The Eric Brown Exit: What Did Washoe County Really Get for Their Money?
County Manager Eric Brown is walking away smiling from Washoe County a lot better off than when he was hired. The question is what did the taxpayers of Washoe County get? According to the Raftelis report on the county managers office a ‘reset’ of relationships from both staff and commissioners are needed the consultants wrote. Read the report at the bottom of this article.
County Manager Eric Brown's June 30th retirement marks the end of a five-year stint—and the beginning of some uncomfortable questions about how Washoe County hires, and potentially rewards, its top executives.
As the county gears up to hire another pricey headhunter firm to find Brown's replacement, it's worth remembering how well that worked out last time. In 2019, Washoe County paid handsomely for professional recruitment services, only to end up with a candidate pool so thin that former Commissioner Marsha Berkbigler had to personally call her old friend and former boss Eric Brown to convince him to apply.
So what exactly did that headhunter firm do besides cash the county's check? The finalists included Brown and Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas, and one other—hardly the result of an exhaustive national search. One has to wonder: what was the head of human resources doing during this process besides shuffling paperwork? Is this lack of robust vetting how the county ended up with a manager who had zero government experience?
Page 1: County Manager Eric Brown’s resume is a public record you can find on you own from his September 2019 interview before the Washoe County Commissioners.
Brown's 2019 resume reveals what apparently impressed the commissioners enough to hand him the keys to county government. For a position overseeing complex public services, emergency management, and taxpayer dollars, the county chose someone whose background was entirely in the private sector.
Page 2: County Manager Eric Brown’s resume is a public record you can find on you own from his September 2019 interview before the Washoe County Commissioners.
While private sector experience has value, running a county isn't running a business. Seniors struggling with county services, residents navigating bureaucratic mazes, and taxpayers watching their dollars might argue that some actual government experience should have been a prerequisite.
Here's where things get interesting. Rumors are swirling about a potential severance package for Brown. If true, taxpayers will get their answer when the year-end financials come out—those kinds of payments are hard to hide in public records.
The question is: why would a retiring county manager need a severance package? Severance typically compensates for involuntary termination, not voluntary retirement. If Brown is walking away on his own terms after years of generous compensation, what exactly would justify additional taxpayer-funded parting gifts? The severance speculation comes from a question Commissioner Mike Clark asked on the dais this month about how much money the county would be saving with Brown’s departure and he got crickets of a response. Shouldn’t there be savings with Brown’s mid-year departure?
Whether it's expensive headhunter fees that produce minimal results or potential severance packages for voluntary departures, Washoe County seems to have a pattern of costly personnel decisions. Meanwhile, residents—especially seniors who've borne the brunt of service cuts and bureaucratic dysfunction—are left wondering if their tax dollars are being spent wisely.
As the county prepares to hire yet another recruitment firm, perhaps it's time to ask: What are we really getting for our money? And more importantly, will we learn from past mistakes or just repeat them at taxpayer expense?
The taxpayers had to foot the bill for the Raftelis report who came to the conclusion, “the governing body is fractured and does not effectively deliberate on decisions let alone work together as a body.” You could have paid us for that astute observation - one only has to watch a commission meeting. Manager Brown and his team have built on that very ‘fracture’ and hence we have the mess of a $27 million deficit. Brown has pitted the dais against one another causing the current divide while he has been spending without the commissioners pumping the breaks.