# Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council (2025) > Briefs, arguments, decisions, and more. URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Apyramid_lake%3A5382a293bbdead90 ## Record - **Collection:** Tribal code - **Document type:** Tribal code ## Text 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 January 29, 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 January 29, 2025, Special Tribal Council meeting of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council to order at 5:30 p.m. ROLL CALL Brenda Henry, Tribal Secretary, took the roll call. Councilmember Decker and Guerrero attended via zoom All other Councilmembers were present at the roll call and a quorum was established for this meeting. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chairman Wadsworth presented the agenda with the following requests. Councilmember Davis requested a follow-up discussion regarding the federal freeze. Councilmember Davis motioned to approve the agenda for January 29, 2025, with addition. Councilmember Cortez seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED PUBLIC COMMENT Brian Wadsworth, Tribal member. Mr. Wadsworth thanked the Council for scheduling this meeting to have this important conversation about the gross misconduct as well as gross mismanagement by the Tribal Council. I just wanted to read some comments from the Facebook page. Earlier as he was going through Little Nixon, he witnessed a woman looking down on somebody lying on the road and decided to see if he could help. The woman just called 911 and was describing to the dispatcher the condition of the man lying on the ground. He immediately grabbed a blanket for him because it was about 35 degrees outside. The barometric Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes pressure was dropping, and it was getting colder. A male Tribal member was down the road, and he saw a witness wearing shorts, he was scraped from falling, shivering, frozen, barely able to speak, having a seizure. They realized, maybe 15 minutes into standing there that day was a so-called brownout. So instead of an ambulance just driving up the road, the Tribal Police arrived but there was still an additional wait because the ambulance dispatch was a North Lyon County ambulance. Assuming the Tribal ambulance was in Gerlach, he was guessing. He witnessed a Tribal member in a hypothermic state seizing and frozen and don’t know who made the decision to stretch the medical services to a town one and a half hours away, but it was pathetic to watch. He felt ashamed they have a Tribal Council to allow this. Why can’t they have proper emergency medical services. Whomever made this decision needs to be held accountable, whether it be the Council as a whole or the department head. It is wrong. Our Tribe needs to do better. He read some of the comments on Facebook, “So Sad,” “You're right a person could die before help comes,” “Shame on whoever made this decision,” What is it going to take for this to be overturned, death. They need a new better Tribal Council. This is unacceptable and puts the members in danger. Why was this allowed to happen? Sure, hope this person was okay. This is a shame. Returning Councilmembers should be held responsible. Uncalled for. This shouldn’t have happened at all. Accountability for the Tribal Council. You guys voted on this, and the EMS Department did it. Christy Evans, Gerlach Community member. She thinks their community has been remiss in letting the Council know how much it has changed their community and how much they appreciate the contract that has been in place. She understands they already voted to terminate the contract but wanted to let the Council know the appreciation when it first came into place and Chairman Phoenix came out to their community. She understands the Tribe is dealing with brownouts and their community is also having brownouts. It was their hope that Washoe County pays for the Gerlach coverage through the EMS services that the Tribe has and would be a beneficial arrangement to help the EMS with training and in supporting coverage for the entire area. They are sad it is not going to be a possibility in the future. They will have to go to bat for their community to try and get funding and they know that funding is a challenge for the Tribe too. If there is room for reconsideration, they want the Council to know they would appreciate it. They are hopeful that at some point they can get coverage in Gerlach for a couple days a week and it can benefit the Reservation since we are all out here together. Regardless of the outcome, they want to let the Tribe know how much they appreciate the service that has been provided. NEW BUSINESS 1. Discussion and Possible Action EMS Brownouts. Chief Don Pelt, EMS Chairman Wadsworth responded to comments made earlier. There were discussions this past week with Chief Pelt and his supervisor, Ben John, and he will present to the Council and the public that it’s all budgetary and not mismanagement. In regard to what everybody reads on Facebook, again this is all budgetary, the Tribe just doesn’t have the funds to go all around. This was discussed at the Tribal Budget meetings, which he doesn’t believe everyone attended, where it was mentioned that they need to put them as a priority. The question he had for the Council was, what departments will they be getting rid of? Because that is what it takes to run this department at full capacity, they eliminate departments. When it comes to Facebook and criticism, the Council should have thick skin. There is no right answer, it is all difficult. -2-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Chief Pelt said this isn’t anyone’s fault, money is money, and you only have so much, and they are trying to work with they have and stay within their means. In three months, he will be with the department for 15 years and cares for the department. In those 15 years he never mentioned brownouts until now, it’s not something he wants to do but it comes down to funding. There are overreaches they must follow in fire and EMS. With the Indian Health Services (IHS) side, to be in compliance, EMS needs nine full time personnel in medics, EMTs, ADA/EMTs, or paramedics, one Chief and a billing Secretary clerk. That’s the minimum personnel, and they must have two ambulances which they are in compliance with. They also must operate 24/7, 365 days a year to comply with IHS. Currently, they are not in compliance because there are only seven personnel, the Chief and administrative assistant for the clerical items, and six medics/EMTs. In the Nevada Revised Statute and the Nevada Administrative Code, even though some say they don’t follow under, but they do. The reason they do is because they don’t just transport to a facility on the Reservation but the minute, they leave the Reservation to go to the nearest medical facility, they fall under State rules, so they must be compliant with both State and Tribal. For the State to run EMS, they must run uninterrupted 24/7, 365 days, have one ambulance which they are not doing right now because they just can’t due to funding. For the number of hours they work, EMS does not work the standard 80 hour work week to get a true 24 hour day, 7 day week, 365 day operation, they work what is called 96-120 work hours pay period which is in two pay periods covering 28 days. Because of this, the federal government has said overtime for firefighters and EMT personnel does not kick in until they have met 106 hours in a pay period. If they go back to an 80-hour schedule they will be paying more in overtime than if they remained on the 96-120 schedule that is currently allowable under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Nobody was happy to say they had to brownout Fridays and Saturdays twice a month but that is running on bare bones, 96 hours with the current staff being forced to work 96 hours with zero overtime for the year to make payroll. His supervisor, Ben John, asked him to reexamine options on hours. They looked at several different models. They looked