Tuolumne County Grand Jury
• 2024-2025
2024 - 2025 Tuolumne County Civil Grand Jury Treatment of the Tuolumne County Civil Grand Jury by Tuolumne County O
⚠️ 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 and Recommendations 8 findings
F1
It is a factii that Tuolum ne County has failed to provide adequate o ice, meeting, and interview space to allow the Grand Jury to conduct confi dential investigations and meet in secrecy as requirediii.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should assign the CAO to fi nd and provide an adequate and consistent meeting and interview space for future Grand Juries so that they may meet and interview in secrecy. This should be done immediately so the 2025-2026 Grand Jury may use it.
F2
It is a fact that Tuolumne County has failed to address the treatment of the Grand Jury as identifi ed in the 2022-2023 and the 2023-2024 Grand Juries’ Cover Letters which has caused delays, sometimes fatal, for investigations by the Tuolumne County Grand Jury.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should create a policy that encourages the Board and requires all senior Tuolumne County employees to read every part of every Grand Jury Report. The purpose of this is so all Board Members, Department Heads and other senior employees understand the public’s view of Tuolumne County government. This should be done 21
F3
It is a fact that Tuolumne County uses a poor Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that does not maintain historical information for employee positions and payments which has caused the inability of the County and Grand Jury from investigating potential issues with employment.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should direct County Administration to create/hire/purchase/develop an Enterprise Resource Planning system that keeps track of historical information for employees including positions and payments. This should be done
F4
It is a fact that Tuolumne County currently uses an unworkable agreement with Calaveras County but has no adequate way to provide independent counsel for the Grand Jury when the Grand Jury is investigating any one of the many departments represented by County Counsel which has caused fatal delays in obtaining information from the County.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should instruct County Counsel to fi nd an independent attorney to function as counsel for the Grand Jury when a future Grand Jury investigates an agency or department whose attorney is County Counsel. This should be done
F5
It is a fact that several current and former members of the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors either has an incomplete understanding of what the Grand Jury does or takes a dismissive attitude toward the work of the Grand Jury which causes morale problems for some Tuolumne County employees. 20
Related Recommendations (1)
R5
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should create a policy that encourages the Members of the Board and requires the Department Heads to familiarize themselves with the role of the Grand Jury. This should be done before September 1, 2025.
F6
In the Di erential Treatm ent and Hiring Practices in Tuolum ne County Governm ent report issued on April 30, 2025, your 2024-2025 Grand Jury described retribution tactics and rumors being used to disparage employees and that behavior seems to exist regarding criticizing the integrity of members of the Grand Jury. It is a fact that those same tactics are still present in Senior Tuolumne County government even after the departure of the recent CAO in January 2025 and after the publication of the April 30, 2025, report. This is a condemnation on the credibility of all Grand Jury reports and continues the morale problems by Tuolumne County employees.
Related Recommendations (1)
R6
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should create a policy for disciplining Tuolumne County Employees who use retribution and rumors to disparage other employees as well as the Tuolumne County Grand Jury. This should be done
F7
It is a fact that Tuolum ne County has failed to provide su icient written guidance on reimbursement procedures as well as tools for the Grand Jury Treasury Committee to adequately track reimbursement breakdowns. County Counsel made a point at the May 6, 2025, Board of Supervisor’s meeting that the Grand Jury needs more guidance on this topic. This failure has caused the Grand Jury to be unable to understand the budget process and resulted in the 2024-2025 Grand Jury to go over budget.
Related Recommendations (1)
R7
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should require the Tuolumne County Counsel to provide written and in person guidance regarding reimbursement procedures and budget management including procedures for increasing their budget, as necessary. This guidance should be ongoing and monthly, or as requested by the Grand Jury. This should be done within one month of the Grand Jury beginning their term and monthly and as requested by the Grand Jury.
F8
It is a fact that although the former CAO no longer works for Tuolumne County, the county still appears to be under the infl uence of her ‘confi dants’ who continue to use the same practices of intim idation and Di erential Treatm ent used before she vacated the County. It is a fact that these kinds of ‘confi dants’ have a negative impact on the morale of Tuolumne County employees.
