Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council (2026)
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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
February 20, 2026, Special
Members Present:
Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman Edward Ely III, Vice Chairman
Nicholas Cortez, Councilmember John Guerrero, Councilmember
Judith Davis, Councilmember Della John, Councilmember
Loren Decker, Councilmember Ceira Sampson, Councilmember
Nathan Dunn, Councilmember Georgina Wadsworth, Councilmember
CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Wadsworth called the February 20, 2026, Special Tribal Council meeting of the Pyramid Lake
Paiute Tribal Council to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Brenda A. Henry, Tribal Council Secretary, took roll call. All Councilmembers were present at roll call, and a
quorum was established for this meeting.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Chairman Wadsworth presented the agenda with no changes.
Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve the February 20, 2026, Special meeting agenda. Councilmember
Dunn 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 Roads Department for clearing the roads
this morning, they were up at 6:30 am walking their dogs and the roads were already plowed and he wanted
to publicly acknowledge the hard work of the Roads personnel.
Della John, Tribal Member. Ms. John recognized Stephanie TwoHearts, a member of the Economic
Development Committee who recently passed. She thanked her for her contributions to the committee and
extended condolences to her family.
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council
February 20, 2026, Special minutes
A moment of silence was requested for Tribal members who had passed in the last couple of weeks.
CONSENT AGENDA
The following items were listed under the Consent Agenda:
1. Approval Quarles February 2026 Invoice #6968003
2. Approval Sponsorship Request Pyramid Lake Jr/Sr High School Dinner
3. Approval Ratification of Poll Votes:
a. Elder Emergency Request Karole McQueen _ b. Temporary Land Use Permit NV Energy
4. Approval Consolidated Higher Education Scholarships:
a. ATV Scholarship - AmiyaGonzales _ b. ATV Scholarship - Kylie Harry
Councilmember Dunn requested to pull item #2.
Councilmember John requested to pull item #3a.
Councilmember Dunn motioned to approve items #1, #3b, and #4 on the consent agenda. Councilmember
Davis seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION
PASSED.
ITEM #2. Pyramid Lake High School Sponsorship Request.
Councilmember Dunn would like to see a school representative present when they're requesting the $2,500
sponsorship. He would like to have interaction at the Council level. They are not a Tribal school anymore like
they used to be and he is not against giving them a donation or sponsorship but would like more engagement
instead of just receiving a letter and expecting them to give them money.
Councilmember Dunn motioned to table the request for a school representative to be present, bring back at
the March 6, 2026, meeting. Councilmember John seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0)
opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED
ITEM #3a. Ratification of Poll Vote for Elder Emergency Request Karole McQueen.
Councilmember John mistakenly pulled the wrong item; she meant to pull item #3b. Ratification of the
Temporary Land Use Permit NV Energy. Chairman Wadsworth will provide a summary of the Temporary
Land Use Permit.
Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve consent agenda item #3a. Ratification of poll vote for elder
emergency request - Karole McQueen. Councilmember Decker seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for
and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED
Chairman Wadsworth summarized the Temporary Land Use Permit NV Energy for the audience. This permit
covers an area where NV Energy is doing repairs in the Wadsworth area. It’s medium-sized transmission
lines that runs pass the Food Distribution Center, running east to west, from above Hill Ranch Road, through
CEMEX and across the river to Brady Hill. The Tribe has an agreement with NV Energy to complete these
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February 20, 2026, Special minutes
types of repairs; however, the agreement has not been approved at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) level
yet, which is why they need a Temporary Land Use Permit in place, so they are covered for these repairs. The
original agreement with NV Energy was approved by the Council last October but they are still waiting for
the bureau to sign.
MINUTES
1. Approval of Minutes:
a. January 16, 2026, Special.
Councilmember Dunn said on page 6, they talked about the months for the invoices, but he would like to see
the year added to reflect they are invoices from 2025, this is regarding the Tribal Courts presentation. On
page 7, fourth paragraph there is grammatical correction and in reference to Chief Parsons speaking about
the $109 costs, add daily costs. On page 8, he wanted to clarify when they were talking about considering a
liquor tax to generate revenue for programs such as Law Enforcement or Judicial, they do not collect a liquor
tax, but they do collect a sales tax. He wanted to ensure there was no confusion with that item because
Councilmember John stated they collected a liquor tax, but they don't.
Councilmember Wadsworth had grammatical corrections on page 8 and page 13.
Councilmember Davis requested a correction on page 13, last paragraph where it says, “bare bones”, add
Finance staff and on page 15, second paragraph need to add Food Distribution Program after Thanksgiving
and Christmas because it was a program that was also mentioned.
Councilmember Sampson had a correction on page 2, where Councilmember Cortez made the motion to
approve, the item number is missing.
Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve the January 16, 2026, Special minutes with corrections.
Councilmember Decker seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0)
abstentions. MOTION PASSED
PRESENTATION
1. Quarles & Brady LLC Update. Jason Croxton, Quarles and Brady LLC
Mr. Croxton, Senior Counsel for Quarles and Brady, took over the updates from Pilar Thomas who recently
retired. His updates will be for December 2025 and January 2026.
The Fiber Line Easement with the State of Science, Innovation and Technology. The fiber line easement runs
in the I-80 corridor and links up to a portion of the Reservation. He worked with Benjamin John, Business
Officer, to get it approved or at least negotiated and submitted to the Council. He also worked on the NV
Energy Easement and Temporary Lease Permit to get it in place and negotiated the terms. NV Energy is
seeking to issue payment to the Tribe, and they are standing by for approval of those agreements by BIA.
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NextEra Right-of-Way and Community Benefits Agreement (CBA). NextEra is looking to expand their project
at Dodge Flats, the expansion is going to include battery storage, a new solar and they want to make sure
they have an agreement in place for access to the site through Olinghouse Road. They currently have an
agreement in place, but they want to ensure the update to the project is current with the Tribe. He spoke
with the Chairman, and they want to make sure they have all the CBA terms in place. In the past they
submitted payment to the Tribe in various forms, including scholarships and for other purposes, so they will
be working to negotiate an agreement for the Council’s consideration.
Great Basin Expansion Project. Great Basin is considering expanding their transmission line in Northern
Nevada, they want to carry more gas and serve the needs of their customers in the region and in the state.
This might trigger negotiations of the easements that the Tribe has in place with Great Basin. Currently they
are distributing information to interested parties and stakeholders and putting together presentations for
the public. His understanding is the Council would like to have a one-one-one consultation rather than a
group presentation and he is working to make that happen.