at the beginning of the budget year with Friday and Saturdays off twice a month for the pay periods, so their staff could get 96 hours because if they drop below that they risk losing personnel and they were already down four. They looked at an eight, ten (two options for a ten-hour) and a twelve-hour schedule and with the eight-hour schedule they ended up browning out more time than they would with any other schedule. The same with the ten and twelve hours, which makes them not practical. They looked at the option they are trying now which is browning out twelve hours, four days a pay period a week instead of two full days. Doing it this way, they brownout only 8pm to 8am. They are still out of compliance, but this is the best they could do and still maintain a full year’s worth of service under the current budget. Councilmember Dunn said he didn’t see Chief Pelts name on the documents. Chief Pelt said he is not there, he only comes out when he is needed at night and works four days a week, 10-hour days for the administrative work but will come out if they need any medical services or to fill in for any personnel. Councilmember Dunn noted Chief Pelt is not included in the schedule but should be and not just Monday through Friday because emergencies don’t happen just Monday through Friday. Chief Pelt said he can’t operate an ambulance by himself if the crew is browned out. Councilmember Dunn said the reason they are having this meeting is because of the brownouts, and to come up with solutions. Not to mention the budget because it’s obviously an issue and has been an issue before they even came here plus the brownouts were occurring before they even told him to post what was going on and his supervisor, Mr. John, didn’t know either. They must work on this because this is putting the Tribe, the people, the departments...Chairman -3-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Wadsworth interjected stating they have had this discussion. This is budgetary, adding Chief Pelt to a brownout does not mean he will be able to cover because he needs two, if you add Mr. Pelt to one of the brownout dates, where is the second one coming from? There is no overtime budget. The solution is not there. Just because you say Chief Pelt you need to work 80 hours a week instead of 40, where is the other person coming from. Councilmember Dunn asked if they reached out to Washoe County about funding because that funding would help, they didn’t ask specifically for funds for Pyramid Lake but for Gerlach too. Chief Pelt said they are drafting a letter but haven’t completed it yet. He discussed it with the Chairman, but he can’t speak for the County on whether they can provide funds, they are like the Tribe, they don’t have any funds either. Vice Chairman Ely asked if they cut the contract with Washoe County and Gerlach, would those employees be coming back to the Tribe? Chief Pelt said they would be laid off. Vice Chairman Ely asked about Mr. Pritchard, if he were the employee who was at Gerlach, would he be laid off. Chief Pelt said the position is going to be laid off, whether it would be him specifically he is not sure. There are three employees there now and those three would be laid off from the payroll once the contract is gone. The Tribe will not gain any personnel, those positions in Gerlach are totally funded by Washoe County. Chairman Wadsworth explained the employees in Gerlach get paid out of the Washoe County budget. As they rotate, they do rotate the funding source they get paid out of either through the Tribe because they are working in Nixon or Washoe County if they’re at Gerlach. Mr. John said they don’t rotate anymore because that was causing a lot of problems in the beginning. Chief Pelt said they were asked to look at the call volume times. He provided data from 2022 through 2024. The number of calls in 2022 was 401, in 2023 it was 559 and for 2024 it was 454, the number decreased because of brownouts. He confirmed that Councilmember Dunn was correct, they were browning out last year because of budget issues and he was advised he could not go over budget. To remain compliant with the directives of the Executive Team they had to do brownouts. Most calls were during the day, but emergencies know no time. Councilmember Decker asked if this would be the same during the summer and the Fourth of July weekend? Chief Pelt said for the Fourth of July, with current staffing levels and budget, there will be three people out on C-shift, which is two staff and himself. They also get help from the Bureau of Land Management, they come out on the holiday weekend to help them. Normally, he would bring all his staff out for that weekend because it is the busiest weekend of the year, but there is no funding to do that this year. Vice Chairman Ely asked how Gerlach is doing it when they are not in compliance with NRS either. Why do we have to follow this city plan? Chief Pelt said this is a rural plan. Mr. John said Chief Pelt is talking about state certification; they are not certified by the state, these are state rules, but they are not certified by the state. Chief Pelt said they are, they are licensed. Mr. John continued what Councilmember Della John brought up about Duck Valley and their EMS, they don’t have to have EMTs, because they don’t have a waiver to have a driver and one EMT on an ambulance. It’s still a two-person crew but the second person doesn’t have to be EMT certified but they had to get a waiver from the state to allow that to happen. Chief Pelt said they can’t get that waiver because they have paramedics, they are advanced life support. If they were intermediate or basic life support, they could have drivers, but the state rule is, if you have paramedics, you must have at least an EMT, basic or advanced EMT or another paramedic with them. -4-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Cannot use a driver only and they are licensed, both here and in Gerlach and they have a state license which they must renew every year. All their personnel must be state certified and renew their licenses every two years. The reason is because they leave the Reservation, the minute they take a patient to a hospital, they must have the state requirement. Vice Chairman Ely asked for verification on this. Amy Carpenter, firefighter /paramedic, stated under the NRS statute 450B which is all EMS and fire, it breaks down into the NAC codes 450B, under 580, number 7, it talks about the ambulance operations as well as 578. To run, you have to be permitted every year, you must have at least one running apparatus at all times, you can report any apparatus that is broken down within 48 hours to the state and like Chief Pelt said they were ALS, they have a paramedic and have to hold those standards. It must be at least one paramedic and an EMT or an advanced EMT that runs with paramedics 24/7, 365 days and those are state codes. Councilmember Sampson had a question regarding the medical director, since this is a budget issue, how much are they paying the medical director since the clinic has a medical director. Chief Pelt said he has obtained two medical directors for the Tribe, one is a Tribal person, and the other is not a Tribal doctor but both do their work pro bono for them because they are a Tribal agency. They do not pay the medical directors. They are both licensed in Nevada, have DEA licensing and have signed letters stating their work is pro bono. Councilmember Davis said they keep mentioning their personnel follow NRS, if that is correct why aren't they getting state funds? Chief Pelt said the state doesn’t provide any funding for it; they only license the services. They pay the state to license their services every year, then they must file and be under compliance of their guidelines. Councilmember Davis said they should be going after the State of Nevada or Washoe County because not all the homes within the Reservation are Tribal homes. Vice Chairman Ely asked what does the state require for them to be in compliance? Chief Pelt said they must have safe and operational ambulances that