PUBLIC COMMENT No public comment.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Discussion Pyramid Lake Police Department. Chris Parsons, Chief of Police, Pyramid Lake Police

Department (PLPD)

Chief Parsons thanked the Council for allowing him to provide important information for this discussion.

Before he gets into his discussion, he provided the Council with some positive things that came up recently.

He is on the Nevada Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) Task Force that comprises of tribal,

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June 6, 2025, Special minutes

state and federal partners, and they discuss the issues throughout the State regarding MMIP and how they

can resolve them. One item they have been dealing with over the past year is getting Tribal restraining

orders served on the State side. They have been battling this issue for a year trying to get the State Attorney

General’s Office on board because the State side didn’t feel they could enforce a tribal order. If a Tribal

member gets a restraining order, they will have to tell them to go to the State side for one which they

shouldn’t have to do. Surprisingly, they found State NRS 33.085 which is already on the books, that nobody

knew of which orders State Officers to enforce tribal protection orders. This was something the Attorney

General’s Office didn’t know. He’s talked to the Court, and they will start putting this information on their

restraining orders when the order is presented to a State Officer, they will have that information to refer to.

It clearly states a tribal or State Officer will enforce a tribal protection order on face value, so it doesn’t have

to be confirmed in NCIC National Database which is another issue because most tribes don’t have access to

that database, but Pyramid Lake does have access, and the Tribal Court is doing this. He also teaches at

both State Academies, jurisdiction and tribal country and includes this information to new recruits. This

information was originally adopted in 2001, and they are currently assisting other tribes in trying to tap

into the Tribal Access Program.

Councilmember John asked when the Tribal Police issue a DUI, for example, does that charge go into the

NCIC before they get a court hearing? Chief Parsons responded no it doesn't, for Tribal arrests, when they

take them to county jail and they are booked in, they are booked under code 99999 which means nothing.

Since they are only housing the individual, they are not technically booking them, so they use a generic

code.

Chief Parsons noted due to the budget crisis, he was just notified about issues with their contract for the

forensic lab at Washoe County Sheriff's Office. This is hurting their testing of narcotics. The contract is

$40,000 and they test for drugs, DNA, fingerprints but what they use it for 99% of the time is drugs for

court. He can’t do that contract this year unless it’s a federal crime, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)

or Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is not going to test it. In speaking to the prosecutor, there is a grant

opportunity through the State which just came available, called a True Narc System. It’s a device which he is

not sure how it’s done but it sends a light through the product, and it will tell you what it is, and the results

have proven accurate. They will be using this device in lieu of the testing but of course, with large amounts,

that is federal crime which they won’t have to worry about. He will be picking the device up in a couple of

weeks. Not to steal Will Adler’s, Silver State Government Relations, thunder, but in speaking with him, he

asked if they needed anything from the State for Interlocal Agreements and he told him the State already

has Interlocal Agreements mentioning tribes that allows them to go to the State for assistance but the

problem is the waiver of sovereignty, hence the animal control agreement because Pyramid Lake will not

waiver anything. Because the Reno Sparks Indian Colony sign the same contract, how does he compel the

Counties to sign it when the Tribe won't, so they are at a standstill. He was going to have this same issue

with Churchill County for the jail contract. So, Mr. Adler took this issue back to a committee and he gota

senator or assemblyman to put it into a bill, AB 392 and it came out of the Assembly, went to the Senate and

was approved, then it went to the Governor’s Office on May 29, 2025. He read the bill, “if a governing body

of a county or agency therefore enters into an agreement or contract pursuant to the provisions of this

section, inconclusive such an agreement must be a conditional interlocal agreement which must not require

tribal government to waive sovereign immunity. Must authorize the governing body of the county or

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agency thereof to terminate the agreement by providing a tribal government 90 days advance written

notice upon occurrence of any of the following conditions. He is not positive that the Governor has signed

the bill but since it was unanimously approved by both the House and the Senate, he thinks the Governor

will sign.

Chief Parsons informed the Council he has been in law enforcement for 38 years in Nevada, an enforcement

executive for 18 years and has been through and seen recessions. Seeing and realizing the Tribe was going

to have a major funding issue this coming year, and now the issue with the federal government has him

concerned. He’s been the Tribe’s Chief of Police for 10 years and being the Tribe’s law enforcement

technical advisor, he felt it was important to convey to the Council what he sees coming down the road to

provide the information to make those important decisions. He has been having conversations with the

Chairman a couple of times a month. Tonight, he is only doing a presentation and is not asking for anything,

he just wanted to get the conversation started and if the Council wants to talk more about it they can

schedule another meeting. These are only his ideas but maybe the Council has their own. He will be

discussing funding and hiring and retention issues because they all go hand in hand. He is going to go

through current and future funding issues, current and future staffing levels, current and future services,

hire and retention issues with possible solutions.

