Tuolumne County Grand Jury
• 2025-2026
2025-2026 Governance Practices Impacting Public Trust Report
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 7 findings
F1
On May 5, 2025, Supervisor Holland participated in a debate and vote regarding mobile home park fees, despite having a conflict-of-interest on that item because he had a direct personal financial interest in the matter. Such violation undermines public confidence in the integrity of the decision-making process. 17
F2
The District 1 Supervisor holds potentially incompatible offices on the Board of Supervisors and the Sonora High School Board, which creates the appearance and opportunities for a clash of duties. The appearance of this conflict calls into question impartiality around budgeting, personnel, and governance.
F3
Members of the Board of Supervisors demonstrated an inconsistent and incomplete understanding of their legal obligations when responding to Grand Jury inquiries involving closed session matters, hindering the investigation, delaying conclusions, and creating unnecessary barriers to lawful oversight.
F4
The District 1 Supervisor hindered a Grand Jury interview based on demands to remove two jurors for alleged bias, demonstrating a misunderstanding of the Grand Jury’s statutory oversight role and conflict of interest law.
F5
The County’s 90-day email deletion policy hinders Grand Jury investigative efforts, access of public records, and undermines public accountability and transparency. 19
F6
The lack of readily available, accessible, and comprehensive records of County Board of Supervisors meetings imposes a burden on the public seeking to engage local government and hold officials accountable.
F7
Please send all responses as either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files. If you have questions about the response format, please contact the Grand Jury by email: lsimaz@gj.tuolumnecounty.net Where to Respond:
Recommendations 7
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R118 Clash of Duties or Loyalties ...................................................................................... 18
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R2Provide the title and page number from the Grand Jury report.
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R319 Transparency and Accountability .............................................................................. 19
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R4County Counsel should coordinate with CSAC or other qualified governmental ethics and governance training providers to provide training to the Board of Supervisors regarding the authority and oversight role of the Civil Grand Jury, including witness obligations and cooperation with Grand Jury investigations and interviews, no later than December 31, 2026.
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R5The County should comply with state laws to retain potential public records for a two- year period by amending the automatic email deletion policy or creating policy requirements regarding employee and official retention of emails to comply with state law, beginning no later than December 31, 2026.
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R620 Responses ................................................................................................................. Bibliography ............................................................................................................... Ethical Behavior ....................................................................................................... Clash of Duties or Loyalties ...................................................................................... Procedural Understanding ........................................................................................ Transparency and Accountability .............................................................................. 23 3
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R7Please send all responses as either Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF files. If you have questions about the response format, please contact the Grand Jury by email: lsimaz@gj.tuolumnecounty.net Where to Respond: