Marena Works, Carson City Senior Center director, is leaving to become director of operations for the northern service area of Nevada Health Centers.
Works, formerly chief nurse for the Carson City School District and a long time city government executive, will be replaced at the city’s center offering services to the elderly after a search, according to City Manager Nick Marano. He said Dawn Beck, current center business manager, will fill in as interim director until a new permanent director is advertised for and selected.
“Marena left her mark at Health and Human Services and throughout the city,” said Marano, noting her accomplishments at HHS, as deputy city manager and briefly at the senior center. Works was the interim city manager between the resignation of Larry Werner in 2013 and the hiring of Marano in mid-2014, later moving to the senior center.
“While her contributions are many,” said Marano, “the most visible is the continuing Nevada Fair.” Works spearheaded the first Nevada fair at Fuji Park for the state’s Sesquicentennial celebration in 2014, and Marano said she left a legacy that makes sure this year’s fair is properly planned and resourced.
Announcement of the change first came from Karl Sundberg, chief operating officer, and Britt McManus Chapman, executive services administrator, of Nevada Health Centers and was passed along Friday by Marano. The pair said Works is a former board member with the health centers firm, which along with her clinical and administrative background is going to make her “well suited for the challenge of overseeing operations at eight of our 16 community health centers.”
The pair reported Works will work out of the Carson City centers’ administrative office, which also is where former Carson City Fire Chief Stacey Giomi works in his capacity there as director of facilities and emergency preparedness. Giomi retired from city government in February to join the not-for-profit health care centers firm. He was among the group of five finalists for city manager from which Marano was selected by the Board of Supervisors.