must be certified by a mechanic annually and must provide a report to the state on the condition of the ambulances. Written directive protocols outlining : medical procedures they provide, both online and offline, online procedures are where the medic would call/radio the hospital to get medical directions from a doctor to provide a procedure, offline procedures are procedures approved by their two medical directors that allow the paramedics to do procedures without calling in. They are required to have a base hospital which is Renown on Mill Street, who they've had since 2014, they sign an agreement every year stating they will be their base hospital and provide those services, 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year of medical direction if they need it. Vice Chairman Ely asked if this costs money. Chief Pelt said the employees pay for their own recertification every two years. The Tribe pays for their state license for the service which is a state inspection of the ambulances to ensure they are in compliance. Councilmember Della John asked about their protocols if they puncture their skin. Mr. Pelt said they must be an advanced EMT or paramedic to do an IV or give an injection. All their basic EMTs and above personnel are certified for immunizations or vaccinations by the State. Councilmember Della John asked about the drugs fentanyl and morphine. Chief Pelt said the doctors approve those injections and they are in their standing orders and protocols. -5-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Councilmember Dunn asked how much the third-party billing for the vendors is. Chief Pelt said they pay their third-party biller 10% of what they collect, not what they bill but what they collect. The national average of EMS collection is about 30% of what is billed nationwide. Councilmember Dunn asked if they could keep the third-party billing at the clinic to keep the funds locally. Chief Pelt said they tried that at one time with the clinic, but EMS billing and clinic billing are two different types of coding, and it didn’t work. For 10% he couldn't hire and pay them any benefits. Councilmember Decker asked why they couldn’t put EMS under the clinic and run it like Walker River Paiute Tribe. Chief Pelt mistakenly thought the EMS was run by Indian Health Services and not their clinic but was told it was run by their clinic. If that is the case then they would have to give their budget to the clinic, but they are not set up for 24-hour, seven-day-a-week responses. The other issue is fire, currently the budget covers both EMS and fire, they are getting two for one service, but it is possible. Councilmember Decker asked if this could create more jobs. Mr. Pelt said yes it would be because they would be splitting EMS and fire and would also create two budgets. Currently their personnel are both state certified in both fire and EMS. And he personally cannot operate an ambulance by himself because he is only an EMT basic and not a paramedic. Brian Wadsworth, a Tribal member, asked what other sources the Tribal Council has looked at. There is the tax use plan which the Tribe could tap into and rearrange how that’s structured. The Enterprise is the business for the Tribe and historically has taken money from the Tribe and had it forgiven. Why doesn’t the Tribe tap into its own resources? Chief Pelt said he included in the packet the possibility of tapping into the Economic Development Fund (EDF) which allowed use for public safety. In the documents provided he provided three columns which showed their 2025 Budget, 80% of his total budget is for payroll; another column showed where they are fully funded with 24/7 365 service for 12 personnel with no brownouts and another column utilizing the Economic Development Fund to pick up the remaining four employees including the three in Gerlach who would be retained in Nixon, using the EDF would allow them to cover operational costs as well. Most of his current funding is for payroll. They are trying to keep overtime down; they looked at 2024 overtime and transferred that number into 2025 using EDF. Councilmember Cortez asked Dawna Brown, Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Clinic (PLTHC) Director, about exploring the option of absorbing the ambulatory services. Ms. Brown said they just had a meeting the previous day about the pros and cons about the benefits for the clinic take over ambulatory services: they are an 8am to 4:30 operation, however, to do an ambulance services doesn’t mean they have to be open but the ambulance could be there, you would just have to have the facilities for living quarters. She recalled back in the 70s, Fernley provided ambulatory services to the Tribe with volunteers in the community, and they survived. She is familiar with how the Walker River Tribe runs their program, with two EMTs and the rest are volunteers from the community. They run their program for about $200-250,000 a year with two ambulances, however the big question is funding, no matter where you put this program it will still bea funding issue. Currently PLTHC doesn’t have the infrastructure to take this on, they are currently starting a process to take over their PRC program, the purchase and refer care or referrals. It’s a huge undertaking that they are taking over from IHS and speaking with the Indian Health Service there are requirements that wouldn't be conducive to assume this program, which is language in their annual funding agreement for revenue ownership. Once they start making money, it comes in as a tribal because they get tribal funds. -6-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Once they start billing insurance, at some point it turns into CMS funds, and the revenue is federal and becomes the clinics where it can’t be place anywhere else. It can’t go into the General Fund, there are liability concerns, housing of staff and garages for ambulances and again they are a 24/7 program, and they are 8-5pm, 5 days a week. At some point, since they are looking at taking over their PRC, there might be a way they could do his billing for him instead of them using a company back east. That is an option they can investigate later down the line but right now that is the best the clinic can offer. Chief Pelt added that the Walker River ambulance is an ILS Service, it’s an intermediate life support service and not a paramedic licensed ambulance. The Tribe has the best service in the State and Tribally. Councilmember Della John said she has a possible solution because of budgetary issues, they must stick with this number, but on those brownout days why can’t they make some type of agreement with Lyon County REMSA and Care flight to cover those brownout days for the Tribal membership. She is sure they will cover the Medicare rate for the Tribal patients like they did in the past or accept whatever their insurance is paying but they don’t go after the patient because of the agreement they have with rural Nevada and that is how that operates in that reimbursement with Indian Health Services. To ensure the Tribal membership has full coverage, she thinks they can try to initiate some type of agreement because they are closer than Gerlach. Ms. Brown said these agencies had an issue with IHS because they are not paying. Trisha Conner, Executive Officer, said she recently spoke to a billing person with REMSA, and they have no agreement with IHS. Councilmember Della John said it’s not IHS, it’s local Nevada, it could be in Winnemucca, Elko or anywhere in rural Nevada, they accept the Medicare rate for the patient, and they consider whatever they receive paid in full and don’t go after the person. Chief Pelt said he doesn’t know of any ambulance service in this country that doesn’t go after what is owed for the full amount. They don’t bill Tribal members, but they do bill non-tribal members. If their insurance doesn’t pay the whole bill, they invoice the patient for the remainder of the bill. Every ambulance must do that; they can’t survive on $200 for transport under Medicare. Before they got their agreement with