“Vomitgate” at Washoe County District Court = AKA Who’s Cleaning Up?

The team at Picon has been delving into the world of courthouse cleaning for the last half-year, and what we’ve uncovered is questionable. Over the past few months, we’ve received numerous reports from individuals employed at the Washoe District Courthouses, located at 75 South Sierra Street and 201 South Virginia Street expressing their dismay over the apparent lack of proper cleaning and maintenance by the third-party vendor hired by Washoe County.

Now we get it with so many remote court hearings via in-person the staff just are not inside the courthouses as much as they were prior to COVID, but come on a contract is still a contract. There are also a few judges who are in the courthouse daily and working a pre-COVID schedule, holding in-person hearings. Everyone enjoys a clean toilet, and we hear the judges were not seeing it, clean toilets that is. The courthouse is supposed to be cleaned five days per week, Monday through Friday and according to staff that just isn’t happening.

An incident in early November 2023 emphasized the critical importance of maintaining a clean and sterilized environment, especially in public spaces such as courtrooms. When a juror became ill, it was discovered that the contractor responsible for cleaning had not completed the task adequately. As a result, the jury was unable to convene as scheduled, leading to disruptions and additional measures to address the situation. The room had not been cleaned, so blowers needed to be deployed to sterilize the area.

There have been multiple complaints sent to the county, we have not been able to gain access to the emails, but we have had enough courthouse staff tell us about them that we know it is true. The Clerk of the Court, Alicia Lerud, hides behind attorney/client privilege regarding anything that happens at the courthouse. Her approach is no information can be released. Our belief, Lerud has lost sight of the fact the judges are elected, and her approach of ‘no information’ might bite many of them when they run for re-election in 2026. As judges are trying to shut down our justice system by allowing more and more remote hearings vs in-person hearings, we will see how that plays out in the ‘court of public opinion’ in the 2024 Supreme Court Justice races and all of the 2026 judicial races.

At the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, District 2 Commissioner Mike Clark brought up “vomitgate” as the courthouse staff refers to the jury incident. Clark also commented on how upset the judges were, which confirms all that Picon has been hearing for the past six months. It surprised us that Washoe County was urging the commissioners to reup the contract with Qual-Econ, LLC. We question the county employee who was urging the commissioners to sign, even bringing up the contract was expiring on November 30, 2023. Why would anyone sign a contract to renew services when the contract is not being fulfilled. Okay, Commission Chair Alexis Hill wanted to sign, but how is that good government? Or guarding taxpayer dollars.

We’ve reached out to a number of our county contacts, and they have told us that staff simply doesn’t want to train a new vendor. Washoe County is happier sticking with a company who is not fulfilling their contract to the tune of about a $1 million dollars.

We would name the county employee who presented at the commission meeting, but we have the ‘specter’ of County Manager Eric Brown’s June 2022, $150,000 Employee Legal and Public Relations Assistance Fund. Our opinion, this in an intimidation fund, and very clever of Manager Brown.

Brown’s fund is to silence any complaints about county employees. A good example is this cleaning contract, so what if Washoe County doesn’t listen to courthouse complaints (remember most of the folks at the courthouses are also county staff) about the cleaning service. The county needs to do their due diligence and dig into the problem, you know, to fix it. But why, because the county employee can’t be called out, due to this fund to protect them. You can’t complain about a Washoe County employee not doing their job because ‘the fund lives” as is a warning to all media to ‘watch it’ or you could be sued. We get it.

Watch the Board of County Commissioners meeting on YouTube and you can view the county employee who is in charge of this contract and draw your conclusions. Agenda Item #14 – Agreement for Services to Provide Custodial Services.

We’ve included the public records we were provided.

It is interesting Washoe County 311 pointed out to us, “Additionally, please note that departments are responsible for monitoring services and informing Purchasing of any problems.” Then why did we have such a difficult time getting access to records, “Purchasing” should have all sorts of emails regarding the “monitoring of services.” What is Washoe County hiding?

Apparently, Manager Brown, Commissioner Clark didn’t get the memo and basically called Washoe County out on the dais on November 14, 2023, and now what you gonna do?

Wait, perhaps from all of these questions and comments the courthouses will get cleaned. Mission accomplished.