When did selecting a Registrar of Voters become a classified operation?

County Manager Eric Brown has turned what should be a transparent process into a closed-door affair, complete with non-disclosure agreements. Let that sink in: A committee filled with county employees selecting someone to oversee our elections are being sworn to secrecy.

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.

Remember all those Board of County Commissioner meetings where we were told no staff time was being used for Drag Story Hour? Well, a 2023 public record from the Washoe County Library just blew that story wide open.

The Smoking Gun: Library Executive Director Jeff Scott's public records show "Comp time/staff reassignments" for these events. Let's be clear - comp time is still staff time, and staff time is still paid for by taxpayer dollars.

Commissioner Mike Clark forwarded us a Daily Media Report from January 30, 2025, regarding the restoration of hot meals to local seniors, and we found something concerning. While the news itself was positive - seniors finally receiving warm meals after a 14-day interruption due to unexplained "permitting issues" with the temporary kitchen - we noticed a glaring omission.

Despite Picon's extensive coverage of this situation, including detailed reporting on seniors receiving cold sandwiches and later cold salads, our outlet was conspicuously absent from the Daily Media Report. This exclusion comes despite our constant coverage compared to mentioned outlets like RGJ, Channel 8, Channel 4, 2 News, and Fox 11.

In 2012, Washoe County witnessed the consolidation of the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District and Reno Fire Department, fall apart.

For years, political candidates campaigned fervently for regionalization, emphasizing the potential cost savings that could be realized through consolidating not just fire departments but also law enforcement, parks and recreation, and even the formation of a unified regional government.

Fast forward to February 6, 2025, where the City of Reno, City of Sparks, and Washoe County are once again embarking on the journey towards regionalization, specifically focusing on improving fire services. Interestingly, while the City of Sparks has demonstrated transparency by openly listing the meeting on their website, the City of Reno and Washoe County remain notably silent on the matter.

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.

In a masterclass of municipal mismanagement, Washoe County has transformed public service into a cynical shell game, with mental health patients and seniors as unwitting pawns.

Enter the “$32,000-Man” County Manager Eric Brown, maestro of magical thinking, preparing to perform his annual strategic planning workshop on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - a thinly veiled fundraising plea disguised as governmental transparency.

In a display of bureaucratic bungling that would be comedic if it weren't affecting vulnerable seniors, Washoe County has managed to turn a planned renovation of the 9th Street Senior Center into a case study in administrative incompetence.

Despite months to prepare for the center's remodeling, the county's solution for its seniors? Cold sandwiches and subpar salads for ten days and counting. When caught serving cold meals, officials attempted to quietly slip these changes into TRIO's monthly meal calendar, hoping no one would notice. But the seniors noticed - and they spoke up.

You've got two types of seniors at these meal sites. First, there's the social seniors who come to chat, play cards, and enjoy some company (bless their hearts). Then there's the folks who genuinely need these meals to, you know, survive. But don't worry - the county's got it all figured out with their totally unbiased survey!

How unbiased, you ask? Well, they strategically cornered the dependent seniors in the food line for glowing reviews in 2023. Funny how they "ran out" of surveys for everyone else... until they spotted a press badge, then suddenly surveys materialized faster than you can say "damage control.”

Washoe County has effectively silenced homeless residents at the Nevada CARES Campus by minimizing Community Homelessness Advisory Board (CHAB) meetings since September 2023. This started after Teresa Bacon, a resident, publicly criticized the County and Commissioner Alexis Hill about conditions at the campus. Rather than address Bacon's concerns, the County launched a counter-campaign against her.

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.

In a display equal to the City of Reno’s political theater, Washoe County has conveniently buried an agenda item until 2025 – just in time for County Manager Eric Brown's annual review. How convenient that pesky resident complaints won't mar today's coronation ceremony.

The timing is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Item 20, which promised to be ripe for public criticism, mysteriously vanished from the agenda following Brown's eleventh-hour email. Commissioner Mike Clark confirmed the postponement, citing the ever-reliable "staff suggestions" – a transparent excuse that fools precisely no one.

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.

We watched Commission Chair Alexis Hill master the art of agenda gymnastics! At Tuesday's - December 10, 2024 - meeting, she pirouetted through items faster than a politician dodging questions, strategically punting decisions until her reliable voting buddy Commissioner Garcia returns from absence. Talk about choreography – with what would be a 2-2 split, Hill and her mini-me Andriola against Clark and Herman, Hill wasn't about to risk the agenda tie votes to have to have repeat performances.

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.”

Are the widely publicized "budget cuts" at the Washoe County Library System as severe as portrayed? Executive Director Jeff Scott's warnings about losing 22 staff members, cutting hours, and other dire consequences deserve closer scrutiny. Are his comments factual? We don’t know.

Despite knowing the $4.5 million in funding was at risk, there's been no transparent sharing of budget analyses or alternative scenarios from Executive Director Scott. While Scott controls the system's messaging and media narrative, taxpayers and library patrons remain in the dark about actual financial planning.

Tuesday, November 19, 2024, during the Washoe County Board of County Commission meeting we were struck by the number of public commentators regarding the loss of the Washoe County Library WC-1 Ballot Measure.

It is interesting to note the group behind the library petition is not even taking a break to draw breath to learn what cuts in staffing or services will be necessary if the library loses the $4.5 million funding afforded them prior to the ballot measure failure. The library just needs the money, but this is based on what Library Director Jeff Scott is saying.

"Oh, the drama at yesterday's County Commission meeting. Commissioner Hill, who likened Mike Clark's election to letting an 'arsonist in the building,' seems to have forgotten a crucial detail: those pesky voters put him there, just like her.

When Clark excused himself after consulting with Assistant District Attorney Nathan Edwards regarding the vote canvass (and stopped for a friendly chat with constituents on his way out), Hill couldn't resist adding her own theatrical spin to the minutes. She insisted on recording that Clark had 'inappropriately tried to recuse himself and then stormed off' - a curious characterization for someone who left after proper consultation and cordial goodbyes.

Thanks to our community's enthusiastic response, Picon's inbox has been overflowing with inquiries about local nonprofits since spring. While election season kept us running at full speed, the closing of the polls finally gives us the breathing room to dive into all the valuable information you've shared. We're now ready to give your submissions the attention they deserve.

Some elected officials have dubbed us 'lazy journalists' as we’ve been covering their activities since we’ve been willing to include other media’s coverage. Well, let's embrace that reputation - we're actively seeking nonprofit whistleblowers to help us be even more 'lazy' by sharing your inside knowledge. Based on the flood of tips we've already received; we know you're out there. Consider this your invitation to help us dig deeper into stories that need telling. After all, the best investigative journalism is a team sport."

For Commissioner Alexis Hill it is all about getting reelected and she really doesn’t care what she has to say, or do. Hill will spin the facts, she’ll cut people out, because her only mission is to get reelected.

Last year, Hill and Washoe County spun the fact that they had cut homelessness by 50%. Oops that was wrong, but that admission came out from Washoe County only after Commissioner Hill had been interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and gotten a whole lot of national attention. Later the county propaganda team spun the mistake as being due to bad data from the Point in Time count. The same Point in Time count County Manager Eric Brown now directs only need to be done every two years. Wait, bad data means only doing the count every two years? Come on Chair Hill do something.