City Council votes to appoint Diederich to District 2 seat

Ben Diederich makes his presentation to Menifee City Council members on Wednesday.

By Doug Spoon, Editor

Ben Diederich was selected from a field of seven candidates Wednesday to be appointed to the vacant District 2 seat on the Menifee City Council.

Diederich replaces Ricky Estrada, who served in District 2 for two years before being elected Mayor in November. Diederich, a Planning Commissioner for the last six years, finished second to Estrada for the District 2 council seat in 2022.

Diederich was approved as the appointee by a 3-1 vote of the current council members. Mayor Pro Tem Bob Karwin and council members Dean Deines and Dan Temple voted “yes” on Karwin’s motion to appoint Diederich, who will serve the last two years of Estrada's former District 2 term. The lone dissenting vote was cast by Estrada, who said he was in favor of appointing Altie Holcomb.

“I’m impressed by Ben Diederich,” Karwin said. “He knows the General Plan and he’s familiar with the development standards. Having been a Planning Commissioner, the projects that will come forward to the council have gone through him. And the fact he came in second in District 2 before means that he is not an illogical choice.”

“I’m also favoring Ben,” said Temple. “Something that wasn’t said before was that Ben was also on the Santa Rosa Academy school board during a moment of crisis. He performed admirably and did the right thing in the face of quite a bit of opposition.”

An original field of nine District 2 residents applied for the position. That was narrowed to seven during a special City Council meeting prior to Wednesday’s regular meeting. Candidate Jeffrie White did not show up for the special meeting, in which candidates had three minutes to state their platform and to answer questions. Candidate Tom Fuhrman – a former City Council member who is involved in litigation with the City -- announced during that meeting that he was withdrawing his name from consideration.

That left seven candidates, including Diederich; Holcomb; Barbara Brohl; George Mills; Joe Long; Laz Peterson; and Richard Sierra. During the special meeting, candidates presented themselves, primarily re-stating portions of the Statement of Intent with which they applied. Highlights of those statements were given during a previous Menifee 24/7 news article.

During a special meeting that lasted only 40 minutes, there were no public comments made by residents and the only questions of candidates were asked by Karwin. One question was to verify the District 2 residence of Diederich, who confirmed he lives in Menifee Town Center after living in two previous Menifee locations. Another question was directed to Peterson, a current Parks, Recreation and Trails Commissioner.

Peterson, who was appointed to that commission in 2022 by Estrada, also served as the treasurer for Estrada’s Mayoral campaign last fall. Karwin asked whether Peterson had “the ability to set that aside and make individual decisions” on the council, to which Peterson answered yes.

Estrada did not support Peterson when it came to the discussion of candidates at the regular meeting, however. Moments after announcing that he was reappointing Peterson to the Parks, Recreation and Trails Commission – and after hearing his three council colleagues express support for Diederich – Estrada stated his support for Holcomb for the District 2 seat.

“One common theme I heard from the candidates was that they didn’t want Menifee to lose its rural charm,” Estrada said. “All of them were in favor of smarter growth. To me, one great applicant is Altie Holcomb. He clearly defines that Menifee residents want more development downtown and more rural charm.

“It's very important that we carry out the vision of the District 2 residents that I helped represent. Menifee elected me by 20 percent in that election off those criteria. I think it would be beneficial that my replacement carry on that. Artie talked about having a police department substation and a community center. He has a lot of experience at the county level. I think he would be a great asset going forward.”

Just a couple minutes later, Estrada asked whether there was further discussion, and Karwin made the motion to appoint Diederich. That was the only motion needed to select the new District 2 representative.

Diederich stated during his presentation that his three main areas of concern as a council member would be local jobs, entertainment and dining options, and traffic. He was asked about Menifee’s ability to improve its attractiveness to high-end restaurant and dining venues, such as those Menifee residents now travel to in Murrieta and Temecula.

“One of the big problems is we’re a newer city,” Diederich said in a post-meeting interview with Menifee 24/7. “A lot of the other cities are older. It’s too expensive for a mom and pop business to build from the ground up. But look at Savage Grill. We gave them incentives, they came here, and now they’re one of the greatest restaurants in town. So doing things like that will attract people to come here.”

Diederich also said that city officials must be careful in their prioritization of infrastructure projects, and that residents must understand why housing and commercial developments that fund that infrastructure are a necessity that can’t be eliminated.

“The fact is, more houses are coming, whether we want it or not," he said. "The state mandates that. The state has taken control of that, so we have to deal with it. We need to have the developers pay their fair share, as well as using Measure DD funds and prioritizing. The Holland Road bridge is the most recent win for us in that regard.”

Diederich also responded to comments made by Karwin about Diederich’s experience on the Planning Commission being a plus.

“I appreciate Mayor Pro Tem Karwin saying that,” he said. “I don’t think it’s just a matter of having already seen those projects. It’s a huge learning curve, knowing about CEQA and knowing how projects go through.

“This is only a two-year appointment. It’s going to be over before you know it. Having mastered that learning curve is going to be helpful.”

The District 2 term runs through November 2026. Diederich previously stated that he plans to run for the seat again at that time.