- Welcome to "Inland Edition", where we have conversations with people that make decisions affecting our everyday lives.

My name is Joe Richardson.

I'm an Inland Empire resident, and an attorney, and your host.

And today, we're going to chat with a member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.

A Southern California native, [background music] a mother of two college graduates, and a resident of Yucca Valley, Dawn Rowe was unanimously selected by her colleagues to serve as chair of the board for a two-year term.

She cemented her status as a leading voice within her desert community by negotiating a legislative solution that protected thousands of acres of popular off-highway vehicle trails from closure due to the expansion of the Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms.

With a bachelor's in journalism and a master's in advertising, she's sensible, she's decisive and she's resolved and it's time to meet her now.

[gentle upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ - [Joe] Well, I'm thrilled to have with us San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe.

Thank you for being here.

- Thank you for having me.

- So, let's build the house a little bit; talk about how you got here on this path of public service.

Was it just a moment in time where something happens and you figure out "that's what I'm supposed to be doing?"

Or, is it a succession of events where it becomes more clear that this is your destiny?

- Probably a little bit of both.

So, my background in education is in journalism and marketing.

And, my late husband was in the Marine Corps for 18 years.

- Hm.

- So, we went wherever the Marine Corps took us and our last duty station was out in Twentynine Palms.

And, I had stopped working in the workforce when I had kids, and my kids were two and four at the time we moved out there.

And then, my husband on his second deployment to Iraq was killed in Iraq.

- God, I'm sorry.

- And-- thank you.

And, that became our home for a bunch of different reasons.

I was born and raised in Southern California, but not in the desert.

And, the desert just turned out to be a great place to raise the kids.

And, getting to know and love the high deserts, but not wanting to live in the same family house that we shared with my husband, I built a home.

Loved it, and I loved it so much I wanted to do it again.

And so, I subdivided land and ran into all kinds of problems.

And, that is what began my journey in public service.

- Oh, my gosh.

Wow!

So, you did what you did out of necessity!

- I did.

Well, yes.

I just didn't think that-?

I mean, I was a housewife at the time, but I'm not completely stupid at all and figure if I can figure out how to build a house, I could certainly subdivide lands.

And, I struggled.

And so, I went to the mayor; his name was Chad Mayes at that time, in Yucca Valley.

And I said, "Chad, I'm Dawn.

"I'm a military spouse; now a surviving spouse.

Help me with land subdivision."

And,Chad said, "Perfect.

"I have an opening on the planning commission.

"You're my new planning commissioner!"

- Wow!

- And, I knew nothing about land use.

And, I learned that the planning commission was a body that would make recommendations to the policymakers.

So, I thought I had it all figured out, making great policy recommendations.

And, Chad was still on the council and they said, "Thanks for your interest, "but we're not gonna adopt your policy."

So, I went back to Chad and I said, "Chad, I wanna run for council."

And, we were not in districts at that time.

So, Chad and I actually ran together, not as a slate, but we ran at the same time.

And then, I was elected to the council to serve with Chad, and then try to implement some of the things that were policy reforms in land use that I wanted to see.

- Wow.

- So, that's really how it started.

- Wow.

So, you get on the town council.

- Mm hm.

- Tell us about some of the things that you did on the town council and how it informs you actually being on the county board of supervisors.

- So, back to the land development side.

Some of the problems that I ran into were at the state level, but not knowing jurisdictions and things like that, I would complain to Chad and Chad would tell me to stop yelling at him; go to the state.

And, that was Paul Cook, who was our assemblyman at the time.

And so, I introduced myself to Paul, who is a spunky public servant, and Paul said, "Don't yell at me; be my field rep." So, I then became a part-time field rep, which was great 'cause I could stay home with the kids and then still do part-time things as a field rep while they were in school.

And, learned a lot about the assembly and the state level.

And then, Paul got himself elected to Congress.

So, I kept the same job but the jurisdiction changed.

And then, all of that, I'm still trying to do stuff at the local level with land use.

And, we were successful with a lot of the things that were small local issues in land use.

And so, I stepped off the council because I had cute little kids that grew into teenagers and they needed, or maybe-?

