PIO Podcast features BOS Chairman and Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe

"San Bernardino County Update", yellow arrowhead and "SBCounty.gov

PIO Podcast host Captain Shawn Millerick is back in the studio for a conversation with Board of Supervisors Chairman and Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe, Chief of Staff Claire Cozad and Communications Director Scott Ward.

Rowe shares her path to the Board of Supervisors, including losing her husband in Iraq and remaining in Yucca Valley to raise their children. She discusses how frustrations over local land-use issues led to her serving on the planning commission, town council and eventually the county board. She talks about the steep learning curve of representing the county’s largest district, which stretches from the Los Angeles County line to the Arizona and Nevada borders and has faced major emergencies, including the El Dorado Fire, the Line Fire, Tropical Storm Hilary and winter storms.

Cozad discusses her work on Capitol Hill, her experience managing a team of 12, and the advice she would give any young person starting out. Ward reflects on more than three decades in radio at KFROG and his transition to public service communications.

The group also digs into county budget priorities, the importance of Starlink in supporting emergency response in remote desert communities, and a real-life mass casualty exercise that turned into an accidental rescue of a county supervisor stranded in the desert with a group of high schoolers.

Additional County Update News – July 23, 2026