Commission votes to skip incomplete grant applications after procedural dispute

The Nevada Commission on Off-Highway Vehicles voted on May 9 to not hear a set of grant applications the chair said were incomplete, removing those items from consideration at this meeting.

Commission Chair (name not specified on the record) announced that several applications would not be heard, listing applicants that included Dunes and Trails ATV Club, Get Outdoors Nevada, Nevada System of Higher Education/Desert Research Institute, Walker Basin Conservancy and others. After discussion of procedure and open-meeting law, a motion to not hear the incomplete applications was made, seconded, and called to a vote. The motion carried over recorded opposition; two members voted nay while the majority voted aye.

The commission's deputy attorney general advised the chair that removing items from a publicly noticed agenda after notice raises legal concerns and that any change after posting generally requires board action. The AG's office representative on the call suggested the more consistent approach would be to reach the contested items when the agenda item 8 (grant presentations) was called and then move to exclude specific incomplete applications during that agenda item if warranted.

Commission discussion included specific procedural concerns about whether the chair could unilaterally remove items after public notice, with the deputy attorney general saying removal prior to notice was within the chair's authority but removal after posting should be handled by vote. After the motion passed, commissioners proceeded with the agenda.

The commission did not take any funding votes on the excluded applications at this meeting. Commissioners and staff said they would address the completeness problems and follow the public-meeting rules before reconsideration at a future date.