One of the Frontier Motel owners appeared before the Carson City Board of Supervisors Thursday while deciding whether or not to order a notice for a reasoning hearing to determine whether or not to revoke the Frontier Motel’s business license or not.
The Frontier Motel business license is held under the corporate name of Five Star Motel LLC, which lists two executive members, Balwinder Thind and Harbans Handa. Handa appeared before the board to argue that there shouldn’t be a hearing that ultimately failed.
On Wednesday, the Carson City Health and Welfare Department issued an emergency warrant that immediately closed the premises following inspections of the facility on Monday. It was found that the facility was habitable.
City inspectors found that many rooms were infested with mice, rodent feces, bed bugs, structural flaws, improper construction, exposed electrical cables, rooms with no hot water or toilets that could be flushed, unsecured doors, broken windows, and general trash in the rooms.
Seven of the 56 rooms on the property were closed immediately after the inspection for 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 that resulted in Lt. Daniel Gonzales investigated motel conditions and the number of service calls made by the facility regarding others, investigating 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 site has become a destination for criminals to congregate and network. Service requests range from batteries with a deadly weapon to fighting, gang activity, drug dealing to death investigations related to drug overdose and drug trafficking. The … inability to control their tenants strains our responsiveness and diminishes our ability to provide services to 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 are frustrated with them too. We need help with the evacuation. Some are drugs. When they walk in, we don’t know who is a druggist and who isn’t. We can’t get rid of them. “
Handa also said he never heard that any of the rooms had no hot water or a problem with bed bugs.
“We have people on site who will fix the problem immediately,” said Handa.
Handa also denied claims that there were no flush rooms, stating 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 put in new shower heads and changed some of the toilets to save money.”
Handa went on to say that they didn’t know about cockroaches, mice, or bed bugs because they weren’t told.
“We don’t go into every room and knock on the door and say, ‘Do you have a bug? Do you have a mistake ‘”Said Handa.
Handa said the pest control is done monthly; Then he said, however, that he didn’t think they were there “this spring,” but that they will come when a resident asks.
“We’re trying to do our best, but there’s nothing we can do about it because of 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 your struggles that you and your residents are having, but the remark you made that you don’t even know what’s wrong with the building is telling. They say you want the list of mistakes with the building. It is your responsibility to know what is going on. You should have this list. ”
Handa requested the reopening of some rooms from long term residents, some of whom are in their 70s and 80s and have lived there for 15 years with no other option. 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 of the May 20 hearing on the show clause.
“The contractors are so busy they said it could be a couple of months,” said Handa. “That will be a problem. We want to fix the problem, but they are busy at the same time. I want to work with the city and fix the problems. ”
The board unanimously voted to pass a resolution to a hearing on the exhibition grounds on May 20, which will give owners time to show they are making changes and show why they shouldn’t revoke their business license.
