Council Chooses to Fill Vacant Seat by Special Election

A large crowd gathered at City Hall Wednesday night to hear discussion on a replacement for Wallace Edgerton. Menifee 24/7 photos: Kristen Spoon

A replacement for the late Wallace Edgerton on the Menifee City Council will be determined through a special election and not by appointment, thanks to a council decision made at Wednesday night's meeting at City Hall.

By a vote of 3-1, council members directed city staff to return to the June 17 meeting with the necessary paperwork to start the process creating a special election. The state government code requires a city council losing a sitting member to determine the method for replacement within 60 days. A decision Wednesday night was considered necessary because the council will not meet in July.

The next regular election cycle during which such an election could be held is in November. According to city clerk Kathy Bennett, about that much time would be needed to satisfy the required 114 days' advance notice to voters and to allow for candidate filings and campaigns. Only voters living in the southeast city region of District 3 -- Edgerton's district -- would vote.

According to city attorney Jeffrey Melching, the cost of the special election would be about $25,000. The winner in that election would take office in early December and would serve the remaining year of Edgerton's term, then would have to run again in a year to remain in office.

"There are a lot of great arguments both ways," said Mayor Scott Mann (right), who along with the other council members listened to 16 residents speak on the topic. "I'm in favor of having an election. Let the people of District 3 make the selection, not us up here."

Edgerton, the city's first mayor and a council member ever since incorporation in 2008, died May 26 at age 81. Before he died, Edgerton wrote a letter to his fellow council members and selected other individuals, asking the council to give serious consideration to three individuals as possible replacements:

-- Lesa Sobek, current planning commissioner
-- Chris Thomas, current planning commissioner
-- Rick Croy, a member of the Parks, Recreation and Trails Commission

By law, the city council has the option of either appointing a replacement or scheduling an election. The majority of public speakers Wednesday night supported the idea of a council appointment, thus respecting Edgerton's wishes and saving the $25,000 election cost. In fact, 11 of the 16 speakers expressed those sentiments, with four of them supporting Sobek by name.

"There are credible arguments either way," said Croy, one of the candidates suggested by Edgerton. "In this case, an appointment seems to be the clear choice. It would be fiscally prudent and would be made out of respect for Mr. Edgerton's wishes.

"For me to be included on Wally's short list is an incredible honor," he continued, choking up as he spoke. "But when Scott Mann appointed Lesa Sobek to the Planning Commission, he did it for all the right reasons. Lesa has served the community with the energy of a teenager and the wisdom of someone with experience. She has grown tremendously in her position. I'm sure she would serve on the council with all those same qualities."

Resident Gloria Sanchez read to the council a letter written by Thomas, who was out of state Wednesday night. In it, the current planning commissioner said he would not be able to accept such an appointment. This appeared to leave Sobek as the only real choice off Edgerton's wish list.

In fact, council member Greg August (left) made a motion to place on the June 17 agenda a proposal to appoint Sobek to the vacant position. His motion failed to get a second, however, and discussion continued.

In the end, both council members Matt Liesemeyer and John Denver sided with Mann, creating the 3-1 approval for a public election.

"I've argued this point with myself for months," Denver said. "I see both sides. We could use the $25,000 on roads, for a lot of other things. On the other hand, I don't want to appoint somebody with the fear that we'd give them the (stigma) that they are our person. We should give the people a chance to vote, even if it's for just one year."

Sue Kristjansson (right) addressed the council with the perspective of the only Menifee resident who has previously been appointed to complete an unexpired term. She was selected from a field of 11 finalists to be appointed in the spring of 2011 following the death of Fred Twyman.

Basically, Kristjansson said she wouldn't wish that on anybody else.

"Wally deserves to be honored, and he will be," Kristjansson said. "But our country was not founded on allowing people to select their successors."

In a letter she passed out to the council members expanding on her feelings, Kristjansson wrote that "long after (her appointment), I realized I had been dropped into one of the most dysfunctional situations I could have imagined and that I was immediately vaulted into the position of a political pinata ... I was repeatedly reminded that I was a lesser council member because I had not been elected."

According to Kristjansson's letter, a council member once told her, 'Had I known you weren't going to vote like your predecessor, I would never have voted to appoint you.' "

Because of the council's decision Wednesday night, that will no longer be an issue. Perhaps now the primary concern in the more than five months prior to the special election will be avoiding countless deadlocked votes on a council that numbers four instead of five.