REMSA, everyone paid an additional $2,500 an ambulance call to transport for being out of franchise district because the Tribe was not included in REMSA’s agreement and is still not but with his agreement for mutual aid, they are not billing the $2,500 anymore but they still bill for whatever their total is. An unidentified employee with the EMS Department said he spoke with people in North Lyon to set up a contract with them including REMSA and TMCC Fire, and for a contract the Tribe could be paying up to $1 million. Councilmember Sampson said she would like to see it in writing because it could be different from what a person says to what is actually on paper. The employee said they could get a proposal. Councilmember Sampson said she understood what Councilmember Della John was trying to say, they are trying to make sure the Tribal membership is safe and well and it’s an issue having brownout days on the weekends which are the busiest times. She understands it’s a budget issue but it’s life and safety and if they are not putting life and safety first then they are not doing their jobs as a public safety department. Chief Pelt said at the request of his supervisor, Benjamin John, they re-examined the brownout times and are currently trying a brownout time from 8pm to 8am four days a week. They are still browning out 48 hours unless they find more funding. He can contact the other agencies and see what a contract would cost for -7-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes those 48 hours they are browned out for them to provide services on the Reservation. IHS only pays for life and limb, they get calls from people who have a tummy ache or don’t feel good and are taken to the hospital, but IHS doesn’t pay them, they refuse to pay them because they are a Tribal entity. He understands and read the Facebook comments, they are being blamed along with the Tribal Council, this is not a finger pointing issue, it’s economics and he is only giving the best service they can for the funding they have. He is unable to ask paid personnel to volunteer their time, it’s against federal law. The community said to get volunteers, they have put it out on social media advertising for volunteers, and he’s received two applications, one from Reno, the other from Sparks and none of them Tribal. Vice Chairman Ely thanked Chief Pelt for his passion. With a possible request from the Economic Development fund, it sounds like they either put with the brownouts or they come up with more funding. Chief Pelt continued with an explanation of the Safer Grant which has changed since the last time they had it. It would pay 75% for the first year, 50% the second year and 25% the third year and then the Tribe would have to pick them up for the fourth and following years after, which the Tribe did. Currently, they have changed the rules for the Safer Grant, it now pays 100% of the employee’s cost. However, the caveat is, it’s for new employees. He can’t take the seven people they currently have and put them on the Safer Grant, but he can add to it. Councilmember Della John said it’s because they don’t think it’s going to be a sustainable program, they should be set up to sustain themselves at some point, instead of being more and more in need. Chief Pelt responded that it is his goal, but he doesn’t know of public safety anywhere in the nation that is self-sustaining, they are a cost to the community. Vice Chairman Ely asked if EMS puts in for the Safer Grant. Chief Pelt said he spoke to the Chairman about it, but the consensus was no, because it adds employees. He would love to open the Wadsworth station but is unable to without funds for staff. He is not asking for funding, it’s an option for the Council to consider. He currently has $1.2 million, the request would be for an additional $1.3 million which would total $2.5 million, with half a million going back to IDC. It would be $2 million budget that would cover 24/7 365 days a year. It would all be for salary for this community not for Gerlach. Councilmember Davis asked how his schedule looked back in 2018. Chief Pelt said it was run with the Safer Grant; they had four full-time employees plus they received seven with the Safer Grant which is how they got eleven employees and ran their schedule on the 48/96 which is the same way they are now. Vice Chairman Ely asked for the programs supervisor’s comment. Benjamin John, Business, said prior to the Safer Grant the Tribe did not have 24/7 coverage and their budget was around $403-415,000. They received the Safer Grant, and the program started to get fully staffed. Costs started to go up and when they assumed 100%, that was when the budget went to $1.2 million, it was a double increase from the year before when they were at 75% and then everyone got used to the 24/7 coverage. All they are doing now is removing the Safer Grant situation and going back to how they were prior without the 24/7 coverage. All the pressure and comments everyone is getting is because everyone got used to having that coverage. The idea behind what Councilmember Della John was saying are they going to be able to sustain it? Unfortunately, they are not, so this is a natural consequence of that. If Mr. Pelt stays with his Gerlach budget the way, it’s set up now and Gerlach funds provides the funds he can use and have that guaranteed ~ -8-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes coverage from that area for the times that Nixon is browned out. They wouldn’t have to get an agreement from Washoe County or REMSA because Washoe County would attain that bill and Chief Pelt would just stagger the two schedules so there is always somebody there or here. They are still in the agreement; they amended it so the Tribe is legally protected to provide a certain amount of service in Gerlach which can be shifted to cover the Tribe’s brownout times in Nixon. All of this is contingent upon Washoe County funding, if they say they can’t fund in whatever year, the Tribe just says no to the agreement which the Tribe has already said no. If they come forward with more funding than their money is paying for the service that they are not getting in Nixon. The other solution is the Safer Grant but looking at the requirements with the additional staff can possibly start planning for it in four years. Vice Chairman Ely said he was in the audience when the Council was talking about its years back and thinks the conversation was it'll be good now but later they will have to cross that bridge and will take a hit and here they are crossing that bridge. Chief Pelt said it is a competitive grant, there are no guarantees. Councilmember Davis didn’t think it was just the Safer Grant, when they received that grant was when COVID started and the Tribe started receiving funding, then there was the ARPA funds, the Cares Act funds and they are trying to stay at that same budget but now they don’t have those fundings. Chief Pelt said that is the same problem everyone is facing, North Lyon is asking for another $3 million on top of the $3 million they currently are getting. They are in the same situation as the Tribe. Tragically COVID was good for local government financially but then the funding ending and everyone is scrambling trying to figure out how to do it without federal funding. Councilmember Della John said they must adjust somehow to provide the service. Chief Pelt said unfortunately, that is what they are doing by the brownouts is adjusting to stay within their budgets and to still provide service as best they can for the community. Councilmember Della John mentions the wildland and structure fires and training, what have they done to provide those services. With TERO they tried to provide first aid in every home, but they didn’t reach that goal. Chief Pelt said they offer those classes, but he can’t make people sign up for them. They try to be at every event in the community, they are everywhere, they are trying to be a part of the community. Councilmember Dunn agreed they need to provide training to households throughout the community. Chief Pelt said