They didn't want more of my time, at that time!

(Joe chuckles) So, I still stayed working as a field rep and finished raising them.

And then, there became an opening at the county board of supervisors.

And, I called Paul and I said, what do you think?

And, he said, "What do you know about the county?"

And, I said, "I know I've kind of worked in and around it as a field rep at the different levels," but I really didn't know much about county government.

And, he encouraged me to do it.

He's, like, "You can learn."

So, I applied for the appointment at that time.

- Wow.

So, you get it and you've since been elected, as well.

- Yes.

Yes.

- Tell us about what the county supervisor actually does as the county board of supervisors.

- So, I tell people-- when I tell them I'm a supervisor, they typically ask, "of which department?

"Of human resources?

Of public works?

You know, "what do you supervise?"

And then, I try to explain sort of county government.

And then, I revert back to, "do you know what a mayor and a council is?"

They're like, "Yeah."

I'm like, "well, I'm that at the county level."

They're like, "Oh, I get it."

- Nice.

- So, one of the more interesting things is that we have so many unincorporated communities in San Bernardino County, and we're really their only elected representative.

I mean, maybe water districts and school board members, but in terms of county local governance, it is their supervisor.

- Mm hm.

- And so, we have about 500,000 residents in each of our five districts that we connect them to the services at the local level.

- So, tell us about the additional responsibilities that come with being chair, and then also you sit on certain boards and commissions as part of being on the board of supervisors.

- So, I would say when I got appointed, I probably knew 50% of what the job entailed.

I thought I knew it all, and then I got appointed and knew about half of it.

Part of what I did not know were the additional boards and commissions that county boards of supervisors sit on.

And, they're actually incredibly important.

So, it could be transportation.

It could be air quality.

It could be the old Norton Air Force Base that is now SBD, the reuse of that.

And, those boards determine how we allocate federal and state funding.

And, they-- you champion what your causes are at whatever your level.

So, if it's in transportation, it could be different cities throughout the county trying to look for and draw the resources to them.

And so, the county board then advocates for those dollars to come and be spent on county projects or on county residents.

And so, that's why it's such an important role that we play on all those ancillary boards and commissions.

- Tell us about the things that make San Bernardino County special- - Mm hm?

- and maybe even some of the related challenges and possibilities that flow from those things that make us unique and special.

- So, my district in particular, the third district is comprised of deserts and mountains and then the valley area, as well.

So, I touch Arizona, Nevada.

I have all the mountains.

And then, I touch LA County on the western part.

So, when you think about the geography, just of my district alone, it's so unique and varied.

So, flash floods in the desert, how do you maintain roads and services for residents that their nearest deputy on patrol might be a two-hour call out because we have such rural areas within the county versus the mountains, which have unique challenges as we saw this past winter.

And then, issues in the valley, which are unique to congestion and air quality, homelessness, and now an ever increasing inability to afford homes for families.

And, that's not the case necessarily in the desert, although that's changing, as well.

So, I would say each region has its unique challenges that then present opportunities.

So, as the desert areas being gentrified and people are migrating from the western reaches of Southern California out to the desert areas, that's great.

We don't have the infrastructure.

We're still on septic in many areas out there.

We don't have sewer systems.

So, you have a bulging population without that infrastructure in place, and then you don't really have the tax dollars to sustain it, to create it.

So, as the county looks at it-- so if you take Curt Hagman in Chino, Chino Hills, Ontario, that area, he'll say, "Well, how do we prioritize "for such a small amount of people "where we have still infrastructure needs at the west end of the valley?"

And so, we don't fight, but we advocate for our various needs.

But, it is more challenging to say, "I need infrastructure dollars where we don't have the population base."

- Mm hm.

- So, those are neat areas because we still have night skies where you can go out and you can see all the constellations.

You can take kids camping.

You can hear wildlife all over the place, but you have to spend a couple hours on a dirt road.

And folks, when they move out there, they want the best of everything that they may have left behind?

- Mm hm.

- So, part of my job is educating residents; "if you're going to live in rural San Bernardino County, we'll help you, but you have to help yourself."

