Working From...Where Exactly? Washoe County's Transparency Problem
Washoe County Government again hiding behind “large number of public records requests” to push off our request until April 17, 2025 - submitted the request on March 10, 2025.
While Washoe County happily cashes your tax checks, they've blown past legal deadlines to answer a simple question: Where are your public servants actually working?
The public records request Picon made is straightforward asking about a specific employee. We are asking for a copy of County Manager Eric Brown’s approval for remote work. Much like the Washoe County IT Director Behzad Zamanian.
The county is stonewalling beyond statutory response limits, raising uncomfortable questions about what they're hiding. Do you mean to tell us Washoe County doesn’t know how many county employees work remotely, how often they're physically in the office, and where they actually live, and if they have the required written permission from County Manager Brown for remote work.
Simply redact the “permission slip” from Brown and send to us, or tell us we got it wrong and this is not the case, a big nothing-burger.
Why the reluctance? Perhaps it's the employees reportedly living 4-5 hours from their "workplace"—collecting Washoe County salaries while residing in entirely different communities. Or maybe it's the lack of any coherent tracking system to monitor who's actually showing up and who's permanently "working from home."
We might have learned Washoe County’s delay in answering us. Picon was contacted by an employee about an hour ago, from the Human Services Agency advising us that all employees have received an electronic questionnaire inquiring about their home address and how often they come to work. You mean HSA management doesn’t know where the employees live and how often they’re at the office? But wait, from what we’ve been told once you complete the questionnaire it is submitted you can’t go back and print a copy.
The irony is palpable: the same government that requires residents to appear in person for countless services apparently can't tell you how many of its own employees enjoy the luxury of logging in from hundreds of miles away.
Let’s not forget the RGJ.com story on March 11, 2025 regarding “security data shows Behzad Zamanian works just under five days a month at county offices in Reno on average despite assurances to county commissioners two years ago that he would work here twice as often.” Both Washoe County Manager Eric Brown and county spokesperson Bethany Drysdale also said Zamanian averages two weeks a month on site. But an RGJ analysis of two years’ worth of badge swipe data shows Zamanian averaged 4.9 days a month in Washoe County in 2023 and 2024.”
Regarding our public records request Nevada public records law exists precisely to prevent this kind of evasion. When officials stall beyond legal deadlines, they're not just breaking the law—they're signaling their belief that accountability is optional.
So while County Manager Eric Brown and his direct reports preach transparency, their actions speak louder: What happens in Washoe County government stays hidden from Washoe County residents—at least until they're forced to comply with the law they're currently flouting.
A screen shot of our March 10, 2025 public record request regarding a Washoe County Human Services Agency employee. We have been informed this is a remote worker many hours away from the 9th Street Complex. We’ve redacted the name, since we’re only looking for the written permission from County Manager Eric Brown.