Garage plans frustrate Minden

Frustration over 14 years of waylaid plans to resolve downtown Minden's parking problems boiled over Wednesday with town board member Dave Sheets apologizing to residents "for not getting the job done."

"I'm fed up with the whole thing," Sheets said at the conclusion of an impassioned speech about the status of plans for a parking structure behind the Minden Inn.

Sheets took issue with the timing of a survey question on The Record-Courier's Web site which asked "Should there be a parking garage in downtown Minden?"

The results were overwhelmingly against the structure.

"The question is along the lines of asking 'Have you stopped beating your wife?'" Sheets said.

He also referenced a comment County Manager Dan Holler made at a chamber of commerce meeting about the structure.

"Holler said the structure was still in the design phase at a cost of $8 million to $8.5 million, but the county was going to give back the bonds," Sheets said.

An interview with Assistant County Manager Michael Brown in the March 30 issue of The Record-Courier stated that money from the bonds might be used for parking anywhere in the county and that talks were under way with Minden and Gardnerville for solutions to include surface parking.

Sheets said no surface parking discussions had been held.

"The article reads, 'The county won't know the exact cost of the garage until plans are completed and set out to bid.'

"Why would they continue to go out and bid if they were giving back $6 million? It sounds kind of contradictory," Sheets said.

"Michael Brown told me some of the things in the article were not what he said," Sheets said.

Sheets said the county has produced at least four renditions of the structure in the past 14 years following the acquisition of the Minden Inn for county offices.

"The very first ones looked like a child's 'Etch-A-Sketch,' but things seemed to be good. The county told us to be patient, that they were working on it.

"Then there would be a long period of silence, followed by 'Oh, we've hired an architect,' followed by another long period of silence," Sheets said.

In September, the county authorized paying $562,000 in architectural fees for the garage. By then, the price tag for the 209-parking-space structure had more than doubled from $3.5 million to $7.8 million. The latest estimate was $8.5 million.

"They said they hired a project manager close to a year ago. Since then, we haven't heard from anybody," Sheets said.

Town board members have said they felt the garage was a victim of politics.

Even though the money from the bonds was earmarked for the parking structure, people objected to building the garage after voters defeated bond issues to build a senior center and expand law enforcement services.

"I'm tired of being lied to," said board member Ray Wilson. "I will not waste my time getting involved with county management. I don't have those hours to waste."

Wilson said the best solution now would be to require county employees to park on County Road and leave the spaces in downtown Minden available to businesses.

The county maintains with acquisition of five additional parcels and creating surface parking, the Minden Inn meets parking code requirements.

"I'm just saddened by the whole thing," said board member Bob Hadfield. "All those consultants could have bought a lot of parking spaces."

Board member Ross Chichester said when the garage was bonded years ago, building costs were about one-third what they are now.

"Interest rates were really low and costs have skyrocketed," Chichester said. "I'm not defending the decision not to go forward. The garage should have been built years ago."

The parking garage is included in the county's 5-year Capital Improvement Program which is under review as part of the budget process.