Non-disclosure Agreement for Unique Infrastructure. He was working with Mr. John on a non-disclosure
agreement related to data center issues, but this didn’t come to fruition.
Cannabis Project. Had communication with representatives of Obsidian Cannabis on a project they proposed
on the Reservation. He’s spoken to their legal counsel about the background of the project and will be
working with them for additional details to present to the Council.
Councilmember John commented on non-disclosure agreements; the Council are elected officials and should
not be signing non-disclosure agreements because that is pledging alliance to a corporation and they should
have already pledged alliance to the people and looking out for their interests and benefits. Another item is
privacy, in this digital age, they need measures to protect Tribal member’s privacy. Mr. Croxton agrees they
usually take a close look at agreements for protection of confidential information and proprietary
information. Councilmember John commented that pipeline is going to go under the river, and the Tribe has
discovered where they negotiated the big power line and, in the agreement, it said lines, with an “s.”, and
then here comes the second line. The Council said no, the agreement was only one line, but when they read
the agreement, it said line(s). So, they must be careful, these agreements must come back to the Council every
time when there is an amendment or change. Also, with the NextEra Community Benefits Agreement (CBA),
there were no scholarships because the membership didn’t take advantage of it or they didn’t know about it.
There was no environmental review with the Tribe because it was all on private property even though their
project is right up to the Tribe’s boundary. They don’t care about the migrating birds, endangered species, or
the communities, this didn’t sit with her well because they were impacted and they still haven’t received any
bird kill reports. Mr. Croxton said that’s good information to know since they will be talking with them in the
future and he understands the Tribe wanted to broaden the scope of scholarship opportunities so it wasn’t
just people going to a university but there is a need to spread it out into a broader scope.
Councilmember Wadsworth said she works with the Tax Department and when the right-of-way was
negotiated with NextEra the first time around, they were given the right-of-way with a waiver for the
possessor interest tax. The Tax Administrator would prefer them not to receive a waiver and for them to pay
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the possessor’s interest tax. The Tax Department needs to be included when the negotiations are done, this
would also include the negotiations with the Great Basin Gas Expansion.
2. Washoe County Commissioner District Five Candidate Introduction. Brian Wadsworth
Mr. Wadsworth, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal member, announced he is running for Washoe County District
Five. District Five covers 80% of the land base in Washoe County, including the communities of Sommerset,
Mogul, Northern Reno, McQueen, North McCarran, North Valleys, Cold Springs, Gerlach to the Oregon border
and the entire Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation. Mr. Wadsworth stated his personal and professional
accomplishments. He is currently the Chief Operating Officer for Native Public Media, a native-led nonprofit
that works with tribally licensed radio and television stations throughout the country. Along with working
with radio and television stations he works on emergency management planning curriculum and training
program for stations and tribes and working on policy advocacy. One of their biggest endeavors was
advocating for the creation of the Federal Communications Commission’s Missing and Endangered persons
Event Code. The even code is for any person that is 17 years of age and older that goes missing and/or doesn’t
fit the criteria for the Amber Alert and that code is housed within the integrated public alert warning system
which was designed for the President of the US to issue emergency alerts across the country. What started
his journey was a situation that occurred in Gerlach where they were potentially left without emergency
services and it felt to be forgotten or an afterthought. He didn’t want to have any of the neighbors or any of
the communities to be without lifesaving emergency services or to feel unsafe within their communities. He
wants to see responsible growth and development ensuring they have the infrastructure in place and the
adequate resources. He will commit to providing updates to the Tribal Council not only here but the other
tribes as well, having an open line of communication, being aware of projects going on within the county that
could potentially affect the Tribe and respecting tribal sovereignty. He is humbly asking for the Tribe’s
endorsement and a campaign donation. His goal for his campaign is $100,000.
3. Secretary of State Candidate, Sharon Angle. Sharon Angle
Ms. Angle explained she is running for Secretary of State. She is a lifelong resident. She got involved in
government after her son needed extra help and she thought she could help him as an educator. Then a judge
told her that even though the law said she could home school her child, the law also said she couldn’t home
school her child unless she lived more than 50 miles away from the nearest school. That’s when she got
involved in government and led to her election to the Nye County School Board. She moved back to Reno and
served on the State Legislature and got the most freeing home school law in the United States. She also got
involved in the first Voter ID bill, it didn’t pass but it took 20 years for everyone to realize they need fair and
honest elections in Nevada and the United Sates and with Nevada being a battleground state, we have to
battle every year. Her purpose to be before the Council is not just to provide information about her candidacy
but she wants to know the Tribe’s needs as a Sovereign Nation. She had three questions for the Council: 1)
what are the Secretary of States duties with regard to the Nevada tribes in the areas of elections and
businesses (small), 2) what would the Tribe like to see the Secretary of State do for Nevada tribes in regard
to elections and business, and 3) how can she be of assistance in getting a bill draft request from their state
within the Secretary of Sates realm, what would that bill draft request look like.
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Vice Chairman Ely said they as a Council have requested government to government relation consultations
and it seems that if then negotiate with Washoe County, NDOT or BLM they always get a third assistant part
time liaison that takes it back, runs it by the director and they get denied without ever being able to consult
one on one with a person of authority to make a decision when they come and consult with the Tribe. This
Council here has the authority to make those decisions, but they never get the director or head person. Ms.
Angle said she understands and hates gatekeepers, her promise is to show up, and she would like to plan
that, quarterly or biannually or whatever works for the Council and it’s a needed request, if they are going to
respect each other, they need to have this conversation.
Councilmember John said there were three Veterans who got permission to have a polling site here back in
2022 or 23. The Tribe holds their voting in this room; they have people who came from the border of Oregon
and all the rural areas to vote here. The Tribe’s first voter was 90 or 93 years old. They appreciate the
opportunity that it is available in our community so everyone can participate in elections. Ms. Angle said she
likes the idea that the closest polling sites to the people are the best. We are the guard against someone who
is trying to gain the system since we know who might be out of place. What can she do to make it a better
experience not only for voters, but what can she do to facilitate a smoother and efficient election.
Councilmember John said the mail in ballot works for our community, she had an issue where her husband
used her envelope with his ballot and when she tried to vote they told her she couldn’t but they were able to
find her envelope and his ballot and so she was allowed to vote because she likes to vote in person.
Councilmember Dunn said on her flyer she talks about election integrity, what concerns does she has with
the processes now. Ms. Angle said they've seen where buses of people would come to polling places, usually
during early voting, and then they would see them turn up at another polling place the same day but not
typically in rural areas mostly the Reno and Las Vegas. When it happens to you then you start paying
attention.
