City officials show they aren't giving up against Valley-Wide

Final installment in a six-part series.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

It has been six months since a judge denied the City of Menifee’s appeal of a ruling regarding the City’s attempt to take control of parks on the east side of the 215 Freeway away from Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District.

During that time, City officials have made statements and taken actions that indicate they are trying to sway public opinion in their favor in preparation for further legal action.

The City has sought control of Parks currently owned and controlled by Valley-Wide since the early years of Menifee’s incorporation. In 2014, the City assumed control of parks on the west side from Riverside County, then formed its own Community Services Department. Eventually, the department was fully staffed as City staff and the City Council discussed plans to petition for detachment from Valley-Wide – an independent special district of the state that has controlled parks and recreation east of the freeway for 32 years.

In 2016, the City formally began the process to request detachment. An application for such detachment was made to the Riverside Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), which rules in such matters. The LAFCO board of directors in 2017 ruled that Menifee could assume control of the parks, but with the following conditions:

-- A public election is held on the issue. In making this stipulation, LAFCO cited Prop. 218, which was passed in 1996 to ensure that all taxes on property owners are subject to voter approval. Citing this legislation, LAFCO board members ruled that the City’s detachment from Valley-Wide would require a public vote, saying it is required because a different agency would be taking over the tax assessments in the areas Valley-Wide currently serves.

-- The City of Menifee agrees to pay $1 million to Valley-Wide as compensation for Bell Mountain Community Center and as a gap bridge.

-- The City of Menifee agrees to take on Valley-Wide employees affected by the change.

In a lawsuit filed by the City in 2017 against LAFCO and listing Valley-Wide as an interested party, the City argued that it was not necessary to hold a public election, saying the total amount of taxes assessed as a result of the change would not be higher than the amount Valley-Wide currently receives. That argument was detailed in a January 2020 legal filing prepared by Shane Spicer, a tax consultant for the City.

Judge rules against Menifee in lawsuit against LAFCO

But in December 2020, a Riverside Superior Court judge ruled against the City, ruling that City attorneys had missed the deadline for filing the Spicer Declaration during the time allowed for a response to the LAFCO conditional approval. In addition, the judge ruled that the court did not have authority to determine whether the City deserved an exception from Prop. 218. That ruling was reaffirmed in January 2021.

Ever since, City officials have spoken in terms of “when” they will take control of east-side parks, not “if”. The subject came up again this week during a “Chat with the City Manager” hosted by Armando Villa at City Hall, where he answered questions from residents on a variety of subjects.

In response to the request for an update on the detachment effort, Villa said the following:

“In court, they prevailed. What can we do? Maybe in a year or 18 months, we go back to LAFCO. We have received complaints from residents that parks on the east side are not so good. A lot of the parks are not in good shape. There’s no reason residents on the east side should settle for lesser parks.

“We will also be watching Valley-Wide because their tax assessments are very high.”

Villa did not respond to an email from Menifee 24/7 asking him to identify which parks he had received complaints about from residents.

Then, at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Lesa Sobek said she had attended a recent Valley-Wide board meeting and requested that board members not consider a proposed increase of the tax assessments for districts within Menifee. She said there was no discussion following her comments and the increase was approved.

“Residents are not getting answers,” Sobek said. “Our city manager and city attorney sent [Valley-Wide] a letter as well. I asked them to delay approving the increases. I’m concerned about the burden on residents.”

Information regarding the amount of tax assessments paid by residents to Valley-Wide vs. those paid by west-side residents to the City of Menifee was not immediately available. In an email to Villa, Menifee 24/7 asked why, if Villa believed the City’s tax assessments were more reasonable than Valley-Wide’s, City officials in 2017 would object to a public vote on the change of tax district authority?

Villa did not respond.
 

Community Services Department showcases park improvements

In the months since the judge’s ruling against the City and before the aforementioned comments were made, Community Services director Jonathan Nicks promoted at least two west-side park renovations by asking Mayor Bill Zimmerman, Villa and other department heads to attend ribbon cutting events. One was held celebrating the installation of a new playground at Nova Park, a small park in the northwest part of the City. Another was held to celebrate the creation of what officials are calling the Calle Tomas Play Trail – the addition of landscaping and a couple small climbing structures to a one-block parkway on Calle Tomas.

In both cases, there was a balloon arch and podium for speakers to address the audience. But according to a source, officials were speaking only to a camera recording the event for the City’s Facebook page. The media was not invited and no residents were in attendance.

Such staged events were designed by Nicks to make the City’s parks and recreation efforts look better than Valley-Wide’s, the source said.

“The City Council still has a goal in their Strategic Visioning Plan to oversee all parks within the City,” Nicks said in response to an inquiry from Menifee 24/7. “The ribbon cutting events were planned as virtual events and shared on the City’s social media platforms to highlight and inform residents of the new park amenities. We plan to continue to have additional groundbreaking and ribbon cutting events in the future and we will let you know when those occur.”

Valley-Wide general manager Dean Wetter declined to comment when asked about the remarks made by Villa and Sobek this week, stating that the City’s lawsuit was filed against LAFCO with Valley-Wide only listed as an interested party.