After hiring outside consultants to evaluate its County Managers Office leadership dysfunction, Washoe County got exactly what it paid for: a detailed Raftelis report outlining what many residents have known for years—there’s a breakdown in trust, communication, and strategic priorities at the top.

But instead of focusing on the actual substance of the report—like rebuilding credibility or creating a strategy that doesn’t resemble a bureaucratic scavenger hunt—Commissioner Mariluz Garcia had a different takeaway: Let’s move commissioner comments to the end of meetings. Because obviously, the real problem here is the order of the agenda, not the disconnect between elected officials and the public they serve.

County Manager Eric Brown's June 30th retirement marks the end of a five-year stint—and the beginning of some uncomfortable questions about how Washoe County hires, and potentially rewards, its top executives.

As the county gears up to hire another pricey headhunter firm to find Brown's replacement, it's worth remembering how well that worked out last time. In 2019, Washoe County paid handsomely for professional recruitment services, only to end up with a candidate pool so thin that former Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler had to personally call her old friend and former boss Eric Brown to convince him to apply.

In the always-entertaining world of Northern Nevada politics, career paths have a funny way of curving in on themselves like a cul-de-sac. Case in point: former Washoe County Registrar of Voters Jamie Rodriguez, who has landed herself a new gig at NVR Government Affairs, the lobbying arm of Nevada REALTORS® — a group that checks notes advocates for private property rights and, well, keeping taxes in check.

Remember back on February 5, 2025 Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill and now retiring County Manager Eric Brown told us they have homelessness under control. Hill told the Nevada Legislature’s Senate Committee on Government Affairs that Washoe County had reduced homelessness by 40%. Now you all remember the media sort of tore that number apart and the propaganda princesses at Washoe County put a new spin on it trying to invent a way to explain the ridiculous claim.

Based on our story yesterday about the homeless barbeque along the river we thought this increased tax wallet grab is a good reminder of all that money residents are spending on the homeless, for what? And now Commissioner Alexis Hill wants more of your hard earned cash.

Washoe County called us out — said we made a mistake. A slip-up. A fumble. Using a comment County Manager Eric Brown made about how long he’s been with the county.

Let’s rewind the tape, shall we?

At the June 10, 2025 County Commission meeting (feel free to listen to it — it's live and unedited), Mr. Brown said he’d been with the county for “about five and a half years six years.” Hmm. Interesting. Because last we checked — and math is still math — he first appeared before the Commission on September 30, 2019, and was officially hired per his contract on November 25, 2019.

As Washoe County Manager Eric Brown prepares to step down on June 30, 2025, a growing chorus of questions is beginning to echo across county hallways—and among local taxpayers. Is this a planned retirement… or a quiet retreat ahead of legal, ethical, and administrative scrutiny?

Brown, who took the reins in November 2019, leaves not just a high-paying position—with an annual salary reportedly over $330,000—but also a storm of controversy in his wake.

In a move that’s raising eyebrows and red flags, Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill is now at the center of an amended complaint/lawsuit that suggests a troubling breach of ethics — one that may have compromised the independence of Washoe County’s elections office during a pivotal election cycle.

If there’s one position more unstable than a Nevada slot machine on dollar night, it’s the Registrar of Voters in Washoe County. And once again, the revolving door is spinning—with lawsuits, cover-ups, whispers, and one very quiet County Manager in the eye of the storm, who just was missing for a month.

Since County Manager Eric Brown took the reins in November 2019, he’s burned through four registrars. Four. At this point, you’d have better luck keeping a cactus alive in a snowstorm than holding down that job under Brown’s management. And what’s the excuse? According to the county, it’s “threats” against election officials.

Chief Judge Lynne Jones has been sounding the alarm about radon levels in Washoe County's historic courthouse—you know, that building failing radon tests and creating an unhealthy workspace for the people who serve our community daily. Yet County Manager Eric Brown and his crack team of direct reports continue treating her concerns with all the urgency of a golf tee time.

As Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Kandaras enjoyed her retirement sendoff of cookies and flowers from Commissioner Clara Andriola at Tuesday's Washoe County Commission meeting, one question hung in the air like stale bureaucratic smoke: Will her departure make accessing public records easier, or are we about to discover based on an old saying, that the devil we knew was preferable to the devil we don't?

In a perfect example of government logic, Washoe County has decided to replace RISE - Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality, as the operator of Our Place—the facility serving homeless women and children—despite RISE doing a competent job since the facility opened.

Why the change? That's where things get interesting.

Washoe County's Curious Financial Priorities

In a dazzling display of fiscal cognitive dissonance, Washoe County is preparing to honor its Chief Financial Officer Abbe Yacoben at the annual Nevada Women's Fund Women of Achievement Gala this May. The same Washoe County that is currently navigating a $27 million budget shortfall. The same CFO who presumably has access to a calculator.

The Washoe County District Attorney's Office and their Public Information Officer are certainly vocal when celebrating their wins—like the recent four life sentences handed to a child abuser. Press releases, media alerts, perhaps even a congratulatory social media post or two.

Yet a deafening silence surrounds questions about a more recent tragedy: the April 2025 death of five-year old Izabella Loving whose father now faces charges with the Washoe County District Attorney’s Office is investigating. What's conspicuously missing from the DA's outreach efforts is any transparency regarding Washoe County Human Services Agency's potential involvement with this family. The information we are being sent is shocking but nothing can be verified due to the investigation, but Human Services Agency must be accountable if any of the information we have been sent turns out to be factual.

What better way to celebrate Older Americans Month than by telling seniors at the last minute: “Never mind”?

The much-anticipated reopening of the 9th Street Senior Center — originally scheduled for May 1st as a kickoff for Older Americans Month — has been delayed. No explanation. No apology. Just silence from Washoe County. Because who needs clarity when you’ve got chaos?

In a rare display of unified resistance, Washoe County's independently elected officials have issued a pointed letter to the Board of County Commissioners expressing serious concerns about proposed budget reductions. The April 22nd letter—representing the County Clerk, Recorder, Treasurer, Public Administrator, and Assessor—reveals deepening tensions between these constitutional officers and County Manager Eric Brown's administration.

Is Washoe County playing a shell game with building priorities? Commissioner Mike Clark's persistent quest for radon test results at the Washoe County Courthouse raises some interesting questions about project sequencing.

Clark has reportedly been trying for months to obtain radon testing data from 2017/2018, along with results from tests supposedly conducted in February 2025. His struggle to access this basic public safety information is curious, to say the least.

Is County Manager Eric Brown and his handpicked, by secret employee committee, Registrar of Voters awaiting the results of the Nevada Secretary of State and Attorney General multistate lawsuit against Trump Administration executive overreach in elections, before they take any action on Trumps executive orders?

Last week County Manager Eric Brown took a vacation and left one of his Assistant County Managers in charge - seems like lack of transparency has a trickle down effect at Washoe County.

In what has become Washoe County's standard operating procedure, deflect, deny, hide the facts, officials sat on news of a deputy public defender's Las Vegas arrest for four days—miraculously finding their voices only when the Las Vegas Review-Journal prepared to publish the story. Apparently, the county's definition of "public information" is "whatever we can no longer hide."

Is the sudden discovery of library funding a genuine miracle or convenient timing? After five months of dire warnings about reduced hours, staff cuts, and service reductions due to tax reallocation, the library system has mysteriously found sufficient funds to maintain operations—just days before trustees might show the Library Director the door for performance issues.

Washoe County offers some of their hiring practices in writing after persistent questioning. But they've left the most critical question unanswered: Who selects the screening committees?

This isn't just bureaucratic nitpicking - it's the foundation of the entire hiring process.