Washoe County’s Workplace Violence Committee? What’s That?
As it has been reported on by the RGJ and This Is Reno, Judge Kathleen Sigurdson denied Washoe County Assessor and Candidate for County Commission Mike Clark’s appeal against his TPO awarded to Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas on Election Day. We recommend you read their coverage to learn more. This follows Clark’s “false light” lawsuit against Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas, alleging the extended temporary protection order is based on a lie.
We previously reported on Clark’s false light lawsuit and indicated that Thomas had retained private counsel: McDonald Carano’s Adam Hosmer-Henner. In a standard Nevada Open Meeting Law publication, we noticed an item that was incredibly timely to the Clark-Thomas legal saga; for the County Commission’s June 21st meeting, Eric Brown will make a recommendation, “… to adopt a Comprehensive Employee Support Plan to assist Washoe County employees by providing payment for legal and personal services by outside third-party organizations in situations where employees are unfairly publicly attacked, harassed, or disparaged by members of the public or by political organizations as determined on a case-by-case basis by the Washoe County Manager with input from the Washoe County Workplace Violence Committee. …”
The proposal gives an annual budget of $150,000 for this program. It is implied that this could pay for attorneys, security, therapy, etc., for employees that meet the qualifications of this program. On the surface it actually seems like a great program, but we find many issues with it. Specifically, first, the proposal essentially gives the County Manager the authority to decide who does and doesn’t qualify for the program. The fact that a committee has input doesn’t really mean much, as it is possible that the County Manager could ignore that input. Second, how is this program funded? The Washoe County School District has an employee assistance program that pays for therapy and other related services, and it is funded by the WCSD’s health insurance premiums. In the past, the University of Nevada offered a legal assistance program for employees, and it was funded by monthly fees billed to employees that wanted to participate - participation was/is optional.
Right off the bat, this certainly has the potential to fund Thomas’ legal defense against Mike Clark, but what other employees could it also cover? Some members of the County’s leadership team inherently draw more scrutiny than usual such as the Registrar of Voters - would she be eligible for the program?
Another question: what is the Washoe County Workplace Violence Committee? This is not a sarcastic question. Is this a normal committee that operates in government organizations? Isn’t this roll typically executed by a human resources officer or an attorney? Is this something any County employee can volunteer for and serve on?
There are many questions to be answered. We are eagerly awaiting County Manager Eric Brown’s presentation on June 21st.