Related Recommendations (1)
R8
The Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors should independently review the employment status of Senior Tuolum ne County em ployees w ho are participating in Di erential Treatm ent as described in the Grand Jury Report Dated April 30, 2025. This should be done on an as needed basis. 22 i There was a report on the Detention Facilities, however since the Grand Jury was only complimentary of those facilities, there were no recommendations. Therefore, there are no responses required. ii We use the term, “It is a fact,” to begin each of these fi ndings because the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors has attempted to interpret our previous fi ndings as opinion and thereby only address what they consider fact. (See BOS meeting June 4, 2025) Penal Code §933.05 does not include the term ‘opinion’ nor does it provide for a responding agency to claim a fi nding is opinion. The code requires the agency to state they either ‘agree,’ ‘disagree wholly’ or ‘disagree partially’ with the fi ndings. If the agency disagrees, they are required to provide an explanation as to why they disagree. Although it is very late in the year for our term, we should note that the fi ndings of all our reports are based on facts, not opinion. We are not permitted to include any fact unless at least two witnesses provided us with the same information. Every fact we provided in every report we submitted to the Court for their approval and publication was supported in the manner prescribed. For the Board of Supervisors to simply claim every portion of the report they disagree with is “opinion,” is the equivalent to calling the Grand Jury a group of liars. In the discussion on June 4, 2025, Supervisor Ryan Campbell stated: I think that's actually. I don't mean to say actually, I think that is a good idea that we. That could possibly serve as direction to sta , that they restrict their responses to what is factual and where it's opinion, we just say that's opinion. Our intention was not to single out Supervisor Campbell as nearly everyone present was participating in the discussion, this is just the most appropriate quote to use here. We hope the Board of Supervisors recants from this plan to label portions of the reports as “opinion.” iii It is the understanding of your Grand Jury that steps have already been taken to address this fi nding and recommendation. 23
Conclusions 2
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CL1 Page 20We have pointed out many times that the basis for our reports is not a bias or grudge against the County, it was a carry-over that the previous Grand Jury could not complete. In our experience they are not to blame for the incomplete report. The blame should lie with how the County fails to support the Grand Jury. Our reports attempt to bring to light the state of Tuolumne County governance. The criticisms of your 2024-2025 Grand Jury appear to be attempts to discredit and impugn the exceedingly di icult work of the nineteen dedicated citizens who put in well over 10,000 hours to investigate some incredibly questionable actions by Tuolumne County. We ask that if the reader ever hears a complaint about the work of your Grand Jury, to ask the simple question, (cid:147)why is this person unhappy with the uncovering of these problems?(cid:148) Criticism of the 2024-2025 Grand Jury is a criticism of all future Grand Juries. Future Grand Juries, please be aware of what the senior county employees are saying about us and continue to investigate until this type of retribution is halted. All members of your 2024-2025 Grand Jury have watched the public response from our previous reports. We are delighted that so many Tuolumne County citizens are pleased not only with our work, but with our willingness to tackle this gargantuan task. Please know that each Grand Juror sacrifi ced so much time away from our families and work to complete these reports; we feel relieved that Tuolumne County citizens are using these reports to hold our government accountable. We believe that this report cannot be completed without noting that former Assistant Chief Administrator and current Acting County Administrator Roger Root was the major point of contact for your Grand Jury. When we needed something, even if we did not get it, Roger Root was pro-active and accommodating. He was helpful in scheduling conference rooms for our meetings; he was the only senior County employee who met with your Grand Jury throughout our term. While this report clearly points out that there are high level Tuolumne County employees whom we feel were not working in any way to benefi t your Grand Jury, Roger Root was not one of those people. Thank you, Roger, for your support. 19
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CL2 Page 21Finally, if you feel that your 2024-2025 Grand Jury has provided useful information to the voters and public of Tuolumne County, consider volunteering and complete the application process to be on a future Civil Grand Jury.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors
Elected County Office