Sheila Browning-Peuchaud, a former assistant professor at the Reynolds School of Journalism at UNR, an evidence based health coach for her own company and self-described “public servant by heart,” is running for Reno’s city council ward 5.
The first word on her campaign website, in big bold letters, is “transparency.” And that is exactly what Browning-Peuchaud wants to see more of in Reno.
Browning-Peuchaud grew up in Michigan as the youngest of eight kids, but she didn’t stay in the Midwest. Her senior year of high school, Browning-Peuchaud served as a youth ambassador in Japan. She’s also worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Turkmenistan, taught journalism at a university in Cairo, and studied abroad in France and Russia.
In her travels, Browning-Peuchaud has carried the third Peace Corps goal with her. In her words, that goal is “to bring back what you learn, to try and make America better.” Now, Browning-Peuchaud hopes to make this corner of the world a little better by calling for a more transparent local government.
A lack of transparency includes the city’s dealings with Jacobs Entertainment, “one entity that owns about a quarter of the heart of our city,” Browning-Peuchaud says. The company’s development plans have resulted in the demolition of several Reno motels, which previously served for some as the last stop before homelessness.
Browning-Peuchaud is also concerned with the lack of transparency around what exactly the plan is. “You know, whatever Jacobs Entertainment has in mind for downtown,” she says, “it might be the best thing in the history of Reno, or it might be the worst, and we have no idea.”
“Whatever you think best, on whatever timeline works for you,” is not a strategy she thinks is working. She believes that the city could have benefitted from “more negotiating and horse trading,” or, at least, the opportunity for more public workshops.
Another instance of lack of transparency concerns the fate of the former Record Street shelter. “City staff were going back and forth about that property for about seven months,” Browning-Peuchaud indicates.
In her view, before recommendations are published on agenda meetings, the public needs more than just four days “to think through the implications, organize, and respond. The public should be able to weigh in…early and often,” she says.
Browning-Peuchaud makes it clear that she isn’t accusing anyone of keeping secrets or “doing [back room] deals.” But she does think that it’s inconsiderate when decisions are made for the community without their knowledge or consent.
“Without transparency, you're asking the public (to) ‘just trust us’. But, without transparency, you've already given the public a reason not to trust,” says Browning-Peuchaud. “Let’s understand what’s going on here. Let’s share the process with the public.”
Browning-Peuchaud generally thinks about things “in terms of a five minute plan, a five-day plan, a five-week plan, a five-month plan, and a five-year plan.” Admittedly, some things do take longer than others, as is apparent with the Jacobs Entertainment buyout and development spree. “But,” she adds, “you need to know where you're headed in order to get there, right?
Another pillar of Browning-Peuchaud’s platform is commitment to service. “Running for public office implies serving in public office,” she says. “So I will serve the term.” She brings up the case of Neoma Jardon, a previous ward 5 city council member who left her position for a job to head the Downtown Reno Partnership. To fill her position, the city went through an appointment process. Browning-Peuchaud put her name in the running then, in 2021– her first shot at the position she’s now campaigning for three years later. Her participation in the appointment process allowed her to see it “up close.”
“People who are ‘in the know’ were telling me, ‘listen Sheila, it’s fine that you're doing this. But they've already decided who they're going to appoint,” Browning-Peuchaud remembers. Everyone who self-nominated for the city council spot was given three minutes to speak, and she describes the group as folks who were “doing amazing work for the city.”
“I was blown away by the spirit and talent in that room,” she recalls. As it turned out, one candidate who didn’t speak that day was the person ultimately appointed to fill the position for city council Ward 5. It was the same person who Browning-Peuchaud was told already had it in the bag, so to speak. According to Browning-Peuchaud, similar appointment processes followed after the resignations of Oscar Delgado (in Ward 3) and David Bobzien (at-large), which led to Ward 5 challenger Devon Reese to starting his time on council.
If elected in the seat, Browning-Peuchaud would call for special elections if any other council member steps down before their term is over. “People will say, ‘special elections are complicated, and expensive, and might not have high turnout.” But the way she sees it, “the turnout will always be higher than four,” (the number of city council members who constitute a majority).
Previously teaching journalism ethics, as well as a race, gender and media class, Browning-Peuchaud remembers teaching a class on election day in 2016, when she told her students, “it looks like we’re about to elect our first female president. As we all know,” she sighs, “that's not the way that played out.” But the results of that 2016 election were influential in Browning-Peuchaud’s decision to run for public office.
“I was like, ‘oh, I'm not like some young kid fresh out of college,’” she says. “I guess it's time for me to step up.” Her campaign for Reno city council ward 5 is something she considers “a new phase of public service” for herself.
Now, Browning-Peuchaud just wants to “run the kind of campaign (she) can be proud of,” which, notably, does not involve sending out hateful mailers to ward 5 constituents, as was recently the case targeting Reese.
For Browning-Peuchaud, June will be a big month, go through to November or be eliminated from the race.
The primaries are on June 11th, and on June 14th one of her kids will graduate from Wooster, and the other will turn 14 a few days later.
“We’re going to still be the family we are,” she says, proud of their time in northern Nevada, all trying to make this corner of the world a better place.