At today’s regularly scheduled County Commission meeting, two agenda items were continued for discussion and possible action until the Board’s June 28th meeting.

Fire Services. The existing interlocal agreement between the Reno Fire Department and the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District (TMFPD) is set to expire on June 30, 2011. The two fire agencies merged in 2000 and have been operating under the original agreement since that time. The County Commission (sitting as the TMFPD Fire Commission) as well as two commissioners serving on a Joint Fire Advisory Board with other elected officials from Reno have been meeting for nearly two years in an effort to develop a future agreement between the two fire agencies. At their May 24th meeting, the County Commission reviewed a proposed agreement and identified non-consensus items that needed to be addressed. At that time, they asked staff to return once those items had been successfully negotiated. Today, staff asked that the proposed contract be continued until June 28th to allow more time for the respective staff to work on the agreement.

Homeless Services. The Board also continued an agenda item regarding a recommendation to award a $1,198,267 contract for the operation and management of the Community Assistance Center Shelter to the most responsive and responsible bidder until their June 28th meeting.

The agreement with the current provider, Volunteers of America, is set to expire June 30, 2011. Washoe County, in conjunction with the cities of Reno and Sparks, released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Community Assistance Shelter operator on March 21, 2011.

Three proposals were received and opened on April 15th , and all were reviewed by a multi-jurisdictional evaluation team comprised of representatives from Washoe County and the cities of Reno and Sparks, and the Reno Area Alliance for the Homeless. All three of the proposers were considered based on the strength of their RFP responses, interviews, and reference/letter of recommendation reviews to establish an overall ranking order.

The evaluation team then met to discuss each of the proposers’ strengths and weaknesses, review the RFP scoring, and to vote for their top choice for the operation and provision of homeless services at the Community Assistance Center. The majority of the evaluation committee favored recommending Catholic Charities of Northern Nevada for the new contract to operate and provide homeless services at the Community Assistance Center.

In granting the continuance of this item, the Commissioners acknowledged a request from both Reno and Sparks Mayors for a continuance to allow the governing bodies to review and act upon an amended cooperative agreement which spells out each local governments’ roles and responsibilities for the Community Assistance Center. It was also noted that there was an appeal/protest of the recommended award by Volunteers of America.