Council agrees to discuss districting issue - Menifee: A meeting is set to consider questions voters would be asked in a special election

By JULISSA MCKINNON

July 23, 2009

A nine-month debate over whether Menifee should hold a special election for residents to revote on representation by districts likely will be put to rest next week.

The Menifee City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to hold a special meeting to discuss what questions would be put on the ballot if a special election is held. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for 5 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 29714 Haun Road.

The council has until Aug. 7 to file a ballot measure for the November 2009 election with the county's registrar of voters.

Though the council approved a district map for the new city on a 4-1 vote, three council members made it clear they are not convinced that rule by district is the best fit for the new city of roughly 68,000.

Mayor Pro Tem Darcy Kuenzi and Councilmen John Denver and Scott Mann again expressed their ongoing ambivalence about districts after a presentation by district consultant Douglas Johnson.

Johnson, president of the Glendale-based National Demographics Corp., said of the 337 California cities with populations less than 70,000, only nine use districts.

Johnson's research also showed that every California city incorporated within the last 11 years has ultimately opted for at-large representation. In the cities of Goleta, just north of Santa Barbara, and Oakley, near the Sacramento River delta, voters reversed their initial choice of districts in favor of at-large representation.

Despite what other cities have done, Mayor Wallace Edgerton and Councilman Fred Twyman circled back to the point that Menifee voters selected districts, albeit by a narrow margin.

Edgerton also questioned the rush to resolve the at-large vs. district debate with a November 2009 special election that would cost about $35,000.

He said voters could revisit the issue in the November 2010 election.

Unless voters overturn rule by district this November, state law mandates that Menifee's districts be established by June 2010 for voters to elect council members in November 2010.

Bob Duistermars, who lives in Hemet and is chairman of the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce, said at-large representation would aid a "big picture" approach to city government and would "help us become the economic engine that we all believe is not only possible, but highly probable."

Richard Sachtleben, 72, who resides in the Oasis development, said he does not wish to live in an "economic engine" and prays that Menifee would never grow to 250,000 people, as county projections have forecast. He added that after listening to all the research, he thinks his original vote for district representation was the right choice.

"The city has several constituencies with distinct characteristics. They are very different areas and I would like to be represented by somebody who lives in my area," he said.