I Never Saw the Package, Until Today
Commissioner Mike Clark reached out to us yesterday afternoon after having been called out by City of Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve for being in the audience of the Reno City Council meeting.
Clark called us asking if we would be interested in an email that was sent to him by County Manager Eric Brown regarding Bash Capital LLC’s proposal to buy the Reno Community Assistance Center (CAC) and one of the reasons why he attended yesterday’s council meeting.
Clark commented to us, “I’m not a guy who watches on YouTube. I like to attend meetings, meet the people speaking during public comment and get an overall feel for what is going on. Which is why I showed up yesterday. In fact, I went twice, once in the morning when I missed Mayor Schieve, she wasn’t on the dais, and then later in the afternoon when she was and took the time to mention me.”
On Monday, April 8, 2024, County Manger Eric Brown forwarded an email to the commissioners that was sent to him by Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas, who received an email from Brianna Bullentini along with Commissioner Alexis Hill asking for public comment to be given at the Reno meeting and also, “Feel free to send along to anyone you think should be there to show support of A) Not reopening the shelter and B) Wanting to see housing go there.”
Clark said, “I was already interested in this project, but once County Manager Brown forwarded this email I knew I’d need to clear time on my schedule and attend the meeting. Now I’m going to find out what this property is worth after all the discussions.”
After talking about Clark’s work on 4th Street with business owners impacted due to the Washoe County Cares Campus, he said, “I just wanted the City of Reno to know I’m not sticking my beak into their business. They should contact Manager Brown and ask him why he forwarded the email to the commissioners if they didn’t want us to pay attention.”
Picon was surprised during the meeting when Mayor Hillary Schieve, at about 7:31 hours into the meeting, said, “I never saw the proposal until today.” This surprised us. We understand Bash Capital LLC had a meeting with everyone who is anyone about this project, so how did they miss the mayor. Also, was the proposal not part of the city council’s package?