And, we do have communities that work as an extension of government to provide that which we can't be immediate in their needs.

So, it's opportunities and challenges all wrapped up in one.

- Talk about, if you will, the need for bridge building.

- Mm hm!

- You are in a district that is very, very different and varied geographically- - Mm hm.

- diversity wise, politically, even.

Right?

- Sure.

- And so, as part of your job, you've got to bridge build.

Right?

Talk about that and how that really figures into your day-to-day.

- So, I approach the job as, I guess, a mom.

Right?

That's really how I look at it.

And, as a mom, I don't want my children to be treated differently because they are of a certain color, of a certain gender identity or whatever it is.

I represent every resident, every business that's in my district.

And now as the chairman of the board, I just think that we need to look at it as an opportunity.

Matter of fact, I had a recent conversation with a fellow board member, and there was a question for me as the chair on how do I make a connection with another board member struggling to-- And, my answer was, "you're focusing on the areas "that you have that are different.

"You're probably different in 20% to 25% "of what you're talking about.

"Go to the 75%.

Find that 75% "where you can build the consensus, "establish the rapport through the consensus building of the areas that you have that are similar."

And, it doesn't have to be partisan.

Right?

We're a nonpartisan spot.

We all have our political ideologies and things that we grew up with, or our convictions and our political bent.

But, the five of us on the county board of supervisors don't approach governing that way.

It's really what's in the best interest for our district, our residents, our businesses, and then how to support each other.

And so, that consensus building really starts-- I feel like I'm-?

You know, back, I substitute taught for quite a while in trying to figure out where you have areas of commonality in a classroom.

How do you work together?

How do you do that?

And, you try to identify the areas that you have the similarities so that you-- When you find areas of similarity, you have compassion; you have sympathy, understanding.

And then, once those foundations are in place, we can spar and debate over the areas that we have disagreement.

But, if you respect me because of the foundations, I'm more likely to maybe cause you to pause and think, and have an open mind, and the same for me.

So, I go back to that-- the advice that I gave my kids.

Like, "just listen more than you talk.

Have an open mind and be willing to change your mind."

- So, let's talk about natural disasters.

Everybody's got them, and on another level, seemingly, and we're no different in Inland Empire.

Talk about some of the things that we've seen and from a governance level, how it affects what it is that you do, the adjustments we have to make and how we deal with expecting the unexpected now in the way of these natural disasters.

- So, couple of things there.

The relationships that we have with our state and federal partners become integral during disasters.

So, whether it is the El Dorado burn scar area in my district that just-- I mean, it really annihilated those mountain communities.

That, then, when you have massive rain flows, turns into mudslides that then become deadly mudslides.

So, it's a combination of working with our federal partners where those things originate on federal land in the Forest Service and being able to say, how do we have debris removal in the Forest Service with endangered species, with blue-line streams and rivers that we really have to get permission to cross, to clear out?

So, those relationships are extremely important for that reason.

And then, on the other end of it, it is preparedness on the part of our residents and our ability at the county level to communicate the necessity for preparedness.

So, I think both we've seen in the mud flows, the fires, to evacuate, to heed those evacuation warnings; to be prepared to shelter in place for a number of days, which we saw in our winter blizzard.

And, to really have some self-reliance.

We want to be there to serve our residents as quick and as expeditiously as we can possibly do it while keeping our first responders safe.

But, there has to be some personal responsibility on behalf of our residents, and that's incumbent upon us to tell residents what that is and how to do that.

And so, you take the different departments.

So, it could be Office of Emergency Services, County Fire, County Public Works, our sheriff's department, all of those that go into a unified command that respond jointly in mass disasters and work with them as the liaison to the residents.

And, that's challenging.

Right?

I don't talk "first responder talk" like those guys want me to talk sometimes.

And then, my residents would prefer to have a direct line of communication to the Office of Emergency Services.

And so, it's challenging to act in that liaison role and to be an advocate for your first responders as well as your residents.

And, to take that.

There are many sleepless nights.

They are long, long days where you're struggling with residents that have-- they're stranded because they didn't wanna evacuate because they have animals.

Maybe they had health considerations.