Chief Parsons explained in 2025 the Tribe implemented a 20% across the board budget cut to all funded

programs, the budget cut is actually closer to 30% if you calculate the 2025 increased IDC. For the 2026

fiscal year, the current outlook looks worse than 2025 where the Tribe’s existing revenue stream is flat.

The current outlook for federal funding is worse, with many grants and support services that tribes and the

Tribe rely on are being cut. It will take several years to recover from the 2025 budget cuts, let alone

multiple year cuts with the 20-30% cuts. The Reservation is approximately 750 square miles, 90 miles of

State and Tribal roadways. That is a lot of roadways to patrol. With three communities separated by 15

plus miles each and 40 miles between Sutcliffe and Wadsworth. If he only has one officer on duty that is a

substantial distance to drive. There are approximately 3,000 residents, Tribal, non-tribal and non-native

within the boundaries of the Reservation. There are approximately 3,000 people during the weekends, and

a transient population that exceeds 1,000 individuals.

Chief Parsons continued with Sacred Visions Housing Development which is currently under construction

and acknowledges it’s badly needed. The Brady Hill Housing Development is in a planning stage, along with

the Basin Housing Development (not sure if those are their actual names), once completed those housing

developments will increase Reservation population by more than 1,000 residents and that is being

conservative. Something to think about.

Moving to Historical staffing and funding levels, Chief Parsons stated in 2010 there were 15 Police Officers

and 4 Rangers, which was before his time, he came on in 2015. Currently they are funded for 10 Police

Officers and 3 Rangers but have 9 Police Officers and 2 Rangers. Two employees have left in the last two

months; he foresees losing another Officer in a couple of months. It takes 8-12 months to train and hire a

new Officer or a Ranger who has applied that is qualified and passes background plus other qualifications

that need to be done, it usually takes a year. According to the US Bureau of Labor staffing level for this

Reservation at 3,000 residents, the appropriate staffing level for Law Enforcement Program is 14 Police

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Officers and 4 Rangers. Staffing level target, this is something he identified when he came on in 2015,

should be at 12 Police Officers and 4 Rangers. This is something they have been trying to accomplish for the

last 10 years. With the staff staying an average of 3 years, the Law Enforcement Program has never been

able to achieve the 12/4 ratio. He loses officers before he gets to that point plus, he is losing three this year.

Within two years he has lost four within a six-month period, it’s a difficult situation and very expensive to

keep hiring and training. It can cost up to $100,000 just waiting for them to be ready and there is some

equipment that can’t be reused. Currently they have 10 Officers which include him and that is sworn

Officers and for the Rangers it includes the Ranger Supervisor. The BIA funds six Officers, it should only be

five, but they are running one heavy because they had a grant that expired and had to move that person

somewhere where they had enough funds to handle it, but they are monitoring it. They have two Officers

on a grant which is for another two years. The Council authorized two Officers to be funded from the Opioid

fund this year and that fund will be exhausted this year which saved them a little funding this year. They

are currently funded for three Rangers, with two funded by the Tribe and one under the Opioid fund for

this year. For the 2026 budget, if the budget remains the same and the Opiod fund runs out and if the grant

that Victim Services has applied from the Office of Violence Against Women grant which funds two Officers

to help investigate domestic violence and items of that nature, is not funded because it is not a guarantee,

they will drop down to seven officers because that is what they can fund. Five through the BIA and two

funded by the Tribe. An overview of the Police Services of what they can do and accomplish. For 2025, with

10 staff going down to nine, they are able to provide 24-hour coverage, granted it may be only one officer.

They can still investigate major crimes who they commit in conjunction with the FBI and BIA. If they wait

for BIA, it could be a 2-3 day wait, so they have a working relationship with them to start on the

investigation right away. They call them, update them on the crime and start working on it. They do most of

the leg work and report on all the Tribe’s major crimes and they have been successful in the last 2-3 years

when it comes to getting prosecutions in US District Court, which is where their felonies are prosecuted.

They are still able to investigate domestic violence, child and elder abuse. What he means by “investigate” is

follow up because these cases can take days, if not weeks of follow up. They need to keep working with

Social Services and Victim Services to help support the victim through the court process because

information keeps coming out. Very intensive investigations, especially with kids, mainly because they

don’t make good witnesses and sometimes, they are not reported for years. Drug interdiction, they are

hitting it every way they can. Are they ever going to get rid of drugs? No, they are not but they keep at it

because it’s everywhere. Traffic Safety Enforcement, they haven’t had any Tribal fatalities for a while,

which unfortunately they had a rash of them. They are providing Court Security and Transport; they have

someone at the Court when they are in session. They are providing Court Transports for Tribal inmates.

