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Two Republicans Battle For Washoe County Commission Seat

Washoe County Commission, Maurice Washington Campaign Website

The Washoe County Commission has two seats up for grabs this election season. One race is between two Republicans, meaning the winner of the June 14 primary wins the seat. Reno Public Radio’s Noah Glick reports.

District 4 includes Sparks, Spanish Springs and Wadsworth. Small-business owner and incumbent Vaughn Hartung is running against former State Senator Maurice Washington, who is a local pastor.

Hartung was elected in 2012 and says during his first term, he helped push forward a variety of initiatives.

“We’ve got Pyramid and McCarran off the ground, the southeast connector off the ground - that is now nearly done," he says. "We’re still working on flood management, that’s going to be a huge deal for us. We were able to get the construction for the new Washoe County medical examiners building off the ground. There’s just so many things that we’ve done.”

Washington served as state senator for District two from 1995 through 2009, representing Lyon County and parts of Washoe. He then served as deputy director of the Northern Nevada Development Agency, experience he says lends itself well for the commission seat.

“We were responsible during my tenure there for about 1.5 billion dollars in new economic growth," he says. "Leadership is going to be very important—from the standpoint of working with our federal, state and local delegations.”

Both candidates pinpoint the handling of population growth and economic expansion as major challenges. Hartung says the key is to keep costs low for residents, while finding ways to continue development.

“The hard part for Washoe County is that we’ll be adding many, many new homes throughout the county, but services to residential requires a lot of money," Hartung says. "We want to keep our taxes as low as we possibly can, but everybody expects good services. We’re currently working on a lands bill to try to get some BLM land that is to the east of Sparks in the queue to be purchased for development and utilized for development.”

Hartung says during his term, the commission has also tried to lessen the burden for businesses through streamlined permitting and delayed fee structures.

“We went from a one map to a two map system, which meant we didn’t have to go through with a master plan amendment every time somebody came through with a permit, which was a huge deal," he says. "Another thing, was we could defer fees until someone made an impact. They were paying all their fees up front, and then what we did was changed it so when they hooked up water or sewer or power, that’s when they were actually paying fees.”

Beyond financial incentives, Washington says there’s one critical component businesses look for.

“As they start moving their employees into the area, they want to know, ‘Do you have adequate education system? Do you have enough schools? Is there enough space? Do you have qualified teachers?’ Washington says. "Because if mama’s not happy, the company’s not gonna be happy.”

Washington says managing that growth properly requires collaboration with agencies outside of Washoe County.

“Making sure transportation needs are met, making sure we have affordable housing for employees that are going to be moving into the area, so we can handle this growth," he says. "And to be able to do that, one, you have to be able to build consensus, working with your colleagues. And then being able to reach out to other county commissions in other counties to make sure we look at this region from a regional approach.”

The primary contest takes place June 14, and with both candidates registered Republican, the winner heads to the general election in November unopposed. Hartung recently made headlines for violating the county’s sexual harassment policy and code of conduct, for swearing at and making an inappropriate joke to a county employee. He has since apologized. For Washington, this is the first time he has run for this position.

The other seat up for election on the Washoe County Commission is in District One, and is between incumbent Republican Marsha Berkbigler and Democrat Levi Hooper.

Noah Glick is a former content director and host at KUNR Public Radio.
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