Community Development Block Grants sought for Silver Springs youth center, homeless services

Two Lyon County groups have applied for Community Development Block Grants.

Silver Springs Arts and Entertainment brought along two Silver Stage High School students to the Lyon County Commission meeting last week to help make their pitch for a youth center at Stockton Wells.

The group asked for $50,000 to bring in water, sewer and electricity to the lot, which is considered an archaeologically historic area, because of wagon train tracks still visible.

Margaret Ruckman of SSEA said the community center would not be located near the tracks.

She also said the group was in the process of converting the 10-acre parcel into two 5-acre parcels, to separate the historic area from the spot for the community center.

The commissioners agreed that a youth center is sorely needed in the Silver Springs area.

Also seeking a grant is Continuum of Care, which provides assistance to homeless people in Churchill and Lyon counties.

Churchill County Social Services Director Shannon Ernst and Kelly Bates, client services associate for Social Entrepreneurs Inc., asked for $44,000 for technical support for their program.

The Continuum of Care program, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, counts the homeless in an area and informs the area's service providers on how to help the homeless.

Lyon County Human Services Director Edrie LaVoie offered her support for the grant, saying grants proved a rent assistance program that aids the homeless.

The commissioners will choose the program at Thursday's meeting.

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Lyon County lot owners wanting to set up mobile homes have to make sure they are not more than 15 years old, or the owner would have to get a waiver from the county commissioners.

Lyon County Building Director Nick Malarchak told the commissioners that rule was no longer necessary, since by next year it would forbid homes built before 1992.

He suggested having 1992 be a cutoff year, and the commission could review the year every five years or so, to make sure no dilapidated manufactured homes were getting into the county, which was the point of the rule in the first place. Malarchak said the problem of people bringing 1970s-era trailers into the county would be prevented without banning models from the 1990s that were built well enough to last.

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Horizon Construction of Carson City won a bid to build a concession stand and restrooms at the Dayton Valley Events Center.

The center's advisory board wanted the building to increase events held at the facility so that one day it could operate on funds it raises, rather than be dependent on the county.

The winning bid was $208,995, and was the lowest of seven bids submitted to do install a septic system and put up the building.

The county had obtained a $75,000 grant from the Nevada State Parks, with a match from the county's surplus building fund.

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A few updates on past Lyon County Commission items:

• Jeff Page, county emergency management director, was awarded a Nevada Department of Emergency Management grant of $22,000 that will pay for a multi-hazard, multipurpose vehicle for the sheriff's office that will be used for communication in a crisis. Page said an old ambulance will be retrofitted to create the new communications command vehicle.

• LeRoy Goodman said he did sign a controversial letter asking members of the Nevada Congressional Delegation to reopen the Lyon County Lands Bill, but thought he was signing a letter of support for a new Interstate 80 interchange near Fernley, about 1/2 mile east of the roundabout.

He said Wade/Sonterra/Lakemont developers asked him to support a letter on the interchange, and that's what he believed he was signing.

Goodman said he had no idea who wrote the letter regarding the lands bill.

"I was just supporting constituents in my district," he said.

• The commission agreed to hire Melvyn Green & Associates to take a look at the Dayton Community Center to see if there are less expensive options to make the historic building safe for use.

The community center was closed Oct. 19 after a structural engineer reported it unsafe in the event of a major earthquake.

County Engineer Dick Faber said the company comes highly recommended by Comstock Historic District administrator Bert Bedeau, and that Dayton officials were familiar with Green's work, since he handled the upgrade of the Bluestone Building and other historic buildings.

The cost will be paid out of the county's contingency funds.

• The Silver City Community Center's opening has been delayed until late December because of change orders and other problems. The new target date is Dec. 22, but the sign along Highway 342 through Silver City said "53 days to go" as of Tuesday morning.

The local residents want it to be done in time for the Jan. 19 presidential caucuses.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 881-7351.