he would like to provide that training but currently has two people working a shift and doesn’t have overtime for instructors to come in on their days off to teach. It’s a double edge sword for him but due to the budget he is unable to at the time being. It was recommended TERO can provide those training courses. Mr. John said with TERO, they have the funding and EMS has the instructors they can work together. Dave Paulton, EMS, said he would volunteer to provide training, there have multiple times he paid out of pocket to keep their equipment, their department running. He’s a Sutcliffe resident and it bothers him that he can’t respond to calls he hears on the radio, he knows the community/Tribal members but if it’s a fire he will do what needs to be done. They take care of everybody; they don’t discriminate against anyone. -9-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Councilmember Wadsworth asked for confirmation they are not having brownouts on Friday and Saturdays anymore. Chief Pelt said only during the week from 8pm to 8am. Councilmember Davis said Chief Pelt came before them in December and said he was going to have two days of brown outs and then in January when they received new budgets they didn’t expect to have any brownouts at the beginning of the year but they might at the end of the year. It’s now January with brownouts. Mr. Pelt said it’s to get them through December, if they don’t do brownouts now they won't make it through June. He can provide 24/7 probably until June and then there will be zero people because they will be completely out of funds. He is doing what he can to limit the brown out times they have. He doesn’t like having to do it and knows it puts the Council in a tight spot having to make these decisions. Councilmember Dunn asked if the staff were getting paid while they slept. Chief Pelt said it’s normal practice in the firefighting world, but their firefighters are paid half of what other surrounding area firefighters are making. They pay their paramedics $23-24 an hour, they are not getting paid to be here the whole time, they go home and won't be coming back for a call since most of their personnel live in Reno and Sparks. They are not trying to be a big city fire department; they’re just trying to cover everything they can. Vice Chairman Ely asked with that in mind, would he recommend a better time for brownouts, for instance seven to five. Mr. Pelt said they get as many calls during the day as nighttime but most of their life saving emergencies like heart attacks, strokes, fires occur at nighttime. Councilmember Davis asked about the Clinic CHRs they used to transport before they had a paid ambulance. Ms. Brown said they’re mostly drivers for appointments but the CHRs did transport back in the 80s. Chairman Wadsworth said back in the 70s and 80s, the population was a lot lower, and they did not have all the homes. Chief Pelt added that the requirements from back then also changed, a 32-hour class to become a certified volunteer firefighter is now a 150-160 hour course. The liability falls on the Council when they put people out there that aren’t qualified, and when someone gets hurt, people sue now a days. Councilmember Davis said that is where TERO would come in with training because there are a lot of guys in the area who are wildland certified. Chief Pelt said he is unable to get them to volunteer because they want a paycheck. Councilmember Davis said they are not asked, you show up but you don’t know who they are, you may work in the community but you don’t know the community and you're going to tell them, “stand over there” because you’re not certified? Chief Pelt said all they ask is they volunteer with them. Councilmember Sampson said she would like them to work with TERO and let them know these are your requirements for volunteers. It provides the membership with standards and protocols for volunteering. Go out and encourage people to participate, because if you don’t there is a disconnect and part of being ina community is camaraderie. When putting out flyers, it’s not about posting one time, it’s word of mouth, letting people know there is this training coming up. Include food, because we know Indian people will come when there is food, it just creates a better atmosphere. When you attend events, you need to mingle and network and get engaged with the community. Ask them questions, what do they want to do, do they want to be a firefighter, well there are different types. -10-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Councilmember Della John said the 22-29 years would be great candidates for the wildland fire school because they’re physically fit, but they never had the training here, it was in Carson City. Hopefully, they can get the membership interested so they can travel like the Navajo and Apache Hot Shots. Our Tribe can do that too if they believe in the kids. Chairman Wadsworth said they have veered off topic, but these are good discussion points, but they have two for one deal here, firefighters and EMS, and singling out the firefighter aspect but they are talking about the EMS part. It’s their job to look at the budget and see if they can split it with the Health Clinic and split the firefighters out but like Chief Pelt said that there would be more money they will need to put out which they don’t have. It’s going to take time and there are no immediate answers tonight, the Council still needs to look at the budgets which they don’t have in front of them and which was already approved. Ms. Brown commented that it’s sad because this goes back to when she was working for the IHS and would see tribes building homes and to them that meant more people coming back to the Reservations, more people living here, and more people needing transport for ER visits. They saw the budgets weren't keeping up with the growth, which is the dilemma the Tribe is having now. It’s common knowledge that her and Chief Pelt bump heads but they basically have the same goal to see an adequate ambulance service for the patients; to be able to provide good care for the membership but it’s the funding issue they can’t resolve. One thing she would like to see is for Chief Pelt’s billing service, for him to get what he deserves when he bills but it must be done correctly and it has been untimely. That is where his program might be lacking, she doesn’t think he is billing Medicaid correctly. They have a meeting with PRC and it’s going to be brought up on why they haven't done that. There are no more contracts, IHS does Medicare rates with everybody, but they are requiring that of Chief Pelt, and she doesn’t understand that, so they are going to ask that question. The Health Clinic is venturing into taking their own PRC so this can possibly help the EMS, and they can start getting some revenue for his program. Chief Pelt added they used to put the third-party billing funds they received back into their program but that is no longer the case, it was taken away from them a couple of years ago, now it goes straight into the General Fund. Councilmember Dunn asked if they approached Enterprises about increasing the safety fee given to departments. Chief Pelt said he can talk about that with his supervisor. Karen Shaw commented about an item that was brought up at the Health Board regarding billing. There are no contracts but most services like REMSA, Care Flight, Fernley, Fallon, and all the outside areas, they can bill IHS at a federal rate and they collect from that, and it doesn’t go any higher. If Care Flight came out and it was a $250,000 charge, IHS will pay the $2,500 and paid in full. It’s because those services are not under the Tribe, whereas Chief Pelt’s services are under the Tribe and that is why it is not covered by IHS and they are not covering those bills, which is what they were told. People are being told they will be stuck with a big bill but that is not the case, IHS will cover them along with Medicaid or Medicare. People think they are out there with no coverage but that is not true because they are covered. When it’s a brownout