This Is Reno received an email last week from Commissioner Mike Clark with a letter that was run verbatim on two other websites, as an opinion article on one and as part of a news story on another. This Is Reno declined to run it because many of his claims were misleading. Instead, we’re using our new fact check rating scale to help our readers parse his statements. 

Here are a few of the statements Clark made in his letter along with the facts. 

Did the county tell Clark he couldn’t host a community meeting?

Clark: “I had a thought, to have a series of community meetings so I can reach more people. Making it an open forum and allowing residents to interact with one another. I thought this would be a great opportunity to bring people together. Washoe County Government doesn’t like the idea much, not unexpected, remembering Washoe County is attempting to get rid of the Community Advisory Boards/CABs, something I have consistently opposed.”

We’re awarding this one two dookies. 💩💩

The bulk of this statement is true on its face, but it lacks context and important information. During the Sept. 10 Board of County Commissioners meeting, county staff discussed replacing the Community Advisory Board meetings with topic-specific community meetings. They said the CAB meetings require an exorbitant amount of staff time to organize and attend and generally draw only two to three residents. Many times, staff outnumber the residents.

However, topic-specific community meetings have been well-attended, they said, with 50 or more people showing up. Clark’s “thought” was already verbalized by county staff and was part of their “reimagining” of the CABs. He didn’t mention that or even allude to it.

By leaving out the county staff’s recommendation of reformatting meetings to increase community engagement, Clark appears to be intentionally sowing animosity toward county staff among his constituents and casting himself as their savior in transparency. 

We checked with Washoe County spokesperson Bethany Drysdale who said the county isn’t necessarily against Clark hosting a community meeting. According to Drysdale, Clark told city staff he was considering a town hall meeting on Ascente, to which staff said they would need to research the topic. Ascente is a development that was approved several years ago and is already in the early stages of construction. Drysdale said Clark, seemingly unwilling to wait for county staff to review the topic, decided to host the meeting on his own. 

What Drysdale said the county “doesn’t like much” about Clark hosting a community meeting to discuss a local development is the conflict, or appearance of conflict, the meeting may cause if an item on that topic comes before the Board of County Commissioners for a vote. 

Assistant District Attorney Nate Edwards said he couldn’t speak to specific advice provided, but noted, “In general we can say that it is important for members of public bodies who will adjudicate applications before them to remain impartial in both appearance and substance prior to the actual hearing on the application.” 

So should Clark host the meeting then matters related to Ascente come before the commission in the future, Clark would be advised by the DA’s office to recuse himself from any vote. In his letter, Clark said he and his attorney disagree with that advice.

Were Clark’s events ‘shut down’ by the county?

Clark: “…the county previously shut down my ‘Bike with Mike’ and my Older Americans Month senior event at the Reno Elks Lodge, events I was ALLOWED by Washoe County to hold in 2023…”

This one gets two dookies as well. 💩💩

Commissioner Clark’s “Bike with Mike” events were well-promoted by the county in 2023. The series of every-other-week bike rides started at the City of Sparks-owned Cottonwood Park, traveled along the Truckee River and ended at Hub Coffee Roasters near downtown Reno. The events were not canceled in 2024, but according to Drysdale, the county decided to no longer promote the events. 

Drysdale said Clark was asking for staff time to promote and help organize the rides—however, they were not only not hosted in or near a county park, they weren’t even within Clark’s district. “It felt very personally benefiting rather than something on behalf of the county with your constituents,” Drysdale said. She noted that county staff asked Clark to move the rides to a county facility or tie them more closely to a county topic or issue, but Clark refused. 

Drysdale said the Older Americans Month senior event was supported when Clark initially proposed hosting it at the Reno Elks Lodge. However, she said, Clark wasn’t a Reno Elks member when that proposal came forward, “but he then became a member, and it was a conflict.”

“When he was pushing for this he was an Elks member, and we can’t do that,” Drysdale said. 

Was Clark shut out of Davis Fire updates?

Clark: “As the commissioner for the district. Chief Charles Moore was kind to call me about the wildfire, to brief me, on the day the fire broke out Saturday, September 7, 2024, and that was it. No, I mean that was it. I got updates from the County Manager along with the District 1, 3, 4, and 5 commissioners, despite a large majority of my constituent’s homes being at risk dependent on the winds … In fact the Monday, September 9, 2024 press conference I was not informed of, nor invited to attend. I received no further calls from Chief Moore, the Chair or the County Manager and his staff. Heck, even the fire app we directed people to did not update, and the only updates to the public and me were from the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District’s X account. I am very concerned about this lack of professionalism, communication, and the fact that several Washoe County employees told me that the ‘information lock down’ regarding the Davis Fire was done to make me look bad and deny my constituents access to information that is vital to their livelihood.” 

This is another two-dookie statement, but if we awarded halves, it would get 2.5. 💩💩

This Is Reno will be first in line to say that communication about the Davis Fire in the first several days was slow to come, limited and frustrating. We agree with Commissioner Clark that focusing emergency communications solely on social media site X is not a great plan. However, that’s not the only outreach directed to Clark. 

Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Chief Charles Moore said he called Clark within the first two hours of the Davis Fire—the call that Clark acknowledged—and again at least two more times over the next few days. Moore said one call rang endlessly and another went to voicemail where he said the mailbox was full and he was unable to leave a message. 

“When I have a major event unfolding, usually I’ll call the commissioner whose district it’s in,” Moore said. “If [they] see I’m calling, they always give me a call back.” 

Moore said Clark was hard to get ahold of and, despite having two missed calls from the chief, Clark didn’t return the calls. Email updates and texts on the fire were sent to the full commission board, as has been done in the past.

As for the Monday fire briefing and tour, Moore said Commission Chair Alexis Hill called him and asked for those. Commissioners then had a board meeting on Tuesday, Clark attended the community meeting on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday—and most of Thursday—the fire area was off-limits due to high-winds and under the control of the Southwest Region Incident Management Team.

Moore said he texted Clark on Thursday evening to tour the fire area, but again did not receive a response. By Friday morning, many of the evacuation areas had been reopened. 

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