NOW THAT LANCE GILMAN IS WORKING FOR BLOCKCHAINS AS GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS…..WHATS GOOD FOR BLOCKCHAINS IS GOOD FOR STOREY COUNTY!! LETS ALL WAIT FOR THE SHOWER OF MONEY FROM THE OPPORTUNITY ZONE !

THE NEVADA SUPREME COURT UPHELD THE COMMISSION’S DENIAL OF THE APPLICATION FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA SALES IN STOREY COUNTY BECAUSE THE COMMISSION STATED “THAT’S BAD”….BUT WE STILL GET TO HAVE INSTITUTIONALIZED ALCOHOL, GAMBLING AND PROSTITUTION BECAUSE THAT’S GOOD.

LANCE GILMAN CALLS FOR AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO VINCENT MALFITANO’S FINANCIAL BACKGROUND AS PART OF HIS LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION…..I WONDER WHAT AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO LANCES FINANCIALS WOULD SHOW?

NO TESLA AGREEMENT SIGNED YET….TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK…

By Nicole Barde

Bardeblog.com

You can find the agenda packet HERE and County Manager Pat Whitten’s summary HERE. If you want to listen to the meeting you can find the recording HERE.

The staff updates are very well covered in Pat Whitten’s summary. There’s a bit more detail to it. Glad to see that.

Assistant DA Keith Loomis updated the Commission with the news that the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the Commissions decision to deny the application for medical marijuana sales in Storey County.

SIDENOTE- At the time of this decision ( October 2016) the basis for the decision was that since the federal government still classifies marijuana as illegal that Storey County won’t legalize its sale even tho the rest of the state has. There was some moral indignation and high ground that was whipped up with Commissioner, brothel owner, TRIC principal and Blockchains Government Affairs worker Lance Gilman saying that he had 11 business licenses and businesses, that they are “drug free’ and that he is not comfortable with drugs.

I wrote about the meeting on bardeblog HERE and today I’d like to restate what I said at that time:

I mean…..we can hardly stand on principle and a moral high ground. We have your bars, your gambling, and your prostitution…all of which have the potential for abuse, violence and crime as a result of those activities…none of which seem to serve a compassionate purpose with the capacity to ease crippling pain, mitigate seizures in children, aid people in keeping food down after horrific treatments and help the terminally ill have a measure of quality in their life.
NOPE…let’s take a stand on drugs……let’s have more bars, more gambling, more prostitution!

My question is what happens when the federal government decides to decriminalize it? When that barrier goes away will the Commission approve the application?

Additionally, the state is in need of more revenues and the tax revenues generated from marijuana increases every year……the state is looking at increasing the property tax cap to bring in more money ( pucker up your taxes will go up) …Storey County also needs more revenues…and we have no problem taking brothel money… I’d rather have more marijuana revenue and no property tax increase…but hey….that’s just me.

But I digress….

During Pat Whitten’s update, he said that the effluvium pipeline project is still alive and on track. Recall that it was not approved in its prior incarnation where it would have had our tax dollars paying for it.

SIDENOTE-Bottom line TRIC needs the pipeline and I support that….I just don’t support our tax dollars paying for it. I look forward to seeing how it will get funded with this new plan.

Pat also reiterated that the Ferrari Hill Climb is still a “no”. He said that with the numerous issues that they have had with the event’s organizers that he would not work with them again. He is not saying no to future events but that it would have to be with different organizers. Pat also said that the reaction from some of the people reading his letter of explanation HERE and years of emails about the event was “ Why wasn’t it canceled years ago”?

During Board updates Commissioner, brothel owner, TRIC principal and Blockchains Government Affairs worker Lance Gilman updated the Commission on the status of the Opportunity Zone designation status for Storey County. Recall that in the May Commission meeting of this year Lance said that we had been denied the designation and that several companies at TRIC were going to mount an effort to change the Governors mind. Lance announced that the Governor has changed his mind and that Storey has gotten the designation. He went on to talk about how Blockchains can now unleash billions and billions in “stranded” cryptocurrency.

Since there were only a finite number of zones available in Nevada someone had to give up their designation and that someone was Lyon County. Lance reported that there were numerous people at the table for these negotiations, including the Department of the Treasury Lyon county, and the NNDA and that it all went well.

