It's been a long time coming, but five Town Board members were present at Tuesday's meeting -- with no vacancies and no sicknesses, all five were on hand.

The third and final reading of Pahrump Town Ordinance 51, concerning sex offender residency restrictions, was read into town's ordinances, but not before some spirited debate among Town Board members as well as Sheriff Tony DeMeo, former Sheriff Wade Lieseke and members of the public.

Board member Laurayne Murray's question about the town's ability to defend the ordinance and problems with its constitutionality elicited some lively and at times heated comments from at least three of her colleagues.

Another issue seeing lively discussion was the board's decision to look at Pahrump Town Ordinance 03-41, concerning misdemeanor offenses for loitering and prowling within town boundaries.

Resident Jim Patell brought up this issue due to the numerous occurrences of alcohol use in town parks, mainly Petrack Park, and the fact that residents are accosted by indigents who panhandle them in parks and in the parking lots of retail stores.

The ordinance will go back for review by the town attorney and could be revised to be more defensible and up to date.

Andy Bliven of the Southern Nevada Water Authority gave a presentation on "Planning for a Sustainable Nevada," in which he explained what plans are in effect to ensure future water availability to Nevada residents.

Many problems stem from the fact that the state's water allotment was created in the 1920s, prior to the Las Vegas area's growth and at a time when farming was the mainstay of the state.

Efforts in conservation, desalination of ocean waters in California and use of in-state groundwater resources are ways envisioned to provide for our future water needs.

Nevada has been able to bank at least 1.25 million acre-feet of water in Arizona for future use.

It was noted that sheriff's records indicate that out of 40 calls to Petrack Park, only eight involved indigents.

Jose Telles, representing the Veterans Memorial Task Force, petitioned the Town Board to designate a specific and exclusive area as a veterans' burial site at the Chief Tecopa cemetery. The board agreed wholeheartedly and unanimously approved the request.

Murray asked Telles if there was a designated area for the burial of Veterans' ashes. Telles said no but assured her that would also be taken into consideration.

A contract with Inland Empire Shows Inc., the Fall Festival carnival operator, was extended from 2007 to 2009.

Board member, Ray Johnson asked for possible competitive bids but was informed that Carnival shows had certain territories, making it difficult to find others willing to bid into this territory.

Board Chairman Richard Billman had contacted what he had thought to be another carnival contractor, only to find out that it was a sub-contractor of the Inland Carnival group.

Carnivalgoers and Fall Festival officials have been more than satisfied with the services provided by Inland in past years, and the board showed its approval with a unanimous vote to extend the contract.

The board approved the results of the evaluation of Town Manager Dave Richards.

Highest points scored for Richards came from Paul Willis followed by Billman, Murray and, finally Ron Johnson.

The results will be put into Richards' personnel file. Johnson questioned the present evaluation format as not showing the specific expectations of the board, but Richards assured him that the form was a standard evaluation found on the International City Managers Web site.

Billman, said a more goal-oriented evaluation might be warranted next time.

The evaluation was accepted with a 4-0 vote.