day and REMSA responds they are covered, and the community needs to know that. -11-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Mr. Paulton commented whether you have Medicare, Medicaid, IHS or any third-party or nothing at all, they will respond. Chairman Wadsworth said it brings up an interesting point for the Council to consider what Ms. Shaw says is true and it costs $250,000 to get Care Flight out here and then IHS pays them the federal rate of $2,500, Care Flight is eating the cost which is what Chief Pelt said earlier, all of the EMS services everywhere are hurting because they can’t cover those costs. Chief Pelt said they get the federal rate for Medicare transport, they pay $200 whether they take you 10 feet or 10,000 miles, it doesn’t matter, it’s $200. If you’re a Tribal member with a Tribal ID Enrollment number, like it states in their ordinance, they take $200, and the rest of the bill is zero. They are making sure Tribal members are not getting those high bills, they don’t go after them but if it’s a non-Tribal member and Medicare pays $200, they will go after the remaining that is owed. There are instances where the Tribal member will get a bill; all they must do is contact their office and they will take care of the bill. Ms. Brown said people don’t understand that EMS is not a money-making operation. Whatever they are making is put back into the operation. This includes the PRC program they are going to be taking over, they don’t make any revenue off of it, they are paying bills with it. Joyce McCauley, a community member, commented when this program first started it was to save money for the people not having to use the other ambulances. She remembers when both ambulances were showing up on her street, REMSA and Pyramid Lake EMS. Her question is if they call and ask for REMSA, will they come? Chief Pelt said people can request any service, but they will always be the first unit to respond because its on their geographical response area, which is the Reservation. If they ask the 911 operator for a REMSA ambulance, they will stand by the patient until REMSA shows up and they can take you to the hospital if that is your wish. Unless it’s a life-threatening emergency, they are not going to wait 45 minutes for REMSA to show up, they will take you. Ms. McCauley said all the talk about brownouts puts fear into the people that if they have an emergency, there is not going to be anybody there for them. Chief Pelt reassured us that if they call 911, there will be a fire truck, an ambulance or a police car that shows up, it doesn’t matter if they are browned out, they will get emergency services. Ms. McCauley said the point she is making regarding the talk on Facebook is that the people are afraid and getting upset at the Council because they think the Council is cutting the budget but now, they are hearing they will still have service even on brownout days. For Chief Pelt to put this on Facebook and make the Council look bad she doesn’t agree with that, it’s like he’s trying to blackmail the Council into giving him more funding. And the increase in the budget from 2018 to now is over $2 million dollars. Chief Pelt explained the reasons behind the increase in the budget. The reason for the posting of the brownouts was a request by the community ata previous meeting to post those dates. He also met with the Chairman and his supervisor to discuss how they would proceed with that. He did not make a directive to send out anything on behalf of the Tribe to force the Tribal Council into anything, that was a request from the community that they notify them and that is why they put it out there. He did it with the Council’s approval through the Chairman. Ms. McCauley said she was not saying he directly did that, what she meant was the posting that was put on Facebook gave the impression it was the Council's fault. Everyone needs to work together because they have been -12-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes listening to the meetings for months with Chief Pelt coming to the Council regarding budgets and they have asked him for months to stop being over budget. The budget needs to be managed especially now with what is going on with the government. Yesterday was a scare of Trump freezing all budgets and the directors of all programs need to manage their funds the best way they can. As managers they need to be diligent in managing the dollars they get. Chairman Wadsworth confirmed it was the Councils decision to have Chief Pelt post the brownouts dates. As for the budget, what Chief Pelt was talking about was, they as a Council, not specifically this Council but various Councils over the last four years, who have decreased the EMS budget almost every year. At the height of the Safer Grant, it was $1.6 million, his budget today after inflation’s taking place is down from $1.6 million to $1.285 million. That is what they can afford which leads to the brownouts. It’s not completely up to management, they just don’t give him enough funds, it’s just bare bones. The EMS program is not the only program that’s been cut, they have all had to adapt. They had to cut all Tribal funded budgets by 20%. Brian Wadsworth stated for the record that this is the Tribal Council’s fault. They knew about the brownouts going into last year because he attended those meetings. Nothing was done and it only came out because Chief Pelt mentioned it. There was no public announcement, and it wasn’t until the community came here before the Council and said to put something out. It wasn’t at the Council’s will. They were told to do it and by account of Chief Pelt, it sounds like the Council is trying to figure out whether to hide it or not, let the community know, it’s been going on for months and the Council knew about it. Now here we are at the end of January and still there is clearly no answer and they are still going to have brownouts for the community and the safety of the communities is at stake and it’s in the Council's hands. Ms. Shaw said there was a directive for the Chairman to have him do that, to notify the community but it took two months. Chairman Wadsworth said it was the January 3"4 meeting when he received the directive to post and notify the community. Councilmember Della John said they thought it was the local community and not the whole Northern Nevada community, it was on TV. Chief Pelt said they picked it up from the Tribe’s social media page and the TV stations picked it up and called his office, but he referred every single call to the Chairman’s office per policy. Councilmember Della John stated how the program operates, as the Council, they don’t have authority to go into their departments and tell them what to do. They have a supervisor, and they trust them to manage their own budgets. It was around November or December when Chief Pelt told them he was browning out, she thought it was the whole month of November and December and at that time she said they should notify the local community but she doesn’t have the power to tell him to go post it but the community needs to know they are not out there and to let them know they do have coverage if they need it. Chief Pelt stated the flyer with the brownout dates does specifically say call 911 and services will be rendered, it never said anybody was coming, that was individual interpretations. Ms. Brown said going forward, something everybody has to keep in consideration is they have locals who call Chief Pelt directly, they call his cell number. They need to make sure they call 911 instead because the clinic made the same mistake because one of her staff called him on a brownout date and they had to call -13-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes North Lyon instead. This information needs to be put out there also, not to call Chief Pelt’s cell number but call 911. Chief Pelt said they run into that problem a lot in their department because people know them and they don’t want to talk to 911 because they ask a lot of questions, but they really do want them to call 911. Vice Chairman Ely said if