Reno City Council members on Thursday will hold a special meeting to discuss the process for replacing Council member Oscar Delgado. Delgado resigned Sept. 23 citing the need to focus on being a dad and CEO of Community Health Alliance.
The special meeting is planned for Sept. 29 at 12 p.m. Community members can participate in person at City Hall or via Zoom. An agenda with additional details is on the city website.
Delgado is the second council member to resign this year, and the third since 2019. Neoma Jardon left her council seat in August to take the lead at the Downtown Reno Partnership and David Bobzien resigned his seat in 2019 for a leadership role at the state.
Both Jardon’s and Bobzien’s seats were filled through the appointment process, which council members said was a less costly and more speedy way to fill the vacancies. Kathleen Taylor and Devon Reese were selected to fill those seats, respectively.
Some community members have criticized the appointment process saying takes away the will of the voters.
Eddie Lorton, who is challenging Hillary Schieve in the mayoral election this November, predicted in a Facebook post Saturday that council members “will once again appoint the person to fill this position instead of elect.”
“This way insures [sic] they get a yes person,” Lorton said. “Get ready for this Council to once again take the public out of politics.”
During the appointment process to fill Jardon’s seat, others were concerned about special interests and potential red flags raised by the three finalists selected by council members to interview for the seat.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the special meeting time to 12 noon, not 10 a.m.
