Ward 2 represents the area south of West Moana Lane between Skyline Boulevard and South Virginia Street, along with most of South Reno.
Incumbent Naomi Duerr has served two terms there since 2014. She touted the City of Reno’s allocation of $5.7 million in federal COVID funding to small businesses early in the pandemic. If re-elected, she wants to make it easier to obtain a business license.
“I do own a small business, and the very first thing that you need to do when you own a small business is get a license, a business license,” Duerr said. “Well, that can be challenging for anyone, especially a very small business that’s just starting up; what are the processes?”
Duerr is running against two first-time candidates. Twenty-year-old Tyler Hinman is a fulfillment specialist at a local warehouse. He said, if elected, he’ll spend his first days speaking directly with small business owners.
“If I’m going to look for the right ideas, I’m going to go to the people who know exactly what they need, and I’m going to be relaying that to the mayor, to my colleagues on the city council,” Hinman said.
Candidate Jay Kenny is the owner of DoughBoys Donuts in Reno and Sparks. He’s also a realtor at Dickson Realty. He said if elected, he’ll bring the skills he’s acquired from running a local business.
“I know what it takes to make sure that my business is open every day,” Kenny said. “I know what it takes to make sure my employees are taken care of every day.”
Two of these three candidates will move on to the general election unless one person wins more than 50% of the vote.
Learn more about the candidates in This Is Reno’s reporting here.
Candidate audio provided by KWNK Community Radio.
Lucia Starbuck is a corps member forReport for America, an initiative of theGroundTruth Project.