somehow, they do approve the $1.363 million plus, will they be asking for it again next year. Chief Pelt said they would, because this year is next year, the costs are going to be even more expensive because costs go up, they don’t go down. Unfortunately, they are all seeing this with this Presidential election and he would be less honest if he said they wouldn’t be asking for more just to keep the program running at peak efficiency. They are always looking for grants, the unfortunate part of grants is they are drying up. There are not a lot of public safety grants, the ones out there are more for equipment and don’t cover personnel costs or building costs. They are working on one now to replace a slip-in tanks on their trucks. Councilmember Sampson said there is the Bric Grant, the Building Resilience Infrastructure and Communities grant but you must have an updated Hazard Mitigation which the Tribe does have, so why haven’t they applied for it? They have lots of funds and they can’t give it away. Chief Pelt said he was not familiar with it. Councilmember Sampson said it’s for buildings to get them up to par in the current building codes, there is the Tribal Homeland Security grant that is specific to tribes. Chief Pelt said he is aware of this grant but some of the problems with those grants is the match, the department must cover it and if it doesn’t cover IDC, they can’t put in for it. Councilmember Sampson said part of her full-time job is looking for grants to take care of emergency management. These are the things that are out there that are available, and they can’t give it away fast enough, because tribes aren’t applying for them. They are available to tribes so they can be more resilient and handle things locally instead of going to state, federal or straight to the federals because of the Stafford Act, it gives them the opportunity to take care of it. When it comes to emergency responses, if you want to put these types of training on, it’s free, you just contact the state, and they will send a state certified person to come here to conduct trainings. The state has a new tribal liaison, and she would like them to come to present before the Council to explain more of what they can do for tribes and what options they have. Even Washoe County Emergency Management is willing to come before the Council to do a presentation because Pyramid Lake sits on their LEPC. Invite them here to inform the Council and the community of how they can assist. Paramedic Carpenter asked was the type of training was being referred to when she was talking about someone coming in to provide training on the EMS side. Was she referring to CPR, BLS training or something else specifically? Councilmember Sampson these are Incident Command Courses they can provide training on. If you don’t have funding to provide these training courses, contact the various liaisons (state, FEMA and tribal) and they can find the funding to offer these trainings to the community. Chief Pelt said they put in for the state EMS grant every year to train EMT or advanced EMT, but it doesn’t pay enough in IDC, so they are denied by the Council. Councilmember Sampson said to work with the liaisons to look for those extra things they cannot pay for, and they will assist in finding revenues to cover. Councilmember Davis said Chief Pelt hasn’t brought any grant to the Council that had anything to do with IDC. He doesn’t make it the Council so he can’t say it was denied by the Council. There could be a match somewhere else. Mr. Pelt corrected if it doesn’t make it through the Executive Team, it doesn’t get to the Council. Chairman Wadsworth confirmed the Executive Team’s understanding if it doesn’t meet IDC, it -14-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes won't make it to the Council. He further asked if the Council wanted to change that process. Councilmember Davis said she didn’t think it was a standard; Chairman Wadsworth said it was a standard for a while. Councilmember Davis said the Executive Team doesn’t have the authority to deny them from applying for a grant, it’s the Council decision to say that. Chairman Wadsworth said it was a directive at one time where the Council stated do not apply for anything that has no IDC. Councilmember Della John thought it wasn’t right because with the cost fix carried forward method, if you don’t collect IDC on a certain thing, it will be carried forward two years from now and then impacts the rate and we just end up paying more. There is a formula for it but it ends up being a really high rate. You must be careful about it but it could be done because it’s been done in the past. Councilmember Cortez said he remembers multiple times in the past where programs would bring in grants that can only cover a certain limit, say 10-15%, but they still approved them because they were still collecting some level of IDC. It never stopped a grant from being passed up on this level. Chairman Wadsworth said these are grants specifically with no IDC. Chairman Wadsworth reminded Chief Pelt to provide the firefighter stats to the Council. Councilmember Cortez would also like to see stats when medication is administered. Paramedic Carpenter said she administers medication on almost every single call that she is on shift but it varies depending on the 911 call but there are a lot of patients who are in pain. Chief Pelt said they carry 23 different medications on board the ambulance and will see about pulling the data for the Council. Paramedic Carpenter noted for them to have permits there has to be a set number of medications and equipment on each ambulance, it’s standard. Councilmember Davis asked if the Enterprise fee which was initiated and approved by the Tribal Council, if the Chairman and Business Officer and relook at it. Chairman Wadsworth asked if it was specifically for the EMS or to include the Police Department, Rangers and Lake Maintenance. Councilmember Davis said this program was approved in 2011-12 and it hasn’t been updated. The Chairman and Business Officer will relook at this program. Councilmember Della John stated she would like a public statement to go out to the public to let them know they have ambulance coverage when they call but that other ambulances may respond as well to make them feel less fearful. Councilmember Wadsworth suggested, Chief Pelt update his contact information, the reason she called him was because she has the magnet on her refrigerator which has his cell phone number on it. These magnets were made before the fire station had their own phone number. 2. Request for Approval Amendment to Motion Regarding Washoe County Gerlach Contract Termination. Chairman Wadsworth said the original motion was to send a letter to Washoe County for 120 days’ notice of termination which was going to be on that Monday. After the Councils discussion here, the Council felt it would be better if they rode out the rest of this year for that contract until June 30, 2025, which will be 160 days. You all remember hearing Washoe County Manager Brown say that if they did cancel it before the end of the year, the Tribe would lose out on a portion of the $200,000 grant. After discussion with the Executive Team, they felt it would be best course of action just to finish up the contract for this year. The $200,000 should zero out the Tribe for this year. -15-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Vice Chairman Ely commented the advantage would be that the Tribe would have an ambulance 70 miles away on a brownout day. What advantage would there be if they kept the contract. Chief Pelt said to keep the contract whole, it provides additional personnel because there are two personnel in Gerlach and two here in Nixon which helps them to equal the two in two out. It also maintains the mutual aid agreement with other partnering agencies like North Lyon, Truckee Meadows and REMSA because when they get a call, the Gerlach ambulance starts its way down, along with either North Lyon, Truckee Meadows or REMSA knowing they will get to Wadsworth quicker before the Gerlach ambulance does to