Menifee council tables request to make mayor’s post a rotating position among 5 city districts

Tony Ault Staff Writer

The Menifee City Council discussed but tabled another suggestion to change the city governance structure from its current elected four district and at-large mayor system to a five district yearly mayorial rotating system at the Wednesday, Feb. 1, regular meeting.

The suggestion would have changed the current city council structure to five elected city council members and an at-large mayor. It was the second time the issue has come before the voters since 2018 when the city voters rejected the proposal.

Currently, the city council members include one elected from each of its four districts, while the mayor is elected separately. Although the mayor is elected separately, the position still holds only an honorary voice in city affairs, as the city’s day-to-day business is handled by the city manager, Armando.G. Villa. Most cities that surround Menifee are governed through an elected five district council with a yearly rotating mayor with the exception of San Jacinto which has an at-large elected council. The surrounding city councils hire a city manager to run the day-today city business with the council’s direction.

The suggestion was made by current Mayor Pro Tem Bob Karwin who suggested the change again, because the city’s projected growth would reach 150,000 or more residents at build out and would render a separately elected mayor many more responsibilities.

He praised the current Mayor Bill Zimmerman for his many years of service and his dedication in promoting the city.

Karwin said that as the city grew, having five districts instead of four districts would be a better option, giving those new residents better representation and reducing each elected council member’s overall workload. Elected council members are not paid, but instead volunteer their time except for a small stipend, some travel and medical coverage.

Joining the discussion, Council members Dean Deines and Lesa Sobek said spending another anticipated $100,000 in a municipal e lection to change the system which residents would most likely not pass again, wasn’t the best idea. The city clerk, Sarah Manwaring, estimated the cost for the council, but she said it couldn’t be done until the next election cycle in two years and it wouldn’t go into effect until 2027 or 2028.

Council member Ricky Estrada said the idea should be set aside because “the voters have spoken.” He was referring to the previous election that kept the city governance system as it is. Zimmerman said Karwin’s idea had merit, but the voters wanted to keep their council as is with an elected mayor. He agreed the suggestion should be tabled for a much later discussion after more was heard from voters.

The council heard quarterly reports from interim police Capt. David Gutierrez and fire Chief Lonny Olsen. Gutierrez said in the last three months, from November to December 2022, the department received 12,859 calls and officers responded to 4,292 of those calls. The officers made 135 felony arrests; most of those were parole violations and assaults. They made 119 misdemeanor arrests with 30 of those were for driving under the influence.

He said there were 869 alarms sounded, yet only one was an actual burglary or fire. The false alarms were about even for commercial and residential, but overall false alarm calls were down 10% from the earlier quarter

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Olsen shared the report from his department. Menifee contracts with Riverside County Fire Department and CalFire, which received 3,338 calls during the last quarter, with five structure fires. Paramedics responded to 179 traffic collisions with two fatalities. The Menifee department took 339 of those calls outside of the city and answered 168 inside of the city.

Sobek was asked why so many calls were outside the city. Olsen said it was because there are many new homes built east of the city which are now occupied and need county fire and rescue assistance. A new fire station is being planned for that area to help respond to those calls and relieve the burden to city stations.

A consent item, No. 10.5, asked the council to approve $2,215,000 for the purchase of a Bank of America property at 26800 Cherry Hills Blvd. in Sun City that would expand the Municipal Police Departments current substation by several thousand feet and provide a 35 space parking lot.

The council learned the purchase would come almost entirely from American Rescue Funds with approximately $500,000 of that for required improvements made through Capital Improvement

Funding. That was approved by a 5-0 council vote allowing the city manager to pursue the purchase.

A discussion on consent item No. 10.6 led to council approval of the design services of NV5 for the planned Murrieta Road bridge over Salt Creek that would bring an additional two lanes to the highway with bicycle and pedestrian paths. The cost of the design element is not to exceed $1.78 million. The crossing now is subject to flooding during heavy rainstorms and more traffic is expected on Murrieta Road in future with more housing coming in the east along Salt Creek.

Estrada cast the only nay vote on consent item No. 10.7 that sought to allow the city manager to make a professional services agreement with KTU&A for a Menifee Complete Streets Plan for $244,349 which was $35,000 higher than the lowest bidder. Estrada said he did not see why the selection was made for the higher cost firm when there was only a 1% review difference in the interviews. He was told the higher priced firm had a slightly higher satisfaction record ;and experience that led to the final decision.

Tony Ault can be reached by email at tault@reedermedia.com.