They couldn't get a ride out; they don't drive.

There are a number of reasons.

So, to have the compassion for them and letting our first responders know, we have people that are typically very resilient and if they're stuck, they need some help.

And, it's been one of the more challenging aspects of county government for me as a supervisor.

- Educate us on maybe some things, maybe the resources that are available, maybe there are programs available, some things maybe that you would want citizens to know that they just really don't!

Like, did you know-?

You know?

Fill in the blank.

"Did you know that this is available?

"Did you know that there's this program that provides this service?"

Give us some education just on some things that maybe some people don't know that are out there and that are available and they're maybe as a result, a bit underutilized.

- So, I'll do two wide ranges of the spectrum in county government.

So, land use services, which is a department that is constant in the third district because we're so large.

Anybody who has a project that wants to develop or they're contemplating opening a restaurant, or they wanna know if they could just expand and do an add-on, how do they do that?

It almost becomes "where do you go, and how do you do it?"

We will meet with anyone for free and we'll walk them through what they need to do and help them with that process.

So, that's something that I would wish more people were aware that existed at that fundamental level for our business and our residents.

And then, on the other end of the spectrum, we have a fantastic workforce development board and our economic development.

Those two departments, we have programs that we'll match 50% of the hourly wage for up to three months for new hires.

We will help our businesses with siting locations or relocations.

We'll help train people, on-the-job training.

And, a lot of those programs are paid for and available to our businesses that are incorporated or unincorporated, and our nonprofits.

- Wow.

- So, there's an awful lot for our residents, small businesses, big businesses that the County of San Bernardino can assist with.

We do an okay job, but I'm learning.

So, if I'm still learning, I think we could do a better job of getting the word out.

- Do you feel like the Inland Empire is always in this never-ending fight for resources?

Some of us think that maybe money's not getting back over to us.

Maybe we're overshadowed by Los Angeles and San Diego and San Francisco, but there's a lot of us here.

There's a lot of land space.

There's a lot of need, et cetera.

Do you feel that, I mean, I know you guys have a big budget, but do you feel that, as well?

- You know?

Yes and no.

There are certainly-- you know, we just had a ballot measure that talked about, "does "San Bernardino County get its fair share of resources from the state, from the federal level?"

And, I think the answer is both yes and no.

And so, we're in the process of researching that on behalf of our residents to figure out what are the areas where we get more than our fair share.

And then, in some areas we certainly don't get the resources for our residents that I think we would like.

And so, we're in the process of identifying where the disparity exists and trying to advocate for perhaps a more level playing field for the Inland Empire.

- You've been through personal tragedy.

Life happens.

- It does.

- But, you have found a way to be pragmatic about stepping into leadership roles; not just a sayer, but a doer.

Right?

How do you deal with difficult moments?

Which I'm sure there can be, even as supervisor, where things can change on a dime, whether it's a global pandemic or a natural disaster or whatever else.

You know, how do you-?

What do you tell yourself in order to hang in there?

- I'll go back to a story I reflect on right after my husband was killed.

Went in, I met with an attorney and in the trying to get wills and stuff sorted out.

And the clerk in that office, she was having a bad day.

And, she's notarizing or doing stuff for me.

She knows my late husband was killed.

And, I'm like, wow, not a lot of sympathy.

And, in the conversation she said, "My son was electrocuted last week."

And then, she went on in the course of that conversation to tell me that her husband had passed away of melanoma and that her sister-in-law was ill and not expected to live.

I left heartbroken for her feeling incredibly selfish.

And so, out of that comes something that I tell myself all the time, "you just never know what somebody else is experiencing "and it could likely be an awful lot worse than what your own challenges are."

So, when we're having bad days in the office, when there's something that's happening, I am reminded and I try to remind my team, it could certainly always be worse.

We are blessed in many regards.

- Encourage those of us that where life has been happening so much that maybe we're less involved with understanding what the county supervisors do.

Maybe we aren't voting, young and old, you know?

- Mm hm.

- 'cause life's happening.

Encourage us and the folks that are watching about why we should, particularly in a difficult time, particularly where there's a lot at stake and there's always so much at stake, be more civically engaged- - Mm hm!

