In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, Amber Howell, the former Washoe County Human Services Agency Director, is seeking up to $300,000 in compensatory damages, as well as attorney and expert fees, after she says she suffered severe emotional, psychological, vocational and financial damages during her eight-year tenure from 2015 to 2023.
The lawsuit alleges that Catrina Peters, the Homeless Services Coordinator, in charge of what is known as the continuum of care, violated multiple Department of Housing and Urban Development policies.
In the lawsuit, Howell explains how Peters had the ability to manipulate and manually override a points system matching people staying at the Cares Campus with HUD vouchers and housing programs.
One individual was a Tier-3 registered sex offender who Peters allegedly insisted staff work with for over six months, longer than any other individual, even though he was making no forward progress and making violent threats to HSA staff.
After HSA staff took him off the waiting list, the suit alleges that in 2022 Peters immediately placed him back on and matched him with a permanent supportive housing program, bypassing at least 48 other people, including women who had higher assessment scores.
Howell says she wrote to Peters and Assistant County Manager Kate Thomas, indicating this was a violation of HUD policy.
In the suit, Howell says that as soon as Peters became in charge of overseeing the matchmaker program, the HSA agency she directed was no longer able to match families in need into housing programs as these opportunities started going “disproportionately to individuals from Cares Campus and Safe Camp” compared to helping others in different existing programs in the community.
The lawsuit alleges Peters acted in violation of state law and caused a gross waste of public money.
Instead of Peters being disciplined, the lawsuit says, County leadership allegedly retaliated against Howell by taking adverse action against her.
In previous Our Town Reno reporting, Emily Elyse recounted how she quit in disgust in April 2024 as the so-called Northern Nevada Matchmaker under Peters, abandoning a role of trying to get the unhoused in a direction toward being housed due to “toxic” leadership.
In a letter sent to Washoe County commissioners in June, Elyse alleged “workplace bullying” from her then direct supervisor Peters. We emailed county leadership, Peters and County communications director Bethany Drysdale about this, but only heard back from Drysdale who wrote: “We can’t comment on personnel matters.”
In 2023 when we reported about Howell’s ouster from the job she held for eight years County spokeswoman Drysdale wrote back after our report initially came out indicating: “Amber resigned and an interim director was appointed at a Board of County Commissioners meeting. That is the standard procedure when a department director resigns.”
In her lawsuit, Howell alleges it was a case of “constructive discharge,” with a rapidly evolving timeline of events in the spring and early summer of 2023.
Our 2023 story about Howell here: https://www.ourtownreno.com/our-stories-1/2023/9/8/amber-howell-pushed-out-from-county-while-dana-searcy-gets-expanded-role
The lawsuit indicates that in early April 2023 Thomas and Director of Human Resources Patricia Hurley informed Howell that she “appeared under the influence of unknown substances” at an April 5th Senior Advisory Board meeting. According to the lawsuit, she was then placed on leave and asked to submit to a drug and alcohol test as well as a substance abuse evaluation.
She provided a urine sample for drug and alcohol testing on April 13th, which she says came back negative. On the 14th, the lawsuit says her work cell phone and work email were cut off.
She was then told she was under investigation after serious allegations were made against after she started her leave.
She then started meeting with a county therapist for the substance abuse evaluation and on April 30th checked herself into Reno Behavorial Health.
A few weeks later, she started treatment with a new doctor who diagnosed Howell with major depression, PTSD and adjustment disorder.
The lawsuit says the county therapist reported Howell did not have a substance abuse disorder but rather mental trauma from working for the County and told Hurley she should be offered medical retirement and that her therapy should be paid for.
On July 13, the lawsuit indicates, Howell received a letter from County Manager Eric Brown indicating he would be recommending her termination to the Board of County Commissioners
She says she didn’t want her files made available to the public and felt these “actions were intended to force a resignation and rose “to the level of constructive discharge.”
Due to this string of events, the lawsuit accuses the county’s leadership of engaging in unlawful and intentional discrimination in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, causing Howell to lose wages, benefits, status, reputation, future earnings, employment opportunities and self-esteem.
Our Town Reno reporting, September 2024