Community Update from Interim City of Yerington Manager Jerry Bryant on February 20, 2026

Yerington NV – February 20, 2026

Good evening Yerington community,

I hope each of you were able to stay warm and dry during the storms this past week. I’d like to say thank you to Dennis Becker, Paul Shapiro and our two high school employees, Gavin and Ricky for busting it during the late hours the night of the snow and again first thing in the morning. Their efforts helped keep many of our streets clear and ready for commutes. Their work was noticed and appreciated. It appears the snow has moved on, but the chill in the air will remain for another week or so.

I understand it should warm up right as we head into the Nevada State Beekeepers Conference, hosted right here in Yerington next weekend! February 26 through the 28th. We are very fortunate to have organizations such as this draw members from all over to our town. I would like to extend my gratitude to the many community members involved with this program and their efforts to put Yerington on the map! These people are the Bees Knees (sorry, I’m a Dad, Dad jokes CAN AND WILL happen).

We have another regularly scheduled City Council meeting happening this coming Monday, February 23 at 10:00 a.m. right here at City Hall. As always, agendas can be found here: https://www.yerington.net/AgendaCenter.

In the agenda center you’ll also see the agendas for any other departments that have upcoming meetings, such as the Yerington Planning Commission, which has a meeting scheduled Wednesday, February 25, at 4:00 p.m. This will be the first meeting with our newest two members of the Planning Commission, Micah Triplett and Keith Trout. We’d like to welcome these new members aboard and look forward to their contributions to this group.

During the presentation of our annual Animal Shelter report staff reported that new kennels were about to be installed at our shelter, and I’m happy to report that much of this work has been completed. We did not increase our number of kennels, rather we replaced the worn and degrading fencing with new kennels of uniform size and updated the layout to allow extra space to get to know the pups and socialize with them.

We also discussed the plans to increase digital presence and promotion of the animals, and you’ll see those updates happen in the very near future, increasing the visibility and exposure of these pups, thus increasing their chance for adoption.

For the year, the majority of our calls for dogs were return to owner calls. We did adopt and transfer 6 more dogs than we took in, resulting in a net decrease in our population at the Yerington Animal Shelter. With the efforts of our volunteers and Public Works staff I’m happy to report that the Yerington Animal Shelter once again met the qualifications to be recognized as a top performing shelter, and may be recognized for the second straight year by Best Friends Animal Society.

If you’re interested in setting up an appointment to see some pups and possibly adopt, please call or text 775-364-8345.

This is part of an effort to humanely lower our feral cat population. While on this note, I’d like to remind the public that it is prohibited to place food in areas accessible by feral cats. While your intention is pure, the feeding of feral cats compounds the issue that we are working with ARGONN to resolve. I, myself, have had several conversations with citizens and asked them to refrain from this practice and many of them have been happy to comply knowing that we are working diligently to humanely handle the situation. PLEASE DO NOT compound the issue we are working to resolve.

Discussions regarding our desire to attract education through trades or formal school opportunities continue and are progressing. I hope to have more specific information to divulge in about a month.

Also in the works is a plan to bring more roadway and sidewalk improvements. I’m asking for your patience on this one because it’s a long process. This is because we have limited cash available to conduct repairs and improvements. Using our available cash for instant improvements would be gratifying for the few streets impacted, but would wipe out our funds for any further improvements for several years. By phasing this plan over several years and applying for grant assistance along the way, we hope to utilize our limited cash as match funds for larger impact. The primary goal is to provide safe sidewalks to and from schools, health services and necessary commerce first.

We will still be conducting road repairs (mostly when temperatures warm this spring) but we are trying to reserve most of our funds for match fund availability for a larger impact. With no sidewalks in over 70% of our City, this may be the best approach to remedy this with our limited funds. Thank you for your patience in advance as we work towards these goals. There is a particular community member who has been critical to helping this project move along, but I’ll wait to recognize them publicly in a more appropriate setting.

Talking about the sidewalks in our town often reminds me of the book I read in school, “Where the Sidewalk Ends.” In our town, the answer appears to be “everywhere.” Haha. We are trying to remedy that.

The plan for sidewalk development I mentioned is above and beyond the $50,000 grant the city recently was awarded for additional sidewalks along Goldfield Ave. This $50,000 grant we were awarded through a partnership with the Yerington NV Main Street Committee will allow for paving in front of True Value, Huntley Motor World, and a short trail to the “Welcome to Yerington” sign along the road.

I could go on all night, but that’s probably a good place to wrap it up for this update. There is plenty more happening, and I always invite you to reach out directly with questions or concerns. I will do my best to be responsive to any inquiries sent my way. My email is jerryb@yerington.net.

Have a great weekend, and maybe I’ll see you tomorrow night at the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year ceremony.