City Council forms committees for veterans, amphitheater

Construction is underway in the Central Park amphitheater, with opening slated for summer 2025. (Staff photo)

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Two committees were formed by approval of the Menifee City Council this week.

Responding to a request from Mayor Pro Tem Dean Deines, the council unanimously approved the formation of a Veterans Advisory Committee. This will be made up of individuals who are active military service members, non-active duty service members, or veterans.

Per request of Deines, members of this committee cannot be a member of another city committee, keeping the same people from dominating multiple committees. Non-duty service members must be registered to vote in Menifee; active service members do not, because they are often residents who are stationed and registered elsewhere for the time being.

Information on how to apply for this committee will be released later.

In addition, the council voted to reinstitute the ad hoc committee for the Central Park Amphitheater project. The original committee, comprised of council members Lesa Sobek and Deines, last met in May 2022 and was deactivated.

Construction issues are now resolved and building the structure is underway, but council members said they felt additional oversight would be helpful regarding marketing and scheduling of the amphitheater in the future. It is scheduled for a grand opening in the summer of 2025.

The structure, built at a cost of $6.1 million, will feature a 26-foot-high arching roof over the current concrete stage and will include 3,500 feet of performance space. City officials envision a number of city events being held there, along with the possibility of renting out the facility for outside use for concerts, etc.

Sobek and Robert Karwin will be the members of the new ad hoc committee.

“It’s going to be an asset, and we’d like to be able to maximize that asset,” Sobek said.

The staff proposal for the committee included the suggestion that the facility not be rented out for outside use for the first year. Mayor Bill Zimmerman disagreed.

“If someone wanted to finance a Doobie Brothers concert here, let ‘em do it,” he said, tongue in cheek. “We don’t want it to just sit there because we’re reluctant to use it.”

Deines suggested that Karwin replace him on the committee because of his experience as a musical performer. Karwin said he would accept the assignment but first offered it to Ricky Estrada, the District 2 representative.

“I would invite Council member Estrada to accept because it’s in his district, but you voted against it,” Karwin said, referring to Estrada being the only Council member to oppose the amphitheater project.

Ultimately, Estrada agreed that Karwin was the better choice.