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Fernley tourism board presses Fernley Aces on unpermitted events; group pledges changes
Summary
At a Feb. 4 FCTA special meeting, staff told the board several ACES events lacked required permits. ACES leaders acknowledged lapses, described steps to improve permitting practices, and the board agreed to pursue a city‑council resolution amendment rather than freeze funds.
Chairman Torres on Feb. 4 convened a special Fernley Tourism and Cultural Affairs Board meeting to address whether recipients of FCTA grants had complied with city permitting and building‑code requirements. City staff told the board some events organized by the Fernley Aces lacked required temporary‑use or park permits and that the existing 2010 FCTA resolution places no automatic permit condition on disbursed funds.
“We have a 2‑41 notice,” city attorney Aaron Mortensen said, cautioning the board to limit discussion to past permitting compliance, building‑code adherence and staff interactions. Mortensen advised that if the board wanted to require permits of all future recipients it should place that broader change on a future city‑council agenda so every recipient would be noticed.
Planning staff assistant Lisa Warner summarized specific instances where staff flagged problems. Warner said the ACES backyard “beach party” and a Facebook post about building haunted‑house walls appeared to invite the public and therefore would normally require a temporary‑use permit; the Christmas Villages event did have a temporary‑use permit that ran from Nov. 29, 2025, through Jan. 11, 2026, but lacked a separate public‑works park application. “If it’s outside and the public is invited, then it needs a temporary use permit,” Warner said.
Charity Burkle, the city’s building official, told the board she has repeatedly declined to sign off on certain special events for safety reasons — citing ADA access, uninspected electrical connections and egress concerns — and that the building department was directed in prior years to step back from routine sign‑offs on temporary events because most would not meet minimum requirements. “When we say no, we’re the bad guys. If we say yes, we’re allowing something we should not allow,” Burkle said, describing the department’s position.
Board members pressed the Aces for an explanation. Daniel Horn, who identified himself as president of the Fernley Improvement Club and said the Fernley Aces manage the building, said the group has taken steps after notice and is trying to comply with requirements. “We have been trying now for about a month to get a permit for music murals and margaritas,” Horn said, adding that ACES had provided requested insurance documents and had engaged contractors, engineers and an architect for the community‑center project. “We’re not trying to get away with anything,” he said.
Other ACES board members, including Skye Long and Jamie Daniels, said the organization will introduce additional internal checks — at least two permit contacts instead of a single point person — and offered to meet with staff to clarify permitting triggers and deadlines. Daniels said some Facebook event posts were invitations for volunteers to build sets rather than public events and asked staff to clarify where volunteer activity becomes a “temporary use.”
Public Works director Barry Williams and public‑works admin Sydney Veliska told the board they had repeatedly emailed and phoned ACES about expired installations (the Christmas Villages remained after their permit expiration) and that some correspondence had escalated to the city‑attorney’s office because of the tone of responses.
Rather than imposing immediate sanctions or retroactive conditions on dispersed funds, board members and the chair signaled they preferred to pursue compliance and process fixes. Several members asked the city attorney to draft a future city‑council agenda item that would amend the FCTA resolution to allow the board to include permit and code‑compliance conditions on future grants. Mortensen advised that such a change must be noticed and considered at a city‑council meeting so all potential recipients could respond.
No formal suspension or fund withhold was recorded at the FCTA meeting. The board emphasized it was seeking compliance, not punishment, and asked staff to post permit flowcharts and to coordinate follow‑up meetings with ACES so that future events are processed correctly.
What’s next: the city attorney will prepare language for a council agenda item to consider amending the FCTA resolution; staff will post the permitting flowchart and work with the Aces on permit contacts and training.
