- Target:
- Lyon County Board of Commissioners, Lyon County,
- Region:
- United States of America
The Stagecoach Community Center was built by the residents of Stagecoach when Lyon County told them that it could not afford to build a Community Center in Stagecoach. A Bingo game was started on Saturday nights to raise funds to help residents in need and special events for children. Eventually the game was taken over by people who did not live in the community. This group did not pay anything for the use of the building, and except for a Thanksgiving and Easter Egg hunt in which most of the food was donated to them did not give back to the community.
After holding many unannounced meetings with the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. Board Lyon County's Public Works Director went against public opinion displayed at some meetings recommended that the lease of the Stagecoach Community Center be awarded to Stagecoach Bingo, Inc.. That lease was approved and began June 1, 2014. It was supposed to give residents a chance to utilize the Community Center more, but instead, the Bingo group held it hostage. Anyone wanting to rent or use the building had to go through the an application process and access was always conditionally granted on the whims of the leader of the Bingo group.
Further details about this lease can be viewed on Lyon County's website.
The Lyon County Public Works Director has faced overwhelming public disapproval of the Bingo groups management of the building at the Stagecoach Advisory Board meetings. On May 1st should County Commissioners approve the lease to the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. for the next 3 years, it is quite possible that they will continue to operate it without any sort of fiscal accountability and utmost authority The residents of Stagecoach, a small, rural community with no restaurant, library or other place to meet, will again have its own Community Center held hostage by an indifferent and self serving group of people. Additionally they plan to make it into their own private "nest egg" with a thrift shop, one board member plans to have a day care center, etc, while still giving nothing back to the Stagecoach Community.
We, the undersigned, call on the Lyon County Commissioners to put the wishes of residents of Stagecoach first. These are first and foremost that the Stagecoach Community Center should remain primarily what it was built for, a community gathering spot for the residents of Stagecoach. As there is already a lease in place and a long established Bingo game at the Stagecoach Community Center, we do hereby request the following be placed into the conditions of the lease.
1. That 'the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. cease and desist from using the name Stagecoach Community Center and Bingo.
2. That the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. be required to make a monthly fiscal report to the Stagecoach Advisory Board. That such report be included in the Minutes of the Stagecoach Advisory Board meeting.
3. Since they are a nonprofit operating a gaming operation which is not within the scope of managing a building, and since they charge other nonprofits $25 an hour for the use of the building, that the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. also be required to pay for the time they utilize the buildings on Saturdays.
4. That since the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. is managing the building, that they have someone available to open and close the building during normal operating hours. Also that they make sure that information that is useful to the public in general is displayed.
If such cannot be achieved, then we request that you, the County Commissioners, reject the lease of our Community Center to the Stagecoach Bingo, Inc. and allow another non-profit, which is a 501(c) to be considered for leasing the building.
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The Make Our Community Center a Community Affair, Not a Bingo Parlor petition to Lyon County Board of Commissioners, Lyon County, was written by S.E.E.D.S. and is in the category Local Government at GoPetition.