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Reno charter committee finalizes six recommendations; council accepts report unanimously
Summary
The Reno City Charter Committee presented six proposed charter amendments and administrative changes on July 16, including a 60-mile residency radius for the city manager, easing the joint-meeting requirement with council, and gender-neutral language; the City Council accepted the committeereport unanimously for the record.
Reno City Council on July 16 accepted the final report of the Reno City Charter Committee after a presentation of six recommendations ranging from an expanded residency rule for the city manager to an administrative change to recognize an assistant fire chief.
Callie Willsey, the citydirector of policy and strategy and staff liaison to the charter committee, opened the item by outlining the committeecharge and timeline. "So every 2 years, according to our the Reno City charter, the charter committee is required to convene and take a look at our charter," Willsey said, describing the committeeprocess of soliciting ideas from staff and appointing officials.
Tess Offerman, chair of the charter committee, said members met five times and examined nine issues before forwarding six recommendations. "We came up with 6 recommendations," Offerman said. The recommendations were divided into policy items and administrative or cleanup items.
Among the policy proposals, the committee recommended changing the city manager residency requirement so the manager must live within a 60-mile radius of City Hall (remaining within Nevada), rather than simply within the state within six months of appointment. Offerman said the 60-mile radius was intended to ensure the manager is "Reno-centric" while allowing candidates in nearby towns to qualify.
The committee also recommended easing the charterjoint-meeting requirement so the committee could present to the council without needing a simultaneous quorum of both bodies; the committee would still present its findings directly to the council. Offerman said the change would reduce logistical challenges when charter committee quorum is difficult to obtain.
On language, the committee recommended updating the charter to use gender-neutral wording. "Updating legal language to be gender neutral is an administrative change that makes public documents more inclusive and precise," Stacy Spain, executive director of the LGBTQ Center for Northern Nevada, said during public comment, thanking the council for grant support and urging adoption of the language changes.
Administrative recommendations included aligning the terms of legislatively appointed charter committee members with the appointing official's term, adding explicit charter language to recognize the assistant fire chief position that exists by collective bargaining, and moving the annual vice mayor appointment from the first November council meeting to the first regular December meeting so the appointment follows election canvass results.
Council members asked procedural and substantive questions after the presentation. Councilmember Reese thanked the committee for its work and raised a caution about opening the charter because "when you open the charter anyone could pile into it," referencing the potential for unrelated legislative additions. Councilmember Dewar described the debate over ward-only voting and said she supported the committee's recommendations overall while sharing personal reservations about past electoral changes.
Mayor Schieve, speaking remotely, encouraged continued deliberation and recognized opposing views on the structure of local elections, saying both systems have "positives and negatives." Several council members said the committeemembers had done careful work and that follow-up communication from the council about which items will be advanced as BDRs (bill draft requests) would be helpful.
Councilmember Reese moved to accept the charter committee report; Councilmember Dewar seconded. The council voted 'aye,' and the motion passed unanimously to accept the report for the record.
The acceptance of the report does not itself place any charter amendment on the legislative docket; council members said the decision about which items, if any, will be prepared as BDRs remains the council's prerogative and may require additional information or staff analysis before August.
The meeting packet contains the committeereport and supporting materials; staff said they will distribute written comments submitted after the deadline with the final packet on the public portal. The council and charter committee adjourned after taking the votes.
