Welcome to the latest episode of "Who Really Cares About Seniors?" starring our very own Washoe County Commission.

In this corner: Commissioner Mike Clark, actual admitted senior citizen and long-time champion of senior issues. In that corner: Commissioner Clara "Photo Op" Andriola, suddenly discovering seniors exist. Behind the curtain: Chair Alexis Hill, puppet master, and motivated to make sure Mike Clark is not reelected in 2026.

On February 3, 2025, Commission Chair Alexis Hill and County Manager Eric Brown made quite the presentation at the Nevada Legislature, claiming they've reduced homelessness in Washoe County by 40%.

Let's Talk About Déjà Vu:

• Haven't we heard this magical 40% number before? or was it 50% back in 2023?

• Wasn't it proven false last time?

• Where's the data to back up this recycled claim?

Remember when Alexis Hill swore up and down during her 2024 campaign that she wouldn't raise taxes? That promise had a shorter shelf life than milk left in the sun.

Hill spent three years, 2022, 2023, and 2024, playing political dodgeball with fire regionalization, we now know why - she was waiting until after reelection to drop the tax bomb. State Senator Skip Daly's email spells it out: your wallet is about to get lighter.

While Chair Alexis Hill celebrates her "exciting" homeless programs and County Manager Eric Brown gives presentations, people have died on Washoe County streets. This isn't hyperbole - it's the brutal reality our community faces.

These aren't just statistics. These are human beings - someone's parent, child, sibling, friend - perishing in the shadows of our city while county leadership pats itself on the back for programs that clearly aren't reaching everyone in need, and claims to have reduced homelessness in Washoe County by 40%.

So Washoe County keeps telling us Commission Chair Alexis Hill and County Manager Eric Brown have homelessness under control. Hill just told the Nevada Legislature’s Senate Committee on Government Affairs yesterday, February 3, 2025, that Washoe County has reduced homelessness by 40%.

Really? Let's do a reality check:

✦ The Nevada Cares Campus is bursting at the seams

✦ Tent cities are popping up faster than new coffee shops

✦ It took community activist Lily Baran to step up and open warming centers because... where was the county?

Once again, Washoe County is playing fast and loose with taxpayer dollars, serving up a masterclass in how NOT to manage public funds. Let's break down the latest installment of "Who Benefits?"

Exhibit A: The Seven Magic Mountains Boondoggle Remember those rocks that Commission Chair Alexis Hill decided must be relocated Northern Nevada via the Nevada Museum of Art? A cool $500,000 of taxpayer money, and what do we get?

At the January 21, 2025, Washoe County Board of Commissioners meeting, Commissioner Mike Clark highlighted a striking contrast: the county hired over 300 new employees in 2024 while simultaneously facing what Our Town Reno reports as a $27 million budget deficit in 2026.

When contacted for comment, Clark offered to provide documentation from Washoe County explaining the rationale behind these hires. The county's defensive stance raises questions, particularly given County Manager Eric Brown's October 2024 warnings about reduced funding for the 2026 budget due to stagnant or declining tax revenues.

Could someone please point out to Washoe County Human Resources Staff that we are all able to count here in Washoe County. All you need to do is look at a “cal·en·dar” and you can see seniors were served cold meals for 14 days.

While watching the presentation yesterday by the Human Services team at the Washoe County Commissioner Strategic Planning meeting. Commissioner Mike Clark asked about the COLD MEALS seniors had been served for days, well actually 14 days. Adult and Senior Services, quickly answered 11. Really, 11?

In a performance worthy of a magician trying to make numbers disappear, Washoe County officials attempted to transform 14 days of cold meals into 11 through the magic of bureaucratic math. Spoiler alert: The seniors who endured two weeks of frigid fare aren't fooled.

At Washoe County’s Strategic Planning meeting yesterday, the performance of "How to Forget Your Campaign Promises," Commissioner Alexis Hill masterfully demonstrated the art of political pivoting. Remember that earnest candidate who swore to District 1 voters she wouldn't be "the commissioner" to raise taxes? Plot twist: She's auditioning for exactly that role.

You’ve been duped Distrcit 1 residents.