- as opposed to less.

- So, I'll tell you, and I'm living this example right now.

I am up for election in March.

I have a gentleman running with me, against me for all practical purposes and it is a pleasure to run with him.

He and I have agreed that we have different constituencies.

We have different areas that we focus on.

And, when he called me, he goes, "Hey, "I'm running for the third district."

I'm like, "wait, what?"

(Dawn chuckles) I'm like, "oh,wait.

You're running against me?"

He's like, "No, I'm just kind of "running to-- I've got different stuff.

I just think people should have a choice."

And, he's absolutely right.

And when we talked about it, I said, at the national level, we hate-- I hate listening to national news because it's so polarized and it's so-- become so vitriolic.

So, I told this gentleman, I said, "hey, let's set the example at the local level "that this is really what it should be.

"You have the things that you represent.

"I have the things that I represent.

"Let's tell voters what we each have that is the goodness in us and then people get to decide."

And, we don't do it by putting each other down or by disparaging each other.

And so, I think the old saying, "Be the change that you wanna see"?

I'd like to see that at the national level.

So, we're trying it at the local level.

- [Joe] That's fantastic.

- So, that would be my advice.

- I'm sure some people are watching saying, "Whoa, she's tough!"

So, how would people follow up to know more about, maybe even people that wanna be involved in government that are hopefully looking at it a little bit differently, or follow up on what the county board is doing and what's going on in the county?

How can people follow up and find out more information?

- So, I gotta tell you.

When I first went up and approached the mayor, I jokingly told the kids, I'm like, go get the Schoolhouse Rock video and whip it out 'cause I don't remember government in high school!

- Yes!

Yes!

- I just didn't.

It wasn't my thing, right?

I was never a policy wonk.

I didn't really-?

- Right!

- I didn't pay attention.

I was on the more social side; didn't care about the-- (Joe laughing) So, I had to go back and I had to kind of relearn with the kids.

And, I wasn't intimidated to get into it because it was an educational journey for me and I didn't really have-- I just needed my problem solved.

So, I think people don't get into public service because they don't feel that they have a background in it that-- I mean, look at my background.

I'm a housewife.

I'm in marketing.

I don't have a "pedigree", if you will, for county supervisor.

But, that's the beauty of local governance is that anybody can learn.

And, that is really who we should have as our elected officials.

It provides a good blend.

So, don't be afraid to ask, to go up to people.

What may seem like a silly question or a naive question, people should not be afraid to ask those questions to get involved.

So, I think everybody should do it, even if it's just an appointed position on a board or a commission.

- How do folks get in contact with your office?

- I have a Joshua Tree office.

- Okay.

- And, a San Bernardino office.

- Okay.

- A simple Google search, right?

"San Bernardino County Third District.

Dawn Rowe, San Bernardino County", and it pops up.

And, we have email.

You'll get a personal response.

You'll get a phone call back or an email and we have a website where you can submit something or you can email us directly.

- What kind of services can people expect, that they go to your office for, can they get?

- So, I'll tell you.

My team is fantastic at trying to solve all problems at all levels.

Most of what we get are local questions.

So, it'll be, "I live in the town of Yucca Valley "and the berm eroded on the street," which is by the way, a state highway in the town.

And, my eyes roll back in my head.

It has nothing to do with the county, but they don't know who to call.

And, Caltrans?

The town of Yucca Valley?

So, my team does a fantastic job of helping them get connected to get their problem solved.

So, it doesn't have to be a county issue.

We will help get you in touch with where you need to go for that.

So, that's something that we've done a really good job on.

- So, supervisor chair, Dawn Rowe, thank you so much for being here.

We really appreciate it.

- Thank you for the opportunity to come and share a little bit about being a supervisor.

- And, we want to thank you for watching us here on "Inland Edition".

Tell everyone, tell a friend, you can watch these episodes all on YouTube, even if you don't watch them live when they run.

And, let's keep going building bridges one conversation at a time.

Till then, see ya.

[uplifting music and vocals] ♪ [softer music] ♪ ♪ ♪ [music fades]