Elko County advisory board elects Randy Powell chair, approves recreation priority and agrees to revise sage‑grouse plan

The Elko County advisory board elected Randy Powell as board chair and Steve Boyce as vice chair for 2025 during a meeting called to order at 6:07 p.m. The nominations were made and approved by voice vote.

The board then discussed priorities for 2025 and agreed to pursue a recreation plan and to revise the county's sage‑grouse plan to be more user friendly. Members said other plans — including a water plan and the county public lands use plan — remain available for later consideration and were not adopted as priorities at this meeting.

Board members described the sage‑grouse plan as difficult to use in its current form and discussed aligning parts of it with the State's more recently implemented plan. Members agreed a simplified, locally usable revision would better demonstrate that the county is addressing sage‑grouse concerns; the board did not adopt a finalized text at this meeting and asked for further discussion at a later meeting.

The recreation plan was put forward as a personal priority by one member and received a second; the board agreed to advance that plan as a priority item for 2025 and to consider forming an action item or volunteer lead for the next meeting. The water plan and the public lands use plan were left unassigned and may be carried forward for future meetings.

Other meeting business included approval of minutes from the Nov. 25, 2025 meeting and setting the next board meeting date. A motion to schedule the next meeting for June 24 was seconded and approved by voice vote.

The board discussed procedural cautions about subcommittees and open‑meeting requirements and signaled staff will prepare an action item or calendar entry so members can volunteer to work on specific plans.

The meeting adjourned at 6:47 p.m.