Chairman Wadsworth commented about the Tribe’s processes for elections. We have them every year with
a change of leadership and if you get reelected things start to fall through the cracks. They make sure
everything flows smoothly to ensure we always get our polling station and expanding on that for other tribes
since there are more rural places and smaller tribes that would like to have their own polling station and it
helps all of Indian country. Ms. Angle said she will try to be as seamless as possible with the processes they
have in place. She doesn’t plan to go in and shake everything up and cause upheaval within the office. She
thinks there is room for improvement in both the election side and the business side. If it’s government to
government, the Tribe should be able to get right through to her.
COMMITTEE UPDATES
1. Consolidated Higher Education (CHE) Committee. Karen Shaw, Consolidated Higher Education Director
Ms. Shaw speaking on behalf of the committee said none of the members are present due to high school
games occurring at the same time, but the members were confused about why they needed to be presenting
to the Council when they already submitted their minutes. Councilmember Guerrero said it’s accountability,
what are the committees doing and to just update the Council. They receive their monthly reports but some
of them have the same reports month after month. Getting an update from the committees in person and
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hearing what issues they are having, if any. Ms. Shaw said in her report she had a tribal zoom meeting
consultation with the Department of Education, Interior Department of Labor. There were many tribes in the
meeting, but the consultation was too late, the decision was already made regarding Indian Education. They
don’t know what is going on with Indian Education, she doesn’t know who she answers to, Marilyn (no last
name) is not there anymore, it’s all up in the air. They don’t know if secondary education is going under the
Department of Interior or the Department of Labor. They did get one installation into this year’s funding, but
she hasn’t heard anything since. She doesn’t know where their funding is going to be, that's a question more
for her as the CHE Director and not the committee. Her impression is that it’s going to create more
bureaucracy and more questions on who to contact and where the funding is coming from. Right now, she
doesn’t know and she thinks Phoenix doesn’t know either. Currently she has $32,000. She will follow up with
her committee.
Chairman Wadsworth said the Council does receive the minutes, but this is a chance for the committee to ask
the Council questions and for them to have a back-and-forth conversation.
2. Enrollment Committee. Judie Davis, Enrollment Chairperson
Councilmember Davis stepped down to present as the Chairperson of the Enrollment Committee
Members of the Enrollment Committee are Judith Davis, Chairperson (20 years), Carol Smith, Vice-
Chairperson (10 years plus former Enrollment Officer 8-10 years), Genevieve John, member (10 years),
Kathleen Wright-Bryan, member (10 years), and April Harden (appointed in December 2025), replaced
Debra Barlese who retired in December 2025 after 10 years.
Chairperson Davis explained that the Enrollment Committee is a five-person standing committee within the
Constitution who works closely with the Enrollment Office and they meet on the third Tuesday of every
month. They review all applications that are received in the Enrollment Office, where they are date stamped
and readied for their review. As the Council may have read in their reports, the last time there was a
distribution, the Enrollment Office received 30-50 applications during the month. Some applications were
from anyone who thought they were Pyramid Lake based on their personal ancestory.com research. Each
one of those applications must be vetted for membership to make sure they meet the qualifications for
membership whether it be for regular membership, adoptive, etc. and they also process relinquishment and
disenrollments. They update their forms and applications when needed and any modifications are approved
by the Council. They are constantly reviewing the Enrollment Ordinance to see what needs to be updated.
They have the new ID cards which are accepted by the TSA, these were approved through the State of Nevada
Senate Bill 399 where they were required to add an expiration date to be a legitimate or formal ID card. They
worked with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) quite a bit to get that done. They assist with the
Secretarial Elections to get information out to the membership. The committee asks if any requests for
changes come as a directive from the Council, there are times when they are approached by Tribal members
and members of the Council regarding changes, but their direction is to follow the Ordinance as it is written
and approved by the Council. Without that directive they are going against the Ordinance.
Councilmember John asked if they observe the Council’s action to amend ordinances. Ms. Davis said their last
amendments were during the Secretarial Election.
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Chairperson Davis returned to her seat on the Council.
3. Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Board. Karen Hernandez, Chairperson, Nicholas Cortez and Ceira Sampson,
Tribal Council Representatives
Councilmember Cortez and Councilmember Sampson stepped down to assist with the Health Board
presentation.
Members of the Pyramid Lake Tribal Health Board are Karen Hernandez, Board Chairperson, Francesca
Maipi, Vice-Chairperson, Ceira Sampson, Tribal Council Representative, Nicholas Cortez, Tribal Council
Representative, and Marcia Wadsworth, Board member.
Chairperson Hernandez explained they received a $4 million grant from the Congressional funding which
will go towards the new clinic and Numaga Senior Center. Ms. Maipi added another project they are working
on is to integrate the EMS Department under the clinic but would not include the fire department.
Vice Chairman Ely said there is a new building, a modular at the clinic, is it for storage. Councilmember Cortez
said it’s for storage; it came to the Council at the beginning of January or the end of December for approval.
It was approved to house storage as well as additional offices. At that time, the clinic said they wouldn’t have
the funding to build a new building, so they decided to purchase these buildings. Then after those buildings
were approved, the congressional appropriations came in.
Councilmember Ely asked if that would change the plans or will they pick those buildings up and move them.
Councilmember Cortez said where the new structure will go, it shouldn’t have an impact on what’s existing,
it’s a new clinic, along with Numaga, lab services and dental and was also brought to the Council years back
for approval.
Councilmember Cortez said they are trying to identify what is in third party revenue to get a snapshot of
what they have to see if they have enough to complete what was proposed as well as absorb the cost of the
EMS without depleting that entire account.
Councilmember John said when she saw the appropriation in the paper, the announcement from the Senator,
she thinks it said expanding the Health Clinic Services for the people. To her that meant adding new things
like different aging programs or other programs. Councilmember Sampson said that is what the expansion
would be for, it was the original direction of the expansion a few years back, was to add those additional
services that they don’t currently have. One of the things they've been talking about is audiology services or
a full-time podiatrist. Ms. Maipi added with the building they have now, they will be able to expand the mental
health services. It will be annexed so that people will have some sort of anonymity rather than going to the
main building.
Councilmember Dunn said he asked Dawna Brown, Health Clinic Director about working more with the
community and elders for when they have surgeries and post op where they are being checked on, making
sure they have their medications ready, just the interaction and engagement services they should be
providing. Councilmember Cortez said that has been a main topic for them is that they don’t have CHRs and
he is aware of the information in their annual funding amounts and that should be a funded service, hopefully
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for this coming year. It is a priority to have CHRs back in the community because the lack of them leads to
amputations and serious complications of not having that person there to care for the community.