They provide extra coverage for summer holiday weekends, just went through Memorial Day and the

Fourth of July is going to be heavy then there is Burning Man, for three weeks the staff is working

continuously through the three communities with all the cars going through. They are collaborating with

the schools, other Tribal programs and community have become minimized due to lack of staffing, but they

are still collaborating but not at the level they would like. 2025 Ranger Services, reporting with three staff

members when they only have two, they are able to provide 12 hours of daily coverage, they don’t runa

swing shift, only day shift but they do 12 hours, so they respond. They are able to respond to the beach

monitors when they call, they are able to respond to environmental and ARPA crimes, they are still able to

check restricted areas at least once per day but generally, they're doing daily checks in Wadsworth for

boundary violations, there are a lot of people sneaking along the river, coming in from Fernley. The

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development by Love’s seems to be pushing people this way because that is where they used to be camping.

They are trying to get to the north territory at least once a week because that is an all-day affair for

someone to go up there. That’s a lot of countries up there and they find some strange things occurring out

there, abandoned cars, burned out cars, and people use it as a transit from California to Gerlach and it really

needs more attention, but they are unable to do that. Response to water emergencies, for the boat they

need two to operate and they need to be certified which is a problem because having to find overtime and

personnel to do the training. Responding to animal issues, especially when the Animal Control Officer is off

because he only works 4-5 days a week. When he is off, it defaults to the Rangers and then to the Police

Officers. There will be minimal coverall for summer holiday weekends and Burning Man because they just

don’t have the staff.

Projecting for 2026, with seven staff, should be able to provide 24-hour coverage if no one calls in sick and

no one’s on vacation. Major crimes will be referred to by the FBI and BIA, they won’t be able to do much

with these except to respond initially, any follow up or continuation will have to go to those agencies. Same

thing with domestic violence, child and elder abuse, they will struggle with these, with child abuse cases

they receive SCAR reports from Social Services once a week, sometimes two reports a week. With these

reports, which could be occurring now, or some may be reported now but they occurred two years ago but

still they have to be looked into. There will be minimal drug interdiction and the same with traffic safety

enforcement, and court security. They will have to pull that person off if there is a call and either the

Detective Sargeant or himself will have to cover the court. Summer holiday weekend and Burning Man

coverage will be minimal. They can have all the overtime for Burning Man but if he only has five people, he

will have to respond to calls for service. Collaboration will end because they don’t have people to provide

the coverage. For the Ranger staff for 2026, they can work 12 hours daily but if someone calls in sick or

takes vacation, he hopes he has another officer on duty to cover to maintain two per shift which is the goal.

This is something they are actually going through now because they lost a Ranger. They are still responding

to permit violators but any environmental or ARPA crimes will have to be referred to BIA. They will still

covering the restricted areas daily. They would still be able to do the checks in Wadsworth with the Police

assisting along with covering animal issues. For water emergencies, they will have to call Washoe County

Search and Rescue (SAR) because they won’t be able to maintain boat crews. The only issue is it will take

them an hour and a half to two hours to get to the lake. There will be no extra coverage on the holiday

weekends for the Rangers and no extra Burning Man coverage.

Councilmember John asked if the coverage was for the community or the visitors. Chief Parsons said it’s

supposed to be for everybody, they are pulling back to the communities, but the Tribe is still inviting

visitors. If they get to that level they are pulling boat response, they will be pulling back to the community

or Tribal priorities, the beaches, making sure everyone has permits, making sure the restricted areas are

unmolested, making sure no one is doing any environmental or ARPA crimes, and watching the boundary

incursion. When it comes to the visitors, they are on their own when they are on the lake. Councilmember

John thought they had an Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the EMS to have them cover the holidays

for the EMS. Chief Parsons said yes, for the search and rescue, they would have to call in the County to

cover but it would be only if they had anyone available since they're all volunteers.

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Councilmember Dunn asked if they were proactive with planning for the year regarding the holidays. Chief

Parsons said yes they are, for the Memorial Day weekend they kept their overtime down to a minimum

with just him and another officer. Remember this is for next year but it’s something they do now, they will

take all the help they can get. This year he doesn’t think they will be able to get their boat onto the lake

during the day like they normally do. With the assistance of Washoe County volunteers doing safety patrols,

have to keep in mind they also cover Lake Tahoe. What they don’t do is run anybody off the restricted areas

and they don’t check for fishing violations or permit violations on the water but since their boat looks like a

cop boat, it keeps people in line. They are there to help with any rescues on the lake. Hiring and Retention

Issues. These two issues go hand in hand, and this was an issue before funding became a problem. The

primary hiring issue is non-competitive wage. Pyramid Lake is 25-30% lower than other local tribes, i.e.

Reno Sparks Indian Colony and the Washo Tribe plus they offer up to a 30% bonus annually. Pyramid Lake

is 30-35% lower than the local sheriff and police departments who offer signing or hiring bonuses. That is

the main hiring issue, people are looking at the hourly wage and that’s what is attracting them.

