The committee formed to help Pershing County hire its first county manager spent a full day last week interviewing six candidates with backgrounds ranging from local child support administration to global mining and military budgeting. By the end of the meeting, the panel had narrowed the field to two: Lovelock native and military veteran Kristin Gonzalez, and attorney and former homebuilder Robert “Clay” Hendricks. Their names will be forwarded to the Pershing County Commission for final interviews and a hiring decision at an upcoming meeting.
The County Manager Committee includes Commissioner Connie Gottschalk, Lovelock City Council member Bonnie Skoglie, Pershing County Hospital District CEO Brandon Shattuck, community member Frankie Graham, and Hospital Board member Ted Bendure. Working from standardized questions and a scoring sheet developed in advance, they asked each candidate about written work, budgeting, conflict resolution, public interaction, and leadership under pressure, then scored responses individually before averaging the results.
The county manager position is new for Pershing County. Committee members said they are looking for someone who can coordinate across departments, improve internal systems, and serve as a day-to-day point of contact for staff, commissioners, and the public, while helping the county navigate tight budgets, economic development needs, and growth pressures. Several candidates described the role as a chance to “centralize” expertise and give smaller offices a subject-matter resource they can turn to.
The first candidate, Latifa Hagigat, joined the interview virtually from New York, where she works in executive operations and compliance, primarily in healthcare and large organizational settings. Hagigat emphasized collaboration, internal process improvement, and “people-centered” leadership. She described experience managing contracts, permits, budgets, and vendor relationships for large public-facing events that required coordination with city departments, safety agencies, and internal teams.
Hagigat acknowledged limited direct work in local government and less experience with one-on-one public complaints, but said her approach in tense situations has relied on listening, documenting concerns, and ensuring people feel heard, even when she cannot deliver the outcome they want. She highlighted work building communication channels between analytics teams, IT, finance, and executives, including frequent check-ins and incremental adjustments when data showed a process was not working as expected. In budgeting, she pointed to resets, sources, and supply shortages in healthcare settings, and said she sees success in the county manager role as measured by smoother operations and clearer communication across offices.
Lovelock native Kristin Gonzalez framed her interest in the job as both professional and personal. She told the committee she grew up in Pershing County, graduated from Lovelock High School, and left for a career in the U.S. military, where she has spent more than 20 years in operational, financial, and leadership roles. She and her husband are planning to return home as he nears retirement, and she said the county manager position offers a way to bring that experience back to the community.
Gonzalez described extensive work in military operations and government contracting, including her current role writing and managing contracts for large defense vendors. She cited responsibility for a $133 million Flying Hour Program budget for an Air Force fighter wing, where she helped reallocate funds between squadrons, plan for aircraft attrition and maintenance, and respond to cost spikes while keeping aircraft mission-ready.
She also highlighted experience building nonprofit organizations to support military families and base communities—drafting bylaws, managing finances, fundraising, and coordinating donations to groups such as women’s shelters and law enforcement agencies. On personnel and conflict, she said she is direct but professional, using policy, data, and mission requirements to give corrective feedback to senior leaders and to mediate disputes between long-tenured staff and newer employees. Gonzalez said she believes Pershing County would benefit from more standardized processes, stronger interdepartmental coordination, and better use of grants and tourism opportunities, and that she is drawn to the role because it allows for a structured, systems-based approach while serving “home.”
Candidate Shanna Reinhart brought more than a decade of Nevada state government experience, including work with the Governor’s Office of Federal Assistance and the Office of Vital Records. She told the committee she has long planned to retire in Pershing County and sees the position as an opportunity to help stabilize systems and attract outside funding.
Reinhart’s interview focused heavily on grants, policy, and system design. She described authoring the Governor’s Office of Federal Assistance Grant Policy Manual and building Nevada’s grant match program from a pilot idea into a documented system that she said returned roughly $7.50 in federal funding for every $1 the state invested. She walked through examples of redesigning application processes to cut wasted staff time—adding eligibility screening tools, standard templates, tracking dashboards, and secure document access for volunteer reviewers.
Handling emotionally charged public interactions, Reinhart referenced her work in Vital Records dealing with death certificates and grieving families. She said she de-escalates by being transparent about legal requirements, walking people through the full process, and providing hands-on help where possible. Regarding conflict and staff performance, she emphasized early intervention, clear documentation, and compassion, aiming to resolve issues before they require
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