Washoe County’s Love Letter to Itself

This video proves there is always room for improvement.

If you’ve ever tuned into a Washoe County Commission meeting, you know the drill: Commissioners Clara Andriola, Alexis Hill, and Mariluz Garcia take turns singing the praises of county staff like they’re nominating them for sainthood. Not to say Commissioners Herman and Clark don’t heap on some compliments, but they avoid gushing.

“They’re the best staff in the world.”
“We couldn’t do it without them.”
It’s like a Hallmark movie marathon, except with PowerPoints and public comment.

Now, no one is saying staff don’t work hard. But let’s remember: they’re also some of the highest-paid public employees in the region. They’re not volunteers. They’re not working for free. And when commissioners gush endlessly about how the staff can do no wrong, it creates a culture where staff forget who they actually work for: the residents of Washoe County.

Case in point: at Tuesday’s State of the County address, while commissioners were applauding the “crack team” of staff who keep things running, Commissioner Andriola was literally boxed in by a Kleenex box and a water bottle on the video. Yes, one of the stars of the show had her head framed like a cluttered Zoom background — and not one of those “best staff in the world” thought to clear the shot prior to the presentation.

If this is what perfection looks like, we’d hate to see mediocre.

So maybe at the next commission meeting, instead of the endless love letters to staff, the dais could spend a few minutes reminding them of a basic truth: they work for the public, not the politicians. And sometimes, that means doing the little things — like moving the Kleenex box.