After weeks of knocking on doors across District Three, and plenty more to go, one thing is clear… people are tired of the noise and want their county government focused on real work. Roads, fire protection, water, tourism and preparation for the future. With the Board of Supervisors gathering for their annual workshop, now is the moment to listen.

What if the real measure of leadership is not how well we respond to crisis but how many crises never happen at all?

In every community, we invest heavily in reaction. We build systems to prosecute, to intervene, to rescue. And those systems matter.

But what if the harder, quieter work is prevention? What if the strongest strategy is not just pulling people out of harm but reducing the number who ever fall in?

This piece asks an uncomfortable but necessary question. Are we only willing to fund what we can count or are we willing to invest in what truly changes the current?

Winter finally showed up… and with it, a reminder of how much Tuolumne County depends on snow. Dodge Ridge is coming back to life. Local businesses are getting the relief they have been waiting for. Visitors are returning to experience something they cannot find anywhere else.

But this snowfall is more than a celebration. It is a test. A test of our infrastructure. A test of our preparedness. And a reminder of what truly brings people here… and what short sighted decisions could drive them away.

Learn more about what this moment means for our economy, our leadership, and our future.

What happens when the snow doesn’t show? Local businesses feel it first… and so do county services funded by tourism dollars. In Tuolumne, our economy is tied to the seasons, but it does not have to stall without them. Other counties are getting creative. We can too.

In our foothill communities, a mild winter is the best time to get serious about the next one.

Other counties are already building smart tools like live plow trackers, community storm hubs, and better emergency communication. Tuolumne deserves the same.

In this post:

• What other rural counties are doing right

• What we can learn from them

• How we rebuild trust after losing Station 56

Plus: Winter cleanup matters more than ever. If it is safe and permitted, every day is a burn day in Tuolumne County — and we should be using that time wisely.

February is usually a time of snowstorms and slow travel — but not this year. With dry hills and clear skies, we are facing a winter unlike most. And while that’s bad news for local business, it’s also an opportunity: right now, every day is a burn day in Tuolumne County.

That makes this the perfect time to clean up brush, create defensible space, and get ahead of wildfire season while the weather allows it.

How do county budgets really work? Why insurance risks matter and why it WILL affect our bottom line. Why does running government like a business quietly put our community at risk.

In Tuolumne County, fire insurance is no longer a “just in case” policy. It is a make or break part of whether people can keep their homes. Whether they can rebuild. Whether they can afford to stay.

And right now, more and more residents are being priced out, not by the cost of land, but by the cost of protecting it.

The 3 to 2 vote to remove CAL FIRE funding from Mono Vista Station 56 has shaken this county so deeply. And it is why people across all five districts are speaking out.

On January 6, 2026, the Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors voted to remove funding from CAL FIRE Station 56 in Mono Vista. Since then, explanations have been offered that do not fully reflect what occurred in the meeting.

If you live in District Three, chances are you’ve got at least one road that makes you flinch. Maybe it has a pothole the size of a canoe. Maybe it gets plowed three days after the storm. Or maybe it’s just where your coffee always spills on the way to work.

When I first decided to run for Supervisor, I believed had a strong sense of what mattered most.

If you live in District Three, chances are you’ve got at least one road that makes you flinch. Maybe it has a pothole the size of a canoe. Maybe it gets plowed three days after the storm. Or maybe it’s just where your coffee always spills on the way to work.

The lights are glowing and the music is playing. But not everyone in Tuolumne County is celebrating with a full table or a warm home.

There is no shortage of good people doing quiet, extraordinary work in our community. But every so often, someone builds something so rooted in compassion and persistence that it becomes more than a service. It becomes a lifeline.
That is what Nancy’s Hope has become.

Most of District Three sits around 4000 feet and up. That means when winter rolls in, we do not get a light frost. We get snow, downed trees, and the annual game of “Does my generator work?”

This Friday, millions of people will head straight for the clearance bins, the click-to-ship deals, and the promise of half-priced happiness. And look, we have all done it. Sometimes it is just easier to let a cardboard box do the work.

But this year, I want to offer a different idea.

Gratitude is more than just a feeling. It is something we do.

It shows up in how we treat people. How we respond when someone needs help. How we carry ourselves when no one is looking.

In Tuolumne County, our seniors are the heart of the community. But right now, too many of them are being left behind.

The county budget affects every part of daily life in Tuolumne County…