Menifee council races draws 19 candidates

By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer
Friday was deadline to file for June election | Saturday, March 8, 2008 1:33 AM PST ∞

MENIFEE ---- The race is on. In June, voters in Menifee, Quail Valley, Sun City and part of Romoland will decide whether those distinct communities should be merged to form Riverside County's 26th city.

In anticipation of cityhood being approved, county registrar of voters officials said Friday, 19 people are seeking a spot on a future Menifee city council. Although Friday was the deadline for candidates to file nomination papers, election officials said they had not yet verified that each candidate had met the requirements to run for office.

The candidates are vying for five spots on a governing board that would be formed if a majority of voters approve cityhood in June. Each of the 18 who could be reached Friday said they favor incorporation.

In addition to voting on cityhood and who they want on the council, voters will decide whether the city should be called Menifee or Menifee Valley and whether council members should govern at large or by district.

The candidates are a mix of well-known activists and newcomers and represent three of the four communities that would form the new city. Of the 19 candidates, 12 are from Menifee, five are from Sun City and one is from Romoland.

The candidates are Darcy Kuenzi of Menifee; Darci Castillejos of Sun City; John Denver of Sun City; Tom Fuhrman of Menifee; Ken Gaunt of Sun City; Dina Biedermann of Menifee; Louis Mazei of Sun City; Marc Miller of Menifee; Tony Amatulli of Menifee; Jason Reeves of Menifee; Fred Twyman of Menifee; Chris Thomas of Menifee; Gerry Walker of Menifee; Dean Deines of Romoland; Scott Mann of Menifee; Carol Sullivan of Sun City; Jerry Stamper of Menifee; Wallace Edgerton of Menifee and Dorothy Wolons of Menifee.

Several of the candidates said they were concerned that another city would annex the communities if the area did not incorporate, and that they wanted to have greater local control over government services and planning. Other top concerns include the need to manage growth, increase the presence of law enforcement officers, keep taxes low, provide more parks and a connected trail system and preserve the senior housing areas in Sun City.

Darcy Kuenzi, of Menifee, works as a legal assistant to county Supervisor Marion Ashley and is the former executive director of the Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce. She is a board member of Menifee Valley Community Cupboard and a patron member of the Menifee Valley Women's Club, she said.

Kuenzi, 45, said she is an original member of the Menifee incorporation committee and has worked on advisory committees for the county's general plan and the Kay Ceniceros Senior Center as well as on a healthy communities task force with Valley Health System.

If elected, Kuenzi said, her priorities would be to establish a fiscally sound city, to plan future growth, improve traffic, protect seniors and provide more parks and programs for children.

"To improve the quality of life in Menifee, the first council is really important," she said.

Darci Castillejos, of Sun City, chairs the chamber and is president of the board of the Community Cupboard. She owns the French Valley Cafe and is a chief petty officer in the Naval Reserve.

She said one of her biggest concerns is improving the "dismal response times" of sheriff's deputies. She also wants to bring more recreation and entertainment opportunities to the area and beautify the city with landscaping, sidewalks and other amenities.

John Denver, of Sun City, has owned a real estate office in Perris for many years and is a former board member of the Perris Union High School District, which includes Paloma Valley High School in Menifee.

Denver, 61, is a past president of the chamber and the Rotary Club and serves on the county's Workforce Development Board, he said. He has also served on the incorporation committee.

"Five people taking care of us is better than one, and you can throw all five out if you don't like them," he said, comparing a city council to the county Board of Supervisors. "We have spent so much time and money on this. It's now or never."

Tom Fuhrman, 63, owns Wooden Nickel Ranch and a tool and die shop, both in Menifee. He also has served on the incorporation committee and on the county's trails committee and is an Elks Club member who hosts charity events at his ranch.

One of his top goals is to connect trails for equestrians and hikers, which he says county supervisors have not done. Improving drainage in the valley areas is another priority, he said.