Councilmember Dunn asked if the hiring bonus was for specific time or just because they are signing. Chief

Parsons said from what he sees it’s just because they are signing. The Washo Tribe last year were doing

30% bonuses annually in two different payments. 30% of their base salary is a big deal. Councilmember

Wadsworth said if you give them a one-time signing bonus who’s to say they are not going to stay and

resign. Chief Parsons said she is correct, and he will explain why this is not working. Retention Issues. The

primary reason for retention is lack of benefits, public safety is a career profession. Once they get into a job,

they have a family and start thinking about benefits, health benefits and retirement benefits. Police and Fire

generally have a higher percentage of retirement than a standard employee and the reason is after 25 years

they are broken, mentally and physically broken. After all the sacrifices they make, the one thing they look

forward to is retirement. If you have a family, they can’t afford the insurance through the Tribe. Every

employee that left said they would have stayed if there was a retirement. When they lost Officer Francone,

that is when it opened the eyes of the other officers. He didn’t get a death benefit from retirement, the

Tribe’s insurance policy is light, it may pay for a funeral and $33,000 is not a lot when it comes to life

insurance. They lost three officers after his death because of the memory of him and had to pass that spot

every day. A list of agencies who they are losing people to: Washoe County, Sparks Police Department,

Douglas County, Lyon County, Nevada Highway Patrol and they just lost one person to the Reno Sparks

Indian Colony and that is the first time they lost people to another tribe.

Possible Solutions. Chief Parsons said he’s been thinking about salary and sworn personnel. He’s already

spoken to the Human Resources (HR) Department. Budgeted overtime funds can be moved to employee's

annual salary to increase the hourly wage. They are usually carrying $160,000 in overtime, what if they

took those funds and added it to their annual to increase their hourly wage. This would be moving funds

they currently have. For example, when an employee goes to apply for a loan, it’s hard for them to say I

make all this overtime instead of being able to put down this is my annual wage/salary. It’s a benefit.

Granted some additional funding may be necessary but it would be minimal at this point, budgeting would

be greatly simplified. Overtime is always the great unknown, they don’t know what natural disasters will

hit them every year. Comp time would be issued for any excessive hours worked. Speaking with HR,

looking at personnel policies, he agrees with them about comping the time within the same pay period and

not banking it and taking a months’ worth of comp leave. This is one possible wage solution.

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Possible Benefit Solution. Health benefit for the Tribe is based on the employees of the Tribe, the number,

the age, it’s a fixed formula. HR is trying to find better premiums but trying to get the health insurance

premium down, that may be something the Tribe just has to live with. Retirement, this is the biggest

impediment for retention. This is why people leave. To be retirement competitive, the idea he came up with

is a 25% contribution to the employees existing 401K plan, which would be in line with the State’s Police

Fire Retirement Fund. He has already talked with the Tribe’s existing 401K company, and it can be done but

there are caveats with that. If it’s done, he would like to see vesting, in order to get your retirement on the

State side, you have to do five years. Once those five years are done, it doesn’t matter whether you work

another day with the State or not, you are locked in. The Tribe needs a five-year vesting requirement. When

an employee starts working on day one they would start their contributions, but if they left before five

years, they don’t get that Tribal contribution, they can take whatever they put in but the Tribal contribution

doesn’t go to them it goes back to the Tribe and is used for someone else. That is the hook to keep them

here for five years and it’s very flexible. They can take it with them wherever they go because you can’t

expect everybody to stay here for their entire 20-25-year career. They wouldn’t have to make any new

agreements because they are already working with the company. There would be an adjusted percentage

for a current employee who has been here for six years who would get 30% instead of 25%, there would be

a calculation for that.

Economic Development Fund (EDF). This fund is the only revenue source with sufficient funding available

to the Tribe. EDF can support public safety, releasing the current and future Tribal tax revenue to be used

for other Tribal programs. Public Safety is already in the EDF, it’s an authorized expenditure. If the EDF

would fund the salaries and benefits of Public Safety for just he Police and Ranger Department, $1.5 million

is going to come back to the Tribal tax programs. The Tribe can use it anyway they choose since there are

no attachments to it because it’s the Tribe’s funds. Councilmember John said there is the Tax Use Plan, and

they don’t qualify but his program does qualify for it. Chief Parsons said Public Safety accounts for 70% of

most budgets and the primary function of a government is to provide Public Safety for its citizens. That is

why it’s so expensive. Primary functions are public safety, infrastructure, public schools, clean water, sewer

systems, roadways, education, and health which the Tribe is lucky they have their own source for health.

This is just one idea but is open to any ideas from the Council. Councilmember John stated the funds are

there, but they can’t access it, it’s the interest which the Tribe utilizes. Chief Parsons stressed he is not

going to get further into the EDF, but thinks the Council needs to understand it thoroughly, he is just letting

them know they can use the funds to bring Public Safety up to industry standards for staffing level.

Councilmember Decker asked if there was an amount he would be asking for. Chief Parsons said it would

be just for wages and benefits, and it would depend on if it’s for 10 officers, it would be $1.5 million and 3

rangers it would be $500,000. For 12 officers it would be $1.8 million and 4 rangers it would be $600,000.