take care of the call. With mutual aid, they must be responding but technically they’re giving the call to them. Under the mutual aid, the first 24 hours are free as long as they respond to the call even though they know they not going to make it out of Gerlach and they won’t pay extra for the ambulance that comes out of Fernley. Vice Chairman Ely said it seems like the Tribe is in full service with them to get 15% of the service here and it doesn’t equate to him. Vice Chairman Ely made the original motion to discontinue the service, so he rescinds his motion. Councilmember Guerrero said the advantage is the Tribe gets the indirect out of the $250,000 (not the real amount) for the contract which means $50,000 comes to the Tribe in indirect. That is one of the reasons they need to finish this contract out or else the Tribe will lose the indirect. Chairman Wadsworth said what he is asking is to rescind or modify the original motion to say we're going to terminate the contract on midnight June 30, 2025. There is still two more years in the contract so they would have to terminate it within 120 days. He is sure the Council has already made up their mind to terminate the contract, but this would extend it for that extra couple of months. Vice Chairman Ely amended his motion to terminate the Washoe County Gerlach Contract on June 30, 2025, at midnight. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Della John. Votes were nine (9) for; zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED 3. Discussion Follow-up Federal Freeze. Chairman Wadsworth stated they received the memo from the OMB Office of Management and Budget this morning rescinding that memo, then later they received notice that it still doesn’t get rid of the funding freeze. Councilmember Davis said she thought she read somewhere it wasn’t the whole funding freeze but just for OMB. Chairman Wadsworth said what they are trying to say now is the funding freeze was through the Executive Order. He doesn’t think they are out of the woods yet, but they still have to wait for the court cases to come out. From a couple of emails from directors, their funding agencies are telling them to draw down and continue operations as normal. Councilmember Della John said the Attorney General needs to keep the lawsuits going and the Tribe needs to support that because we need to limit what he can do because she thinks he’s pushing it to try to find out what he can get away with. Chairman Wadsworth said what Councilmember Della John is talking about is -16-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes the Nevada Attorney General joined 22 other Attorney Generals in the country from various states in suing to try to get the block. He gave the directive for everyone to continue business as normal which is all they can do since there is no furloughs on Monday. Councilmember Davis said she would like to see them be more proactive, if it doesn’t go the way they are hoping on Monday, she doesn’t want to see employees come in on Tuesday and they're told you're gone. They need to be ready for whatever it is and at least give the employees that courtesy. She would like to see something from the Executive Team because they sat here discussing what programs would be cut, they didn’t know who was or wasn’t essential, they didn’t have any information. Councilmember Della John said the Governor sent out a memo that they should send to the membership telling what is still in place. Chairman Wadsworth said he was seconds away from sending out a memo to the Tribal membership when they received the notice that the memo rescinded the previous memo. Councilmember Davis said the question is still out there from the membership, is it cutting off food stamps or Medicaid. Ms. Brown said patients were afraid they weren’t going to be open on Monday; they were cancelling appointments. They tried to explain it didn’t affect the clinic or their operations, but they cancelled anyways because of what they heard through social media. She thinks this is a good time to make sure they are current on their draw downs, so they are not scrambling to do many at one time. They’ve identified some holes they need to plug to be ready for something instead of being just reactive. Chairman Wadsworth said the Finance Department is pretty much caught up with all their draw downs. Councilmember Davis said when BIA was here in front of the Council, they were saying if the Tribe has the 638 contracts, draw them down now and let them sit in the bank and draw interest because those funds are the Tribes. Chairman Wadsworth said the one big problem is that they are not on a full budget, the federal government is not a full budget, we’re on a continuing resolution, so the draw downs, the paperwork only comes in every couple of months and that is all they are able to draw down. Vice Chairman Ely said there are some grants that they qualify that you can get advances for and they need to start getting those advances. It’s cumbersome for Finance because they must manage that. For the Wadsworth Bypass they can draw down two months of funds, project money and that would have carried them through. The list could have been put together either by an engineer’s estimate or the contractor. They are spending almost a million dollars on modeling that could have sustained them for a little while. Councilmember Della John said they also had a relationship with their bank quite a while ago who offered a letter of credit. The Tribe puts all their money in their bank, and it qualifies for a certain amount of letter of credit that could be looked into in case they have to get a loan and are waiting on reimbursement funds, but you must have a plan. Councilmember Sampson asked if the Tribe has a active continuity of operations plan if something like this happens. Chairman Wadsworth said he didn’t think they did, the only thing they had was the COVID policies. Councilmember Sampson said it’s something the Tribe needs to look into in case something like this happens again because federal shutdowns are something that happens every year. It allows the Tribe to keep operating and the Tribe is proactive instead of reactive. -17-|Page Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council January 29, 2024, Special minutes Councilmember Della John said she drafted a lapse in appropriation or procedure and provided it to Trisha Conner a year ago, but she could bring it back to the Council for review. Vice Chairman Ely mentioned the wake-up call to Tribal Sovereignty. We can still be sovereign as a Tribe but we’re financial dependent. Chairman Wadsworth said they will just keep operating as normal. One of the things he did put out there when asked by a reporter was without proper notice, proper guidance, everybody was left holding the bag. It’s only been 10 days for this new administration, and they have already shown them they are committed to doing things the wrong way. Councilmember Davis said she would like them to have their plan ready. People were saying it’s just the grants, but what they don’t realize is that those grants pay the IDC that fund the programs, so they need to be ready. Chairman Wadsworth said with his discussions with the Executive Team, they’ve been asking themselves questions, who do they keep open, the police, finance and departments that service clients, they need to keep people on staff. One of the big departments is Food Distribution, which has grown. The PUD for trash. COVID showed them to be a little more prepared. ADJOURNMENT With no further business before the Tribal Council, Vice Chairman Ely made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Cortez. Votes taken were all in favor, motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 8:18 p.m. Submitted by, nuda ue, Brenda A. Henry ry Tribal Council Secreta 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 6% day of June 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 // -18-|Page --- Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/tribal%3Apyramid_lake%3A5382a293bbdead90. Public record. Not legal advice.