Sonny Dhaliwal builds bridges.

It is why the 62 year-old six-term Lathrop mayor is running for the District 3 seat on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors in 2024.

He sees it as a perfect opportunity to step up regional cooperation between Manteca and Lathrop as well as bridge the disconnect many in the South County have with county government.

“We are separated by a railroad,” Dhaliwal said of the two cities . “Our interests are the same. Our needs are the same. We need to think regionally, not locally. Our resources are limited.”

As he made his comments, the San Joaquin River — a natural barrier more formidable than tracks — flowed behind him.

He was on the south side of the river where a decade ago he had less than a half dozen or so constituents.

Today, there are 8,000 and counting to account for a fourth of Lathrop’s 32,000 residents.

Dhaliwal has been part of a city leadership that has worked tirelessly to make sure bridges — figurately and literally — were built to assure the 15,001 home River Islands at Lathrop that’s the largest planned community ever planned in the Central Valley didn’t drift apart from the rest of Lathrop north of the river.

They resisted efforts to put the new police station next to city hall. By decentralizing city services, it gives people a reason to cross the river.

The development plan they approved for River Islands reflects that as well. Big box retailers and chain stores aren’t going in River Islands commercial areas. Instead, the goal is to create more village-style dining, shopping, and service business opportunities. 

His leadership style reflects his bridge building skills to solve problems.

“Cooperation is better than being confrontational,” Dhaliwal said.

That extends to city staff as well.

“Praise in public, criticize in private,” Dhaliwal said.

His availability to Lathrop residents is almost legendary.

Dhaliwal prides himself in always returning calls except, of course, when he is sleeping,

Sometimes though, those calling late at night are surprised when he does answer.

One example was when he happened to be working one night at 10:30 p.m.

A 98-year-old woman called complaining she couldn’t sleep because of loud music that Dhaliwal could hear on the phone. She explained she had called the police several times. Officers came out, the music was lowered, officers left, and then  the music was turned back up.

Dhaliwal said he’d make a call.

He contacted the lieutenant in charge who said he’d address the situation.

The same thing happened again after the lieutenant stopped by the house in question. The woman called Dhaliwal again.

Dhaliwal called back and this time the police made it clear there would be consequences.
The woman was able to go to sleep.

That wasn’t the end of the story.

The next day Dhaliwal got another call from the woman.

The woman told him she was 98 years old and had never registered to vote,

Dhaliwal said she then told, him, “I’m going to register to vote.”

 Dhaliwal hopes to bring that same level of attention to problems residents of District 3 may encounter with county issues.

“There are a lot more people  . . . (but) that is what I will work at doing,” he said.

That dovetails into what he sees as a disconnect many in the South County have with county services until they are in a situation when they absolutely need them.

To make it clear, Dhaliwal  doesn’t envision an “us against them” scenario with the rest of the county. Instead, he notes the cities are only as strong as the county and vice versa.

He also sees where the future lies.

“Manteca, Lathrop, Tracy, and Mountain House are the economic driving force of the county,” Dhaliwal said.

Dhaliwal has served Lathrop for 25 years. He’s now in his sixth two-year term as mayor after six years on the council and serving on the planning commission.

Dhaliwal has come a long way since he arrived in America from a small village of 800 in Punjab in 1985 with $20 in his pocket. Punjab is a state in northwestern India where his father was a farmer.

“We came here because there were more opportunities,” Dhaliwal said.

The now retired maintenance worker with the San Jose-based Santa Clara Transit Authority first lived with his family in Milpitas.

They were looking for a smaller community to raise they family in and settled on Lathrop.

When he told his friend Peter McHugh, who happened to be the Milpitas mayor at the time before being elected as a supervisor for Santa Clara County that he was moving, put him in contact with Gloryanna Rhodes who was then Lathrop’s mayor who McHugh had met a meeting.

Rhodes called Dhaliwal and asked him if he was interested in serving on a city commission for his new hometown. One thing led to another and after being interviewed he was selected by the council to serve on the planning  commission.

“I have a passion to serve,” Dhaliwal said. “I believe God put me in this situation for a reason.”

Lathrop has also come a long way since Dhaliwal got involved in city government a quarter of a century ago.

 *The 15,001-home River Islands planned community started selling homes.

*Firms like Tesla, United Parcel Service, In-a-Out Burger, Wayfair, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Home Depot, and Ashley Furniture opened distribution centers or manufacturing facilities.

*Retail endeavors such as Target, Save Mart and now Sprouts opened in Lathrop.

*The city has conducted mayor upgrades of the Louise Avenue and Lathrop Road corridors in the eastern portion of the city.

*Older parks have been renovated and new ones built.

*The city not only built a new police station but also launched its own police force instead of contracting for law enforcement services.

Dhaliwal said the growth is happening because Lathrop has made an effort to brush up its image to make a good first impression to potential employers with beautification and code enforcement efforts.

They also go the extra step to be business friendly.

Lathrop called in resources to make it possible on one weekend to vet documents and plans needed to meet an extremely tight Tesla deadline for the cutting edge auto firm to expand its Lathrop operations.

A similar effort with real time communication of plans and documents between Lathrop and a business park developer in Texas allowed the firm to get approval for a structure within a week to snag Wayfair.

And it’s not just the “big fish”  that get the city’s attention.

When Dhaliwal got wind that O’Reilly Auto parts was frustrated with the permitting and fee process, he made a call to the company’s management to see what their concerns were. He then relayed that to municipal staff and the problem was solved.

A similar intervention prevented Lathrop from losing Walgreens when a sewer issue was prompting them to reconsider their decision to locate in the community

The recently minted realignment of the District 3 boundaries brings all of Manteca and Lathrop — which accounts for  almost 80 percent of district’s population — into one district for the first time in at least 50 years.

Manteca, for the past 40 years, has been split between two supervisorial districts with the overwhelming majority of the district population residing within Stockton’s city limits.

Former Manteca Mayor Steve DeBrum headed up the county appointed redistricting advisory committee that made Lathrop — which had the River Islands portion of its city in another district — and Manteca whole.

DeBrum is expected to announce that he is running for the District 3 seat as well.

Dhaliwal is a member of the Stockton Sikh Temple and the Lathrop Lions Club..

He has or is serving on the San Joaquin County Local Agency Formation Commission and the San Joaquin Council of Governments among other endeavors.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com