Letter To County Employees

To all employees of Tuolumne County:

Good Morning,

First and foremost, I am not writing you this letter on behalf of the Board of Supervisors. I am writing you this letter as a Supervisor, one of the five Supervisors, who feels it is important for you to hear from me about my thoughts on the current state of the County. Some of the feedback that I heard within the last few months regarding changes within the County, was that the Staff felt like they were finding out information about the County and their fellow employees from sources other than the CAO or the Supervisors. I wish to provide you with some of my thoughts.

I understand that some employees might think this is just a false or fake expression of concern for our employees, but I can assure you that it is not.

With that being said, I would like to address some of the changes and challenges that we as an organization are currently experiencing:

First, for those of you who know me, I have said from day one that our employees have been, and will be, my number one concern, and I value each and every employee who is working for the County. I have never wavered from this position, and I never will. Some will say it’s hollow and just lip service, but again, I can assure you this is not the case.

Secondly, these are difficult times for the staff and citizens of the County. Not just from the staff changes, but the budget challenges the County is addressing as well. In order to address employee compensation, programs, and services in the future, very hard decisions need to be made now.

As for the departures of Department heads and other employees, as well as the changes in County leadership; Employees leave an organization for many different reasons. Obviously, the County and Supervisors cannot comment on personnel changes, but I would encourage all employees not to listen to social media reports for their information. There is a lot of information the County cannot release, because the employees have rights, and I will defend those rights until the last day I am in office.

Things will get better. Change is good.

I want every employee to know that I care. I want all employees to feel appreciated and valued. I want every employee to want to come to work and serve the great people of this County. However, I can assure you that all the things that have occurred since January have been in response to concerns or questions raised by either staff, Board members, or members of the community.

My door, and email, is always open. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, but I also strongly encourage all employees to go through their chain of command.