Hill, fumbling through alphabet soup (SGST? GST? Let's call it the "I-Promise-I-Won't-But-I-Will Tax"), seemed to be channeling the ghost of former Commissioner Bob Lucey's tax dreams. The only difference? She might actually have the votes to make it happen.

Well, well, well... What do we have here? A masterclass in creative interpretation of voter will, starring the Washoe County Library saga. After voters rejected the $4.5 million library funding measure, some folks are playing a fascinating game of bureaucratic Twister.

In the thrilling saga of "How to Avoid Accountability While Running a Homeless Shelter," starring Commission Chair Alexis Hill, we bring you the latest episode of "Why Have Meetings When You Can Just Tell The Wall Street Journal Everything's Fine?"

Picture this: Commissioner Mike Clark, apparently under the wild impression that advisory boards should actually ... advise, keeps requesting to schedule a CHAB meeting. The audacity! Doesn't he know the last meeting in May 2024 was practically yesterday? (If by "yesterday" you mean seven months ago, and before that, September 2023 - but who's counting?)

Nothing says "Season's Greetings" quite like Washoe County's culinary insult to seniors on December 20, 2024: a solitary dry biscuit, minuscule country gravy, accompanied by two strips of bacon and some canned fruit – a meal that would make Tiny Tim look spoiled.

The architect of this nutritional nightmare? TRIO Community Meals, now proudly serving disappointment county-wide thanks to a crack procurement team that managed to attract exactly one bid – TRIO’s. How convenient. While Commissioner Mike Clark – the only commissioner who actually eats these meals – voted no, the cheerleading squad of Andriola, Hill, and Garcia, happily rubber-stamped this culinary catastrophe.

As Eric Brown's annual review is tomorrow, Washoe County has conveniently "revised" its evaluation criteria – presumably to mask another year of mismanagement behind a façade of independence. The only thing more remarkable than Brown's list of failures is the chorus of commissioners rushing to applaud them.

Not only did Eric Crump, Washoe County’s Director Community Services go on the record at the South Truckee Meadows/Washoe Valley Citizen Advisory Board meeting last Thursday, December 5, 2024 that there is no stadium being planned in South Reno, but Washoe County Manager Eric Brown chimed in at the Washoe County Board of County Commissioner meeting yesterday, December 10th stating “no stadium.”

While Washoe County Human Services staff swears the senior meals are "pretty good" (presumably between bites of their county food truck scheduled lunches), Commissioner Mike Clark has spent 18 months fighting an uphill battle for basic dignity in senior nutrition. But why let quality food get in the way of bureaucratic convenience?

In a masterclass of transparency, the county refuses to show even their own commissioner the competing bids for contract #3255-24. Apparently, elected officials don't have the security clearance to see what county employees are reviewing. Makes perfect sense – if you're writing a satire about government dysfunction.

Citizen Advisory Boards, we’ve been to about fifty CAB meetings over the years, and often they must be a “pain in the patootie” for county staff, we get it. However, CABs are a more relaxed atmosphere for Washoe County residents to be heard, air their grievances or support of projects and plans being pushed by Washoe County, a forum to meet their neighbors, get to know county staff, and meet their commissioner.  CABs are a good thing for the county to support and ensure they thrive. That should be the marching orders staff is given, “make CABs thrive.”  

AKA: Washoe County Standard Operating Shenanigans

In the midst of what should have been a period of calm and efficiency, Washoe County finds itself embroiled in a whirlwind of controversy and intrigue. The recent episodes involving key personnel such as Interim Registrar of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess and County Manager Eric Brown have sent shockwaves through the community, raising questions about transparency, accountability, and the true dynamics at play within the county's administrative circles.

Looks like a few employees at the county have gotten too comfortable in their ivory tower, forgetting their taxpayer-funded throne isn't actually bulletproof. Nothing is quite like watching a public servant who's confused 'serving the public' with 'sovereign rule over the peasants.'

We always enjoy Shaun Mullen’s Nextdoor posts, and yesterdays was just a wonderous thing.

Picture this: It's 2018, and Maureen McKissick is spilling tea so scalding it could melt the Sierra snow cap. Fast forward to today, and Alex Woodley's alleged sexting scandal has us all feeling like we're trapped in a bad remake of "50 Shades of Government Gray."