Washoe County is hiring a fourth full-time deputy clerk, which will help the clerk’s office keep up with lengthier public meetings that have become the norm over the past year. The Board of County Commissioners last week approved the new position, which will cost the county a little over $100,000 per year.
The county clerk’s office keeps minutes for and supports five county boards: county commissioners, fire commissioners, the debt management commission, the community homelessness advisory board and the board of equalization. Deputy clerks also handle records and research requests and perform civil marriages three days a week.
Washoe County Clerk Jan Galassini said the average length of Board of County Commissioners meetings has increased by 55% since 2022, from an average of 3.6 to 5.6 hours each, with some lasting nine to 10 hours.
In an analysis provided to commissioners, Galassini provided a breakdown of hours spent in meetings and the page length of minutes for the board seated at the end of 2022 versus the current board. The data shows clerks spent 20-30 hours more per quarter in meetings with the new board and that the minutes from those meetings were up to twice as long.
Nevada law requires approval of the minutes from a meeting within 45 days, and those minutes must capture “the substance of all matters proposed, discussed, or decided” and “the substance of the remarks made by any member of the public who requests that the minutes reflect those remarks.”
Many regular, often far-right, commenters at county commission meetings request that their comments be entered into the record.
Galassini said the last set of Board of County Commissioners minutes completed and approved within the 45-day deadline was from March 28 of this year. That was the end of the county’s third quarter, which had more than 35 hours of Board of County Commissioners meetings and 302 pages of minutes — the fourth quarter, from April through June, jumped to nearly 56 hours of meetings and 425 pages of minutes.
Commission Chair Alexis Hill in April removed public comment from the start of the meeting. Her goal, she said, was to get to commission business sooner. General public comment remains at the end of the agenda.
Hill’s decision has sparked a backlash from a dozen or so regular commenters who say removing the initial public comment period is illegal. It’s not.
Their response initially lengthened the meetings as they began to comment on every possible agenda item, often straying from the topic to decry their perceived loss of freedom of speech. Several meeting regulars continue this practice; however, their number has tapered, and some agenda items have moved quickly.
Clerks have also seen a 7% increase in civil marriages performed this year. Research requests have nearly doubled, but the time those requests have required was more than four times longer.
Galassini said the clerk’s office tried several ways to manage the workload before requesting a new staff position, but none were sustainable. Those included hiring a former employee on contract, pulling staff from other duties, and having the supervisor work 90 hours of comp and overtime.
The deputy clerk position will be effective Sept. 1.
