The City of Sparks Quiet Poison
In an odd twist, Picon Press found some common ground with Sparks Mayor Ed Lawson. Last month, Mayor Ed found himself ranting on his personal Facebook page. He was lamenting about how citizens are demanding transparency, claiming that public records requests are somehow a weapon against elected officials. Not dissimilar to his next door Mayor who found a tracker on her car, they both seem to despise transparency and think that special interests aren’t their donor class, but instead are those who dare to question what they do. Ed claimed that a mere 5% of Sparks voters could name their elected representatives, we disagree there. Instead, we wholly agree that only 5% of any given community can name their city or county manager. That is, unless you are in Sparks, Nevada. The Sparks City manager is known far and wide, for a series of self-inflicted wounds that are costing the tax-payers bigtime.
Mr. Mayor, Neil Krutz is the talk of the town, and not for glowing reasons. In fact, we would venture to guess closer to 95% of Sparks knows Neil because of a series of boondoggles that have left the city on the verge of a financial crisis and trail of poor personnel decisions that has broken down what was once a well-run city. Let us re-cap some City of Sparks lowlights:
· Two million dollars paid out to the family of a man shot by the Sparks Police.
· A Haz-mat business sharing a building with a school. (See permit image at end of article)
· Allegations that only Mr. Krutz custom home was not required to have fire sprinklers.
· A vote of no confidence from the Fire union.
· Pending litigation with former Fire Chief Mark Lawson.
It sure appears over the years that Mr. Kurtz has all but been a ‘quiet poison’ in Sparks. Picon has reached out to several people who fear for their jobs and hence, will not go on the record, but explained the city manager position was given to Mr. Kurtz, because as the late mayor of Sparks, Ron Smith said, “It’s Neil’s turn.” While Picon doesn’t think that is a recommendation, we understand it because Sparks has a history of hiring from within, for which we applaud them. Every now and then there is that person who should not be promoted, not being a fit for the job. While Neil might be qualified on paper, his interpersonal skills working with city employees seem to be lacking, at least based on the folks we have spoken with.
Why do we refer to Mr. Krutz as quiet poison? Krutz was able to stay under the radar for years, however he was busy racking up a disproportionate dislike by city employees, many of whom left their jobs or remained silent, afraid of retribution. We question the loss of several key employees over the last couple of years in Sparks and one could be left to wonder, was it due to Krutz?
Let’s fast forward to the firing of newly appointed Fire Chief Mark Lawson. This man was bright and shiny, eager to work in the city where he grew up. It was well known and documented that Mr. Lawson was not City Manager Krutz’s first choice, that was Walt White, who now oddly is the Sparks Fire Chief. Mr. White initially turned the job down, and as Picon unearthed, had communications with Krutz on November 27, 2022, advising Krutz he knew he was too late for the job, since Lawson had been named to the position days earlier, but White’s situation had changed, and he was now available.
Picon learned that after Lawson was selected, White asked Lawson to choose him as his second in command. Picon also learned that White, who did not reside in Sparks, attended the 2022 Sparks Hometown Christmas Parade, where he bumped into Lawson and Krutz. The parade was on Saturday, December 03, 2022, and Lawson was fired on Monday, December 05, 2022. An odd coincidence. Despite many asks, we have yet to find a communication that reveals what happened between selfies at the parade and a firing two days later.
How was Krutz tipped off about the open investigation that had been simmering for over a year against Lawson? Although Picon has done extensive investigation and public records requests, we are no closer to proving how Krutz was tipped off or how Sparks verified any of this with the State. Picon would remind our readers that Krutz’s Assistant City Manager, Alyson McCormick, worked for the Attorney General’s office prior to the city of Sparks. In fact, she was an attorney assigned to the Nevada Department of Corrections, the same agency that initiated the case against Lawson and his prison guard co-defendant, Lance Forrester. So many questions. Picon is working on another angle to the Lawson story, one that spins a web of corruption at the prisons and deep questions as to selective prosecutions and cover-ups with other employees.
One question we would love to hear the truth about: how was it that Krutz made a YouTube video on Monday, December 05, 2022, outing Lawson as a serious criminal, and the Attorney General just happened to get their case wrapped up 4 days later and summoned Lawson on four felony counts? Is it possible that Krutz was tipped at the parade and that Ms. McCormick maybe used her connects at the Attorney Generals Office to hurry up and charge him? Not only did Neil expose what had been a secret investigation into drugs being smuggled into the prisons by employees, he sullied an uncharged person with allegations of serious crimes. Sadly, we surely cannot rely on the Attorney General to be transparent, the last batch of records we waited nearly 8 months for and they redacted the names of their employees on emails!
