The following are highlights from today’s Washoe County Board of County Commissioners meeting:
1. Board reconsiders and certifies recount results: On July 9, the Board of County Commissioners met to certify the canvass of the recount of two Primary Election races. They did not certify the canvass, but per Board rules, Commissioner Clara Andriola requested reconsideration of that vote.
Deputy District Attorney Mary Kandaras explained the statutory requirements of the Board to certify the results and pass them along to the Secretary of State, which is the elections officer for the State of Nevada.
Upon reconsideration, the Board voted 4-1 to certify the results of the election recount with Commissioner Jeanne Herman dissenting.
2. Board approves allocation to create “Transparency and Open Checkbook” website: The Board approved the allocation of $100,000 from the General Fund Contingency to create a website that will display Washoe County’s vendor payments, expenditures and other financial information to the public.
This follows the standard set by the State of Nevada Controller’s Office and aligns with Washoe County’s guiding principle of “Commit to Digital Delivery.” Payments and expenditures are currently available but often requires a public records request and is only available in one format. This “Transparency and Open Checkbook” project would ensure that this data is readily available to stakeholders and the public on an easily accessible website.
3. Board approves opioid settlement with Kroger Company as part of ongoing One Nevada Agreement: In July 2021, the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners agreed to enter into the One Nevada Agreement to allocate settlement payments among Nevada counties. Millions of dollars have been allocated to Washoe County from previous settlements with opioid manufacturers, distributers and dispensers. The State of Nevada will receive approximately $26.7 million from Kroger over a 10-year period, of which Washoe County will receive around $100,000 per year for 10 years.
4. Board provides direction to staff for upcoming legislative session: Washoe County is entitled to submit two bill daft requests (BDRs) in the upcoming 2025 Nevada legislative session, and today discussed the status of the BDRs. In April, Government Affairs Liaison Cadence Matijevich presented five BDR subjects to the board for consideration, and they directed her to seek outside sponsors for two bill subjects: to amend Nevada Revised Statutes to clarify that certain medical examiner records are confidential, and to amend Nevada Revised Statute to only allow inspection of voter registration signatures in the clerk or registrar’s office and not allow copies of signatures to be provided to the public. Staff presented these two subjects to the Nevada Association of Counties (NACo), which will discuss them at its July 26 meeting.
In April, the Board also directed staff to further explore a third subject relating to a special Truckee River license place. Staff found that it would be more expeditious to pursue a special license place to benefit the Truckee River through the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, not through a BDR.
Matijevich also discussed two items related to using lodging tax in Incline Village/Crystal Bay to support public transportation in those areas. The Board voted to direct those items to the jurisdiction of the TRPA Oversight Committee.
The Board also voted to instruct Matijevich to explore a BDR related to automatic recounts in close elections.
“I’d like to research what an automatic recount may look like on close races,” Clark, who made the motion on this item, said. “There must be some sort of percentage or threshold or something where if it’s a tight race, we can have an automatic recount.”
5. Board reconsiders donation to the Reno Toy Run: On June 18, 2024, the Board approved a $10,000 donation from Commissioner Mike Clark’s District Special Fund to the Reno Toy Run, a charitable event hosted by the Northern Nevada Confederation of Clubs (NNCC). Chair Alexis Hill requested reconsideration of the donation after learning that a representative of the NNCC wore Nazi symbolism to the meeting. The Board reheard the item and voted 3-2 to reapprove the donation.
6. Board reappoints member to Audit Committee: The Board voted to reappoint Charlene Hart to the Audit Committee for a four-year term that began on July 1, 2024. The Audit Committee consists of three voting members and one non-voting advisory mem Members should be financial experts and have expertise in generally accepted accounting principles, internal controls, financial statement, and audit committee functions. It is also preferred that members have a bachelor’s degree in accounting, finance, or a closely related field and have a minimum of four years of accounting and auditing experience.
Hart is a 34-year resident of Washoe County and is a certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner. She works at the University of Nevada as Associate Vice President of the Research Administration, and served for 10 years on the Washoe County School District Audit Committee.
