Explore Grass Valley – Greater Grass Valley Chamber of Commerce (2025)

As a Nevada Union High School student, I never imagined that one day I would serve as the City of Grass Valley’s sixth police chief. Here I am today, with the best job in the world: serving the very community that has provided me with this opportunity—a community that for those of us who get to live here, has shaped us as much as we may shape it.

After [growing up in Nevada City and graduating] high school, I went away to Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Like many young adults living in our area, I had grown accustomed to all Nevada County had to offer. I never realized just how special it was until I left for a while—it was all I had known. It didn’t take long to realize how fortunate I was. There are many beautiful places between here and Spokane, and many others across this great country, but none rise to the level of our hometown.

Where else do you have 75 degree days in the middle of winter and within 24 hours the weather can turn to an arctic blast, covering tall trees with white snow—snow that rarely lasts on the ground for more than a few days? Where else can you be skiing in less than an hour on some of the best mountains in the world and watch the sunset on the Pacific Ocean the next day? Where else can you do some spring skiing in the morning and water skiing in the afternoon? Where else can you be fishing for salmon, steelhead, or stripers and be only minutes from lake trout, hunting, and kayaking? I believe there are not too many places. On top of all that, there is a community here filled with culture, and history that rivals anywhere.

Our family is blessed to live here, and my wife and I are truly lucky to raise our three boys here. My hope is that their childhood is as rich as ours was, that our community continues to maintain its vibrancy and adapts to the new realities in a digital world. I am excited for the future of our towns and confident at what we want is to keep Nevada County—well, “Nevada County."