MARK WAITE / PVT Donna Laduke, president of PVCAT, speaks next to a display showing the proposed beautification project on Highway 160. Advertisement

Directors serving on the board of the Pahrump Valley Community Action Team want local residents to know PVCAT is still alive and active, despite a plethora of community organizations and their acronyms in Pahrump.

PVCAT was initially formed in 2002 after a weekend retreat where community members brainstormed on goals and objectives for Pahrump at a local restaurant. The organization then faded from the limelight but was reincarnated last year by founding member and former Nye County Commissioner Patricia Cox.

The PVCAT mission statement says the organization "exists to assist in planning, developing and implementing strategies that foster economic growth and prosperity." It talks about ensuring strategies that are implemented are sound, systematically planning for sustained growth and diversification while keeping town values in the overall planning process.

Cox bowed out of the organization due to her time commitments, as she is taking over as president of the Rotary Club of Pahrump Valley.

Donna Laduke, PVCAT president, said there are about 60 members. They will be asked to renew their annual $20 memberships in July, she said.

But of the three subcommittees, the public relations committee -- which sponsored the Positively Pahrump campaign -- is taking the summer off, Laduke said. The education committee lacks a chairman, she added.

"The consensus is we don't want to meet every single month when we don't have anything to do," Laduke told the board.

But when there was a motion to cancel meetings over the summer, Vanessa Skinner was worried the organization could die. She suggested sponsoring instead a float in the Fourth of July Freedom Festival to bring awareness to the group.

Erin Forte said the Hoedown sponsored by Positively Pahrump Aug. 26 was a success. Members sold hot dogs and hamburgers, bringing in a little over $100. She said 200 people attended, which was phenomenal for a first-time event.

Probably the most active committee is beautification.

A member of that committee, Kathy Bienenstein, outlined a project to install benches, solar-powered street lights, decorative boulders, landscaping using native plants and other aesthetic improvements along an angling walkway parallel to Highway 160 from south of Rainbow Avenue up to Highway 372.

That project is awaiting a drainage study by the Nevada Department of Transportation, Bienenstein said. Already a handful of businesses want to sponsor the project, she said, and committee members will also seek grants.

"We were talking about opening up a contest by local artists to put sculptures in," Bienenstein said.

A landscape outfit from Henderson, Land Art, has volunteered time to design the beautification project, she said.

The PVCAT board voted to hold its next general meeting at 6:30 p.m., June 16, at Great Basin College.

Board members said PVCAT has accomplished some of its goals.

Pablo Encinias said the first PVCAT board provided the impetus to the passage of the first comprehensive zoning ordinance in Pahrump.

"After two-and-a-half years of hard work we ended up with hard zoning in Pahrump," Encinias said.

PVCAT Vice-President Charlie Benfante said the first PVCAT education committee was instrumental in a school redistricting proposal.

A prior beautification committee worked on passage of a sign ordinance, designed to cut down on the amount of sign clutter on the highway, by the Nye County Commission.