Hadwick Honors Bryan Davey With Distinguished Service Award

BASSETTS — Assemblymember Heather Hadwick has named Bryan Davey her August Distinguished Service Award recipient, honoring a Sierra County career that ran from the Sheriff’s Office to the county’s top public works job. Yolanda Cookson, Hadwick’s district director, presented the certificate of recognition to Davey at the Sierra Buttes scenic overlook on Gold Lake Highway. Hadwick announced the award in a post on her Facebook page.

“From strengthening fire and emergency services to improving roads, bridges, water systems and community facilities, Bryan has spent his career quietly doing the work that keeps rural communities safe, strong and moving forward,” Hadwick wrote. She said Davey “represents what public service is all about,” which she described as “showing up, solving problems and getting things done for the people you serve.”

Hadwick, a Republican from Alturas, represents the First Assembly District, which covers 11 counties including Sierra County. Her office gives out monthly district awards, among them the Distinguished Service Award and a Community Impact Award, to residents, businesses, and organizations across the district.

Davey spent 16 years at Chevron’s Fuels and Oils Engine Research Laboratory in Richmond before putting himself through the police academy at Yuba College and moving to Sierra County, where he was appointed Deputy Sheriff II on March 3, 2004. He left the Sheriff’s Office in November 2007 and joined the Department of Public Works and Transportation the next day as an Engineer Technician III. Promotions in 2010 and 2015 made him Senior Engineer Technician and Senior Transportation Planner, and then Deputy Director of Transportation and Assistant Engineer. The Board of Supervisors appointed him Director of Transportation and Public Works on June 5, 2023, and he retired on December 25, 2025, after 21 years with the county.

As deputy director and then director, Davey oversaw the replacement of the Packer Lake, Salmon Lake, Plumbago, and Little Truckee bridges and the remodels of the Downieville Community Hall and Sierraville School. He managed county recovery from the 2017 winter storms, the 2020 Loyalton Fire, storms in 2021 and 2023, the 2024 Bear Fire, and the August 2025 storm. From 2008 to 2019, while working for the county, he also served as Chief of the Sierra City Volunteer Fire Department.

The Sierra County Board of Supervisors adopted its own resolution of appreciation for Davey in Downieville on January 6, presented by Supervisor Lila Heuer to a packed meeting room. The resolution credits him with working by the mission “Always Do What’s Best for Sierra County.” Speaking to his former department at the meeting, Davey said, “It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve all of you. You guys are what makes all this possible; I just kind of herded the cats.”

Davey is now one of two candidates for Sierra County Supervisor in District 2 on the November 3 ballot. He led a three-candidate field in the June 2 primary with 114 votes to Sonya Meline’s 102 and Michael Ostrom’s 23, according to the county’s certified Statement of Vote, and because no one took a majority, he and Meline advanced to the general election. Heuer, who holds the seat, is not seeking another term.