TONIGHT: Lolo Community Center Meeting Regarding COVID-19 Lawsuit

The Lolo Community Center will be holding their community board meeting tonight at 7pm. On the agenda is discussion of the new lawsuit against Missoula City-County Board of Health and Ellen Leahy that the community center is named as a plaintiff in.

According to community member reports, the Lolo Community Center lost approximately $15,000 in revenue since SARS-CoV-2 restrictions were placed on the center by the Board of Health and Leahy. The restrictions from the Health Board and Leahy are many and include limitations on hours of operation, physical distancing, traffic flow, customer service and gathering size, and masking of individuals in public accommodations despite conflicting science.

The community centers biggest events, including their regular Bingo night and other events have been cancelled or heavily scaled back due to the restrictions. The center has also not been able to schedule use of the facility with business and other community member events to the degree they were before. The Community Center is struggling to stay open.

Warren Kingdon, Lolo Community Center Board President, told community members that final approval of whether or not the Community Center would continue with the lawsuit would come during tonight’s meeting.

A few board members are reportedly pressuring Warren and Donna Kingdon, wife to Warren Kingdon and Community Center’s Secretary, to step down for involving the community center in the lawsuit.

Tonight’s meeting could set the trajectory of whether or not the community center fights to stay open or is forced to close due to insolvency and restrictions on its core business and mission in Lolo: hosting events for the community.