Additionally, the Nevada Department of Corrections, in concert with the Attorney General, do not charge cases regularly. Detectives from Reno, Sparks and Washoe County are weekly arresting folks on charges and using the local courts. The prison and the attorney general, not so much. Their cases take time and with time, usually comes accuracy and completeness. You would think, that after more than a year of investigation and information gathering, they would list the correct offenses? Instead, they used improper codes when they summoned him and had to resubmit paperwork. This is tantamount to an accountant doing a yearlong audit, and then screwing up and using the wrong account numbers when submitting the final product. It simply stinks, and it appears there is little doubt the state was rushed by Neils debacle, and the city knew they had exposure and needed to make sure Lawson was arrested.
Picon wonders, had the city not relied on some good-old boy network of headhunters, and done a proper background prior to job-offering Lawson, would they have learned about the pending investigation? Picon also must wonder, had Lawson not been hired by the city, would he has ever been arrested? In a turn of events that stunned the city, Lawson prevailed on parts of his lawsuit regarding his termination. Now, Neil Krutz may be forced to open his personal checkbook, if found to have portrayed Lawson in a false light. Picon will be following this developing story.
On May 8, 2023, Councilwoman Dian Vanderwell asked to have Krutz future with the city put on the Sparks City Council’s agenda. We will save you the details of the meeting, but the vote was Vanderwell, Bybee and Abbot to axe Krutz. Dahir and Anderson voted to keep Krutz. Per the Sparks City Charter, Mayor Ed Lawson was the swing vote for Krutz, voting to keep him, with Lawson stating, “everybody has a bad year.” In hindsight, Krutz seemed confident and unmoved by the action, begging the question: was Neil informed how the vote would shake out ahead of time?
What Picon found strange was the comment from Councilman Paul Anderson who claimed, on the record, that Congressman Mark Amodei, Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto and Senator Jacky Rosen had all complimented what a great job Neil Krutz was doing on the Washoe County Lands Bill. Anderson used this as a defense to keep Neil, citing these political power players support for Neil.
Alright, Picon will bite – show us the senator’s and congressman’s comments Paul. Oh, wait there are none. Picon hired our investigator to reach out to City Councilman Paul Anderson. He told the investigator he had heard it at a luncheon from a local businessman who he did not name. Anderson certainly gave Krutz a glowing tribute, claiming a congressman and two senators complimented Krutz, yet there is no documentation. Could Anderson have been asked to make the comment by Mayor Lawson, remembering the Lands Bill is his baby?
We also wondered why a congressman and two senators would comment on Krutz prowess guiding the lands bill when the City of Sparks hired Mayor Lawson’s former campaign manager, Scott Besing and another pal of the mayors, Chris Barrett. Are they not the white knights leading the charge for the lands bill? In fact, via public records, it would seem Krutz has exchanged an email and one phone call with Senator Rosen’s office. Why would Anderson, who knows he has more than one opponent for his council seat in 2024, make a statement he can’t back up? And to save the controversial Kurtz. We can’t wait to see Mr. Anderson’s contributors in 2024 because what do you want to bet, they match Lawson’s campaign from 2022.
Picon also reached out to the senators and congressman. Only Senator Cortez-Masto’s office responded, reversing what Mr. Anderson claimed, stating, “Senator Cortez Masto has not weighed in on this matter,” referring to Mr. Krutz and his job performance before the council.
From the Senators Office when asked if she weighed in on Neils possible termination with the city.
What else has Councilman Anderson embellished while on the dais? We will be closely watching Anderson and when he makes a statement on the dais, we will be asking for public records to learn if he has documentation to back up his comments. Picon wonders if it is time for Sparks residents to elect some new blood to the council, people who haven’t pricked their fingers and sworn blood oaths to developers and lobbyists.
As a vote to keep Krutz, Picon asked Councilman Dahir if the revelations about Andersons claims of support for Krutz changed his mind. Dahir said that it did not in a short response. We must applaud Mr. Dahir for responding, since Mayor Lawson seemed to have gagged the council from speaking with Picon. Don’t lose one bit of sleep Mr. Mayor, we have sources all over and the latest mess with Neil just increased our source base. Angry employees and constituents are knocking down our door.
Here is the Mayors text to the council following the vote on Neil. Picon wonders, given Ed Lawson’s long history in the area, even being involved in the Humboldt Hunt Club, he would know that it is spelled ‘Picon’. Pecans are not a Nevada thing, Mr. Mayor, Picons are.
Picon has additionally asked for communications with Dahir and Anderson on the day of the council meeting and the day after, we found one exchange interesting. Senior Advocate Andrea Pelto, we applaud you. Ms. Pelto was a long-time City of Sparks employee, and she explained that, “…during my 29 year tenure at the City that Mr. Krutz has been one, if not the most, disliked City employees.” Her email is attached, we encourage our readers to check it out.
As depicted, Alpine Academy shares a building with a special use permitted HAZMAT business.