Commissioners promise action on mobile home

MOUND HOUSE - Two Lyon County commissioners pledged Wednesday to deal with the mobile home in Mound House that has stirred up neighbors on Calcite Drive.

Commissioner Chairman LeRoy Goodman and Commissioner Bob Milz on Wednesday looked at the property where Joe Christian built a house but never removed the mobile home as ordered by the county building department.

The commissioners sided with neighbors who have lobbied for months to force Christian to get rid of the mobile home.

"This is against county code," Goodman said as he looked at the house and mobile home standing side-by-side but off kilter.

Lyon County District Attorney Robert Estes, however, has yet to give a clear signal on how he plans to handle the matter. He is still reviewing and researching the law pertaining to mobile homes.

Goodman and Milz intend to push the matter with or without Estes.

"LeRoy and I will guarantee to you this problem will be taken care of," Milz said.

Milz has mentioned bringing in an outside attorney or possibly the Attorney General's Office to handle the case if Estes doesn't.

"The DA is there to enforce the laws we make," said Milz, who represents Mound House. "If he doesn't do that, we have a problem."

"We need to get this behind us. We're going to address the mobile home issue."

Milz invited the neighbors to today's commission meeting in Yerington. The mobile home matter will not be formally on the agenda until Jan. 20, but Milz said the mobile home opponents may speak in the public participation portion of the meeting.

"I said, 'You need to come there and lay it on the line,' so that commissioners can't say they're unfamiliar with the matter," Milz said. "From my standpoint, somebody screwed up and we're going to take care of the problem."

Several times in the building permitting and inspection process county officials noted the mobile home must be removed before the house is occupied. But on the final inspection form inspector Howard Reid said the mobile home was being used as a guest house.

John Evasovic, Lyon County community development director, said mobile home guest houses are illegal and Reid made a mistake.

Christian's attorney Ernie Adler has used the one approval for the mobile home to claim that Christian can't be told to remove something that was approved.

Neighbors have kept close tabs on Christian's home building. Residents Joe Mueller, Weldon Ostermeyer, Frank Johnston and several others have crusaded for months to have a mobile home removed.

They apparently have been discouraged by the county apparently not enforcing building codes but Milz' pledge to put the mobile home issue on the Jan. 20 Commission agenda has placated them.

"We pushed it with Bob Milz to put it before the commission," said Mueller, who lives across the street from Christian. "We are all going to be there. At least we're getting somewhere on this. We're just trying to protect our property."

"The rules are supposed to be the same for everybody," said Johnston, who lives about 100 yards down the street. "Basically, my concern is the way it was handled. The commission should tell the building department to enforce the rules and remove the trailer."