Commissioner Vaughn Hartung has served as Washoe County Commissioner since 2013. He represents District 4, which includes Sparks, Spanish Springs, and Wadsworth.
He has lived in Washoe County for 40 years, 34 of which have been in Spanish Springs, and has been married to his wife Sandra for nearly 37 years. They are the proud parents of two children, Vaughn and Aleah, both graduates of UNR.
While not a veteran himself, Vaughn is proud to have many family members who have served our country and is an ardent supporter of the military, veterans and their families. However, his roots serving the community began decades ago as a community member in the development of Spanish Springs and was appointed to the Spanish Springs Citizens Advisory Board in 1993.
Vaughn is a not only a public servant, he is a community member, owning his own business for 36 years as a partner in a successful photography studio. He is a former adjunct faculty member for the University of Nevada, Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College, where he taught all phases of photography for two decades.
Vaughn is passionate about key economic issues in our region and enhancing community safety through the investment of critical infrastructure for the current and future needs of Washoe County residents. As a result, he is a member of Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency Governing Board, the Regional Transportation Commission, Truckee Meadows Water Authority and the Western Regional Water Commission as well as a key supporter of the Nevada Water Innovation Campus, a collaborative effort to research and sustainably manage our water resources. This will help ensure a stable water supply to serve the needs of the community for generations to come. His tireless efforts to ensure excellence in the water quality of our region, earned him the prestigious “Public Official of the Year” in 2018 from the Nevada Water Environment Association (NWEA) whose mission is to enrich the expertise of Nevada’s water professionals. In 2020 he once again was awarded “Public Official of the Year”. This time from the Water Environment Federation (WEF), a not-for-profit technical and educational organization of 35,000 individual members and 75 affiliated Member Associations representing water quality professionals around the world.
In addition, Vaughn spearheaded the initiative, Youth Engaged in Service, or YES grant program. The grant program’s purpose is to provide support for youth ages 5 to 24 who are engaged in community service or science-related community projects in Washoe County. The YES grant program will be implemented through local partner, the Community Foundation of Western Nevada, which administers the grant application and award process to local deserving students.