Com·​pen·​sa·​to·​ry

Who else watched the City of Sparks Council meeting on Monday, June 24, 2024? Okay, like almost no one, according to YouTube there we 97 views.

Picon was working on a story regarding Councilmember Kristopher Dahir and found it necessary to listen to the entire meeting so we didn’t miss a mention by him of a Show & Shine event he is promoting - the Nevada Veterans Memorial Plaza Run.

Under 100 of us learned the Vice Mayor of Sparks, and at this particular meeting the Mayor Pro Tem, Donald Abbott, is unable to pronounce, or perhaps even knows what “compensatory” means.

Agenda Item 10.4 was a Sparks Police Protective Association MOU regarding compensatory time, which Assistant City Manager Alyson McCormick pointed out was comp time, for Abbot’s benefit, after he had said he “learns a new word every day.”

Was wonder if it sweet or sad when Sparks City Council Member Charlene Bybee went into “grandmother mode” and whispered, as much as one can with a microphone in front of them, how to pronounce compensatory to Abbott.

Picon writes this because we can’t believe the voters of Ward 1 returned Abbott to office for the next four years, being aware of the fact he is musing a run for mayor if Ed Lawson decides not to run.

Abbott can handle a ribbon cutting of a new Sparks restaurant that he can post on social media. City of Sparks Government employees try to keep the heavy lifting away from him, you know, our example com·​pen·​sa·​to·​ry need to be dumbed down for “The Donald” to “comp-time.”

Should we expect more from our elected officials? Couldn’t Abbott have read through the agenda and asked questions before, like how to pronounce compensatory. Aren’t we paying these people, it’s not like this is a volunteer position, how about doing the work and coming prepared.