GINA B. GOOD / PVT Pahrump Town Manager Bill Kohbarger was confronted twice by angry residents after Tuesday's meeting, just outside the doors of the Bob Ruud Community Center. The group surrounding Kohbarger disbanded when four Nye County sheriff's patrol cars arrived. RELATED STORY Is it 'Cops' or town board? Advertisement

The new town trash ordinance, PTO No. 43, had previously been adopted, but the board revisited it April 14 at the request of Pahrump resident Robin Lloyd. At that meeting, Lloyd made what were deemed by town attorney Lance Maiss and Pahrump Valley Disposal attorney Robert Groesbeck, as "housekeeping changes" to about 19 of the 21 pages of the ordinance.

Nonetheless, Tuesday night, with no comment by the board, it voted 4-0 to accept the redone work.

Once again, the board passed the document seemingly without considering the concerns voiced by residents, who asked members to table the action until the next meeting.

Member Mike Darby, who had pressing family business, did not attend the meeting. Residents said he'd promised to hold workshops before finalizing the document for a vote.

Lloyd's changes reflected what townspeople were told during previous board meetings and in subsequent statements made by board members and Town Manager Bill Kohbarger. That verbal information was at times in direct conflict with what was stated in the ordinance.

Lloyd's revisions seemed to be welcomed by the board, although changing the adopted ordinance would cost the town from $3,000 to $5,000 for required publishing.

At Tuesday's meeting, action on the revised ordinance was the last item scheduled on the long agenda.

The board members left the meeting room for a closed session about 9:35 p.m., as did most of the residents in attendance. However, a double handful of people waited for the meeting to resume, which it did about 10 minutes later.

Parker moved to send the red-lined rendition of the ordinance to be republished and member Frank Maurizio seconded the motion. That opened the meeting for public discussion, with comments limited to three minutes for each person.

Lloyd pointed out that the onerous lien section "is still wrong." That was previously one of the main stumbling points. It would have allowed placement of a lien on a home for various small infractions.

Lloyd said she took hours meeting with Darby as well as the town's code compliance officer, Al Balloqui, and John Shea, vice president of Pahrump Valley Disposal (PVD), to hash out changes since the April 14 board meeting.

"I was promised there would be four different workshops to address issues," she said.

Unfortunately, there were multiple versions of the revised ordinance.

Many in the room had downloaded the agenda the day of the meeting, but the board members had a more recent version. That lent a layer of confusion to the discussion and questions and added an increasing amount of frustration for residents.

While a letter from PVD stated it had no objection to residents self-hauling trash to the dump every 21 days, it was unclear to residents if the requirement remained that receipts from the dump would be required every seven days.

In fact, as Shea explained previously, PVD is not responsible for establishing that requirement, as it was set by state statute.

Hector Velarde took the podium to express outrage at the possibility of having a lien put on his home if he had a trash dispute. "This is an additional tax to line a company's pockets. I don't agree," said Velarde.

Norma Jean Opatik printed her backup information after work Tuesday and had questions that were answered in the more recent version.

Bruce Cully picked up his agenda the afternoon of the meeting at the town office and said, "This document has said we need receipts every seven days, then every 21 days, then back and forth. Why can't you get it straight?

"Pass this and see where it goes," said Cully. "It's going to be challenged."

Donna Cox, president of Concerned Citizens for a Safe Community said, "I understood there were going to be workshops, from what Mike Darby said. If you people don't want to let the people have a part of this, then you all ought to resign." After a pause she added, "I will help you do it."

Lynne Jones asked the board to table its vote until Darby returned. "It would be in all fairness for his voice to be part of this decision."

After public comment, the board voted 4-0 to pass the ordinance and start the publication process. The public can still comment on the document after the third public reading by the board in about six weeks in June.