Vice Chairman Ely asked if his numbers were based on this retention issue of 25-30%. Chief Parsons said

what they found was an average number of $150,000 per employee that should cover but note these are

rough numbers. If they wanted to continue this discussion they can pin down the actual numbers but for

tonight this is only a discussion but the numbers are pretty close since he has been working on this for

about four years but now time is up but if they don’t want him to bring up the EDF he won’t include it but

he doesn’t know what else to do. He is trying to convey to the Council to maybe come up with some ideas

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because he is concerned about Public Safety, the people and the Reservation is not like it was 20 years ago.

The Reservation is a pretty safe place, even though there are still drugs but they are getting them under

control, and there are dogs out of control but they are working on it, they are working on traffic safety, the

domestic violence is down, crimes have dropped for three years in a row now because they are focusing on

certain areas but they will lose that ability and it will all go back up which they don’t want to happen.

Councilmember Dunn asked about the beach monitors, why don’t they use them for current violations.

Chief Parsons said they might have a system finally figured out; he’s been working with the people that

program the ticket writing. They have tablets and he just needs to get them printers so they can print out

the ticket. He is working with the court because he has to have a specific program with only the regulations

code, which is a separate program, but they are getting close to finalizing. It’s not going to generate much

revenue, because they are not finding that many people without permits. They check a lot of permits every

month and are not finding a lot of people out of compliance except for over the Memorial Day holiday, he

was at the Ranger Station in the afternoon and there were a lot of people coming up and getting day-use

permits for only three hours because they had already been down there all day and were caught. This was

expected since it was a big weekend because everyone was coming out. On a day-to-day basis they are not

getting a lot of violations. That in itself is not a revenue generator for citations. Councilmember Dunn said

at this point any little bit helps. Chief Parsons agreed but only if they pay because it’s a civil citation and

they can’t issue a warrant for their arrest there is not a lot they can do but they do try to keep a log as best

they can in case they come back.

Chief Parsons explained there are two different areas for the EDF, the principle which can be drawn down

but requires a lot of thought and interest which can be used for almost anything but is a smaller fund which

regenerates every year. This is not a question for him but for the Council, he is only presenting the

information as an option.

Councilmember Decker asked if the General Fund could be used? Chairman Wadsworth informed him the

funding in the General Fund is already allocated. He continued to explain the EDF which currently has

about $80 million, $40 in the principle and $40 in interest and they only ever spend out of the interest.

However, interest is earned off the total, there is $70 million invested and that earned the Tribe $3 million

over last year, but they gave out $1,000 per Tribal member which was $3 million, and so all of the interest

earned was used. The fund this year is trying to rebuild and if they continue to give out money, it will come

out of interest and the fund is currently stagnant at $80 million which they have to be cognizant of. They

can use the funds out of interest, but they didn’t earn anything, so the account is stagnant.

Vice Chairman Ely said his understanding is if they take from the main fund of $40 million, it cannot be

replenished. If the Tribe comes into funding, they cannot deposit more funds into that account.

Councilmember John explained there is a clause in the EDF that allows a certain percentage of that

principle to be put back in which is the reason it’s now at $42 million. The idea is to create access to capital

for Tribal members or the Tribe to build some kind of business generating revenue so when the principle is

used it can be paid back. It’s like a loan and regenerates. The EDF Committee contracted with a Financial

Services Planner, a consultant that is going to provide the Council with several options of how to make sure

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that the funds last into the future, but it’s still access to capital as it was intended so that the Tribal

economy can be built. They have an application for that, and the committee has to look at what the return

on the dollar.

Chief Parsons continued with his presentation but encouraged the Council to become familiar with the ED

Plan. If they take the EDF and cover Public Safety, salary and benefits for the Police and Rangers, it could be

around $2 million and that’s if they have 12 Police Officers and 4 Rangers but it may take him a year to even

get to that level of employees. They might not need that much now but it will take some time. The plan they

submitted to the Economic Development Committee would be to utilize the three-year plan and if the

Council supported it for three years, then there would be three years of that savings of tax funds. And in

those three years, the Tribe should be thinking about economic development because you won't be able to

get grants from the federal government for at least the next four years plus it will take another year to get

settled with another President. In those five years, the Tribe needs to be self-sufficient by possibly finishing

the truck stop at the I-80 Smoke shop because they have a plan which they are halfway through, they just

need the money and could probably get started in 6 months. The Tribe can also develop the Marina, it could

be a world-class fishing stop, there is also a floating dock at Tahoe which could be an improvement, work

with the casinos for a vacation package and include the local fishing guides and just make the Marina

appealing for people to come. These are just ideas that he’s been thinking of. You have to invest money to

make money. He understands what Councilmember John was saying about the principal, you may not be

able to get it back, but this is the Tribe’s rainy-day fund. Hopefully, the Tribe has other options because it’s

great to have an interest-bearing account which is a gift. Honestly, the outlook is bleak, and it worries him

so that is why they are having this conversation.

