In the midst of all the controversy surrounding the Washoe County Republican Party voting on a resolution that they no longer consider Commissioner Clara Andriola a Republican, it has come to our attention that Governor Joe Lombardo is allegedly upset with Picon.

Despite rampant lawlessness at the shelter, instead the County seeks to arrest a former cop…

Apparently, Washoe County was incapable of hiring a local with the ability to run the county's information technology section, referred to as “IT.” Behzad Zamanian has actually worked for Washoe County since January 2021, and the county subsidized his travel to Washoe County where he was reportedly working one week a month on-site.

Picon was sent these photos from a reader who was around the Nevada Cares Campus last week.

The photos snapped of a recently purchased, bright and shiny, totally branded vehicle for Karma Box Project from the City of Reno.

The Reno City Council will vote on Wednesday to add an additional Storm Drain Fee. This is triple taxation. Residents already pay for Storm Drain through the Capitalization Fund which is nearly one-third of the Sewer Bill. Everyone in Washoe County is paying one-half of 1/8% of sales tax to Flood Management which can be used for storm drains, storm water, and emergency managers. The other half of that tax went to Reno’s ReTrac (oh, the memories).

Ah, the perplexing conundrum of human gratitude when it seems unwarranted, and we write about the Facebook post from Silver Circle Ranch/Pro Pony. Fear not, dear reader, Picon shall endeavor to shed some light upon this curious matter.

Humans possess epically complex minds, susceptible to the phenomenon, Perspective Paradox. This quirk manifests when individuals fail to accurately gauge the magnitude of a given situation, causing them to overestimate or underestimate its significance. Thus, one might offer gratitude where it is seemingly unnecessary due to an overblown perception of the favor received.

Is it Jeanne Herman’s time? We understand Herman is seeking to be the chair of the Washoe County Commission at the January 16, 2024, meeting.

It would seem as if City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve’s dance card is full.

The question is where will she be?

As Picon pursues our goal of providing investigative journalism to the community, we realized that follow up is key. As we all know, child support cases do not have to start in the halls of the Family Division of Second Judicial District Court, but sadly, with a separate Court Master, a rotating cast of District Attorneys and even the Nevada Attorneys General’s Office, data is not on their side.

In watching the Monday, January 8, 2024, Sparks City Council meeting you could feel the discomfort oozing from Chris Barrett, of Barrett Resources when he was stuck ‘singing for his supper’ addressing the council to get his $90,000 fee, continuing to lobby for the elusive Lands Bill approval. We say elusive since Barrett has been collecting money thanks to the Lands Bill from the City of Sparks since 2019 and it amounts to a tidy amount. As Chris Garvey, who Mayor Ed Lawson barely beat in the 2022 race (Garvey was unknown and Lawson having been appointed mayor after the death of Ron Smith had been a city councilmember since 2010. Lawson with 51.1% squeaked by Garvey’s 48.9% - about 800 votes) stated during public comment Barrett has been paid over $350,000. Garvey went onto mention a prior Picon Press Media article on July 30, 2022, about Barrett and Lawson’s friendship. Garvey took the time to remind Councilmembers Dahir, Anderson, and Abbott they are facing reelection. Her comments didn’t seem to phase the trio because Lawson’s boys, Don, Paul, and Kris seemed happy to renew Barrett and Scott Bensing’s contract (SB Strategic Consulting) with no questions asked, unlike Bybee.

Picon finds it curious that City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve indicated in an interview with RGJ Mark Robison that the firm the City of Reno retained to investigate Councilmember Jenny Brekhus was someone from out of the area, but in fact that seems to be a bit of a mistruth. Schieve commented to Robison in the November 7, 2023, article, “It was decided to hire a Reno litigation attorney Brian Irvine of Dickinson Wright to find an investigator who was “very, very removed from the political environment here.” Schieve added the person was picked from out of state.

Little Jack sat in the corner, eating his Christmas pie. He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum and said, “What a good boy am I.”

We thought of this nursery rhyme the minute we read ‘no longer at large’ Councilmember Devon Reese’s greedy plea for more campaign funds, because now he has an opponent, he will need to buy signs. Someone would dare to run against Reese! Who would have thunk it?

Picon realizes we are the Cinderella of Media in Washoe County. We get to sleep in the cinders while Mark Robison at the Reno Gazette Journal goes to the ball and hangs out with all the lords and ladies. He’s the pal of the Washoe County Government communications team. While we submit public record requests and wait weeks for results, Robison only needs to send an email and pretty much receives immediate results.

We asked ourselves shouldn’t homeless women and children come first. Would they not be considered the most vulnerable of the homeless population. There was $500 million available due to former Governor Steve Sisolak’s Home Means Nevada affordable housing initiative so shouldn’t all hands have been on deck at Washoe County to get housing built at Our Place? Why give the Cares Campus top priority, a no-barrier shelter in lieu of a low-barrier shelter. It is clear at Washoe County there was the ‘Care Campus team’ and the ‘Human Services Agency team’ and Howell was on the HSA team all alone. These two teams did not meet in the middle, in fact they were afraid of losing funding if they overpitched. The two teams did not align in their approach. This disconnect raises concerns about the coordination and communication within the county’s efforts to address the housing needs of the homeless community.

Picon was having a difficult time understanding these folks’ frustrations, so we decided to ask for some public records. It took a while to gain access, but we only needed to receive one email and it basically explained EVERYTHING. Remember when you were young and forced to sit at the ‘kids table’ during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter – all you wanted to do was move to the adult’s table. It is the same with the residents who are speaking at the commission meetings about the library, they want to communicate with the library trustees and not with the Library Director Jeff Scott.

At the recent Washoe County Board of County Commissioner meeting, December 12, 2023, the annual review of County Manager Eric Brown was a topic of discussion. It is worth noting that Manager Brown’s compensation is slightly below that of Las Vegas County Manager Kevin Schiller, who was previously a Washoe County Assistant County Manager.

Considering that Las Vegas is the 11th largest city in the United States, there should be scrutiny regarding the slim difference between Manager Brown's compensation and that of the Las Vegas County Manager. This highlights the disparity in income between officials in different regions of Nevada. Considering the significant difference in population size and economic activity between Washoe County and Las Vegas, the closeness in compensation seems questionable.

After reading our Giddyup, Commissioner Clara Andriola article, one of our readers sent us five public records she had received after asking for the code violations based on a comment made by Commissioner Mike Clark.

We have been watching and listening to statements made by ‘Appointed’ Washoe County Commissioner Clara Andriola and are a bit perplexed, does she support hobby livestock businesses, because what does ‘the potential exploration of change’ mean. To us, Andriola is again trying to make it appear she is doing something for someone in Washoe County.

A surprising camaraderie between Denton and White.

Denton, supposedly paid through the Karma Box Project to manage the Safe Camp, allegedly rejects the 'no-barriers approach' for the Cares Campus.

White urges the reporter to confront Denton, dropping White's name in the process.

Delving into the financials, on October 13, 2020, Denton, operating through the Karma Box Project, inked a substantial $152,169.60 Professional Services Agreement with Washoe County. This agreement, pertaining to the River Clean Up and Homeless Encampment Data Project, is a testament to Denton's significant involvement in county initiatives.

Picon has been investigating courthouse cleaning for the past six months. We had several people reach out to us who work at the Washoe County District Courthouses, 75 S. Sierra and 201 S. Virginia Street informing us the third-party vendor for cleaning services the county has retained just wasn’t cleaning the courthouses.