Checked Out: Washoe County Leaves of Absence, Vol. 3

Borrowed this image and the accompanying letter from Auditing Reno 911 regarding Library Assistant Director Stacy McKenzie - who is on ‘leave’ which we learned yesterday.

Another day, another Washoe County official who’s suddenly been Checked Out. This week’s edition: Library Assistant Director Stacy McKenzie, who has taken a “temporary leave of absence” with no explanation. Sound familiar? It should—it’s practically the county’s house style.

Remember, McKenzie only took over when former Library Director Jeff Scott Closed the Book on his tenure back in April 2025. That “resignation” was widely rumored to be more like Resignation Before Termination—a genre Washoe County has mastered. Now McKenzie herself is on leave, with Assistant County Manager David Solaro overseeing daily operations. Translation: the staff who actually keep the shelves standing are doing the real work, while the county just fiddles with the Table of Contents.

But this is hardly a standalone story. Washoe County’s track record reads like a grim anthology. Former Human Services Agency director? Took a “temporary leave” and then vanished—until she reappeared in federal court with a wrongful termination lawsuit. Gone Girl, county edition. Interim Registrar of Voters Cari-Ann Burgess? Same script, different cover—another lawsuit now On Reserve in federal court. And now McKenzie. Washoe County sure has a knack for turning Leaves of Absence into Books of Litigation.

Which begs the question: is this HR policy, or just bad storytelling? Because if this is Washoe County’s idea of Pride and Prejudice, it’s leaning heavily on the prejudice side. And curious, isn’t it, that the leading characters written out of the plot are all women? That’s not just Unfortunate Events—it’s a pattern. Let’s not forget—the head of Human Resources is herself a woman, yet this pattern of treatment toward women continues under her watch.

So here we are again, Reno readers: another “public servant” suddenly Checked Out, another story the county hopes will quietly Collect Dust. But residents deserve better than the same tired paperback drama, and who wants to bet we’ll all be asked to foot the bill for yet another federal lawsuit regarding wrongful termination. At the very least library Assistant Director Stacy McKenzie, knows what lawyers to call.