Vice Chairman Ely commented they knew this was coming. Early on Councilmember Guerrero said when

they cut 20% said they should have cut 50%, he doesn’t know where they would be at 50% but they did put

together a five-year Strategic Plan and it includes Public Safety.

Chief Parsons explained parts of the Strategic Plan which the Tribe invested in a lot of time and effort with

multiple meetings within the community and it was eventually approved by the Council. The plan contains

a lot of information, but he is just focusing on Public Safety at this point. In the Strategic Plan is the Vision -

where it states the need to preserve and protect the people’s health, safety and wellness. For the

Community Development Goal #1. To accommodate population growth on the Pyramid Lake Reservation,

the Tribe will increase the current level of housing, which is something they are already doing, and it’s

necessary. There are a lot of people who are excited about the Sacred Visions Housing Development

because it is needed. Organizational Improvement Goal #5. To retain the experience and knowledge of the

Pyramid Lake Tribe’s Tribal Government, professional staff and workforce, to develop and implement steps

to retain current employees. Talking about retention, they have put a lot of investment into officers, years

of training, they don’t even know what they are doing until they have been on the job for three years and

then they leave. If he hires somebody and trains them and if they leave at three years basically it’s a wash

when it comes to the funding. If they can keep them for five years, they may leave but then some may stay

for another five years. Most of the people he’s been able to keep for ten years are now leaving because

every year they are here one year lost on their retirement. Councilmember John asked if the Tribe gives

them COLA because that is 6% on top of their salaries. Chief Parsons said COLA only lasts for the first year,

after that it doesn’t increase, it’s factored in, it doesn’t give them an additional 6% over the 5% every year.

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When you hire someone it’s initially at their hire age and then add the 6% COLA but after that it’s just 5%.

He doesn’t add it to the flyer because HR said it has to go through the Personnel Committee to change the

format of the flyer. He would also like to add in the equipment that is supplied and friendly shifts, things to

encourage applicants. Granted, this information was from the previous HR Manager, and he hasn't yet met

with the current HR Manager. In conclusion the Tribe has an opportunity to create a positive future, using

EDF to cover Public Safety and divert those Tribal funds will stabilize and advance other Tribal programs

now and into the future, securing and maintaining strong Public Safety only benefits the Tribe’s current

membership and future Generations. He attended the High School graduation and was thoroughly

impressed with them, but they need a safe place for them to grow up in a safe environment. The Council has

an opportunity if they choose to launch this Tribe into the future with a lot of prosperity. A lot of programs

are suffering because they don’t have what they need to support the Tribal membership because they don’t

have the funding. If at the end of the day, all you have is Public Safety and no other Tribal programs. He is

not going to be able to manage all those programs, he can’t take care of mental health on the Police side

because that is what always happens every time they cut budgets, at least on the State side, is they take out

mental health services and expect them to put people in jail until they feel better, it doesn’t work. This is a

way for all programs to develop, some of that money can be used to enhance the Tribal employee's

retirement also. He sees elders who work for the Tribe their entire life and they got nothing off of 3%. They

can’t afford to fix their homes; their retirement doesn’t support the prosperity for retirement.

Councilmember Guerrero said with the EDF 25% out of the $40 million, they could set up 3% for

investment which is $300,000 to utilize economic development. Who would recommend that to the

Economic Development Committee, the Tribe? Within three years that’s $900,000. This is an option. They

need to think outside of the box even though they have the Economic Development Plan, they need to wake

up and utilize it for other programs because they are not going to get service from the BIA after this year.

Chief Parsons said he will take whatever the Tribe gives him because he has always worked well with the

Tribe when it comes to budget time. In 2000 and between 2010 and 2025, 15 years, the Law Enforcement

BIA budget has only increased up to $150,000. He brought that to their attention, and they just said

Congress isn’t allocating more funds and they are also taking a 20% cut across the board. Can’t count on the

Federal government anymore. The BIA has already given them most of their funds already, they’ve received

the detention funds from last year and are starting to collect retention funds for this year. They are way

ahead of other tribes because some of them haven't gotten their paperwork done yet.

Councilmember Wadsworth said she would like to see this move forward because they have a tendency to -

put things on the back burner. She would like to see a budget for the 10-12 officers and even go one step

further to15 officers.

Vice Chairman Ely commented he doesn’t know how difficult it is to get funds out the principle for the

Economic Development fund. He wouldn’t entertain that route now, but it seems to be relatively doable to

use. The interest which they used last year in November, they approved, and it was paid out in December.

Chief Parsons said if they were to use the EDF to cover the wages and benefits for the Police Department,

this would be for sworn officers only, but they do have one non-sworn employee. How is the tax money

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coming back to the Tribe? The funds from BIA that fund 5-6 officers will transition into their operational

fund, currently the Tribe supports the majority of the operational fund, that will be a savings.