Councilmember Dunn asked about the extension of hours for the pharmacy. Councilmember Cortez said the
pharmacy is supposed to be open until 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday and still have half hour to close and
lock up.
Vice Chairman Ely asked about Nevada Skies, it’s been there for several years and has yet to have one patient,
has the board talked about it. Councilmember Sampson said the Board had talked about it and notified the
Heath Director. Councilmember Cortez said from what the Health Director said, it was possible because they
are an Indian Health Services (IHS) facility and it would take a lease agreement with the clinic to transfer
those services, but they are looking into the avenues that would be viable. That’s where this project stands
now. Ms. Maipi said Ms. Brown has met with the providers to see how they could use the facility best.
Councilmember Guerrero asked with the Nevada Skies building what kind of specialty care could provide
there. Councilmember Cortez said they were bouncing around ideas but personally he mentioned dialysis,
senior rehabilitation, diabetes, physical therapy, there are multiple avenues they were talking about. Ms.
Brown also reached out to DaVita for the dialysis services and how that would look to convert to a dialysis
center. Ms. Brown said one of the main things, as a roadblock was it had to be within specific number of miles
from a hospital. She was going to do more research because we are a rural community, it might be allowable
because of the Urgent Care in Fernley or Banner Hospital in Fallon. Councilmember Guerrero asked what
type of funding they’re receiving. Councilmember Cortez said there were no cuts or increases this year. He
also notified the Board of the new IHS Area Director. Councilmember Guerrero asked if they were still
working on their plans and budgets. Councilmember Sampson said the previous contractor was Lumos and
she believes the Health Director was going to reach out to them about an updated process.
Councilmember John said she had to navigate hospice which was difficult because they don’t service them
out here very well. There are only certain people who do that and even the hospitals don’t know who to send
you to, but it would be helpful if the clinic could have a pathway for members who must do that. An advocate
or someone to assist with a contact for who services the Reservation. She was lucky because she had a family
member who was a retired nurse and showed them what to do but it would be helpful for those who have to
do this for the first time. She did some research and if you had a house with five bedrooms, they could create
a hospice place for use by the Tribe and other Indian people if they need that type of service. Ms. Hernandez
said she had a conversation with Ms. Brown when she still worked at the clinic about bringing on somebody,
a social worker or advocate for patients who didn’t have any family to check on them.
Vice Chairman Ely asked what the Health Board needed from the Council. Councilmember Cortez said the
Board is navigating things with the staff pretty well, sometimes they must remind the staff they are the
oversight. He pointed out one achievement of the clinic this past year, which was with Medicaid RX, the clinic
took on that billing inhouse rather than sending it to the billing company and it has generated quite a bit of
profit through that third party. They had an audit to see how it was running and if there were corrections to
be made, and of all the bills submitted there was only one they couldn’t verify on their own because they had
an individual who was in a situation they couldn’t tell from a consultation.
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Councilmember Dunn just wanted to make sure they didn’t outsource again to Greenway because there were
so many questions and concerns. Ms. Sampson said the Business Office Manager has been working to get
certified to do these in-house. Ms. Maipi said another project while working with Blue Stone is to separate
financially and they have a zoom meeting scheduled with them.
Councilmember Guerrero said he was on the Board a few years back and one thing they really need is the
third-party amount, they’ve been asking for that for years and they still haven’t received an amount of how
much is there. Councilmember Cortez said it would be helpful to have that amount as soon as possible
because they don’t know any timelines in regard to the Congressional funding on when it needs to be spent.
Councilmember Cortez and Councilmember Sampson returned to their Council seats.
4. Public Utilities District (PUD) Board. Randa Mitchell, PUD Chairperson
Members of the PUD Board are Randa Mitchell, Chairperson, Secretary - Vacant, Da Nelle Smith, Board
member, Leona Collins, Board member, and Jolyne Sander, Board member.
Chairperson Mitchell explained the PUD Board is on indefinite terms unless the Council replaces them. The
current project is the repair of the Sutcliffe water line. A future project is getting online the meter reading;
the meters are all installed but they must get the process down. The Sutcliffe dump must be repaired, or
people will keep accessing it. Jonathan Begay, PUD Manager, is repairing and fixing it up the gate. Working
on more signage to post around the transfer stations, and in newsletters to customers. They're reviewing the
Fallon prices and the cost to transport for their vehicles.
Councilmember Guerrero asked what was the percentage for the price increase in Fallon. Ms. Mitchell said it
wasn’t for that, he is researching and doing a comparability. Councilmember Guerrero said Reno and Sparks
increased 15%.
Councilmember Dunn asked about the Nixon dump fence, did someone take it down or it blew down. Ms.
Mitchell said he didn’t mention the Nixon dump but knows it always has been a problem where people are
accessing it, it’s not manned. He mentions the Sutcliffe dump being manned for one Saturday a month to see
that people use it instead of breaking fences down to use it.
5. Gaming Commission.
There were no representatives for the Gaming Commission.
Chairman Wadsworth noted the Gaming Commission meets quarterly.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Request or Approval PLHA Releases Assign and Conveyance: Shari Williams NV4-14 W120 with
Resolution. Kathleen Frazier, PLHA Executive Director
Chairman Wadsworth stepped out of chambers at 7:29 p.m.
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Ms. Frazier had a request for approval of the release, assign and conveyance for NV4-14 W120. This person
had signed their home buy agreement on June 13, 2001, and they have satisfied all obligations in terms of
the home buyer agreement.
Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve the PLHA Release, Assign, and Conveyance for Shari Williams
NV4-14 W120 with Resolution. Councilmember Decker seconded the motion. Votes were eight (8) for and
zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED. RESOLUTION NO.: PL 017-26 PLHA
RELEASE ASSIGN AND CONVEYANCE SHARI WILLIAMS
Councilmember Wadsworth said she did the notary for her but there was nobody from the Housing
Department to explain to her what needed to be done, which is a new practice because before, when she’s
done notaries, there was always somebody there with them telling them what needed to be done. Ms. Frazier
said they send a packet to them that has all the instructions because the Chairperson isn’t on staff during the
day and during COVID they mailed them out because they could get their own notary instead of having them
both come together to the Housing Office and do it, especially now since they don’t have a notary in their
office anymore.
EXECUTIVE TEAM
1. Programs Office. Sherry Ely-Mendes, Programs Officer
While waiting for the Business Officer, the Council tabled the Programs Officer report since she was absent
from the meeting.
