What's Eric Brown REALLY Hiding Behind His IT Guy's Commute?

Let us remember the lawsuits that are pending due to County Manager Eric Brown’s management. Former Interim Register of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess is one and Former Human Service Agency Executive Director Amber Howell is another. We wanted to mention that on International Women’s Day.

The plot thickens at Washoe County, where Manager Eric Brown seems awfully eager to defend his CIO's unusual work arrangement. But why rush to defend if there's nothing to hide?

Let's follow the breadcrumbs: Someone "prompted" Greater Reno/Mark Robison to look into Behzad Zamanian's hybrid work situation. Who's the mysterious deep throat feeding tips to journalists? And more importantly—why? And how did Brown learn of this?

Remember when the RGJ exposed this eyebrow-raising arrangement back in December 2022? Zamanian, hired during the pandemic in January 2021, had been commuting from... somewhere else. The cost to taxpayers? A cool $12,665 for plane tickets and hotel rooms—all while pocketing a tidy $180,835 salary plus benefits.

The article claimed Zamanian started paying his own travel expenses in 2022. But did he really? Because it was also commented by the county this was based on job performance. So they gave themselves wiggle room to continue to pay. Time for some public records requests to separate fact from fiction.

The burning question remains: Why would Brown feel "prompted" to defend his IT guru if everything's above board? What are we missing in this peculiar saga?

Greater Reno, the ball's in your court. We eagerly await your investigative reporting to unravel this mystery. Because when county managers start preemptively defending unusual arrangements, there's usually more to the story than meets the eye.

Commissioner Mike Clark forwarded this to the press - including Greater Reno/Mark Robison from the RGJ.com. We found that actually quite clever on Clark’s part.