View VideoSonora, CA — Issues between the Tuolumne County government and the City of Sonora, notably the District One Supervisor and the Vice Mayor, were laid out at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
District One Supervisor Mike Holland came up and spoke during the public comment portion at the beginning of the meeting. He noted that he missed last month’s session (where he was scheduled to provide an update to the council about county happenings) because he had an employee in his private business who was hurt during an incident, and it needed his attention. He was later criticized by Vice Mayor Andy Merrill, and there was reference to findings about Holland in the recent Grand Jury reports.
Holland stated, “Apparently that opened the door for Councilmember Merrill to go on a tirade about how I should show up, and my civic duty is based off of my pay. Which I would remind him that we do this because of a love of a community, and you want to see your government do better, and your community do better.”
Holland said he had texted Sonora Mayor Ann Segerstrom and councilmember Mark Plummer to let them know about what happened, and also relay that he had spoken with US Senator Adam Schiff’s office about items related to the Dove Fire.
Holland continued, “What you (Merrill) did does not promote growth between the county and the city; it actually does just the opposite. It is something that I worry about; If you become Mayor, the divide will become greater.”
Mayor Ann Segerstrom’s two-year term as Mayor runs through late this year, and Merrill is in line to become Mayor next (upon council approval).
Merrill argued that he didn’t make any such demands. He also indicated that he had concerns related to the recent Grand Jury reports mentioning Holland, and he attempted to speak about them at the last BOS meeting, but the session ran too long.
Councilmember Stephen Opie defended Holland, and added, “What Mike had to say was pretty true, as far as it does not make for a good relationship when there is a lot of disputes.”
Opie continued, “I don’t want to have disputes behind closed doors, we’ll say, but I also don’t want us to drag all of our dirty laundry out for people to see, so maybe we can have a simple conversation to clear things up.”
Merrill responded, “I was under the impression that council is unanimously kind of dissatisfied with our current county representation.
Merrill stressed that his concerns voiced about Supervisor Holland are of a professional nature, and it is not personal.
Merrill added, “I tried to give some public comment at the last board of supervisors meeting, last week. I was there for about six hours and couldn’t speak on the Grand Jury item. I just felt the need to stand up for our Grand Jury. I think there has been a lot of misrepresentation on how they function and who they are, being circled around. I just want to make very clear that these are citizens of Tuolumne County, every single one of them that volunteer. When I hear claims being made that two of them were biased, or that this created some sort of political nature in that Grand Jury, I want to remind the public that every single issue that the Grand Jury decides to take up is decided by a supermajority. That’s 67%, or two-thirds of the entire legislative body that has to agree that those topics for investigation are valid.”
He added that other issues and concerns about a “hostile work environment” at the county were brought up by the prior-year Grand Jury.
Merrill concluded, “I grow by taking criticism, especially constructive criticism. What I think needs to be remembered, most importantly, is that the Grand Jury is an opportunity for the people of Tuolumne County to criticize their governments. We can either reject that, and kind of belittle our own process and our people, or we can take that and try to grow from it.”
At times during last night’s meeting, when issues between Holland and Merrill were being brought up, other council members argued that the discussions were at times getting off-track.
