Tuolumne County · District 4 · A Community Accounting
In little over a year, Supervisor Steve Griefer has helped drive out the county's most experienced public servants, voted to close a fire station in one of California's most fire-vulnerable communities, and backed down from a public debate he loudly challenged — less than 48 hours before it was scheduled to begin.
The record
He promised fiscal responsibility, accountability, and results. The results are in.
Steve Griefer was elected in March 2024 as a retired CHP officer promising to be "a strong advocate for District 4" with a focus on fiscal responsibility and community engagement. Fourteen months into his four-year term, the record tells a different story.
A board majority including Griefer has presided over an unprecedented exodus of experienced county leadership. What is leaving with these people is not just headcount — it is the intelligence of our county government itself. The knowledge of how things work, who to call, what was tried before, what the community needs — that wisdom lives in people. It cannot be downloaded. It cannot be replaced with a job posting. It takes years to build and can be destroyed in months. What is happening in Tuolumne County right now is catastrophic, and it is largely invisible to people who aren't watching closely.
And then there is the question of integrity. A man who stands at a public dais, issues a challenge in his official capacity, accepts a constituent's response — and then retreats less than 48 hours before the event — is telling you something important about who he is. His word means nothing. That is not a peripheral flaw in a leader. It is disqualifying. A community cannot be governed by someone whose commitments evaporate the moment they become inconvenient.
This site documents that record — in his words and those of the reporters, firefighters, and county officials who witnessed it. District 4 residents deserve to know what's being done in their name.
Documented failures
In one of the most fire-vulnerable counties in California, Griefer voted with a 3-2 board majority to close Mono Vista Fire Station 56 and eliminate six firefighter positions — over the objections of fire chiefs, retired firefighters, community members, and two of his fellow supervisors. Station 56 responds to 1,188 calls per year. Every one of those calls will now be shifted to already-stretched resources.
Supervisors Ryan Campbell and Jaron Brandon both opposed the cut and offered to spend from $4 million in county contingency funds to avoid any fire department reductions. Griefer and the majority said no.
On September 16, 2025 — six days after the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk — Griefer stood at a public Board of Supervisors meeting and issued what he called an open invitation to debate anyone, on any topic, at any time.
District 4 resident and community organizer M. Renée Orth accepted the invitation publicly on September 24. After months of planning, with a venue secured, Access Tuolumne ready to record, and the public notified — Griefer withdrew less than 48 hours before the scheduled event.
His stated reasons: that the headline describing him as a "supervisor" was misleading (he is the supervisor), that he hadn't agreed to be recorded (Access Tuolumne had planned to film it), and that the debate topic — connecting his decisions to broader national trends — wasn't what he'd had in mind.
An elected official who issues a public challenge from a public dais, then retreats when a constituent takes him up on it, is not demonstrating the open dialogue he claimed to champion.
Dore Bietz served as Tuolumne County's Office of Emergency Services director for five years, overseeing the county's shift to proactive disaster preparedness, bringing in tens of millions of dollars in grants, updating the county's multi-jurisdictional hazard plan, and earning a standing ovation from the public when she announced her resignation.
She resigned effective May 30, 2025, after the board voted 3-2 — with Griefer in the majority — to move OES from the County Administrator's Office to the Sheriff's Office, a reorganization Bietz had opposed on structural and logistical grounds. She made clear her opposition was about the structure, not the sheriff. The board moved forward anyway.
That statement reveals more about Griefer's understanding of leadership than perhaps anything else in this record. A department is not a thing that exists independent of the people who fill it. There is no "department" — there are people: their relationships, their expertise, their institutional memory, the trust they've built with state agencies and community partners, the grants they know how to write and win. When those people leave, the department doesn't continue in some abstract form. It hollows out.
The idea that you can dismiss the departure of an irreplaceable public servant by redirecting attention to an org chart is not just cold — it is a confession of shallow organizational thinking. Government is not a machine with interchangeable parts. It is a living network of human relationships and accumulated knowledge. A leader who doesn't understand that has no business running one.
The person the community stood up to applaud — Griefer wanted to move past quickly. That tells you everything.
Quincy Yaley had served Tuolumne County for over eight years, most recently as Community Development Director — overseeing land-use planning, construction permitting, and environmental health. She had been unanimously praised by the board just a year earlier and given a five-year contract extension. She resigned in July 2025, effective September 23, following a closed-door performance review by the board.
Brian Bell, her assistant, stepped in as acting director. He resigned in August — not before alerting the board that the department's last remaining code compliance investigator had also resigned, leaving the county with zero code compliance officers.
Three resignations cascading from a single department. An 8-year director, her successor, and the last person doing code compliance work in the entire county — all gone within months.
Tuolumne County traditionally uses a rotating system for the Board of Supervisors chairmanship — the current Vice Chair becomes the next Chair. In January 2026, that meant Supervisor Ryan Campbell was next in line.
