MARK WAITE / PVT Jeffrey Bobeck addresses the Board of Realtors quarterly meeting. In the background, from left, Pahrump Town Manager Bill Kohbarger, commission candidates Jim Petell and Gary Hollis. Advertisement

Only four Nye County Commission candidates showed up to stump at the quarterly Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors meeting at the Bob Ruud Community Center Wednesday.

The Realtors had questions on the candidate's views of the incorporation of Pahrump, interaction between the town and county, their view of Pahrump in the next five years and any assistance in helping Realtors deal with the county planning department.

County Commission District 1 candidate Jeff Bobeck said he moved here from Pennsylvania eight years ago.

"I picked Nevada because it was the free-est state with the possible exception of Alaska, but I like the weather a lot better down here. Six years ago I got involved in politics because I saw my Nevada changing. I saw it becoming less free -- more restrictions, more development, taxes were rising," Bobeck said.

Nye County needs to trim its budget in light of the current economy, Bobeck said, adding the county spends a lot on consultants. He commented in the past eight years Nye County has been "business hostile."

Bobeck said he's not in favor of high-density development. Instead, he said there's a lot of undeveloped land; Pahrump Valley doesn't have to grow in clusters.

Bobeck fielded a question about Utilities Inc. As a flight instructor who hangs out at Calvada Meadows Air Park, he described how the land values of a piece of land with water lines on the west side of the air strip are four times the land values on the east side of the runway. But Utilities Inc. wants $80,000 to extend the line to the other side, Bobeck said.

"If they refuse or are being very difficult in delivering water to these parcels, we need to figure out a way to get them out of the concession for that area so that someone else can deliver water to that area and get things moving," Bobeck said.

Incumbent District 3 Commissioner Gary Hollis, the commission's liaison on nuclear waste, said the public statewide is starting to get a more favorable impression of the Yucca Mountain project.

"Yucca Mountain is a big issue for Nye County because it brings in a lot of money to Nye County. This year, January of '08, we got $11 million from PETT," Hollis said.

PETT refers to the payment equal to taxes for the land value of Yucca Mountain from the U.S. Department of Energy.

"It's because of the people that live outside the county that made it such a political mess and the reason is they couldn't get the money," Hollis said.

He recalled the effort by the state legislature to create Bullfrog County in 1987, surrounding Yucca Mountain, with Carson City the county seat. That would've allowed the state to collect the payments. It was struck down by the Nevada Supreme Court after an objection from Nye County. The court ruled the state couldn't make a separate county within a county, Hollis said.

"It's really good for real estate because 3,800 to 4,800 people are going to be out there building that facility," Hollis said. They will be locating to Pahrump where "mama wants to go to Wal-Mart, daddy wants to go to Home Depot."

The high-level nuclear waste should be recycled into fuel and sold back to the reactors, Hollis said. He added Nye County residents should be entitled to royalties for accepting the nuclear waste, just as Alaska residents receive royalties from oil.

Hollis said no other profession has to disclose as much as real estate agents, noting they will now have to deal with desert tortoise mitigation fees of $325 per acre in certain areas. But he predicted the county's plan would probably be rejected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (See related story on page A6.)

Real estate broker Karen Spalding told Hollis members of a Realtor ad-hoc committee realized it was county commissioners who have the power to change the rules, making it easier to get plans approved.

Real estate broker Trish Rippie complained about all the money spent on consultants. Hollis said he's more concerned about consultants he doesn't see appear in front of the county commission.

District 2 county commission candidate Jim Petell said 971 registered voters in his district live in Pahrump, 1,370 in Tonopah, 658 in Beatty and 506 in Amargosa Valley.

A former vocational counselor in Los Angeles, Petell said he moved to Pahrump 14 years ago to find a more economical place to live after a divorce.

Nye County needs to work within budget guidelines, Petell said.

"Part of my platform, besides reforming Nye County government, is establishing some kind of leadership," Petell said. "I've been to meetings for over 10 years, six years constantly."

He said, "This town needs to incorporate to stand on its own two feet and garnish the possible grants and federal assistant it needs to bring infrastructure here to everybody."

District 3 county commission candidate Harley Kulkin said, "If we continue on the road we're on, we're going to see more foreclosures, more homes turning into rentals, more criminal activity in our community. What I want to see happen is to turn that around.

"We need to bring jobs in our community and we can do that by having a plan. This county has no plan."

Kulkin talked about his vision of a theme park on a par with Disneyland. Instead of 55 acres at Disneyland, Kulkin said Pahrump has over 400 acres at the fairgrounds site.

Kulkin said the residents of Nevada's most affluent county, his former home in Douglas County, who should be well educated, chose not to incorporate any communities.

Instead Kulkin advocated dividing Nye County north of Beatty and giving the northern part to Esmeralda County.

"In 1864 Nye County was formed out of Esmeralda County. I think it's time to give some of that back and personally I'd just as soon give them the PETT money and everything," Kulkin said. "We have the potential to go somewhere, be something, because we're so close to Vegas."