Executive Director Ross Armstrong and staff briefed the commission on agency operations, budget priorities and outreach on Jan. 16, reporting that the governor’s recommended budget included funds for outreach resources and a case-management system upgrade and that the commission’s case log and training activity have risen.

Armstrong told the commission the governor’s recommended budget contains funding for “educational subscriptions and resources” for outreach and for a requested case-management system upgrade. He said staff will prepare a budget presentation to explain public benefit from upgraded systems. Armstrong also said a requested office relocation from Carson City to Reno was not included in the governor’s recommended package and that any relocation would need to be accommodated within current funds if pursued.

On caseload, staff presented a new quarterly case log. Armstrong said the office currently lists 24 matters pending at the review-panel stage but that several of those represent multiple-subject matters that will be consolidated when panels act; after processing items on the Jan. 16 panels, staff expect the true number of separate investigations to be roughly 10. The materials show an average process time of 71 days (from complaint receipt to disposition) for the fiscal-year reporting period. Armstrong noted calendar-year 2024 saw approximately 23 more incoming complaints than 2023.

On staffing and operations, Armstrong said strategic-plan implementation is underway and the office is conducting a time study to document workloads and to justify future staffing requests. The office is exploring underfill/step-up strategies for an associate counsel position and is preparing recruitment plans.

Outreach and education officer Sam Harvey reported training activity and outreach metrics: the office ran newly elected officer training and social-media briefings, conducted multiple live trainings including for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, and recorded a substantial increase in total trainees for 2024 compared with prior years. Harvey said participation at the COGEL conference (an association of ethics agencies) informed several outreach strategies and that staff will develop an ethics ambassador toolkit for agency representatives. Harvey told the meeting, "I was really [glad] to attend COBOL this year" (referring to the conference) and described peer exchanges on training and feedback collection.

Board members asked practical questions: commissioners asked whether requested classification/compensation studies will affect commission positions and whether translation and language-access funding requests are included in the requested budget (Armstrong confirmed modest translation and outreach funding appeared in the governor’s package). Commissioners praised the new SharePoint resource for organizing commission materials and noted the requirement that commissioners complete assigned cyber-security training.

Why it matters: The governor’s inclusion of spending for outreach subscriptions and a case-management upgrade signals executive-branch support for the commission’s technology and public-education priorities. The rising number of complaints and increased training activity affect staff workload and the commission’s decisions about staffing and process improvements.

Next steps: Staff will present the budget request during the legislative session, continue strategic-plan implementation and report quarterly on case-log metrics and training targets. The commission will monitor recruitment for the associate counsel position and follow staff recommendations about translations and language-access implementation.