Chairwoman of the Board of Supervisors Dawn Rowe put out the following statement to county employees this morning, August 18:

County Family,
I’m reaching out to you this morning to inform you that Leonard Hernandez has resigned as the county’s chief executive officer effective today. County Chief Operating Officer Luther Snoke has been doing a great job filling in for Leonard while Leonard has been on leave. Luther will
continue to do so in close coordination with the board of supervisors while the board determines how to fill the CEO position.
The Board and I are committed to a seamless transition with no interruption in County services or impact on you.
Leonard has asked us to share the following message:
‘It has been an extreme privilege to serve as the chief executive officer of San Bernardino County. I am thankful to the Board of Supervisors for their leadership and the hard-working men and women who do amazing work every day. Due to an urgent family health issue that requires my immediate and undivided attention, I have informed the Board of my resignation. Under the strong leadership of the board of supervisors and the county’s executive team, the county will continue doing great things for the residents of San Bernardino County.’
As chair, I would like to take this opportunity to commend all of you for the dedication and innovation you bring to your jobs each day, and your commitment to our residents and our public service mission. The board is very proud of how you consistently bring us through the difficult crises our county faces , the long hours and time away from your loved ones that are often required, the national accolades you earn, and the everyday tasks you perform to keep our communities safe, healthy, and prosperous.
The board and I appreciate you.
Best Wishes,
Dawn”

FBN 20230006688
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
M.V. PIZZERIA PUB & OVEN 1191 E. FOOTHILL BLVD. UPLAND, CA 91786 M.V. PIZZERIA PUB & OVEN LLC 2108 N ST STE N SACRAMENTO, CA 95816
Mailing Address: 2108 N ST STE N SACRAMENTO, CA 95816
The business is conducted by: A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY registered with the State of California under the number 202357816444
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: JUNE 27, 2023.
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130. I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
s/ DEILAR AGUILERA, CFO
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 6/30/2023
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy I8806
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on July 28, August 4, 11 & 18, 2023.

FBN 20230002985
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as FOREVERME BOUTIQUE 2279 N TEAKWOOD AVE RIALTO, CA 92377:
KEREN H DIAZ 2279 N TEAKWOOD AVE RIALTO, CA 92377
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL.
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: N/A.
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130. I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
s/ KEREN H DIAZ, Owner
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 3/24/2023
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy J5065
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on April 7, 14, 21 & 28, 2023. Republished/Corrected on July 28 and August 4, 11 & 18, 2023.

Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
Pam Williams, San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Leonard Hernandez’s mistress whom he installed into the $266,612.23-total annual compensation position of chief of county administration, is now asking the county to grant her whistleblower protection in the aftermath of their office-shattering breakup.
Hernandez was serving as the county librarian when in 2015 he was plucked by then-County Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux to serve as a deputy county executive officer overseeing the county’s libraries, its museum, the registrar of voters office, county airports and its agriculture and weights and measures division. His rise continued in 2017 when he was entrusted with the assignment of county chief operating officer. In September 2020, he was promoted to the county’s top staff position, chief executive officer. Almost immediately upon moving officially into the CEO post in October 2020, Hernandez chose Williams, then a principal administrative analyst, to serve as the county’s chief of administration and head of what was termed its strategic initiatives division. In making that promotion, Hernandez advanced Williams by the equivalent of 17 pay grades.
In short order, Hernandez, who had already demonstrated his aggressiveness and ambition by his single-minded devotion to carrying out the stated or implied imperatives of his political masters on the board of supervisors, established what has arguably been the most domineering administration in San Bernardino County history. Heading county government are nine constitutional elected officials – the sheriff, district attorney, treasurer/tax collector, and assessor/recorder/clerk, all of whom are elected at large; and five supervisors elected by geographical district. In all of those areas of county governance falling under the purview of the board of supervisors and thereby his authority as their administrative designee, Hernandez moved swiftly to assert his authority over the various department heads overseeing the myriad of functions and operations of county government. Continue reading →