"The developers are blocking all the trail access," he said. "Developers must heed the interests of the total community, and that includes rural people. The Sun City people need to be protected, too. Developers cannot violate their rights by encroaching on them with family homes."

Ken Gaunt, of Sun City, is a retired pool and spa owner who loves the town he retired to six years ago and wants to give back to the community, he said, and to fend off any annexation efforts by surrounding cities. He lives in a senior housing area, he said.

Gaunt was a county commissioner in Washoe County, Nev., for three years in the 1970s, he said, and in that capacity, served on the board of equalization, a hospital board and a fire commission.

Many of his neighbors are concerned that cityhood will bring more government, more taxes and endanger the community's senior status, but Gaunt says those things won't happen.

"We need to control our own destiny and see that the city lives within its means," he said. "Good, orderly growth is good and possible."

Dina Biedermann, 34, said she was raised in Moreno Valley and has lived in Menifee for just a few months. She attends Mt. San Jacinto College and has worked at Costco for nine years, where she serves as a shop steward for the union.

She said she wants to work to build partnerships to bring the community together.

"I'm also concerned with property taxes; and keeping all the money local and having efficient public services," she added.

Louis Mazei, of Sun City, is a planning technician for Riverside County and previously worked as a planner for Perris. He also worked as a grants writer for an Indian tribe near Yuma, Ariz., for several years, he said, and served on a library board there and founded a food bank and a community action group.

"I feel that I have an expertise in land-use issues on the public sector side," he said. But his major emphasis, he says, is on a good, orderly transition to cityhood.

Mazei, 62, said his other priorities include preserving the identity of the future city's distinct areas, adding parks and improved transportation.

Marc Miller is a former medical supply company owner who now runs an emu ranch off Scott Road. Miller, 50, is a former president of the Menifee incorporation committee who has worked on the county General Plan and once chaired the county Economic Development Council. He also is a trustee of the Menifee Rural Center and a member of Riverside County United Communities.

Miller has battled developers of one community near Scott Road over drainage issues and believes incorporation is even more important in view of the faltering economy.

"I'm hopeful, and I think we have to get a local handle on economic issues," he said.

Tony Amatulli of Menifee owns an auto parts store in Perris, a family business that included a Sun City store for 15 years. Amatulli, 49, said he is on the board of the chamber and volunteers for the Menifee Relay for Life.

He said he decided to run after attending incorporation meetings last year and asking what efforts had been made to involve seniors.

"It was one of those things; I was asking so much, I thought I should just do something about it," he said. "People need to be reassured that taxes won't go through the roof and Sun City will always be Sun City."

Amatulli favors representation by district, to preserve the area's unique communities, he said.

Jason Reeves, 32, runs a production company in Anaheim and has lived in Menifee for seven years. A board member of the men's ministry at Revival Christian Fellowship and a part-time student at Calvary Chapel Bible College, he said his campaign is about family, faith and freedom.

Families need reasonable development and infrastructure so that parents can be home with their children and not stuck in traffic, he said. He added that he would seek to keep property taxes low and to boost commercial development that would provide a good tax base.

"For a lot of seniors, having a large tax bill is unacceptable," Reeves said. "The burden should not all be on the property owners."

Fred Twyman, of Menifee, is a math teacher at Paloma High School, president of the board of the Menifee Union School District and is a former trails commissioner.

Twyman said he would listen to the people's concerns if elected and would fight for quality growth over quantity. He said Menifee has the highest developer fees in the county and that those fees should be spent locally, not spread throughout the county.

"I'm not an advocate for developers overrunning the community with wall-to-wall housing," he said. "There has been some rush by the county to urbanize Menifee. And while the economy has slowed, we still have housing densities higher than I'd like."

Chris Thomas is an accountant that used to audit cities in San Diego County and also worked as a consultant for a firm that advised cities on financial and other issues, he said.

