Duarte Increases Menifee Presence on Valley-Wide Board

Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District will have more local representation -- and one of its biggest boosters -- with Matt Duarte joining the board.

Duarte, a Menifee resident, is excited to provide input from a city that has dozens of parks managed by Valley-Wide but which has never had a board representative before. He was appointed Monday to replace Rose Salgado, who resigned recently.

Duarte, 31, is a partner in the Hemet law firm of Davis Wojcik Duarte. He and his wife are raising two young children in Menifee, where he grew up playing on the same parks he will now help oversee.

"Growing up in Menifee, I had an understanding of what Valley-wide has done and has continued to do for the community," Duarte said. "When I interviewed for the position, I pitched that historically, there hasn't been a voice from Menifee. It was important with all the stuff going on with the city the last year, there was a clamoring to have somebody represent those interests."

Duarte addressed the Menifee City Council last year during a meeting in which the city was considering divesting itself of Valley-Wide and running all city parks through its newly formed Community Services Department. Eventually, the council voted to contract with Valley-Wide to operate all parks in the city.

"The demographics have changed a lot in the last 20 years," Duarte said. "There are lots of young families, and I think was reflective of that particular part of the community."

Valley-Wide is based in San Jacinto. Duarte said he will suggest some of the monthly board meetings be held in Menifee.

"It's a huge district," Duarte said of Valley-Wide, which services San Jacinto, Hemet, Winchester, Menifee and French Valley. "If we can give the public an opportunity to be heard somewhere closer to where they live, it would be good so we can reflect the will of the people."