By Mark Gutglueck
A confluence of events and circumstance has resulted in San Bernardino County’s top ranking staff member being placed on an involuntary extended vacation leave, by the end of which it is anticipated his not quite three-year reign as the chief executive in the largest geographical county in the lower 48 states will draw to a close.
San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Leonard Hernandez’s steep and dramatic rise from what originally seemed a studious librarian with relatively humble aspirations to what was arguably the county’s most domineering administrator in its 170-year history now appears to be on the brink of being matched with a no less dramatic and even more abrupt plunge into premature retirement.
Primary factors in the turnaround include Hernandez’s inability to put a cap on the forceful nature of his personality that at first had so impressed his political masters on the board of supervisors with his can-do attitude but which had more recently come to grate upon those around him and a classic entanglement with a femme fatale he unwisely welcomed into his administration.
In September 2020, Hernandez was promoted to assume the post of county chief executive officer and replace Gary McBride, his predecessor, the following month.
Hernandez, 45, has now spent a quarter of a century employed in government, having begun in 1998 at the age of 20 as a part-time library assistant at the Chino Branch Library while he was attending Cal State Fullerton as he was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in history. Upon graduating from college, he obtained a full-time position at the James S. Thalman Chino Hills Branch Library. He then earned his Master of Science degree in library science through Pennsylvania’s Clarion University’s online learning program and promoted into the position of the Fontana Branch Library manager within the San Bernardino County Library System. In 2008, he became the director of libraries with the City of Riverside, but in 2010, anticipating the retirement of San Bernardino County Librarian Ed Kieczykowski, returned to San Bernardino County. In 2011, upon Kieczykowski’s departure, Hernandez moved into the position of San Bernardino County librarian. In 2013, Hernandez was offered, while he was simultaneously serving in the librarian post, a secondary position as the director of the San Bernardino County Museum. Continue reading →

The San Bernardino County Department of Land Use Services has signaled that it will soon intensify its program aimed at the regulation of short-term rentals.
For more than a decade, various locations considered exotic in San Bernardino County, most notably in the desert and the mountains, have become popular weekend getaways for wealthy residents of San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside and lower San Bernardino counties who are looking to tour Joshua Tree National Monument, engage in mountain trail hiking, boat on Lake Arrowhead or Big Bear Lake or enjoy a “white weekend” during December, January and February. Several locations in the desert have long been, and are becoming increasingly more, popular with tourists and so-called “snowbirds” fleeing harsh winter weather elsewhere in the country as well as Canada.
A previous county ordinance relating to short-term rentals in the mountains was instituted by the county in 2015. In late 2018 the county took up the issue once more with an eye to revamping and updating those regulations. A newly drafted form of the ordinance extending the regulations to the desert was considered in public hearings held by the San Bernardino County Planning Commission in August and September 2019 and was passed by the board of supervisors in November 2019.
The ordinance applied to short-term residential rentals and short-term accessory dwelling units, requiring owners of such properties to register at least once every two years any property being utilized for rentals on a less than continuous basis, meaning, in practical terms, for thirty days or less. The ordinance further required identification of and signatures from renters, the maintenance of records showing compliance with the county code, and gave the county the authority to revoke a short-term rental permit, based upon violations. A permit revocation recorded against an owner entails a follow-up application fee of twice that for a permit to undo the revocation. A violation of the ordinance committed by a short-term occupant of the property accrues to the detriment of the property owner, which county officials believed to be an incentive to have the owners ensure compliance with the rules by their tenants. Continue reading →

San Bernardino County will spend two-and-a-half million dollars over the next five years to divert roughly 50 juvenile offenders out of local detention facilities to an alternate academy in San Luis Obispo.
San Bernardino Chief Probation Officer Tracy Reece recommended and the board of supervisors approved entering into a nonstandard agreement with the County of San Luis Obispo for what were termed placement services at Coastal Valley Academy in the total amount of $2,555,000 for the period of August 9, 2023 through August 8, 2028.
According to its website, “Coastal Valley Academy is a custody commitment camp program in [San Luis Obispo County] Juvenile Hall for 14–17-year-old male and female youth who are moderate to high risk and in need of residential treatment. Youth are ordered to stay 6-12 months and receive intensive case management, treatment and educational services through collaboration with a local treatment provider, Family Care Network, and the [San Luis Obispo] County Office of Education.” Continue reading →