by Jed Margolin
This Web site (jeep-posse.com) is not owned by the Storey County Jeep Posse.
This Web site is not operated by the Storey County Jeep Posse.
This Web site is owned and operated by me, Jed Margolin.
Coming Soon to this Web Site
The Best of the
Virginia City Highlands
September 4, 2019
Copyright Jed Margolin 2019
September 15, 2019
There was a meeting of the Storey County Board of Commissioners on September 3, 2019. We have only a three-person board. They are currently: Lance Gilman, Marshall McBride, and Jay Carmona.
Commissioner Jay Carmona is new. He is currently also the President of the VCHPOA (Virginia City Highlands Property Owners Association). See https://www.virginiacityhighlands.com/
Commissioner Marshall McBride is also the Chairman of the
Storey County Board of Commissioners. He and his family own the Bucket of Blood
Saloon in
Commissioner Lance Gilman is also the Principal and Director
for L. Lance Gilman Commercial Real Estate Services (
After Gilman sold most of the remaining land in TRIC to Blockchains LLC he became their Development and Marketing
Coordinator in
You know who is a member of the Blockchains
team? Sarah Johns! She is the Director of Public Relations. For many years she
was a TV anchor at KOLO TV in
What does Blockchains LLC do and
why do they need 67,000 acres in
And Commissioner Gilman is also the owner of the World
Famous Mustang Ranch Brothel. (Prostitution is legal in
The Jeep Posse has a bar too. They deny being a drinking club but they do admit that they drink at their meetings. I doubt they have naked women at their meetings because they don’t allow women to be members.
One more thing about Commissioner Gilman. He is suing Sam Toll, the Editor and Publisher of The Storey Teller, an online newspaper (https://thestoreyteller.online/).
It seems that Sam published a satire about Gilman that Gilman didn’t like. You can read about it here: https://thestoreyteller.online/?s=gilman . You can read the satire yourself here: http://thestoreyteller.online/satire/
_____________________
This was the agenda for the September 3, 2019 meeting of the
Storey County Board of Commissioners: agenda_2019_0903.pdf
.
This was the updated agenda packet: agenda_packet_2019_0903_updated.pdf
.
There were two agenda items that caught my attention. One was a proposed new Jeep Posse lease.
Agenda Item #9:
9. DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE
ACTION: Consideration and possible approval of 99 year lease of the Ice House
and associated real property to the Storey County Jeep Posse for an annual rent
of $1.
The information in the Agenda Packet is as follows (PDF
pages 95 and 96): agenda_packet_2019_0903_jeep-posse_updated.pdf
5. Staff summary:
The Storey County Jeep Posse has requested that
the County grant it a 99 year lease as to the Ice House and associated real
property for an annual rent of $1. Pursuant to NRS 244.284 the County is
authorized to lease county owned land to a corporation for public benefit for
up to 99 years on such terms and conditions as to the Board seems proper. The
Storey County Jeep Posse does qualify as a corporation for public benefit as
that term is defined in NRS 82.021. The Jeep Posse desires the 99 year lease as
they are proposing to invest substantial sums for the repair and rehabilitation
of the Ice House building. They do not want to invest the sums unless they are
assured that they will have possession of the building for a lengthy period of
time.
6. Supporting
materials: Proposed Lease; NRS 244.284
_______________________
According to NRS 82.021:
NRS 82.021 “Corporation for public benefit” defined. “Corporation for public benefit”
is a corporation formed or existing pursuant to this chapter that:
1. Is recognized as exempt under 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code in effect on October 1, section 1991, future
amendments to that section and the corresponding provisions of future internal
revenue laws; or
2. Is organized for a public or
charitable purpose and which upon dissolution must distribute its assets to the
United States, a state, or a person which is recognized as exempt under section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as amended.
(Added
to NRS by 1991,
1256; A 1993,
990)
______________________
The County records every meeting of the Board of Commissioners but does not post them and they throw them out after a year. To save them I ask for copies of the recording of the meeting after every meeting so I can post them on my Web site: www.savestoreycounty.org/archive .
These are for the September 3 meeting.
Recording: Filename
Size
Length
2019_0903_1.mp3 11.8 MBytes 0:50:27
2019_0903_2.mp3 5.1 MBytes 0:21:46
The segment for the Jeep Posse lease which they approved
with some changes is in Part 1 from 16:37 - 44:29: I have made a separate file
for it:
2019_0903_posse.mp3 6.5 MBytes 0:27:52
I asked Vanessa Stephens (Storey County Clerk &
Treasurer) for a copy of the old lease, the lease that was being
“corrected”. She gave me this: click here. It is obviously not a
lease.