Councilmember Davis motioned to table the Program Officer’s report. Councilmember Cortez seconded the
motion. Votes were eight (8) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED
Chairman Wadsworth returned to chambers at 7:33 p.m. and resumed control of the meeting.
2. Business Office. Benjamin John, Business Officer
a. University of Nevada - Reno Application.
Mr. John brought forward a request to be added to the agenda which he just received late this afternoon.
UNR received funds back from some projects they did and they reached out through Nevada Tech Hub;
there is about $2 million for projects. Working through Will Adler, Silver State Government Relations
(SSGR), who worked on the application letter to get another backup generator for about $225,000 and it
just needs the Chairman’s signature. The idea is to have this backup generator which they can plug into any
of the buildings like the Senior Center, Food Distribution Center or the Sutcliffe Community Building for
power, it’s something like they already have for public utilities, they have a generator they can plug into the
pump houses and it will run the building. The only requirement was it had to come from a Nevada company
that makes the generators and Mr. Adler happened to know a company in Henderson that makes these
generators which meet all the requirements. It’s just an application which can be turned down, there is no
IDC because it’s going to be equipment greater than $5,000 and there is no match. They will just be sending
them a proposal for the project, and they either accept it or deny.
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Councilmember John asked if there were buildings that people would go to evacuate. Mr. John said that was
the idea and it’s part of the emergency plan. He has the information if the Council would like to look it over,
the deadline is the 24* and that is why he is asking now.
Vice Chairman Ely asked if it was a competitive application. Mr. John said yes, they will review the proposal,
but it is primarily for tribes. This is funding they've already given to tribes, but some didn’t spend it, so the
funds were returned and now they need to spend it.
Councilmember John motioned to approve the submittal of the application. Councilmember Davis seconded
the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED
b. Approval of Section 501(1) Lease Proposal Documents with Resolution.
Mr. John explained the resolution is what was sent to him but they can change it to fit our template but the
important part is on the bottom of the first page, the last “Be It Finally Resolved,” they need to add the
Treasurer’s name, to sign off on the certification that everything they are submitting is true. That’s the
other part because she wasn’t involved in this at all but that’s what they require.
Councilmember Davis asked who is requiring this? The Bureau of Indian Affairs? Why would they want the
Treasurer instead of the Chairman signing off, who is the elected official. Mr. John said because it’s financial
it’s the Treasurer or the CFO. Councilmember Davis asked if they didn’t appoint a temporary interim
Treasurer in August or September where would they be sitting. Mr. John said they would have to appoint
one and have them sign. This is just attesting to the numbers, it’ their testament that the numbers they sent
them are accurate, which has to do with the appraisal amounts they got. However, it wasn’t the Treasurer
or CFO when this was done, it was completed by him. He’s guessing they assume the Treasure would have
done it. There is another form for the Chairman to sign. The numbers are based on the market value of the
appraisals.
Councilmember Dunn asked that the department names or building names be spelled out since this is an
official document. Mr. John said this was completed by the attorney and are not finished documents just in
case the Council wanted to change something. The Chairman is authorized to negotiate and execute the
lease agreement; the Treasurer or CFO is attesting that the numbers are correct.
Councilmember John said the programs get their contract award and the Tribe owns the building, so they
are billing the bureau, this is separate and has nothing to do with the programs contract. Mr. John
confirmed this is separate, they are telling the BIA, this is how much based on the appraisal they want for
the square footage of this office. BIA, will of course, come back and say they will only pay so much and that
is when the Chairman will negotiate with a number.
Chairman Wadsworth said this is what other tribes have done with the 105 (I) is build brand new facilities
and then use the rent funds they’re receiving from BIA to pay for the loan. Mr. John said he can go over
everything with Councilmember Sampson, so she is comfortable signing.
Vice Chairman Ely asked how detrimental it was they approved this tonight. Mr. John said he was told as
soon as possible. Councilmember Guerrero said it was ASAP because they've been talking about this since
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October, November of last year and they were asking about the status. Mr. John said this just came in after
BIA reviewed their application, it’s in for consideration and this is the next step and then it goes to the
negotiation phase. Councilmember Guerrero said if it doesn’t get past this time then they will have to wait
for another couple more years. Councilmember Davis said when they discussed this in 2024, he said he was
holding Pyramid Lake’s spot until they got this in. Mr. John said they sent the letter in 2024, and it does go
back to that point.
Councilmember Cortez motioned to approve the Section 501(1) Lease Proposal and for the Treasurer to sign.
Vice Chairman Ely seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0)
abstentions. MOTION PASSED
Mr. John said they received a proposal for leasing the CEMEX area from a Tribal member who wants to start
a trucking company. They understand there are two staging areas on either side of the buildings. He
explained to them if it’s the buildings, they can only take the area behind it. He’s already verified with Donna
Noel, Natural Resources Director, that she is done putting all their material there, so they won't be taking up
any more room. He wanted to pass this by the Council to see if they wanted him to continue. He hasn't told
them any numbers because they do have an appraisal of the area of what they should be asking for. He doesn’t
know what their expectations are, if they are thinking they’re going to get it cheap, but they have a market
value for it which is where they will start and go from there.
Councilmember John said the Hill Ranch Road is engineered for local traffic, not truck traffic and they really
wrecked up the road. Something to put in an agreement is to repair their damage to the road for their access
to the site. Mr. John said they would add it into the lease amount and that is what they would set aside out of
that payment for repairs on that road. He thinks it would be hard to prove what their trucks did versus what's
already done.
Councilmember Guerrero asked if they were 100% owners of the truck company or were they going to bring
other trucks in. Mr. John said it was just him but thinks it’s him and his mother because she was the one who
was bringing in all the paperwork.
Councilmember Dunn asked if the trucks are agricultural or semi-trucks. Mr. Johns said it’s semi-trucks, not
long haul but aggregate. His plan is to start out with him hauling because that is what he does already but
then he wants to branch out into truck driving school for anybody who wants to learn.
Councilmember Davis said in regards to the request, she would say they not entertain it right now because
they don’t know what the appraisal is worth for that area and they haven’t decided where they are moving
the dump to, they haven’t decided a lot of stuff yet so she would say not to entertain anything for that area,
not at this time. Councilmember Cortez said additionally with all the active projects surrounding it, it'll be a
hectic area. Chairman Wadsworth said the aggregate that is currently there is for the Numana Dam Project.
With that, it was agreed they wouldn’t entertain anything for that area.
Mr. John said the renewable energy presentation scheduled for March 19t at the Wadsworth Community
Center is just to pass on information. He really has not been involved in it, but this one is more geared towards
their microgrid projects that they are doing a feasibility study on.