Good for us!

SIDENOTE- First …..let me be clear…I am all in favor of anything that will bring money into the coffers of ALL of our businesses ( not just the few ) and into the coffers of the Storey County’s General Fund so it can be spent on services. So our getting an Opportunity Designation is a win. BUT FOR WHO????

Everything I read about the Opportunity Zone is written from the perspective of the benefit that it offers companies who want to basically shelter their capital gains. They can put those gains into an Opportunity Fund ( operated by the government) essentially tax free until they invest it into an Opportunity Zone. There is nothing that I can find yet that tells me what that looks like for a citizen in an Opportunity Zone, for a small business in an Opportunity Zone or for the local government in an Opportunity Zone. Right now it looks like a way to either repatriate corporate profits or shelter corporate gains. It doesn’t look like it’s a “finished product.”

 I pray to God that this isn’t one of those “ we have to pass it before we can read it” things.

Additionally…..it seems that Blockchains is the big dog in this effort. Lance mentioned them in the last two O Zone updates, they were one of those lobbying for the change, he works for them……oh wait….I thought he worked for us..oh wait…what?

I want to know just EXACTLY WHO benefits from this…..the Merchants on C street? Small home businesses? Just where are the billions and billions of non-monetized ( made into real money) crypto currency going to be invested in Storey County that will translate into revenues for the County that will build a community center in the Highlands, pay for historic renovation of the town’s buildings, provide road improvements in Mark Twain, give Lockwood the needed congestion relief that they need and pay for utilities infrastructure so that water and sewer rates don’t have to go up in V.C./Gold Hill to pay for bonds?

SHOW ME THE MONEY!

But I digress….

Commission Chair Marshall Mc Bride made a point of complimenting VCTC Executive Director Deny Dotson on the progress that the VCTC has made in bringing quality events and more spending to V.C. He said that events have “ exploded and that the merchants are so busy that they don’t have any time off” He said that the businesses appreciate his efforts.

SIDENOTE- Marshal wasn’t at the merchant meeting or the recent VCTC meeting where 30 plus merchants voiced displeasure at the cancellation of the Hill Climb and with the VCTC and Liquid Blue taking money out of their coffers by bringing in competing external vendors during the big events.

The USGS gave a presentation on the status of the well monitoring in the Highlands which you can find HERE.

NDOT gave an update on their work program in Storey County ( projects) and that is in the agenda packet.

The new Board of Directors for Pipers was appointed.

SIDENOTE-Gotta say…I’m happy here. I’ve been involved with Pipers for many years and I am glad that the County has stewardship of the building. In looking at the new members of the board they seem to have some fundraising horsepower which is what’s required in order to do the expensive renovations that Pipers needs.

The Bonanza and the Delta have applied for a liquor license under owner Vincent Malfitano’s name. They are currently under Tina Perkins Perkin’s name , she leases the properties from him. He was previously denied the licenses after the results of his investigation by the gaming board was disclosed. He was denied a gaming license as a result as well.

This was a first reading and once passed it goes to the Sheriff to do the financial investigation. The investigation for a liquor license is not as deep as that for a gaming license. The investigatory standard used for liquor licenses has been consistent for all other applicants. The Sheriff was asked if his election event at the Delta ( owned by Malfitano) the night of the primary election was paid for or free. He said that he paid for it.

After a bit of discussion, Lance Gilman requested that the Commission authorize an independent investigation into Malfitano’s background effectively taking it out of the Sheriff’s hands and incurring a cost to the county for something that can be done in-house.

During public comment on this item Sam Toll, Editor of The Storey Teller, got up to ask why it was necessary to expose Malfitano to a greater standard. That both he and Tina have worked hard and done a great job in getting the Delta and Bonanza up and running successfully, creating jobs and adding to the town. He noted that if the same level of investigation were done on Lance Gilman’s current and past financials that they would show that he was consistently late in paying his taxes for several years in the past. Sam noted that businesses, including his own, get into problems sometimes and that those problems get fixed.

During public comment at the end of the meeting, Sam also asked that a workshop of some sort be scheduled to talk about what an Opportunity Zone is and how it benefits the county.

The rest of the agenda was fairly procedural and covered in Pat’s summary.