No progress yet on schoolhouse rebuilding

The rebuilding of the Silver City Schoolhouse community center is still stalled following a meeting Monday designed to iron out differences between the county and the insurance carrier.

Lyon County officials met with representatives of the insurance company managing the rebuilding of the schoolhouse, but only came away with plans to hold a conference call later in the week with the insurance carrier, Lloyds of London.

Local residents have complained about the time it has taken to rebuild the town's only community center.

The 137-year-old Silver City Schoolhouse was used as a community center, housing meetings, fundraisers, youth programs and many other activities until it burned July 7, 2004. The cause was believed to be from welding torches used by county workers who were installing air conditioning.

A small room in the Silver City firehouse has been used for some of those activities since the fire, but residents say it is too small to be used for much longer.

Lyon County manager Donna Kristaponis said it was a good meeting.

"I think we are all singing off the same page in terms of what we're trying to get accomplished," she said.

Kristaponis said the group did not discuss the dispute over how much of the cost to rebuild the schoolhouse should fall to the county.

"They are just dealing with the overall sum of the amount," she said. "That's an issue we'll deal with locally."

ASC Business Insurance Services Inc., of Sparks, manages the policy, but Lloyds of London is the actual carrier, Kristaponis said.

"For anything over $200,000, that's who would pay," she said.

Erich Obermayr, a member of the Silver City Town Board, said he was happy they were at least trying.

"Good for them, keep at it, let's see some results," he said. "I'm glad they're working on it. We hope that it can produce something soon."

Kristaponis said John Martin, of Bison Construction, was still working out the details on how much of the estimated $800,000 cost will be for labor and how much for material.

In addition to Kristaponis, others attending the meeting were Lyon County commissioners Bob Milz and Leroy Goodman, Nevada Association of Counties Director Bob Hadfield, Wayne Carlson, representing the Nevada Public Insurance Agency Pool, which covers Lyon County, and Donna Squires of ASC Business Insurance Services Inc.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 351.

What's next

Lyon County will hold a conference call later this week with the insurance carrier Lloyds of London to try to reach an agreement with the company that will fund the bulk of costs to reconstruct the schoolhouse/community center in Silver City.