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Mr. John said he received a request from M7, who is looking to revise the American Tower lease, and he is
working the numbers, but it doesn’t look like it will work for the Tribe in the long run. They’re looking to
push it out to 2084 which fairly falls under the length of time they ae allowed to do leases. It will reduce the
monthly payment; they will have a signing bonus but it’s not that much. If anything, he may tell them they
need a bigger signing bonus because that is where they are losing money, because right now the amount they
want to pay the Tribe over a year totals out to be $4,200 where currently the Tribe is getting $12,000. Then
if you subtract that out of the bonus, after three years and the bonus doesn’t do any good. It’s not a good deal
for the Tribe but once he gets the numbers figured out, he will send it back to them and they will go away
because they do this every other year or so. When he was looking through the last amendment to the
American Tower lease, it was a pretty good deal. He thinks they are looking at it more because it’s costing
them so much and they’re trying to reduce that amount because there is not a lot of revenue generating on
that tower for themselves. The other big one is Washoe County, they want to pay NV Energy’s bill for Marble
Bluff, and he hasn’t found it in writing, but they agreed to it and don’t have a problem with it, but they keep
asking about it. He’s working on it, getting them all the information they need, he already has it set up in the
Finance Department, letting them know what needs to be done to switch it over. They just call the Tribe and
verify it’s okay and NV Energy will start paying the bill for the communication towers. NV Energy has already
paid and now he needs proof or backup for it. He sent him one month but because that gave him a credit,
they want to see the statements for all the months that the credits are there. He just hasn’t had the time to
get back to it, to get them printed and sent to them.
Vice Chairman Ely asked if NV Energy takes over then decides they don’t’ want to pay it no more who is
responsible for the bill. Mr. John said the Tribe can pay it but it’s Washoe County’s communication for 911.
It’s on Tribal land but it’s on Washoe County's tower and it should have been in the agreement they would
pay it, they just said they will pay it. Chairman Wadsworth said that part is on the record, he can’t remember
the name of the person who was here, but it was three or four years ago, and they said on the record they
would pay for it.
Councilmember John asked if he could amend their agreement to include it officially. Mr. John said he will
work on getting the agreement amended with Washoe County.
Councilmember Cortez asked what became of the confiscated property. Is it still in the Conex? Mr. John said
yes, itis, it’s up to the Council what they want to do with it.
Update Legal Opinion Former Interim Comptroller and Supervisor Issues.
Mr. John requested an Executive Session on this item.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Councilmember Cortez motioned move into Executive Session. Councilmember Davis seconded the motion.
Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED. Tribal Council
moved into Executive Session at 7:56 p.m.
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Vice Chairman Ely motioned to move out of Executive Session. Councilmember Cortez seconded the motion.
Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0) abstentions. MOTION PASSED. Tribal Council
moved out of Executive Session at 8:44 p.m.
COMPTROLLER. Shelley Harjo, Comptroller
Ms. Harjo explained she’s continuing to cross train her staff, and accounts payable are still behind which is
going to be an ongoing issue for a while but they ae processing a lot smoother than when she first arrived.
Payroll has got the reconciliation started on the liabilities which was one of the issues she noticed when she
came on, she ran a couple trial balances and noticed a lot of lability credits which means they owe
somebody money, whether it’s deductions or taxes but they are working through it. Communication
between the Human Resources (HR) Department and Payroll is essential and they are streamlining that
process. They know that HR currently is one person right now so it’s detrimental to ensure EANs get turned
in a timely manner for deductions, so they are streamlining that process between them. In the general ledge
area, they are still posting budgets. She met with staff last week to go over reporting, which is an issue with
this accounting software, there are many reports to run, and they all get different numbers. This
contributes to the lack of trust the departments have with them, with them making their cuff accounts,
making their copies of checks and PO requests, submitting them and then somewhere they get lost in
Finance’s black hole. With that, they decided there are two reports they are going to use and allow them to
run reports on so everything is consistent; there are thirty-five different types of financial reports. In one
case, there were three different reports ran, one by her, one by the staff and one by a department and they
were all different. At this point, it was a consensus to start deleting reports and only giving access to certain
records until they can get consistent across the board because those reports were created back in 2017.
Councilmember Davis had a puzzled look on her face and Chairman Wadsworth clarified that it was
templates and not reports. Ms. Harjo agreed it was not the reports but how to run the reports. There are
departments like the Pyramid Lake Tribal Court or Pyramid Lake Fisheries that have grants that go froma
certain period to period with different funding. They can insert the information into the reports or
templates, but what happened in the past was there was one person who controlled those templates and
they created templates for each grant and then couldn’t keep track of each one individually. Now there is a
grant direct tracking in the O: drive that staff are using which has all the information they could insert to
run the reports and they should all run consistently. It was huge project which was started the week before
and the staff will only be using these two reports until further notice and hopefully they can stabilize the
information that goes out to the departments. Once they get consistent then she can be consistent with the
numbers she gets to the Council. In grants, the employee really had no experience in financial reporting, but
she picked it up so quickly and she is continuously training with her but it’s minimal now since she’s caught
on so quickly. One of the biggest issues is indirect cost which is across the board. For every department, in
the budgets when posting the revenues received in that money is budgeted, the expenses are budgeted for
how its intended to be spent. Your revenue should equal your expenses in your budget. When she was
reviewing reports sometimes both the revenues and the expenses were over. The income and what is
received for indirect should balance to zero on the bottom. In Finance they changed the process of how the
documents are going in, they go directly to Ms. Sampson for review. They were receiving paperwork that
was not signed, or documents weren't attached, just a multitude of reasons. As the acting Accounting
Supervisor, Ms. Sampson is doing the function to see those discrepancies so she can coordinate with the
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directors to get it fixed. A lot of the directors are not complaining about it, she thinks they are beginning to
figure it out and understand the reason they must do it that way, but it’s work in progress. For their
indirect cost proposal, the contractor gave her a proposal for one person who is willing to do the indirect
cost for 2026 because they don’t have an approved rate yet, so they are going off the 2025 rate. That is
something she must look at yet. Calculating indirect costs, the actual cost to the grant must be done
monthly, which isn’t done. These are the biggest areas they need to focus on right now; it is the grants
because there are many and they really need staff. She’s been checking with HR to ensure they are getting
applicants, but unfortunately, they are not. She had to repost the Accounting Supervisor again. For the
Grants Specialist she plans to redo the job description into a training position because if you invest in your
people and have somebody who is willing to learn and has the ability to learn they can be taught. They need
that consistency and to have a contingent plan in case their current staff decide to move on, they need that
second person in that area. She sat in a couple of meetings with the clinic and EMS, gave them some advice
for clinic shares, if they can request clinic shares from others, they can get that money into their contract
which is something they were already looking into. For the budgets, they are so far behind, her initial
deadline was March 315 and she is confident they can still get there. Accounts Payable was the biggest
mess and is now getting cleaned up. The bills must be paid, and they have a lot of outstanding bills and bills
affect the cash flow and they must pay those, but she feels they are still on track. They still have a lot of
reconciliation to do in that area, but once a template goes out, they should be able to get some budgets in.
