The following are highlights from today’s Washoe County Board of County Commissioners meeting:
1. Parks rangers to begin issuing citations July 1: Beginning July 1, Washoe County park rangers and district managers will add “enforcement officer” to their titles, and will have the authority to issue citations and fines for code violations at all Regional Parks and Open Space areas.
The Washoe County Chapter 95 Code enabling enforcement officers to issue citations was changed by the Board of County Commissioners in May 2022. Park leadership has taken the time since then to thoughtfully apply fines to violations and thoroughly train enforcement officers.
There are 39 specific violations that can be cited at regional parks, but the most common are off-leash dogs, illegal parking, amplified music, defacement of park property and illegal camping. The Board approved the fine schedule: All fines will start at $200 but can go as high as $800 for repeat offenses. And fines will be cut in half if they’re paid within 30 days.
2. Board approves settlement with injured sheriff’s deputy: Deputy Kimberly Frankel will receive a settlement of $300,001 for injuries she received while in the line of duty at the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. The lawsuit was brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act and various state claims asserting violations of her rights. The settlement will be paid from Washoe County’s contingency fund, leaving a balance of just over $3.5 million.
3. Commissioners hear presentation on election procedures: Interim Registrar of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess presented a summary of the election process as her office prepares for the General Election in November. Burgess shared that a new ballot sorter is being installed today that will increase productivity from 30,000 ballots per hour to 45,000 ballots per hour. In addition, there will be four new ballot-extraction machines, which will streamline the work that currently takes 18 employees to complete, causing the largest bottleneck in processing of ballots.
The Registrar’s Office is currently processing 16 boxes of signatures for two constitutional amendment petitions for the General Election. The office has also resumed voter registration outreach, a task that must be paused 90 days before an election. The new statewide Voter Registration and Election Management Solution (VREMS) will go live in August, which will greatly improve the voter registration process and data management.
Former Nye County Clerk Mark Kampf followed Burgess with a presentation on his experience hand counting ballots in a rural county. In 2022, Nye County hand-counted mail ballots alongside the electronic tabulation. More than 200 volunteers counted the 17,000 out of the county’s 22,000 ballots over the course of eight days before running out of time to complete the hand count.
“When I was asked to do the clerk’s job and implement paper ballots, I had three months to get it done without a road map or guide, we had to figure it out,” Kampf said.
4. Board approves employee collective bargaining agreements: As the new fiscal year begins July 1, the Board voted to approve collective bargaining agreements with the employee associations including for the Washoe County Sheriff’s deputies, supervisory deputies, undersheriff and chief deputies, nonsupervisory and supervisory county employees, nurses, Alternative Sentencing officers, District Attorneys investigators, public attorneys, Justice Court employees and other unclassified or non-represented employees.
Agreements include cost-of-living increases, Juneteenth added to the holiday schedule, parental bereavement leave, and other provisions specific to the bargaining units. Details of the agreements can be viewed in the meeting agenda attachments for items 18 through 26 and 32.
5. Public Guardian provides overview of office’s mission and accomplishments: Public Guardian Tracey Bowles, who has served in the role since 2019, appeared before the Board to provide an overview of what her office does for residents of Washoe County. The Public Guardian’s Office serves as court-appointed guardian for vulnerable individuals 18 years and older who are unable to manage their personal and financial affairs. The 20 full-time employees, including 13 case managers coordinates provision of services, provides informed consents on their behalf, and protects, preserves and manages their assets.
The office manages more than 250 cases, with an average caseload of 22 per case manager. A quarter of the cases are experiencing homelessness at the time of referral.
Bowles shared accomplishments of note in her office, including that they added four Nationally Certified Guardians in the last two years and reinvigorated an internship program with the University of Nevada, Reno. Looking toward the future, the Public Guardian’s Office is looking for ways to strengthen protections against elder abuse and increase the supply of accessible, affordable, adaptable housing.
“We have more people in this community over the age 65 on average that live by themselves than the rest of the nation and so that means we have a lot of isolated seniors,” Bowles said. “We think it’s important that there is a message that goes to this community for the places where seniors go and where they shop and bank to help identify exploitation and get them the services and supports they need.”
6. Board approves District 3 Special Funds: The Board approved District Special Funds allocated by Commissioner Mariluz Garcia to the Eddy House and Truckee Meadows Parks Foundation for $5,000 each.
7. Board approves donation from Wilbur May Foundation: The Board approved a donation of $300,000 from the Wilbur May Foundation to the Wilbur D. May Center. The Foundation has been supporting the May Center since 1984.
“For people who don’t know, the late Wilbur D. May was a local rancher, businessman, a philanthropist with a passion for helping children and education in parks, and it’s really unique that this donation has been occurring on an annual basis since 1984 so that’s worth noting,” Commissioner Mariluz Garcia said.
8. Commissioners appoints and nominates members to volunteer boards: The Board appointed Ross Kinson to the Washoe County HOME Consortium Technical Review Committee for a partial three-year term beginning July 1. Comprised of the City of Reno, the City of Sparks and Washoe County, the WCHC makes loans available for the development of affordable housing units and allocates funds to housing assistance programs, in order to assist lower income families and individuals, including homeless and special needs groups, to obtain affordable housing.
The Board also voted to nominate Chris King and Robert Laurie for Governor Joe Lombardo to appoint to the Board of Directors of the Nevada Clean Energy Fund to fill a three-year term effective immediately. The Nevada Clean Energy Fund promotes investments in qualified clean energy projects and various other duties related to clean energy.
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