Biting the Hand That Feeds
Dinner with the Mayor, Ed Lawson, and Chris Barrett, while under contract with the city to lobby for the lands bill.
Picon has submitted a flurry of public records spanning Sparks and Washoe County in an effort to better understand why the City of Sparks is so concerned with a pending Federal Lands Bill and why Chris Barrett, of Barrett Resources, appears to have, “bit the hand that fed him.”
Barrett Resources has been engaged with the City of Sparks since 2019. Its founder, Chris Barrett, apparently fondly known as, “Jiminy Cricket,” by some elected officials, was hired by the City of Sparks to represent the City’s interests in a pending lands bill, known as the, “Truckee Meadows Public Land Management Act,” which could limit the sprawl of the City of Sparks; according to Sparks, Barrett Resources specializes in community outreach programs related to government projects. Part of the Lands Bill could create a connector road between Spanish Springs and I-80 near USA Parkway. The logical route would have the connector coming into Sparks somewhere near the top of La Posada Drive in Spanish Springs.
Apparently, the City pays Barrett to lobby law makers in State and Federal legislative matters, for the benefit of the City. The most recent engagement we are aware of occurred in 2021 wherein City Manager Neil Krutz asked the council to approve an extension of prior agreements in the amount of $67,500.00. Barrett’s contract ended in June 2022. In addition to this extended payment, prior City actions include $90,000.00 paid to Barrett Resources to, “augment a professional services agreement,” with Barrett in 2019. We are told at one time Barrett was being paid a retainer of $7500.00 per month.
Picon has requested emails and correspondence to support what we have been told, which includes a big push from Mayor Ed Lawson and City Manager Krutz to ensure Sparks is not relegated to skyward development only. Much like any government, Sparks seeks to expand its power and influence and we will soon know what the trade off was to make that happen.
We do know that in August 2021, Barrett Resources penned a letter to the City, short on deliverables and high on hopes, asking for an additional 9 months to, “provide the opportunity to strengthen our efforts.” The letter also assured that, “the monthly fee and scope of work will continue as outlined in the initial agreement of April 26, 2019.” Picon is eager to see the details of this initial retainer and whether the city followed any policy requirements for a Request for Proposal (RFP) as many agencies require.
What we do know, Barrett Resources offered to help the City in community outreach, wherein Barrett would meet with affected property owners along the route, as well as with elected officials in Washoe, Reno, and Sparks. Isn’t that why we have elected council members and a mayor? The goal of Barrett’s outreach would be to garner majority support for the connector to help sell the project to the state and federal purse holders. Picon is a bit baffled, since the area east of La Posada Drive is undeveloped and vacant, with many large parcels privately owned patch-worked among large swaths of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) holdings. This isn’t like they want to build a highway through Wingfield Springs, so why all the lobbying?
Additionally, shortly after engaging Barrett, Covid-19 was the focus and little occurred in the United States Congress related to this matter. Between stimulus, CARES, and war in Ukraine, we are not sure where this bill stands. We are also interested to see any deliverables from Barrett Resources and to understand why the city is no longer under any agreement with him.
Marijuana and Two Masters
Fast forward to June of 2022, when we know Barrett’s extension for lobbying the lands bill was winding down and with no known deliverables, apparently it was time for a new revenue stream. Among Barrett’s clients are marijuana companies, specifically Sonny Newman and Silver State Relief. Silver State Relief operates a dispensary in Sparks, in a building that was specifically built according to strict specifications when marijuana first became legalized in Nevada; they hold the first license ever issued in the City of Sparks. On June 03, 2022, Sonny Newman, represented by Mark Simons at Simons, Hall and Johnston PC, filed suit against the City for approving of the permitting for Reef, a competing dispensary, to move in next door.
The highlighted parcel is owned by Sonny Newman and houses his Silver State Relief. To the left would be the proposed Reef site.
Reef, owned by Tryke Companies LLC, petitioned the City to relocate their dispensary from 175 East Glendale to a new facility located at 1530 South Stanford Way. This new location is in the same “center” as Silver State Relief, with their entrances about 160 feet apart from each other. Silver State owns their parcel and has since 2014, while the parcel Reef seeks to occupy is owned by a corporation out of California. For perspective, the proposed Reef location is in the same building as a Capriotti’s sandwich shop. What the lawsuit does not mention is that Silver State is adding a “drive thru” window for marijuana pick-up, something Reef would not have.
The City has since relaxed the standards for marijuana establishments, partially due to more oversight from the State of Nevada. In fact, the Sparks Chief of Police declined to inspect the proposed facility because those regulations were, “preempted by the state,” according to Exhibit 9 from the lawsuit. The Chief also cited AB 533 from 2019, which created the Cannabis Compliance Board (CCB), something not available when Silver State was erected. Essentially, the city is arguing that the CCB has taken the place of local inspections because of State Preemption precedent.
On July 21, 2022, none other than Chris Barrett was present at the Sparks Planning Commission meeting, on behalf of and representing Sonny Newman and his Silver State Relief marijuana business. The month prior, Mr. Barrett was on the books with the City of Sparks, lobbying for what is reported to be the most important pending issue for the City. He is having dinner with the Mayor and presumably has direct access to the City Manager, privy to all sorts of information and access. The very next month he is representing a marijuana dispensary that is now suing the City of Sparks. Furthermore, Barrett himself referred to being associated with Silver State Relief as far back as 2015. Were Neil Krutz and Ed Lawson aware, when they engaged Barrett to lobby for the land bill, that he was a lobbyist for Silver State Relief, and that he could easily be placed into a situation where he could be serving two masters? And for his part, was Mr. Barrett biting the hand had fed him the previous 3 years? There appears to be a serious conflict of interest. Picon will be following up with more information as the city responds to our requests.
CV22-00886-10529709 by Picon Press Media LLC on Scribd