I asked her again. She said that the document she sent me is
the only Ice House document she has. I will assume she meant the Jeep Posse
lease that I asked for and the County is not playing a game (keep-away) with
me.
I asked Storey County Manager Austin Osborne for a copy of
the previous Jeep Posse lease, the one that was “corrected”. He
gave me the 1974 lease (click here) and the
same payment document that Vanessa gave me except is was
much faded (click here). He called it the
lease agreement which it is obviously not. For his email click here.
Then I received an email from Keith Loomis, Storey County
Deputy District Attorney:
Your inquiry regarding the 1992 lease
with the Jeep Posse was routed to this office for a response. To this point,
the County has been unable to locate a 99 year lease with the Jeep Posse. There
are references to the existence of the lease made in the minutes of the meeting
of the Board of County Commissioners held on April 15, 2014. There is also the
receipt from Kathy Hilton former Storey County Clerk Treasurer dated October 6,
1992, which recites the existence of the lease. The lease itself has not been
found.
You can read the minutes of the April 15, 2014 meeting of
the Board of Commissioners yourself. Click
here. The issues raised in that meeting have still not been
addressed, even the matter of who gets the income from the cell tower lease.
And the Commissioners knew even in 2014 that they did not have a copy of
the alleged 1992 lease. The issues were swept under the rug in 2014 just as
they are being swept under the rug now.
Note that at one point then County Manager Pat Whitten says,
“I am a proud member of the Jeep Posse since 1994.” Conflict of Interest, anyone?
So, there you have it. I was right. The County does not have
a copy of the 1992 lease that was just “corrected.”
But at 24:58 of the segment of the Commissioners’
meeting devoted to the Jeep Posse lease Commissioner Lance Gilman referred to
the existing lease, “We have an existing lease.” Does Gilman
make contracts at TRIC for more than one year that are
not in writing? At 25:50 of the segment, Chairman Marshall McBride also
referred to the existing lease.
Well, since the County does not have a copy of it, and the
Jeep Posse does not have a copy of it (or refuses to provide it) I don’t
see how there was an existing lease and the new “corrected”
lease, is a sham.
How can they “correct” a lease that they
don’t have a copy of? Are they doing this from memory? That does not fly
legally. What is in the old lease that they don’t want people to see? Are
they hiding misconduct, especially criminal misconduct? Making the new lease
retroactive does not cure misconduct, especially criminal misconduct.
There are at least two more issues.
1. The 1974 lease (click here)
contains the statement:
12. The parties hereto agree
that the premises shall be used for charitable and civic purposes only and that
the said premises shall not be used for any private or personal use, pursuant
to the requirements of NRS 244.284.
If the 1992 lease contains this same statement it could be
trouble for the GOBs (Good Old Boys). We don’t
know because the County does not have a copy of the alleged 1992 lease.
The new lease says only:
2. Use of Premises. Jeep
Posse will utilize the premises for charitable or civic purposes throughout the
term of the lease.
The 1974 lease refers to NRS 244.284. I looked it up. It
does not include the part about “shall not be used for any private or
personal use, pursuant to the requirements of NRS 244.284.” So I looked
up the amendments over the years.
(Added to NRS by 1963, 690; A 1969, 218; 1975, 571; 2001, 1710; 2003, 918)
I discovered something interesting. Up until the 2003
amendment the maximum term of a lease was 30 years, not 99 years. Click here for that. The alleged 99 year
1992 lease was invalid. That assumes there was one, in writing.
If the 1992 Payment Document is authentic it refers to an
illegal lease. A legal lease would have run out in 2022.
Since the new Jeep Posse lease was made retroactive to 1992 it inherits the defects of the alleged 1992 lease and is also invalid.
The 1974 lease also contains a list of members. I asked the
Jeep Posse President (Casey Kelly) for the Jeep Posse membership list and for
their financial statements for the past five years. He refused. Thus, the Jeep
Posse is a secret society.
The issue was discussed that the Jeep Posse does not allow
women to be members. At 14:43 of the segment, Jeep Posse President Casey Kelly
spoke. He said that there is nothing in the bylaws prohibiting woman from
joining, and that people who are asked to join the group are asked by current
members. From that I conclude that the Jeep Posse is a secret society that has
never asked a woman to join the group. It doesn’t matter that it
isn’t in the bylaws (which I doubt we will ever see). This illustrates
the difference between de jure discrimination and de facto discrimination. The
fact is that they do not allow woman to join their tax-supported secret society.
JM