This apple appears to be rotten, to the core: Berkbigler
Edited on 06/13/2022 at 4:08 p.m. to reflect Washoe County’s response.
Maybe Bob Lucey learned from Marsha Berkbigler, or maybe corruption runs in the bloodstream of some elected officials. Either way, we know from public records that Marsha Berkbigler was very involved in personnel matters involving her daughter. 99% of all county employees apply and go through a rigorous process to be hired for a job. County jobs are sought after, in part because of the salary and more importantly the benefits and retirement. A very few appointed positions exist in departments, reserved usually for at-will bosses. Apparently if your last name is Berkbigler, you speak directly with the Human Resources Director and you bump deserving employees from positions they earned because of who you are.
Sometime, prior to 2017, Alcia Berkbigler was employed by Washoe County. Despite several attempts, the county refuses to provide the public record of her initial appointment and what positions she has held at the county. We know from cobbling together email records, that she held positions at the Public Guardian and Social Services, before Sheriff Balaam cancelled a promotional exam already underway and bumped a long-term Sheriff civilian employee from the job she applied for, to slide Alicia Berkbigler into the advertised position. This entire fiasco wreaks of corruption, nepotism and buying favor with the commission.
Lets start here, with an email from then Human Resources manager, John Listinsky. On July 28, 2017, Alicia Berkbigler received a notice that she was unqualified for a position of Director of Programs and Projects. She did not meet the minimum requirements. She sent that notice to her mother, the county commissioner. Marsha then saw fit to contact Mr. Listinsky and make some underhanded comments about how unfair the system is, masked with a wink-wink, nod-nod, that claimed she did not want any special treatment. Mr. Listinsky, a well-respected manager, copied the district attorney’s office and the assistant county manager, Christine Vultich. He put the county management on notice that he did not appreciate being threatened by the commissioner and that if they did not handle this, he would file a hostile work environment claim. Instead of doing the right thing, the county ignored his concerns. Eventually, they would cook up a scheme to fire Mr. Listinsky with a claim that he flipped off an employee at a traffic light, away from work and off duty. He was never allowed to know who this alleged person was and no evidence was ever presented that would substantiate this occurred. It appears that Mr. Listinsky was a straight-shooter who refused to play politics and favors.
After this obstacle was gone, it appears the county went to work trying to place Alicia in a position that she thought fit her skill set. On August 01, 2019, a job posting came out for all Sheriff Office employees notifying of the opening at the Training Center. It was open to only Sheriff’s Office employees. On August 06, 2019, Patricia Knight sent an email to Kate Thomas and Amber Howell (Director of Social Services), requesting a meeting the following week to discuss Alicia Berkbigler. Apparently Alicia had come to see Patricia however we do not know why.
On August 13, 2019, a meeting occurred between Kate Thomas, the assistant county manager and apparent personal friend of Alicia Berkbigler, and current Human Resources manager Patricia Knight. The meeting occurred, according to county provided Outlook calendars, at 10:00 a.m. It must be a total coincidence that at 10:35 a.m., while this meeting is still occurring or had just ended, Sheriff Balaam is inquiring from his phone, about available positions and what position Alicia Berkbigler is in currently. What the Sheriff did not know, and it apparently did not matter, was that a long-term Sheriff employee had already applied for this position. This employee was not only a tenured employee, she was hired in the normal and appropriate fashion; open and competitive recruitment!
What we found in public records was a series of emails proving that Alicia Berkbigler was given special treatment and the Director of the Regional Public Safety and Training Center was ordered to call her and see if she wanted the job, after he had posted an open recruitment for qualified personnel, which she was not when the posting occurred! We do not know about you all; we have never been called by a Director and asked if we would like to come to work for them absent an application or interview process.
The special favors did not end there. Sheriff employees are subject to rigorous background checks, for obvious reasons. If you work at the library and want to transfer to the Sheriff’s Office, that transfer is contingent upon completion and passing of a background check. You don’t start the job until you are cleared. Did Alicia Berkbigler go through such a process? No, she did not. Unlike the normal process, she was allowed to start and they would do her background later.
Well, Picon reached out to a former employee who worked at the Training Center and who knew of Alicia. That employee, wishing to remain anonymous, claimed that she bragged about carry knives on her person and that she was a contract employee for the government. We also happen to have her resume and job application, provided by Washoe County, which fails to mention any such prior job. That alone is grounds for dismissal in the background process. In fact, by December 2019, nearly 4 months after the Sheriff plopped her into a sought after job she was unqualified for, her own boss was unaware if she had ever had a background done! Wouldn’t you think fingerprints, to check for a criminal record, would have been done if they did a background check? We think so. Maybe Alicia was too busy helping Kate Thomas organize a party for the newly appointed county manager?
What we do not know is the why. We can certainly surmise by the commission meetings, there was an ask from the Sheriff’s Office for more staffing, upwards of 10 deputies. We know the commission sets the budget and we think having commissioners who owe you favors is a good way to make your budget item request important. Is this why Sheriff Balaam turned away a tenured employee to hire Alicia to the position? Is this why Sheriff Balaam endorsed Bob Lucey and Wendy Leonard? Maybe someone will ask the question, his office is less than responsive to our asks.
Picon did receive an additional response from Washoe County, employment data regarding Alicia’s worked history. The County asserts that she was hired through normal channels, but the email evidence does call that statement into question.