This Is Reno obtained two-and-a-half years of City of Reno public records on discretionary spending to see how the Mayor and City Council members spent those funds. Hours were dedicated to poring over numerous travel receipts, city council donations, candidate disclosures and other documents. Findings reveal that some council members have used their budgets for extravagant and what appears to be personal travel that may violate city policies. Expenses also have unclear benefits for the Reno community.
Part five of this 10-part series, was removed from publication after new information was received. We explain why in the following story. Read the complete series here. Subscribe here to get access to all This Is Reno articles. This article was rewritten based on new information provided after the original article was published.
Through multiple records requests in late 2023 and early 2024 This Is Reno received travel and spending records for Reno City Council members. The records include documents from fiscal years 2022 and 2023, and half of 2024, with the earliest records dating back to July 2021.
Among those records was a travel expense report and documentation for Council member Kathleen Taylor’s November 2022 trip to Kansas City, Missouri, for the National League of Cities (NLC) 2022 Cities Summit. A receipt included in the packet shows a June 30, 2022, payment by the Reno city manager’s executive assistant Barbara DiCianno for eight people to attend the summit—five city staff members, Council member Devon Reese, then-Council member Bonnie Weber and Kathleen Taylor.
Taylor at the time was serving on the city’s planning commission as a volunteer commissioner and wouldn’t join the council until Sept. 8, 2022. She was, however, included on a relatively expensive conference trip approved prior to being appointed to the city council. Records showed no other non-staff or non-council members traveled on the city’s dime.
The city’s travel reimbursement policy provided to This Is Reno covers rules for city employees, elected officials and officers. There is no mention of travel for people who are neither employed by the city nor elected to city leadership.
City officials did not respond when asked why Taylor was registered for the conference prior to becoming a council member and was granted opportunities not also offered to other planning commission members.
“We will not be able to facilitate additional interviews for this story,” City of Reno spokesperson Landon Miller said on Feb. 7. “However, if there are specific additional questions, please provide them and I’ll do my best to find you those answers.”
City staff did not respond to any of the questions submitted. Taylor also did not respond to a number of questions about her travel expenses—until nearly two weeks later when she emailed a request for a correction.
What happened
On Feb. 22, four days after publishing the story on Taylor’s registration to the NLC summit, and 13 days after we reached out to her for comment, Taylor said our story was inaccurate.
In an email she provided a document not included in any of the records received by This Is Reno showing that her registration was originally for then-Council member Oscar Delgado—they bore the same registration number.
This Is Reno in different forms requested travel documentation for this series. Prior to publishing the series, This Is Reno requested city staff to confirm the city provided all requested travel documents.
“We have verified that all responsive records were released at the close of [your public records request],” said Katelyn Scarlett with the city clerk’s office. “There is no additional information to release.”
That was not true.
In October 2023, following Delgado’s September resignation from the council, the registration for the NLC conference was reassigned to Taylor.
Delgado was originally slated to attend the Cities Summit, but the record of his registration wasn’t included in the council travel materials provided by the city. No travel request form from Delgado to attend the conference was included in the materials either. Plenty of other records from Delgado’s time on council were in the materials received, however.
Based on city documents, which showed the conference registrations were purchased in advance of the conference, the original article accurately reported—based on what city staff said were complete travel records provided as part of a public records request—Taylor was registered to attend the NLC conference. The additional information—withheld by city staff—shows the registration was transferred to Taylor after she was appointed to the council.
Despite multiple questions and requests for further explanation, Taylor has not responded to a single question to This Is Reno. She instead is having a hired public relations spokesperson—Tiffany East—send emails on her behalf. East, who is being paid through Taylor’s campaign for election, also will not respond to questions.
East did, however, request a comment by this reporter on the article’s original social media post, be removed. The comment, indicating Taylor’s name was on the conference registration, is factual.
Taylor has not explained why she was reimbursed for parking expenses in what appears to be a violation of city travel policies. She has not explained why she rented an eight-person short-term rental to attend a conference. She has not explained why she paid more than $1,700 for a conference when she could have saved nearly $1,000 from her council discretionary funds by joining the organization as a member.
She also did not explain why, using city funds, she gave money to a nonprofit of which she now serves on the board.
