An agenda item passed yesterday by the Washoe Board of County Commissioners in a three-to-one vote grants the Washoe County manager the authority to pay up to $150,000 for employees to receive legal and public relations assistance. That is in cases “where employees are unfairly publicly attacked, harassed, or disparaged by members of the public or by political organizations as determined on a case-by-case basis.”
“The situations where this program would be utilized are those that would fall outside the scope of representation by the District Attorney’s Office or other statutorily or otherwise designated legal counsel, or the scope of services typically provided in-house by county departments,” county staff said. “Possible outside organizations to be hired under this program include but are not limited to law firms and public relations organizations.”
County Manager Eric Brown said the county has an obligation to protect employees. The agenda item does not apply to elected officials.
“We’ve seen situations where the public discourse has gotten increasingly hostile,” he said. “We’ve had situations where county employees … have received death threats [and] have received malicious and fictitious claims against them. Some of this has been extremely hurtful to their families. It is in no way an attempt to suppress criticism of any elected official or public official.
“This initiative would give our employees, especially those without the wherewithal to retain their own counsel...
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