“Vague” difficulties in Sparks

Back in December 2022, Picon trailblazed with a story about Neil Krutz and almost fire-chief Mark Lawson. It now seems there is a new controversy surrounding the resignation or firing of Fire Chief Mark Lawson by Sparks City Manager Neil Krutz back in December 2022. As our readers recall, Lawson denied resigning and hired a criminal attorney, while the City of Sparks is facing a lawsuit from him from his civil attorney, Jason Guinasso.

Picon has received this public record making it appear City Manager Krutz and Assistant City Manager Alison McCormick have ‘hatched’ a plan on Sunday night for how the Monday, December 4, 2022, meeting would go for Lawson, even down to the verbiage Krutz would use in his now infamous video telling the world Lawson has ‘serious criminal charges’ which at the time had not been filed.

12-05-2022 (17) by Picon Press Media LLC on Scribd

While it appears that Krutz and Assistant City Manager Alison McCormick may have planned out how to handle the situation in advance, Picon still questions how Krutz and McCormick would know any ‘charges’ were pending. Could McCormick have made a call to her former co-workers at the Nevada Attorney General’s office? McCormick did warn Krutz, “be vague since he hasn’t been charged yet.” 

Some Councilmembers have called for Krutz's termination, including Spark’s Councilmember Dian Vanderwell, but he was saved by Mayor Ed Lawson's vote. We now wonder how Councilmembers Paul Anderson and Kristopher Dahir would vote, after they both supported Krutz in May. Fast-forward and both have pulled an opponent in the 2024 race, we’re going to bet one or both will flip their vote to say goodbye to Krutz.

In any case, it's unfortunate that the City of Sparks was put in this position, and it could have been avoided by placing Lawson on administrative leave until the situation was sorted out.