Thomas, 40, said he earned a master's degree from UC Irvine and serves on the Temecula Valley Sheriff's Mounted Posse.

"My main thing is to control land use," he said. "It has to be balanced, responsible growth."

Thomas would also like to see more commercial development to balance the community and provide steady income for the city. He also believes the community needs more sports parks and trails.

He said the council could not raise taxes without a vote of the residents, but said hiring a city management team would probably result in a proposed tax increase at some point.

"When you become a city, you do end up paying a little more tax," he said. "But it will also raise our property values and community services. And do we want another city to control us?"

Jerry Walker, of Menifee, works as a plumber for Orange County and has owned property in Menifee for about 20 years.

Walker, 45, views cityhood as a great opportunity and wants to help guide the process.

"I want to see what people are concerned about and be able to help them achieve those goals," he said. "Developers are great, and we want go grow, but we want to do it in a way that respects everybody."

Dean Deines, of Romoland, works as the deputy executive officer for the county, and said he is responsible for all county debt counseling and land-secured financing. He oversees financing of the county hospital, jails and community facilities districts, he said.

Deines, 52, is a former youth baseball coach and youth pastor and moved to Romoland from Wildomar about 18 months ago.

"When Menifee incorporates, I'd like to use my knowledge and experience to see that it gets off on the right foot," he said. "I also want to make sure everyone's needs are addressed. I know that traffic and public safety are important issues as well."

Carol Sullivan, 64, works from her Sun City home as a clinical research associate who manages drug studies. She has served on chamber boards, been a Rotarian and a legislative chairperson for an Orange County mortgage brokers group, she said.

She has owned several businesses and said she can relate to the financial and other needs of families and seniors, and would like to protect seniors and provide a youth center and activities for children.

"At the moment, the goal is to secure the city's new finances and bring the four areas together and allay everyone's fears," she said.

Jerry Stamper, 66, owns Rancho Plaza Realty in Sun City and is president of the Menifee Lakes Master Association and a chamber board member. He is a past chairman of another area chamber, he said.

The 17-year Menifee resident said it is important to have local control over the community to ensure adequate law enforcement and to make good decisions regarding future growth and traffic.

"The whole area will be growing," he said. "And I think it's important for local people in the new city to make the decisions, not people who live 30 or 40 miles away."

Wallace Edgerton, of Menifee, said he would bring his 17 years of experience as a member of the Long Beach City Council to help the fledgling city government. He has also served on various state boards and commissions, been a director for the Los Angeles County Sanitation District and president of the Southern California Coastal Research Water Project.

Edgerton works as a political science professor at MSJC and formerly taught at the University of Maryland and at CSU Long Beach. He has worked as a stock broker, financial planner and a real estate agent and said he is a senior citizen, declining to state his age.

"I hope there are a lot of people running that have experience," he said. "And the people who have worked hard to get this city off the ground are going to be some ideal candidates."

Edgerton said he has no agenda and threw his hat in the ring with some trepidation, as he knows how much work is involved, and how low the compensation is for council members.

"I just think I can add something to the team," he said.

Scott Mann, a Menifee resident since 1989, retired three years ago as a lieutenant in the Navy, and is a veteran of peacekeeping operations in the Middle East and combat operations in the Persian Gulf.

Mann works as the risk manager for the Menifee school district, and has worked in human resources. He is a member of Menifee's Municipal Advisory Committee, the state CIF Parent Advisory Committee, the Perris Union High School District Facilities Improvement Committee and is on the boards of the Riverside Schools Insurance Authority and Risk Management Authority.

His platform includes having local control of law enforcement and maintaining quality of life in senior communities. He said he is a staunch supporter of cityhood.

"I think it has a very good chance of passing," he said. "It's time."

Dorothy Wolons could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Wolons is executive director of the chamber and the former owner of an Old Town Temecula gift shop as well as a former national sales manager for Kraft Klub.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or credfern@californian.com.