Business license for Carson City's Frontier Motel revoked, owner says some tenants 'fine with bedbugs'

The Carson City Board of Supervisors voted to revoke the business license of the owner of the Frontier Motel in Carson City during its Thursday’s meeting.

The business license for the Frontier Motel is held under the entity name of Five Star Motel LLC, which lists two managing members, Balwinder Thind and Harbans Handa. Handa appeared before the board again Thursday to argue that his business license should not be revoked due to the amount of work that has been done at the motel since he first appeared at the April 15 meeting.

City inspectors found that many rooms were infested with mice, rodent fecal matter, bedbugs, structural failures, unpermitted construction, exposed electrical wires, rooms that did not have hot water or toilets that could flush, unsecured doors, broken windows, and general debris and trash within the rooms.

Seven of the 56 rooms on the property were closed immediately upon inspection due to unsafe living conditions, including the potential threat of hantavirus due to infestations.

The rest of the facility was shut down shortly after with occupants being given a 24 hour notice to vacate and has been shut down since then while work is being done on the property.

According to Handa, they have hired contractors to move the “junk” out of the property; they've hired general contractors to fix any issues with the building; they’ve hired pest control to spray and fumigate for bed bugs, lice, and any other pest issues, and they have hired nighttime security to monitor the property.

Handa also stated that they are working to designing new sidewalks and a new parking lot for the premises.

“We’re working room by room to do electric, plumbing, hot water, as per requirements, and all rooms will have a new bed,” said Handa.

Handa argued that they are the only low-cost motel in the city and for many of the residents, they have lived there for years and have no where else to go.

“This is their home,” said Handa. “Many of them are senior citizens. Some people get very low benefits, only $600 a month, and what can they get for $600 a month? We charge $500 a month and leave the $100 for them to spend on themselves. We help them to get Meals on Wheels so at least they can have one good meal a day. They were really appreciating what we were doing for them.”

Handa said that most of the residents are now homeless and he sees them walking on the streets with nowhere to go.

“We know there were some problems and we’re taking care of it now,” said Handa. “But at the same time we have submitted a request to the city to extend the time to deal with all the issues.”

Supervisor Stan Jones took issue with Handa over the conditions people were forced to live in at the Frontier Motel.

“I have a hard time understanding how you could allow people to live in the conditions you did for the period of time you did,” said Jones. “I have empathy for the people that had to live there. The way I feel, you haven’t addressed how you’re going to take care of this and until you do I believe your license should be revoked.”

Supervisor Mo White echoed this sentiment. “I see on your list you’re doing a whole lot of work, a whole lot of work that should have been done before,” said White. “Why did you wait until your business was vacated to address these issues?”

Handa stated it was because of COVID-19 restrictions that they were unable to know the conditions of the premises because some tenants couldn’t be kicked out.

“This place has been a dump for years and you haven’t addressed it,” said White. “You’ve let these people live in squalor.”

Handa stated that in 2019 the city went through and provided a list of what they needed to improve on, but because of COVID-19 during 2020, they couldn’t do the improvements.

Handa also stated that some tenants were fine with the bedbugs and other issues in the rooms.

“Some people we told them, ‘okay let us take care of the bedbugs’ and they said, ‘No it’s fine they don’t bother us,’” said Handa.

This is in direct opposition of what Handa stated in April, which is that the owners and management had no idea that any of the rooms had any bedbugs, cockroaches, mice or other issues because the tenants hadn’t complained.

Supervisor Lisa Schuette stated that while she appreciates the great need for very low income housing in our community, it is also the responsibility of the owners to provide safe premises for their tenants.

“When taking on this population of the very low income, while I appreciate that this is their home, you’re also accepting that responsibility of providing humane and reasonable conditions which includes running water, warm water, flushing toilets, that there aren’t bedbugs and rodents and that there isn’t crime on the property,” said Schuette.

Handa stated that up until this point the property has been “in others hands,” but that he is now taking responsibility for the property.

“Trust me, moving forward, I have people hired to assist myself and if you see any issue, you can call me,” said Handa. “It’s been in different hands but I’m taking ownership right now and you will see that. I want to clean up this place. That’s why I told the sheriff last night we hired security.”

Supervisor Stacey Giomi stated that while he was glad to hear that Handa was taking responsibility, he wasn’t convinced by his argument.

“I’m happy to hear you say you’re taking ownership,” said Giomi. “Perhaps the eviction would have gone different if some of these things on this list didn’t look the way they did. I don’t know. I don’t find the argument persuasive that you’re the only option to live and in exchange for that people have to put up with what they had to put up with. I don’t think you’ve invested in the property in the way you should have over the years.”

The Board on Thursday chose to revoke rather than suspend the business license which puts the timeline in the owners’ hands on how fast they can get the work done. Once they do, they will be able to reapply for the business license.

Mayor Lori Bagwell asked for a condition that before the new business license is approved Handa will return to the Board of Supervisors to present what they have done to finish the improvements on the property.

“I want to believe you,” said Bagwell. “I believe everyone that comes up here and testifies. I think you’re serious and you’re going to do this. Maybe you’re going to be the shining star in the end. Maybe six months from now you can be the beacon for the community. I know it seems harsh (to revoke the license) but I don’t know any other way to have all parties understand the rules of the game.”

The business license for the Frontier Motel was revoked effective immediately and the owners can reapply as soon as they have completed the list of necessary improvements to the property that they have promised.