Editor’s note: Plumas County Supervisor Tom McGowan is more than mid-way through his four-year term representing district 3, the Chester/Lake Almanor area. The Plumas Sun asked McGowan to tell us about himself, his goals and reflections on his time in office. This is part of a series profiling the Plumas County Board of Supervisors that began with Board Chairman Kevin Goss and continued with Supervisor Mimi Hall.
The Plumas Sun: You served as a Glenn County supervisor before being elected in Plumas County. Tell us about your previous public service.
McGowan: I grew up in Chico. My dad was on the Chico City Council and was mayor when I was in high school, which is, you know, a terrible thing for a kid. We had city council meetings at our kitchen table all through the 60s. My dad was very much civically minded and so were his two brothers, so I knew all the players as a teenager and how they made decisions and the things they considered for the best of everyone. When somebody would come along with self interest, it was interesting to be a fly on the wall. I saw how the process worked and what the motivation was behind it. So I have always been a champion of the underdog, trying to fix things that are broken.
When my son was about seven years old, we moved to Orland, where my father was born. I started <in public service> with the public works commission, and then the chamber of commerce. Then I got appointed to the city council under a vacancy. There were 13 applicants and they went through all 12 before getting down to me. I moved into the district to run against the <county> supervisor but I had to wait for four years. Then I ran against him and won handily. I served from 2000-2008 as a Glenn County supervisor.
The Plumas Sun: Why did you move to Plumas County and run for office here?
McGowan: My parents brought us up here starting in 1959, and in 1968 Dad bought a house in Prattville, which the family still owns. I skied at Stover Mountain… I was good friends with <Plumas County Supervisor> Bill Dennison when I served in Glenn County, and so we had a lot of contact and a lot of interactions. My wife and I moved here in 2017 and I was asked immediately about running for supervisor. I investigated running against <Plumas County Supervisor> Sherrie Thrall but because I was new to Chester, I couldn’t get the support. So I waited, and then Sherrie asked me to be on the county planning commission. When she decided to retire, she asked if I would run.
The Plumas Sun: What were some of your goals as a Plumas County supervisor?
McGowan: I don’t make promises. I’ve learned that promises are very difficult to keep in the political world. So my campaign’s slogan was “Focused on the Future.” I knew there were a lot of things in Plumas County that had been done the same way for quite some time. And I knew that changes were coming. I thought I could be helpful.
The Plumas Sun: How do you feel county officials have handled the Chester/Lake Almanor area in terms of Dixie Fire damages and just generally?
McGowan: The vast majority of people in the Lake Almanor area feel like they’re the redheaded stepchild or the golden goose. We pay for a lot that we don’t get… It’s pretty well known that over 60% of the property tax comes from this district, and it doesn’t take much of an observer to see that nowhere near that comes back here.
The Plumas Sun: You were part of a board of supervisors that voted April 15 to terminate County Administrative Officer Debra Lucero’s contract. What are your thoughts about the general effectiveness of a county administrative officer position?
McGowan: I’ve always been involved in structures that had a board of directors and a daily operating officer, a chief operating officer or county administrative officer – somebody that’s a focal point between the staff and the board. The board decided to hire Debra Lucero as a county administrative officer in November 2022, before I took office. Debra uncovered a lot of things that were poor practices needing changes that those people affected did not like. I think it was something that could easily have been corrected because it was primarily personality conflicts.
The Plumas Sun: Do you favor hiring another CAO?
McGowan: The board’s job is to set policy and someone needs to implement it. When you have 27 departments and it’s management by committee, the stronger department heads are able to get what they want and everybody else is just scrambling to try and keep up. It really takes one person who knows the whole system, the budget and the law to keep a balance and implement the policies set by the board — to challenge and correct the supervisors if they’re wrong. The CAO is the one who focuses it all into a cohesive unit that’s efficient. Without a CAO it’s chaos. We should be advertising for a CAO right now.
“Resistance to change — that’s a big issue.
Tom McGowan, Plumas County supervisor
The Plumas Sun: There’s been some hostility surrounding the CAO office that continues today. What are the sources and how do you deal with them?
McGowan: Resistance to change — that’s a big issue. I’ve heard employees say the motto of Plumas County is “Welcome to Plumas County: Unencumbered by change since 1854.” I’m not going to name names, but there’s a certain amount of truth to that. The reality is change has been imposed upon us. How we work through it is our responsibility. Laws change, economies change. Everything has changed dramatically over the last five years. It’s a pace that urban areas are more used to, and rural counties in California are not. I think that permeates many of the employees’ minds, too, because they’re second- and third-generation county employees, and they’re just not really open to that.
“I would like to see a more efficient, more cohesive Plumas County, where everybody’s working for the county as a whole.”
Tom McGowan, Plumas County supervisor
The Plumas Sun: There’s been a level of dysfunctionality within the county in the last 20 months. Is that changing?
McGowan: It’s pretty obvious to any observer that there’s not a cohesive unit. I never expect 5-0 votes and everybody in agreement. If you have that type of agreement, somebody’s not thinking. We have differences of opinion, which is good. I’ll play the devil’s advocate many times if I think something’s not being discussed or all the possibilities and outcomes are not being considered — just to get all the facts out on the table in the public eye so there’s transparency.
The Plumas Sun: What changes would you like to see at the board or the county level?
McGowan: The first and highest priority is to hire a good, competent CAO. Then look at the budget very carefully to see what we can do to improve the salaries of all the departments. We need to improve our income sources. Everybody has experienced the same rapid increase in expenses but no change in income, and that’s true with the county as well. That presents a pretty significant problem in terms of salaries. You can say this is a great place to live and that we have a good working relationship. Well, that goes only so far.
The Plumas Sun: Are there issues you would like to mention that we haven’t discussed?
McGowan: You have hope. Then you’ve got to nail it down. You have to be realistic. There’s a lot of things that still need to improve. I take it one day at a time, because things can change so rapidly that I may need to change the plans. But I’m an eternal optimist. I’m hopeful that engaged constituents will keep paying attention and bringing their ideas to the board, calling us out when we’re not doing something right. I would like to see a more efficient, more cohesive Plumas County, where everybody’s working for the county as a whole.