BATTLE MOUNTAIN - Rusty Bahr, who sits on the Battle Mountain Recreation Center Board of Directors, came before Lander County commissioners at their June 27 meeting to discuss the Battle Mountain Recreation Center progress and give commissioners an update.
Bahr told commissioners that the project has been put on hold by the district attorney's office but did not say why. He did not return numerous phone calls for comment after the meeting.
District Attorney Angie Elquist said her office is reviewing any potential legal issues for Lander County and while she is researching and addressing issues, the project is on hold.
"I was instructed by the DA on Tuesday (June 25) to stop all work on this project, that she needs more time to research that, which is upsetting to us because we've come to you over a year ago on our governance and asked for your recommendation on the governance of what we were going to go forward to but we've been told at this point to halt and so I have stopped the capital campaign at this point," Bahr told commissioners. "We've called our board off and we will not enter into any agreements with anybody at this point. We have spent money. We have spent legal services for ourselves but at this point we will halt."
Commission Chair Dean Bullock said he had pointed out at an earlier date that the timeline that the center's board set ran way too quickly.
"As a matter of record, as far as your timeline, I warned the ad hoc committee and I warned the board of directors three times, your timeline's wrong," Bullock told Bahr. "It goes too quick and I've warned that so you guys can come back on the commission and the district attorney all you want. You were warned that the timeline was not right ... for the way you guys want to proceed. I said it was too quick."
Bahr said he did not recall being told that.
"I don't remember you warning us, I mean the proposal you guys have all accepted but that's fine," Bahr said. "The timeline is what it is. It will come at a time when this all gets solved. I'm just telling you at this point, we've been told to stop moving forward and so that's what we're going to do until we get direction to start moving again so if the timeline needs to be pushed back and its a couple of years down the road instead of next year then that is fine."
The possibility of deeding a lot of land near Eleanor Lemaire Elementary School from the county to the Battle Mountain Recreation Center board for the future site of the center was on the June 27 commission agenda.
However, deeding the property did not surface during the conversation with some commissioners telling Bahr they were not happy with the location near Lemaire because of traffic and other concerns. Bahr said he would come back to a future commission meeting and present options for various sites.
"As far as the location of the new Battle Mountain Recreation Center, we have discussed this for over a six-month period," Bahr said. "It's come to our board three different times for vote. ... Just doing our due diligence and all three times this site was voted unanimously from our board so at this point we have a unanimous decision that this is where it would like to be done. We have called meetings with the school district and we've met with them three times on this but this is the location that our board of directors feels is the best location for this project."
Commissioner Brian Garner said he was not in favor of the location.
"I've got big problems with it," Garner said. "I've talked to a lot of people that live on Lemaire Road and now that you guys have come to this agreement, Lemaire Road is not a commercial street. Lemaire Road was never designed to fulfill the traffic it can impose on this. ... I've heard from several residents that they are willing to sign a petition against this because ... they bought their properties assuming that this was a residential neighborhood. Now we're proposing a commercial district."
He continued, "... There's a whole range of things because basically it was never designated that so that's just my outtake on it is we have a whole bunch of people up and down that road that do not want that road to become a main thoroughfare and if this is there it's going to be a main thoroughfare, which those people, when they bought their homes, they had the choice when they bought their homes and now we're imposing something else on them whether they like it or not."
Commissioner Dave Mason said that if the board wants to pursue the location then he wants a neighborhood traffic analysis done for Lemaire, Carson and Bastian roads.
"I think there's a lot of options where you're not crowding a community out of its residential purpose. ... I vote for this, you know I want this community center to go in," Mason said. "I just don't want it to create a traffic jam and a liability at a later date and that's what you're doing here with this choice."
Bahr told the commissioners that the Battle Mountain Recreation Center board was open to other possible suggestions.
"Okay, I guess the one thing that I just want to state on that is we're not asking for a motion today," he said. "This is our first presentation to you on this site and so I mean we want to hear everything. If this is not that you all believe this should be on then obviously we would be adaptable to that so we're not coming here today to ask you to vote on that. This is a presentation of where it would be if you did do it on the county site where the lot would be."
It was then agreed that Bahr would come back to commissioners with different location options.
"What would be the pleasure of the commission?" he asked. "Would you like us to bring back different options to you to consider if that's what you'd like? Because we can do that. We have three or four different options that have been looked at. How about if I bring them to the next meeting and present them to you, get them all to you ahead of time so you have an opportunity to look at those?"
Bahr added, "I think everybody needs to understand that we're doing this listening to you. We're not going to put this site on there if the commission does not want this on there so I think the best option is for us to come to you and you help us. We're looking for leadership from you. Our board has done the diligence that we can. We came to you with our first presentation without a vote today. You've asked us to come back with other options. We are going to listen to what you want us to do."
Commissioners approved $6.5 million for the project earlier in the year.
The center may include an aquatics center which will consist of an indoor/outdoor pool, a health and wellness center, a gym, a multi-purpose room, a walking track, a racquetball court, water slides, a pavilion and grass areas.
The project was initially brought up by county commissioners who had discussed a new pool. Then the project was given over to LEDA (Lander Economic Development Authority) for them to spearhead.
LEDA created an ad hoc committee which then obtained nonprofit status at the direction of county commissioners and formed a board of directors.
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