Signs, Signs, Everywhere Signs (Except Accountability)
Who knew our culinary adventure sampling a $4 gourmet disappointment at the Washoe County Senior Center's makeshift cafeteria would lead to such bureaucratic pearl-clutching?
Picture this: while digesting our questionable meal at the "under renovation" center (a phrase we use loosely, as "planning" appears to be a foreign concept in county vocabulary), we took a little constitutional and snapped a few innocent photos of some rather interesting signage.
Commissioner Mike Clark apparently had the audacity to ask questions about these mysterious signs. Gasp! How dare an elected official inquire about public property? Assistant County Manager David Solaro performed an Olympic-worthy routine of deflection that would make a gymnast envious. His explanation for why political signs remained prominently displayed in a supposedly "closed" facility that random citizens (ahem, us) could freely wander through?
Commissioner Mike Clark forwarded this email exchange to the media last week. This is the first of the string.
We were particularly tickled when Solaro pivoted to defending the library system's early adoption of "SpeakUp," the county's preferred method of letting citizens feel heard without actually having to listen to them in person. How convenient that Chair Commissioner Alexis Hill prefers this digital buffer to messy, inconvenient evening meetings Commissioner Clark keeps suggesting—meetings where actual humans might show up with actual concerns at times when working people can actually attend. But hey, if the library were early supporters of SpeakUp guess it made it okay to have political budget cut signage too.
Library Trustee Ann Silver responded to Assistant County Manager David Solaro’s email regarding the signage at the 9th Street Senior Center.
The email exchange that followed our little photo expedition was a masterclass in bureaucratic amnesia. Nobody knows who posted the signs. Nobody knows if county time was used. Nobody knows anything. What a fascinating workplace where signage spontaneously manifests throughout county facilities without a single employee noticing who hung them, or inquiring. Where was the Human Resources Director letting all know if this signage is okay per county policy.
Residents now know Assistant County Manager David Solaro seems to not visit our Washoe County Libraries much. From this email - answering Library Trustee Ann Silver’s email - Solaro admits he found out about the flyers in January 2025. Bad news Mr. Solaro the flyers were up at all library branches throughout November and December 2024.
Are we really expected to believe county employees crafted these signs during personal crafting sessions at home, printed them on their personal printers using their personal paper and ink, then carried them to work in their personal tote bags to hang during lunch breaks? Or perhaps the Sign Fairy visited overnight?
Only when photos made the rounds did County Manager Eric Brown's team suddenly develop functioning eyeballs and recognize that—surprise—political signage in government buildings might violate their own employee handbook. Who could have possibly foreseen such a complication?
Commissioner Mike Clark’s response from Washoe 311.