Councilmember John mentioned the Economic Development Committee hired an Investment Financial

Services Advisor and they will be doing some educational workshops for the community and for the

Council. One of the tasks as a committee is to develop that investment policy which they are working on

and will be working on some options for the fund. The main idea was to generate and help the people, both

current and in the future, to develop the economy on the Reservation. It was their goal, and they finally got

the consultants on board.

Councilmember Cortez asked about traffic violations. Where does the money go for non-tribal violations?

Does it go to Washoe County for the court because that is where they are referred to. Chief Parsons said if

they pay a traffic fine to the County Justice Court in Wadsworth and was issued a citation by a Pyramid

Lake Officer using NRS, according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the Tribe and the

County years ago, the County gives the Tribe 50% back and the funds are earmarked for training and

equipment for the Police Department. This agreement was signed 15 years ago and doesn’t have an end

date. When it comes to the fine, there are different components, the State takes their cut, the County takes

their cut and there are court fees, state assessment fees so with a $100 fine, there could only be $50 left and

that is what is split. Councilmember Cortez asked if the Tribe should be receiving the entire amount. Chief

Parsons said if they use the Tribal Code, it’s civil and if they don’t pay, they have no way to recoup it but if

they don’t pay the County, then they get a warrant issued and it gets reported to the Department of Motor

Vehicles (DMV) and insurance companies, both of which the Tribe doesn’t do. So, there is a lot more

incentive for them to pay through the County. They are the only tribe in the State who has this type of MOU

where they can get some of the funds back and that’s the only reason; they do it because they do get a

portion of it back. The other tribes have to take them to collections if they don’t pay and then you're paying

the collections company to go after them.

Councilmember Decker asked about the $150,000 overtime and hourly wages was something they were

going to do or if it was an example. Chief Parsons said it was an example but it’s a close figure on what they

spend. It’s interesting the less staff they have, the more overtime they have to pay because they strive to

keep two staff on duty 24 hours a day, not only to cover the Reservation but for backup. The detectives are

floaters who he plugs and plays as he sees where they are needed and he is the last man standing to fill in.

Their overtime depends on maintaining that shift. When someone takes vacation, they have to pay

overtime to cover that position. Currently he has one man on extended medical leave so that reduces them

to one person depending on the holidays. For Burning Man, they usually expend more money than Burning

Man gives them, about $25,000 more but they do it for the communities. They have been lucky with fires

this year but are covering the floods and when State Route 446 was wiped out, he basically had to have two

departments to maintain. There are a lot of things that create a lot of overtime. One thing that hurts them is

at the end of the year, when they are short, people can’t take vacations and employees have extra leave they

can’t take and will lose. It used to be that he could write a letter justifying paying out because they couldn’t

take the leave because of a lack of staff but they stopped allowing that during COVID. Now they just lose

time so a lot of employees take their leave at the end of the year, and they end up covering it by paying for

time and a half which costs them more money than it would to pay them out.

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Councilmember Decker asked what he does with his older vehicles once they are done using them. Chief

Parsons said if they are still running, generally they transfer them to the Fire Department and they reuse so

they don’t have to expend anything to decommission them. If it’s unusable and the Fire Department doesn’t

want it then it goes to anybody else or auction. Councilmember Decker asked if the Marina Radio for

Ranger Dispatch is up and operational? Chief Parsons said he has new ones for dispatching and the boat but

they just have to put them together.

Councilmember John asked how safety has been impacted since they closed Popcorn Beach to boat

launches. How quick is the response? Chief Parsons said the only place they can launch a boat is from

Pelican Beach because of the size of their boat but the closing hasn't affected them. They still have to

respond from Pelican Beach, and for boat launches they still have to go to Pelican to launch but for Jet Skis

they can and usually launch from the beach, but they do get their vehicles stuck in the water.

Councilmember Davis said he talked about payouts before during budget season when they were first

looking at the budgets. She would like to see, if everybody agrees, to possibly get with the Chairman to look

at those numbers to see what is actually being saved rather than having someone be off for two weeks and

then paying somebody time and a half to come in and cover because it would be cheaper to do the payout.

Another item is the Washoe County Sheriff's Office approval to conduct their boat water rescue training.

She would like to see it brought up again because the Tribe’s boats don’t even go in the water and should

something come up this Summer, they are relying on Washoe County but then they tell them they can’t

come out unless they tell the Tribe. Chief Parsons said they will be training with them on Monday at Pelican

Beach but will be putting out a Public Service Announcement (PSA). He doesn’t have an issue with them

helping out at our lake, but his department knows the lake better than they do and our Police Officers and

Rangers need to be there even if they are not in the water with them, they are still there on the beach

helping with coordination. Sometimes they launch the boat to assist if the boat is available. Councilmember

Davis said especially during the major holidays and with the Fourth of July coming up, seeing them is a

deterrent for alcohol on the boats, just seeing them out there. Chief Parsons said they also provide

assistance with boats that need towing in because they do take on water and become disabled. There are

kids that get blown out on their rafts heading to the Pyramid and those are the scary ones because they

typically are not wearing life jackets. This year they are going to try and have their jet skis out for the

Fourth of July and will do immediate launches from the Marina Beach area. Their jet skis have a sled on the

back just for those incidents where kids get blown out on their rafts.