A 3-2 board majority — with Griefer as the beneficiary — broke that tradition, voting to install Griefer as Board Chair instead. Griefer's stated rationale: he opposed having a chair who was also up for re-election in the same year. Campbell's seat is on the 2026 ballot. Griefer's is not.
The move broke institutional norms to consolidate power — and gave the board's most aggressive member control of its agenda heading into an election year.
In March 2025, the board voted 4-1 to approve a package of ten layoffs and the elimination of 12.5 vacant positions to address a projected $5.5–6 million budget shortfall. Among those laid off: Robbie Bergstrom, the Senior Administrative Analyst overseeing Business Assistance and Innovation — the county's primary grants and business assistance professional.
Community members raised the alarm during public comment, warning specifically about what the cuts would mean for grant projects already in the pipeline and future funding opportunities. The board proceeded anyway.
A year later, the board drove out Dore Bietz — the county official who had brought in tens of millions of dollars in grants during her tenure at OES. First eliminate the person who pursues grants. Then drive out the person who wins them. The result is a county that is structurally less able to fund the services its residents depend on — and a budget hole that will only grow.
The institutional exodus
The intelligence of county government is not housed in its buildings or its org charts. It lives in its people — in the relationships they've built, the institutional memory they carry, the hard-won knowledge of what works, what failed, who to call at the state, how to write the grant, where the bodies are buried. That knowledge is irreplaceable. It accumulates over years and decades. And it can be destroyed almost overnight.
What you are looking at below is not normal turnover. It is the systematic dismantling of Tuolumne County's institutional intelligence — most of it driven out through closed-door performance reviews by a board majority that arrived with an agenda and little regard for what it was destroying. The consequences will be felt for years.
Eight-year county veteran, unanimously praised and given a five-year contract extension in 2024. Resigned July 2025 after a closed-door board review. Left the department in crisis.
Nearly three decades with Tuolumne County. Resigned July 1, 2025, four days before Yaley — also after a board performance review. Nearly 30 years of institutional knowledge gone in a week.
Stepped in when Yaley left. Resigned August 22, 2025 — not before warning the board that the department's last code compliance officer was also resigning. Zero code compliance officers remained.
The county's chief legal officer announced her departure in August 2025, adding to a wave of senior leadership losses that multiple supervisors have called extraordinary.
Five years leading Tuolumne County's emergency preparedness — bringing in tens of millions in grants, earning a standing ovation at her final board appearance. Gone because the board reorganized her department over her objections.
The county's primary grants professional — laid off in the March 2025 board-approved package. Community members warned at the time that active grant projects and future funding opportunities were at risk. The board proceeded anyway.
One laid off in March 2025. A second resigned in May. The third — the last one standing — resigned in August, leaving Tuolumne County with zero code compliance capacity. The acting CDD director delivered this news to the board as his own farewell.
What comes next
This site exists not just to document what has gone wrong, but to help build what comes next. District 4 covers the Groveland region, Chinese Camp, Don Pedro, and parts of greater Sonora — communities that deserve a supervisor who shows up, tells the truth, and does the unglamorous work of governing well.
Leadership requires integrity. Not as a nice-to-have — as a foundation. A supervisor whose public commitments mean nothing, who issues challenges he won't honor, who says one thing in a board chamber and does another when the moment arrives — that person cannot be trusted with the work of governance. The people of District 4 deserve someone whose word is their bond. That is the minimum. It is not too much to ask.
Griefer's seat is up in 2028. But accountability doesn't wait for elections. We are building a community of informed, engaged District 4 residents who will attend board meetings, ask questions, document the record, and — when the time comes — recruit and support a candidate who actually reflects the values of this district.
If you live in District 4 and care about fire safety, community development, emergency preparedness, and basic governmental accountability — we want to hear from you. This is your county. This is your district.
What comes next
The most important thing this community can do right now is identify and support a candidate who is genuinely worthy of this seat. Not just "not Griefer" — but someone who represents what good local leadership actually looks like.
We are looking for someone with integrity — whose word means something, whose commitments hold under pressure, who tells the truth even when it's inconvenient. Someone who is not driven by grievance or contempt — not a culture warrior, not a keyboard bully, not someone who uses the dais to perform for an audience rather than serve a community.
We need someone who genuinely respects public servants — who understands that the people who work for this county are its intelligence and its capacity, not interchangeable parts to be managed or discarded. A supervisor who can earn the trust of county staff will get dramatically better outcomes for residents than one who rules by intimidation.
If you are that person, or you know someone who might be — or if you're a District 4 resident who wants to help build the civic infrastructure that makes better leadership possible — we want to hear from you.
All claims on this site are drawn from reporting by the Union Democrat, myMotherLode.com, and public records. Sources are cited throughout. This site is maintained by District 4 residents and is not affiliated with any campaign or political party.