BEATTY -- The Colorado-based Center for Biological Diversity filed a new petition earlier this year to have the Amargosa toad listed as an endangered species, and the amphibian is once again a hot topic of discussion in Beatty.

The subject arose at the last Beatty Town Board meeting in March and was added to the agenda for the April 9 meeting.

Resident Ryan Tweney said he was afraid that "due to external events that have nothing to do with Beatty" the petition could be approved this time, and that it would be a big hindrance to development.

Quite a bit of work has been done since the filing of the last petition to preserve and improve toad habitat, and nearly 6,000 of the animals have been counted and tagged in the last 10 years.

There was some discussion about the cleaning of the river bed, which is part of the toad's habitat. Some trees were cleared out of the bed last year, using hand tools. The clearing was mainly done to improve the water flow to eliminate breeding areas for mosquitoes, but some degree of disturbance is also known to improve toad habitat.

Jim Moore, of the Nature Conservancy, warned against excessive clearing of the river bed, saying he had heard people over the years talk about going through it with a bulldozer. He was assured that this was not the plan.

Moore said that a slow flow is preferable not only for habitat for the animals, but to increase recharge of local ground water systems.

Aside from the toad discussions, most of the meeting dealt with budgeting and expenditures.

With new estimates from Nye County in hand, the board restored some of its planned budget cuts. The new budget still represents about a 6 percent decrease over the previous year's. The board also approved the budget for the Beatty Volunteer Fire Department, leaving the amount unchanged from the year before.

The board transferred $15,000 from the tourism and promotion fund to the Beatty Museum, which has been running in the red on its budget. It also approved a previously budgeted amount of $6,500 for the Beatty Economic Development Committee to help with taxes on the Bullfrog Mine site.

The board accepted a bid from Tiberti for construction of a fence around the new fireworks launching area in the amount of $3,853.

It also voted to recommend that the county commissioners approve a bid by American Overhead Door of $7,600 to replace the roll-up doors on the old fire hall. This was not the lowest bid, but American Overhead was chosen on the basis of past experience with the company.

The board approved waiving the rental fee for the large room in the Community Center for a small business symposium to be presented June 26 by CitiBank. The waiver, however, is contingent upon there being no fee charged.

Damon Shea, general manager of Pahrump Valley Disposal, which includes Beatty Disposal, was on hand for a discussion of initiating recycling in Beatty. It appeared that the best solution was the type of combined-use collection bin that has been serving well in the parking lot of the Pahrump Wal-Mart.

Board member Kitty Shubert accepted the assignment of researching possible sites for the recycling bin. Areas next to the Rebel station or across from the post office were among those suggested.

The board also agreed to become part of the Rhyolite Partnership and to have the town custodian service the BLM restrooms during the interim between the departure of the current caretakers and their return in the fall or the finding of new ones for the summer months.

The restrooms were closed last summer and visitors evidently left quite a mess.

The board also approved a policy and guidelines to allow the gathering of petition signatures in public buildings.