Just when rail lovers thought it was safe to take Ely’s Ghost Train again a new controversy may be arising between what was supposed to have been a new rail road friendlier City Council and the Rail Road Management Board.
In a legal ad published in last week’s Ely Times the Railroad Management Board was put on notice that three of its five members would be replaced in two weeks by the Ely city council.
“Frankly I don’t know what to think,” said Railroad Executive Director Mark Bassett. “I had thought things had settled down after the city council election and that we wee on the right track to get things moving forward again. But now this comes without any warning.”
According to the ad would be applicants have until October 7 to deliver their applications for one of the three seats up for grabs.
However the ad makes no mention of which of the three of five board members will be replaced.
“I think that is a violation,” Bassett added. “They were supposed to name which seats were up in term and also notify the current board members.”
The management board and the city council had been at loggerheads for well over a year complete with dueling lawsuits over control of the historic railroad.
The most vocal critic of the management board was former councilman and former railroad employee Marty Westlund who alleged that criminal fraud might be going on at the railroad.
This June Ely voters repudiated City Councilman Westlund in the election that swept most of the good ol’ boys out of power and put a new slate on the council.
Westlund was defeated by Kurt Carson. The other council incumbent Tammy Carlgren was also soundly defeated by Pat Robison. In the open race for Dale Derbidge’s seat Jolene Gardner defeated. All three winners ran with the support of the Railroad board.
The only incumbent to survive the thrashing was Mayor Melody Van Camp.Van Camp victory was the only solace anti railroad supporters could take but it could also mean a bitterly divided city council not only on the railroad but on perhaps every single issue on the city agenda.
The long simmering battle between the city council and the rail road management board erupted last summer amid accusations of fraud, theft and malfeasance, that also included a raid on railroad offices by two city councilmen Westlund and Bruce Setterstrom and White Pine County Commissioner Mike Coster. The raid targeted the rail road offices looking for incriminating evidence of something last September.
Earlier that month the Northern Nevada Rail Road board petitioned senior Nevada Judge Bob Rose to intervene and reverse the removal of its chairman Ely Banker John Gianoli and Stephen Leith from the board.
Shortly after that suit was filed the railroad’s offices were raided and the railroad’s financial records were copied and downloaded to a portable device for the city’s contracted forensic auditor.
In addition to the raid the Ely City Council continued its efforts to replace all other long serving Management Board members with those of its own.
Apparently the effort is now being renewed but without at least some of the councilman’s knowledge.
Both Gardner and councilman Sam Hanson said they had know prior knowledge of the legal ad.
“I only found out when it came out,” Hanson said. “I guess things might get cleared up in the next meeting.