Carson City Supervisor Brad Bonkowski to not vote on treasurer appointment

Supervisor Brad Bonkowski is expected to avoid voting on appointment of the next Carson City treasurer because of his ties to an associate whose wife applied for the job.

Bonkowski said Friday he has been advised to recuse himself when the Board of Supervisors votes, probably after interviews on April 16, because one of the three applicants for the vacant treasurer’s post is the wife of Bruce Robertson, a commercial real estate agent working from Bonkowski’s NAI Alliance office at 504 E. Musser St.

“It is the opinion of the DA (District Attorney Jason Woodbury), after consulting with the State Ethics Commission, that I will need to recuse myself from participating in the interviews and from voting for the treasurer’s appointment due to Gayle Robertson’s application,” the supervisor said in an email to City Manager Nick Marano and others.

Robertson, a certified public accountant, applied for the post on Monday, the final day to put in for the post vacated earlier this year by Al Kramer. Kramer now works in the state treasurer’s office.

Former city Supervisor John McKenna and city Finance Director Nick Providenti, also both CPAs, also applied for the position. It pays $76,013 per year.

“As you know, Bruce Robertson works for my firm and it was determined that Gayle’s application constitutes an unavoidable conflict of interest,” Bonkowski said.

The person who secures the appointment from the city’s governing board, if he or she wants the elective office after January 2017, must seek it in the November 2016 general election. If he or she wins then, law requires that person to stand for election again in 2018 to gain a full, four-year term.