Councilmember Davis asked about the accounts receivable from the Realty Department, pass through fund
coming into the Tribe for member restitution. Ms. Harjo said previous staff had set up one accounts
receivable account that wasn’t associated with the money that comes into the member, so it’s restitution
payments to a Tribal member. They take the money in and then they cut a check to that member. So, the
accounting is that it’s going into a certain account that is not a revenue account. It’s not associated there, so
they need to ensure that all the money that was posted in that original account has gone out to that person
and then moving that money, all the transactions into that revenue account, it’s an in and out flow and it’s
easier to reconcile.
Councilmember John asked how they can do an IDC proposal without an audit for 2024. Ms. Harjo said they
did a preliminary if they have the expenses plus getting 2024 completed is priority so they can move on to
2025. Her goal is to get the 2024 and 2025 audits done by 2026 deadline. If they can get the contractor to
give them the deliverables, they can get those in, and 2025 expenses are there. They can do analysis on the
indirect cost pool because the pool is based off your expenses for that current year, which would be 2024-
25 to go two years forward for the actual rate. She thinks it would be a good idea for a professional CPA
who is versed in IDC to train everyone, because that is the misconception about IDC, that it’s just a formula
where you get it and apply but it’s a complex task. Even Councilmember Sampson and Vice Chairman Ely
are not that versed on IDC, and it would be beneficial for the Council to get the training. Chairman
Wadsworth said the last time he remembers having IDC training was longer than 10 years ago. Ms. Harjo
said she received a proposal from REDW, an accounting firm who does indirect cost training and analysis
over the financial organization. In the proposal she received it had audit prep and they charged less; it was
about $85,000 which is far less than what they ae currently paying for audit prep and it would be in a span
of four months to get the audit prep done for 2024. It would be cheaper and would be less time constrained
and would be done by somebody who is a CPA in accounting. She has a meeting with them next week to
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find out more information and hopefully she can bring something back to the Council. Vice Chairman Ely
said he would like that training. A few years ago, when he was on the Housing Board there was a Native
lady from Phoenix who tried to explain it to the board. It was a formula that was difficult for him to follow,
he did catch on a little bit, but he would be interested in taking that training.
Councilmember John made a comment that they were looking for a contractor but wanted to know what
happened to the other contractor they had hired. The amendment is that still in effect. Ms. Harjo said she is
not sure if she is privy to even discuss it. Chairman Wadsworth said they have a meeting on Wednesday
regarding that issue, on February 25, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. and he doesn’t believe that the IDC cost proposal
was in that contract or the addendums. The Council’s been asking for a meeting, and they have finally got
one set-up for Wednesday.
Councilmember Davis said REDW came to the Tribe before and did an audit. It was asked if they did the
audit for the Tribe, are they able to do the audit prep. Councilmember Davis said the consulting firm they
hired was supposed to prep the Tribe for the audit which was part of the training and prepping for the
audit. Any amendments to the contract would have to come before the Council because it’s their contract.
Councilmember Davis asked the Chairman if there are any changes to the contract, will he have it at the
March meeting if there are any amendments after the meeting on February 25'. Chairman Wadsworth said
they will have to see what comes out of the meeting on February 25*, if it’s anything substantial it will be
on the agenda for March 6%.
CHAIRMANS REPORT
Chairman Wadsworth summarized his report for the last month starting with the action regarding ITCN and
Head Start. He received a response from the Head of the Office of Head Start, Todd (no last name), and wanted
to meet with all the tribes that are affected, which is seven tribes, but until then everyone was told to continue
to operate as normal. That is the latest update he received from ITCN Chairman Sorrel Smokey. There was
the UNR Tribal Summit which he only attended on the first day because on the second day he was at the
Legislative Hearing for AB109. There is another meeting scheduled for March 25 which is joint meeting
between water and the Office of Business Development. They want him to provide comments in Carson on
that date which relates to data centers and what kind of water they will be using.
Councilmember John said data centers have non-disclosures, and they will never tell you how much water
they are going to use, the environmental impacts, the health impacts or any of that and the Council’s duty is
to protect the people. Chairman Wadsworth said absolutely because they need to know these things. He
thinks this is normal construction just like any project but the big issue for the Tribe is going to be the water
because they are quiet about it depending on how they do it, even if it goes beyond the scope of water because
they might build a data center that doesn’t use water. These use air flow and air conditioning, which means
more electricity demand on our grid which they currently don’t have. Not sure if the Council has seen any
news articles from other states where there are data centers and everybody in the surrounding area had
their electric bills doubled. Hopefully, the state takes that into consideration since so many of these want to
start up in the area. He did an interview with a reporter from France which was posted online but he was
unable to grab it and Google translate it because it was locked behind a pay wall. He had a meeting with the
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Supervisor of ICE which was picked up by the media and it just steamrolled from there, he didn’t appreciate
it, the way they made it sound on HULU was they interviewed him but they didn’t interview him, they just
took the memo they posted to the community and ran with it. They did not interview him and all the video
they used was stock footage they had from a previous year. He didn’t reach out to them because what they
said was factual, but it was the way he perceived it like they interviewed him, but it was not an interview.
Councilmember Sampson said that is why the Tribe needs a public relations person, they would be doing the
releases and letting news agencies know what they can and can’t do. The Council also had a workshop with
Breakwater and all the action that came out of that. He did a presentation with the members of the Romanian
Parliament at the Museum, it’s fun to do those types of meet and greet and to share their experiences with
each other. In speaking with Donna Noel, Natural Resources Director, they are starting to worry about the
next storm that is coming in on Tuesday, it has the potential to rain instead of snow, and if it does, they are
looking at a flood situation. They are predicting anywhere from 6000 CFS to 9000 CFS in the river and 6000
CFS is considered a flood, so they will be watching that in the next couple of days.
Councilmember Sampson asked if the Fire Chief/Emergency Manager is also working with the departments
to ensure flood mitigation is going to be happening. Chairman Wadsworth said they will be getting with the
Fire Chief because he just received this information this morning from Ms. Noel. Sherry Ely-Mendes and
himself met with RTC about their proposed Vista Route. He has maps about what that route would look like.
