The Touch That Means Nothing

First meeting of the Regional Fire Services Study Board.

Oh, the great fire study fix …

Did anyone actually take the time to watch the Regional Fire Services Study Board make its debut on September 4th at 10 a.m.? Probably not. But for those who did, it was a show worth critiquing.

The board is stacked with two reps each from the City of Sparks, City of Reno, and Washoe County. Logical enough. But what’s not logical is who didn’t make the cut: Commissioners Mike Clark and Jeanne Herman — the only two commissioners with firsthand wildfire scars in their districts. Instead, we got Clara Andriola and Mariluz Garcia. Why? Don’t ask — just “call it good to go.”

Sparks Councilmember Paul Anderson spent the meeting doing his best impression of a houseplant, while Joe Rodriguez — who already works in fire protection for the state — looked like the one adult in the room. Reno’s newly minted Ward 6 Councilmember Brandy Anderson would’ve been a sharp contender for chair, especially since her ward includes some of Commissioner Clark’s District 2 — still haunted by the Davis Fire. But no, the chairmanship went to Garcia, courtesy of Andriola’s nominating speech.

And what was Andriola’s reasoning? Get this:

“Commissioner Garcia is the only member in this body who’s district touches all three jurisdictions.”

What does that even mean? Spoiler: nothing.

That “touch” only exists because former commissioner Bob Lucey gerrymandered the daylights out of District 3 a few years back. It’s a political parlor trick, not a credential.

So why Garcia? Well, ask yourself why Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve was mysteriously missing from the meeting. Six of our readers raised the question, could it be that the fix was in from the start? Garcia has already announced her re-election campaign, and let’s be real — her list of accomplishments is shorter than a Sparks agenda. At the moment, she’s hanging her hat on the fight to bring a bank and grocery store to Sun Valley (after failing to keep the last ones from closing).

So now, as chair of the Fire Study Board, Garcia gets to pretend she’s putting out fires — figuratively, of course. Literally? We’ll see.

The only thing burning bright right now is the smell of a setup. And in Washoe County politics, nothing spreads faster than that.