Councilmember Decker asked when do they have their planning meeting to talk about the holidays during

this Summer? Chief Parsons said that’s administrative and is conducted by the Executive Team. Most of

them have been here long enough and know the plan and what is coming.

Councilmember Sampson one of the possible solutions that stood out for her was the comp time.

Wondering why since this practice has not been done because it would be a possible solution and it could

be done as soon as possible instead of having to wait to work it out. Chief Parsons said overtime has always

been better of the two because trying to cover is difficult and the only reason he is bringing it up now was

in making them salary was an attempt to make the job more enticing because of the higher hourly wage. As

an administrator, it’s a lot easier to budget for it. They do offer it, but you can’t force somebody to take it.

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They will usually opt for the overtime because they need the money. Police Officers traditionally work a lot

of overtime because they don’t get paid much. Problem is if they are running 20-30 hours overtime every

pay period, they are looking at a burnout, families dissolve, it’s not healthy at the end of the day but they

can sustain it for a short period of time covering for those holidays. As Police Officers, they do need a

vacation but being Police Officers, they have a sense of responsibility to be here which is why he has so

much vacation and overtime. If they go to salary then they will have to go to comp time because they are

not entitled to overtime although they have to work out some nuances for like Burning Man, that is

something he will work out with the HR Department.

Chairman Wadsworth stated it’s important to look at what Chief Parsons is presenting when it comes to the

Council and HR, they try to keep everyone up to date and sometimes it’s impossible to do. They are talking

about not paying out for the extra leave that everyone is losing, especially the Police Officers at the end of

the year versus the overtime. What the cost benefit analysis is with all of that because they run into issues

of trying to keep everybody in the same bubble and everyone is not in the same bubble. When they call an

administrative (admin) day or snow day, Public Safety doesn’t get those same benefits, they never do. It’s

kind of the same thing with the Enterprise Stores, even though it’s an admin day, the stores are still open

for the public, but the clinic goes home. They need to be cognizant of Public Safety and separate them out a

little bit on their own. So much in the Personnel Policies do cover what these guys do but then some of it

doesn’t apply. Specifically talking about overtime and comp time. They need to have something separate for

them and they are working on it. That is what Chief Parsons is here to do, advocating for his department,

when it comes to the larger overall for the Tribe, they do have some plans and ideas, and they will be

bringing them to the Council shortly. They want to get a massive discussion with an idea that they are

trying to filter out at the July 3™ meeting. Again, it’s just ideas but those ideas and plans must be approved

at the Council level because of some major changes they will be proposing. Councilmember Davis asked

what would be the follow up? Chairman Wadsworth said because of the other ideas they are proposing the

Economic Development Plan, this would be for the future and the approval of the $1,000 to every Tribal

member which was $3 million. That was the interest and one thing that needs to be recognized is it does

not allow for continued growth. They need to put a cap on that, like using only 50% of the interest earned

which would allow them to still have funds in the bank to continue to grow in the future. They didn’t think

about that last year and now they are suffering for it.

Chief Parsons said on the follow up, he does meet with the Chairman once a week in person and he will

keep him apprised of where he is at with the things the Council wants him to put together and he will let

him know when he is ready to come before the Council.

Councilmember John said they have to abide by the Fair Labor Standards Act which runs their policy. It’s

written the way it’s written to comply with the law. Chief Parsons said Public Safety does have a caveat to

the Fair Labor Standards Act which is why he has been talking to Human Resources, and they have had

these discussions for a month or so and she is looking into some things. They may have to tweak job

descriptions just a little for them to fall under that Act.

Councilmember Davis agreed looking at the same lines that he was talking about with the Chairman in

setting his employees in their own policy but not within the group policy because they do stand different.

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June 6, 2025, Special minutes

Chief Parsons thanked the Council for allowing him to get the information to them so they can make the

best decisions possible.

ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Tribal Council, Councilmember Cortez made a motion to adjourn the

meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Dunn. Votes taken were all in favor, motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.

Submitted by,

Pernda 0.

Brenda A. Henry

Tribal Council Secretary

CERTIFICATION

The foregoing minutes were adopted by the Pyramid Lake Tribal Council, governing body of the Pyramid

Lake Paiute Tribe, at a meeting duly held on the 9 day of July 2025, having ten (10) members present,

constituting a quorum, by the vote of nine (9) FOR and zero (0) OPPOSED, with zero (0) ABSTENTIONS.

Minutes attested and concurred by:

Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council

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