Board roundup: key votes June 17 — interim county manager recruitment, Gerlach EMS contract, advisory appointments and other actions

The Washoe County Board of County Commissioners took several formal actions on June 17, 2025. The board approved a recruitment plan for a permanent county manager and appointed Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas as interim county manager, authorized a contract for emergency medical services in Gerlach, adopted a revision of county code governing citizens advisory boards, and confirmed multiple advisory appointments and administrative resolutions. The motions and outcomes are summarized below.

Votes at a glance

- County manager recruitment and interim appointment (Item 10): The board approved a recruitment plan and authorized Human Resources to issue a request for proposals for executive search firms, with a target appointment date of Oct. 27, 2025. The board also appointed Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas as interim county manager effective July 1 until a permanent manager is appointed; the motion passed unanimously. (Motion by Commissioner Garcia; second by Commissioner Andrea.)

- Royal Ambulance contract for Gerlach EMS (Item 15): The board approved a contractor agreement with Royal Ambulance Inc. to provide emergency medical services to Gerlach for a 2.5-year term (effective July 1, 2025 through Dec. 31, 2027) at an annual cost of $603,000; the motion passed unanimously. County staff described this as an interim, budget-constrained solution and flagged outstanding items — station lease and insurance, apparatus ownership, and state EMS approval for a seasonal staffing change — that staff will return to the board to resolve.

- Citizens advisory boards (CAB) code revision (Ordinance 17-39): The board conducted a second reading and adopted an ordinance revising Washoe County Code provisions related to Citizens Advisory Boards; the motion carried 3–2 with Vice Chair Jean Herman and Commissioner Clark voting no. The ordinance updates statutory compliance and redraws certain CAB district language; county staff said additional bylaws and a CAB handbook will be developed next.

- Appointments: The board appointed Andrea Schumann to the Nevada Local Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council (term 07/01/2025–06/30/2027) and appointed Karen Tayloe to the Washoe County Advisory Board to Manage Wildlife (term 07/01/2025–06/30/2028). Both appointments were approved unanimously.

- Consent and block votes: Consent items on the agenda were approved by roll call (consent vote recorded at one point as 4–0 with one commissioner temporarily absent); a block vote approving items 7, 8, 9 and 11 (item 15 was removed from the block for separate discussion) passed unanimously.

- Administrative resolution (Item 16): The board held a public hearing and adopted Resolution 25-037 to place certain delinquent utility charges on the tax roll; the motion passed unanimously.

Other procedural actions

- Ordinance 19-31 (Adult day health services / daybreak program) was introduced for first reading and the board set a public hearing for the second reading on July 8, 2025. That measure will return to the board for a public hearing and possible adoption.

What the board asked staff to return with

Commissioners requested additional follow-up materials across multiple items, including: a more detailed breakdown of the county manager recruitment materials and candidate questions to be included in the search; finalized lease and insurance terms for Gerlach station use and a report back from the Nevada EMS office about the proposed seasonal staffing model; publication of the CAB handbook and bylaws for public review; and an accounting of the county’s utility delinquency list to support the tax-roll action.

Votes and motions (structured)

The board recorded motions, seconders, and outcomes on the record for the motions above; where roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript those counts are listed in the structured actions array below.