Assistant City Manager Jackie Bryant on Wednesday was appointed as interim city manager by Reno City Council members following the resignation of City Manager Doug Thornley. She will serve as interim until a new city manager is hired.
City staff recommended increasing Bryant’s salary by 15% to $332,448 while she is in the interim position. Thornley’s salary is $357,988.
Council member Devon Reese said Bryant has undertaken a number of roles within the city, and the interim job is a position “no one wants,” but “someone has to do it.”
Reese said he was uncomfortable asking Bryant to do the same job Thornley had been doing for less, especially considering that she is a woman.
“There is an incredible pay equity gap between men and women in this country doing the same job, and so I do worry about us saying we’re going to just bump up [her pay] ever-so-slightly,” Reese said.
Reese suggested giving Bryant the same pay Thornley has been receiving, especially since there is a short window of time before a new city manager is hired. Council member Kathleen Taylor agreed with Reese and thanked him for bringing up the disparity of pay between men and women in the workforce.
“And thank you to Ms. Bryant for even considering the position,” Taylor said.
Council member Miguel Martinez echoed the sentiments saying, “Thank you; I know we ask a lot of you.”
Council member Jenny Brekhus, who has suggested in recent meetings that council members discuss the appointment rather than simply approving a staff recommendation, asked why a selection of candidates wasn’t brought forward.
“This doesn’t feel like a choice,” Brekhus said.
“I thought I was on a council and my job is to ask questions so I understand. I was just accused of interrogating someone.”
She also implied a conspiracy was behind the choice, asking the city’s human resources Director Norma Santoyo “who she spoke to on the council” as part of her decision to bring Bryant forward for consideration.
“I am a messenger,” Santoyo said. “Collectively your city manager and your assistant city managers have decided to put forward Ms. Bryant for consideration.”
“Did you have any conversations with council members on this?” Brekhus asked. “Mr. Reese said ‘no one wants this, she doesn’t want the long-term appointment,’ so who has been talking about this?”
Santoyo said she had not spoken to any council members about the appointment. Brekhus then shifted the question to Bryant, asking who she had been speaking to. Bryant said she had only spoken to the recruiter contracted to manage the hiring process to fill the manager vacancy, whom she said she told she did not want a long-term appointment as city manager.
Brekhus said she wanted to hire an outside firm to find an interim city manager.
Council member Meghan Ebert said there did seem to be some information regarding the appointment that not all council members were privy to.
Mayor Hillary Schieve responded, saying Thornley had the discretion to make the selection.
Ebert then asked how Reese knew Bryant didn’t want the city manager position.
“Because I asked her,” Reese said. “This isn’t a cross-examination.”
“I’m not cross-examining you. Am I not allowed to ask? Because there seems to me like there’s information that I don’t know,” Ebert said.
“It feels like there’s some sort of underlying conspiracy here like there’s some gotcha something,” Schieve said.
“I’m sorry, I thought I was on a council and my job is to ask questions so I understand,” Ebert said. “I was just accused of interrogating someone.”
“I’m not going to argue about this,” Schieve responded.
Ebert said she was simply confused because it was her understanding that council members would be making an appointment based on a selection of assistant city managers, not only the candidate the current city manager brought forward.
“I thought it was our job to appoint, not Doug Thornley appointing his predecessor,” Ebert said. “I don’t want Jackie thinking I don’t want her in this position. I think it’s wonderful anyone wants to do it. I just want to understand the process.”
Santoyo said Ebert is correct — the council does make the appointment, and Bryant is being brought forward as a staff recommendation after conversations were had between the city manager and assistant city managers, who collectively agreed Bryant should be recommended.
Schieve said the process is different for appointing an interim versus the city manager, and council members will receive multiple names as part of the city manager appointment process.
Schieve also took aim at Brekhus, stating that the council member’s accusations of “back door deals” and “nefarious plots” was getting old.
“Conspiracy theories at city hall — it’s getting old. And part of that might be because she doesn’t get to have communication with others because of a level of hostility that gets brought up continuously,” Schieve said.
Schieve then said the purpose of the item was to give direction, and if council wanted to, they could ask to have another 10 candidates be brought back before them.
Reese piggybacked Schieve’s comments, stating that Brekhus’s comments were a “willful disregard of reality,” and that she didn’t have a problem with a single person being brought forward for an appointment when Chief Jason Soto was brought forward in a similar occurrence.
Brekhus doubled down, saying there had been a “walking quorum” and implying it was an open meeting violation but she “hopes it doesn’t come to that.”
“You have got to stop,” Schieve fired back. “You are out and outright lying; that’s a lie. It is constant. It is not right, it’s inaccurate, it’s a lie and you know it is, and you constantly do that to undermine this council. There’s a 2,200 page report that shows that.”
Bryant said she would clear the air and told council members that no one else in the department wanted the position.
Bryant was approved as the interim city manager with Brekhus voting against her appointment.
