One of the Frontier Motel owners appeared before the Carson City Board of Supervisors Thursday while they were deciding whether or not to arrange a hearing for a show cause that determines whether or not the Frontier Motel business license should be revoked .
The business license for the Frontier Motel is operated under the company name Five Star Motel LLC, which lists the two executive members Balwinder Thind and Harbans Handa. Handa appeared before the board to argue there shouldn’t be a show cause hearing, which ultimately failed.
Carson City Health and Welfare Department issued an emergency ordinance on Wednesday that immediately closed the site following inspections of the facility on Monday that found the facility to be uninhabitable.
City inspectors found that many rooms were infested with mice, rodent feces, bed bugs, structural defects, improper structures, exposed electrical cables, rooms with no hot water or toilets that could flush, unsecured doors, broken windows and general debris, and trash in the rooms.
Seven of the 56 rooms on the property were closed immediately after inspection due to unsafe living conditions, including the potential hantavirus threat from infestation.
On Wednesday, the remaining residents were told that they had to vacate the property by 7 p.m. on Thursday
Sheriff Ken Furlong attended the meeting and stated that there had been a number of deaths at the border, which resulted in Lt. Daniel Gonzales investigated the conditions in the motel and the number of service calls made by the facility in relation to other motels and hotels in the area that were abnormally high.
“The data showed that the Frontier Motel has almost twice as many service requests as other properties, and service requests are increasing year on year,” said Lt. Gonzales in his report. “Due to the lack of property oversight by frontier management, the place has become a place where criminals gather and network. The service requests range from a battery with a deadly weapon, fighting, gang activity, drug dealing, death investigations related to drug overdoses and drug trafficking. The … inability to control their tenants puts a strain on our responsiveness and diminishes our capacity to serve the rest of the community. ”
Handa stated that they know there are problems and that there are some “bad people” there, but that they need the city’s help to get them out.
“They play loud music, they argue with us,” said Handa. “We’re frustrated with them too. We need help to drive them away. Some are drugs. When they walk in, we don’t know whose drug addicts are and whose aren’t. We cannot get rid of them. “
Handa also said that he never heard that one of the rooms was out of hot water or had a problem with bed bugs.
“We have people on site who will fix it immediately,” says Handa.
Handa also denied claims that there were no flush rooms, saying how could people go to the toilet without flushing the toilet?
“We inspected every room last year because we had a high water bill,” said Handa. “We installed new shower heads and replaced some toilets to save money.”
Handa went on to say they didn’t know about cockroaches, mice, or bed bugs because they weren’t told.
“We don’t go into every room, knock on the door and say, ‘Do you have a bug? Do you have a bug? ‘”Said Handa.
Handa said the pest control is done monthly; However, he then said he didn’t think they were there “this spring,” but they come when a resident asks.
“We’re trying to do our best, but there’s nothing we can do about COVID,” said Handa.
Handa also said he didn’t even know what the problems were because the city didn’t provide him with a list.
Supervisor Stacey Giomi said, “I appreciate the struggles you and your residents are having, but the comment you made that you don’t even know what’s wrong with the building is illuminating. They say you want the list of building problems. It is your responsibility to know what is wrong, you should have this list. ”
Handa asked for some rooms to be re-opened to long-term residents, some of whom are in the 70’s and 80’s and have lived there for 15 years and have nowhere else to go. He said some of them now make a living from their cars.
Handa also said he did not know if he could meet the requirements until the show clause hearing on May 20.
“The contractors are so busy they said it could take a few months,” said Handa. “This is going to be a problem. We’d love to fix whatever the problem is, but they’re busy at the same time. I want to work with the city and solve the problems. ”
The board of directors unanimously voted to order a hearing for the show on May 20, which will give owners time to show they are making changes and why they shouldn’t be deprived of their commercial license.
