Board of Examiners approves 45 contracts including $10.7 million public health award as speakers thank state for new funding

The State of Nevada Board of Examiners on Aug. 7 approved 45 proposed contracts, including a $10,700,000 contract listed as contract number 20 to support the Southern Nevada Health District, and completed a slate of routine approvals ranging from vehicle purchases to salary adjustments.

Public-health officials from across Nevada used the meeting’s first public-comment period to thank state leaders for new public-health funding that appears among the contracts the board approved under agenda item 11. Emma Rodriguez, communications and legislative affairs administrator for the Southern Nevada Health District, said the award tied to contract number 20 will “support a new healthcare-associated infection prevention program and help preserve essential laboratory and epidemiology capacity as federal funding declines.”

Why it matters: local and district public-health leaders told the board those flexible state dollars — which they credit to the governor’s budget recommendation and the 2025 Legislature — are already being used to expand disease surveillance, strengthen sexually transmitted infection outreach, support youth vaping prevention and expand laboratory capacity. Those investments, speakers said, are positioned to offset declining federal support.

Board action and public comment details

- Emma Rodriguez of the Southern Nevada Health District said the funding included in contract number 20 ‘‘will continue that momentum by supporting a new healthcare associated infection prevention program and help preserve essential laboratory and epidemiology capacity as federal funding declines.’’

- Jeannie Freeman, director of Carson City Health and Human Services, listed local programs she said the new funding has supported, including youth vaping prevention, third-grade swim lessons for drowning prevention, senior transportation for medical appointments, outreach to reduce social isolation, a 988 crisis-signage campaign, youth arts engagement to support mental health and an STI testing campaign tied to Assembly Bill 360. Freeman said Carson City will leave written thank-you notes describing programs funded by the new dollars.

- Christina Shepherd of Northern Nevada Public Health said Washoe County used the funds “to support reducing the spread of communicable disease, reducing the use of vapes among youth, vaccination administration, and reducing barriers to entry into food industry ownership,” and that the monies will help staff back-to-school vaccination clinics.

- Shannon Ernst, interim administrator for Central Nevada Health District, thanked the board for SB 118 funding and said those dollars were “instrumental in launching to build infrastructure to serve the rural and frontier communities in 2022 and 2023.”

- Amy Hein Sutherland, representing the Nevada Association of Counties, thanked Governor Lombardo and the Legislature for including flexible local public-health infrastructure funding in the budget and thanked Division of Public and Behavioral Health staff for their collaboration; she commented specifically on contracts numbered 16 through 20.

Board approvals and other votes at a glance

- Approval of minutes from the July 8, 2025 meeting — motion carried.

- Item 4: State vehicle purchases — approved (Department of Wildlife: one tractor not to exceed $69,900; Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Division of Environmental Protection: one vehicle not to exceed $34,198).

- Item 5: Emergency contract with former employee Patricia Caffaretta to assist with adjudicating administrative law cases — approved.

- Item 6: Authorization to contract with former employee Patrick Conway through Marathon Staffing Group for coordination of investigations related to prescription drugs and controlled substances — approved; board confirmed the statutory 90-day separation requirement had been met.

- Item 7: Five allocations recommended to the Interim Finance Committee from the contingency account — approved (revised and final amounts as presented): • Department of Human Resources, Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Lakes Crossing Center: $991,147 to cover projected personnel shortfalls. • Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services: $3,561,639 for projected personnel shortfalls. • Department of Indigent Defense Services: $315,183 (revised) to cover a revenue shortfall. • Department of Public Safety, Nevada Highway Patrol Division: $14,261 to cover dignitary-protection costs. • Office of the Attorney General: $54,401 (revised) to cover contractual and operating expenses due to revenue shortfalls.

- Item 8: Temporary transfer of $50,000,000 from the State General Fund to the Abandoned Property Trust Account so the Treasurer’s Office can pay approved unclaimed-property claims within the statutory 30-day requirement — approved. Kristen Vanwright, chief of staff for the Treasurer’s Office, explained the request arose because the previous Advantage 2 accounting system allowed negative budget balances, while the new Advantage 4 system currently requires overrides and cannot automatically permit temporary negative balances. Vanwright said the office intends to replenish the trust account when unclaimed-property reporting is due Oct. 31.

- Item 9: Allocation and disbursement of funds for salary adjustments (19 requests under agenda item 9, items A through S) — approved. The presenter reported totals for subsets of the requests as read into the record: items A–H, $6,372,801; items I–P, amounts described in the record as related to continuity-of-service plans; items Q–S, $5,159,481 for sworn positions.

- Item 10: Approval of six leases — approved.

- Item 11: Approval of 45 proposed contracts (this is the agenda item that prompted multiple public comments, including the $10,700,000 contract number 20 for the Southern Nevada Health District) — approved.

- Item 12: Approval of 13 master service agreements — approved.

- Item 13: Information — 100 contracts in the $10,000–$99,999 threshold approved by the Clerk of the Board for the period indicated — informational.

- Item 14: Informational reports: reconciled fund-balance report and Department of Motor Vehicles voluntary-contribution certification for April 1–June 30, 2025 — informational.

How the unclaimed-property transfer was explained

Kristen Vanwright, chief of staff in the Treasurer’s Office, told the board the temporary $50 million transfer was necessary because the newer Advantage 4 financial system does not permit the same negative account behavior as the previous Advantage 2 system. Vanwright said the office has an override in place that currently requires three people to process a budget-account override, and the office is evaluating technical and procedural fixes that may take a couple months to finalize. Director Glenn Meyer (identified in the record as the director who would comment on timeline) confirmed the office is working on alternatives.

Meeting context and next steps

Board members conducted the meeting in a routine, largely unanimous manner; motions were generally made and approved by voice vote with no nays recorded in the public transcript. Public comments were concentrated on agenda item 11; local public-health leaders described specific programs funded by the state dollars and said the funds build capacity as federal support declines. The Treasurer’s Office will proceed with the temporary transfer to meet statutory timelines for paying unclaimed-property claims and expects to replenish the account when annual reporting is submitted Oct. 31.

Ending

The board adjourned after a second public-comment period with no additional speakers and a routine motion to adjourn.