The main one they are aiming for is to connect to Golden Eagle Park. There is a website for that one, it’s all
public information. The area they plan to connect to at USA Parkway will cost almost $250 million. They have
another route they are looking at which would connect at La Posada and that one would cost almost half a
billion dollars because that one goes through private property land. Councilmember John asked if it went
through the petroglyphs. Chairman Wadsworth said one of the maps shows that area to be culturally
sensitive. For the first route which connects to Gold Eagle Park, all the parcels go through BLM land. They
gave them their thoughts, but they must do traffic mitigation. It does nothing for now where we have issues
on the highways, they’re dangerous, part of the road is ready to fall into the lake and there is a lack of
shoulders on the flats, and they expect all this traffic to be rerouted this way. They asked the Tribe to put
everything in writing. Vice Chairman Ely started this week working at administration and he’s been
scheduling the meeting with NDOT for all the issues including the roundabout. Wes Williams, legal counsel,
will be at the March 20' Council meeting for some face time with the Council. NextEra provided them with
an initial Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), and they will be starting the negotiation coordinating with
Mr. John. They will be negotiating for an interconnect agreement for their substation just in case any other
type of solar comes up. Part of it is to see where the land connects because if they are not connected anywhere
then they must talk about having to reroute routes so they are not going through BLM easements but that is
all in progress. Richard Frazier, Tribal Land Manager, will be involved in this. With Great Basin Gas, they want
to bring more gas pipelines through the Reservation, he has not yet seen a detailed map yet, but it is possible
they might not go underneath the river. It still must go through the Reservation, and they will have to
renegotiate the easement agreement they already have. The pipeline will split off somewhere in Little Valley
and then go south and borders the Reservation by the trespass and cut over. It looks like it starts to connect
by the railroad, but he can’t confirm since the maps won't let him zoom in. the issue with the Post Office is
taken care of, it looks like everybody has been bringing in all their documentation to get all of their boxes
open and nobody has had their boxes closed. This all started when there was a new person at the Wadsworth
Post Office and she audited the boxes. There was a report of one Tribal member who closed their box because
they didn’t have the documentation. The last item that occurred this past week was he attended the second
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quarter meeting with Nevada Skies and Desert Visions through zoom. They don’t have a date where they can
get enough patients in. Councilmember Cortez expanded on this information, they just hired two more
individuals and they fired two more. Chairman Wadsworth said the numbers they provided are that across
both facilities they need a total of sixty-four employees to run both to have patients in the facility and now
they are going to need twenty-one employees to be fully staffed. All staff fly down to Arizona just to work
there. Currently IHS is trying to hire, currently they have over 3,000 openings across IHS. According to them,
they are working against the background of an IHS realignment. Michael Weinke is one of their heads at IHS
and he said he was willing to come speak to the Council and they will work on accommodating that.
Something that threw him off was they said they would be speaking about new lease discussions, but they
just had a lease which was an automatic renewal. He will be meeting with Shay Crossland at Nevada Skies
and will update the Council.
Councilmember Dunn asked for a follow-up on the right of way for the train tracks in Wadsworth they were
talking about, Santa Fe or Amtrak. Councilmember Guerrero said M3 owns the railroad tracks from the
bridge all the way towards the hills and up in Fernley area. Fernley has a map and it would be a good idea to
get a hold of it because it includes the Tribal property up to the cement plant. Councilmember Cortez asked
if the Tax Department can go after them for transporting goods across the Tribe at the southern end, they
transport aggregate and all sorts of minerals. Vice Chairman Ely said there is a lot of ammunition that goes
through the railroad because they're heavy, it’s lead and powder. He knows this from working with NDOT
that a lot of ammunition is transported back and forth here across the US because of the weight limits that
the federal highways have now. They can be loaded down as much as they can and ammunition is expensive.
Chairman Wadsworth said he had one more item from Ms. Noel, they are going to have a poll vote for anew
grant. They were able to locate a grant to buy water rights. They were looking through the NOFA, and it didn’t
specifically list tribes as being able to apply but 501C3 can and Aaron Peskin and Great Basin Water can. The
deadline is March 6‘ at 2pm, which is before the Council meeting.
Councilmember Guerrero said he has seen a lot of property coming up for sale around Pyramid Lake, for this
one they are trying to sell property for $119,000 for forty acres of land. Another item he has a question about
is seeing cannabis on the invoice for Quarles and Brady; he thinks they just need to reject cannabis and not
even follow through with anything until they have a plan in place for S-Bar-S. They are spending money to
investigate it, or are they going to go into that business, did he miss a meeting regarding cannabis.
Councilmember Cortez said he still falls back that it’s in the minutes when the attorney said trust land is
officially in the trust process. Councilmember Davis said they didn’t ask for it to be sent to legal; they asked
Mr. John to provide an updated letter saying not to get into it. They were told not to get into cannabis because
it wasn’t good for the Tribe.
Councilmember Davis motioned to cease all discussions and not entertain any cannabis discussions.
Councilmember Cortez seconded the motion. Votes were nine (9) for and zero (0) opposed with zero (0)
abstentions. MOTION PASSED
Councilmember Davis said for them to get in on it with the Tribe’s license, they would have to be 51% owner,
but they can’t when it’s on trust land.
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Councilmember John asked about the big list they had at the retreat because there were some items to follow
up and what is the status of the Community Fair. Chairman Wadsworth said they can schedule a date fora
quarterly which wasn’t done at the retreat. He informed the directors of the fair at the director's meeting and
the date for the fair was Saturday, April 25, 2026. Everyone will have a table, including the Council. The only
one he hasn't spoken to yet is the High School. Councilmember Guerrero said the High School puts on a job
fair with NRCS and FSA.
Councilmember Davis asked the Vice Chairman if there were any latest updates with NDOT. Vice Chairman
Ely said he has been in contact with their liaison and was direct with her that they want to speak to the
director of the state and her name is Tracy Larkin Thomason. They provided two available days for
consideration, March 23"4 between 9:30 am and 3:00 p.m. for about an hour and a half or March 24 between
noon and 5 p.m. If they come up with a consensus tonight, he can contact Guinevere via email on Monday.
The Council agreed on March 24* from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
With no further business before the Tribal Council, Councilmember Dunn made a motion to adjourn the
meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Sampson. Votes taken were all in favor, motion
carried.
The meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m.
Submitted by,
Pome. (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 3'4 day of April 3, 2026, 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: SL dd =
Steven Wadsworth, Tribal Chairman
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribal Council
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This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.