Temecula City Council meeting summary report: Jan. 14, 2025
1TVPAC Team
The January 14, 2025, Temecula City Council meeting addressed several important topics in a structured agenda.
You can watch the full meeting at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4dVwJG0TuA
Below is a detailed summary with quotes from the council members on pertinent topics:
Call to Order and Opening
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Brenden Kalfus.
An invocation was delivered by Chaplain Mzizi Themba from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office.
The flag salute was led by Mayor Kalfus.
Roll call confirmed the presence of all council members: Alexander, Kalfus, Rahn, Schwank, and Stewart.
Presentations
Recognition of Leadership Transition:
A presentation was made to honor the incoming and outgoing Mayor and the Community Services District President.
Acknowledgment of Retirees:
Certificates of recognition were presented to retiring commission members Eric Ackerman, Eric Faulkner, Gary Oddi, and Adam Ruiz.
“The Certificate of Appreciation is presented on behalf of the City of Temecula to each of these individuals,” City Clerk Randi Johl read. “We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation for your public service on your respective commissions. We are grateful for your contributions of time, talent and commitment. Thank you for your involvement and dedication to the citizens of the City of Temecula and we wish you well on your future endeavors. Thank you again for your service.”
“As my time on the Temecula REDI commission comes to a close I want to take a moment to reflect and express my heartfelt gratitude,” Faulkner said. “Serving on the commission has been one of the most meaningful and humbling experiences of my life. It has been an honor to work alongside such passionate and dedicated individuals. Our mission has always been clear to foster a more inclusive and equitable community where everyone feels they belong and has the opportunity to thrive together. We've taken important steps towards that goal whether to open dialogues, community events, proclamation presentations or meaningful policy recommendations.
“While there is still work to be done I am proud to be a part of the foundation we built and the progress we've made.”
“Moving over to the Planning Commission, I remember being told you're going to be busy and we were always always busy,” said Adam Ruiz. “I will forever appreciate the opportunity to drive around town and walk around town and know that I had a part in some of the developments and some of the projects that are here in town. So, for that forever be grateful. I'd also want to thank the council for trusting me with the opportunity to serve. The staff, we usually say it every single meeting, it's absolutely been an honor to work with you guys. ‘The Temecula Way’ goes into staff, goes to everything else that we do.”
“I have only worked with you for a short two years here but I've had long conversations with both you have appreciated the work that you put in and the work is not going unnoticed,” Mayor Kalfus said. “But like you said I know you're not going far. It's been an honor to work with you and I look forward to working together more in the future.”
Service Awards:
A 10-year service pin was awarded to Commissioner Lanae Turley-Trejo.
A 35-year service pin was presented to City Attorney Peter Thorson.
Reports
Board/Commission Updates: Updates were given from the Community Services Commission and the Traffic Safety Commission.
“Last night we had our first meeting of the year and we began the meeting with Tracy Masters leading a special recognition of our contract instructors, they have contributed immensely to our community with some teaching for as long as 26 years,” Chairperson Dr. Yuan Hawkes said in the Community Services report. “We are deeply grateful for their dedication and the positive impact on our residents.
“Now I'd like to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to our immediate past chair Jeff Kingsburg for his exemplary leadership, his dedication to the commission and his contributions.”
“One quick note as we transition into the New Year we will officially welcome our newest commissioner Mr. Larry Slusser when he's sworn in next week,” Commissioner David Matics said in his Planning Commission report. “We reviewed and All Ways Stop Controlled analysis at the intersection of La Serena and Calle Medusa. Staff and commission is recommending the installation of new stop signs and updated striping and that recommendation advances with unanimous support to the council for final review and approval.
“Next we received an update on part of a larger Road rehabilitation project that's going to be happening just outside of city limits on Pauba Road where the county is bringing the privately owned segment of the road up to county standard,” Matics said. “The commission's focus is on the west end of the project at the intersection of Via Del Monte where the city does have partial ownership of the right-of-way there and where we were able to provide comment the city requested that the crosswalk design be brought up to the new city standard meaning high visibility continental-style striping to create some visual friction around the crosswalk there. The supervisors voted to approve the project in its entirety and construction should begin in March.
“Although our jurisdiction ends at that intersection of Via Del Monte I think it bears mentioning that the larger project is going to involve an extensive regrading of the road, a brand new protected equestrian trail which is going to link up to the city's existing trail Network as well as culverts for storm water management and other safety improvements all of which are going to benefit Temecula residents as much as they benefit Wine Country residents.”
Public Safety: A report was provided by the County of Riverside Fire Department (CAL FIRE).
Chief Crater gave a report that Temecula firefighters ran a total of 10,576 calls in the city in 2024. Fire prevention, inspections plan checks and was $11,844. TCC volunteers volunteered 538 hours to the city with training in disaster relief and other other things they do.
“I want to thank our Temecula firefighters responding not only to the Palisade Fire but the Eaton Fire and making a difference in people's lives, saving life and property,” he said. “They got there when the fire was actively burning through homes, they made a stand on several homes, they put their lives on the line. They did save lives and property and they'll continue to be there for another week.”
Public Comments
The council allotted 30 minutes for public comments on non-agenda items, with each speaker limited to 3 minutes. Comments were submitted in person.
City Council Reports
Council members provided updates on matters not listed on the agenda. These reports were brief, totaling no more than 10 minutes.
Consent Calendar
The council addressed and approved several routine items:
Waiving the reading of ordinance and resolution titles.
Approval of minutes from the December 10, 2024, meeting.
Adoption of a resolution for claims and demands.
Approval of the City Treasurer’s report for October 2024.
Filing of the 2024 Year-End Report on city accomplishments.
Adoption of the 2025 City Council Protocol Manual.
Approval of the 2025 Boards, Committees, and Commissions Handbook.
Endorsement of the 2025 Proclamation List.
Councilmember Alexander proposed a Veterans Month proclamation for Veterans which would take place in November.
“I am asking the council if at all possible if we can continue to support and celebrate what our veterans have done if we can have a veterans month proclamation to be able to celebrate them realistically all month instead of just for just that one day,” she said.
“Absolutely, I think we all appreciate our veterans and if they like we want to make sure that these line up with the national proclamations, I think we discussed that earlier, but I am on board,” Mayor Kalfus said.
Councilmember Schwank brought up the proclamations being given at the REDI Commission instead of at the City Council meetings.
“When we're out of the community and we have some wonderful people in our community that feel slighted by this and I just feel like there's an opportunity for us to bridge that gap,” Schwank said. “We have the opportunity to bring, you know, for example Native American Heritage back to the council. We don't even have that opportunity, it's just something that I think we should consider.”
“I actually love having them at the REDI Commission only because they get their due,” Stewart said. “I mean, what the REDI commission does with these proclamations is far and away better than the 5 minutes or less that we can give these proclamations here at the city council level.”
“I understand exactly what you're saying councilmember Schwank, but you're more optimistic than I am,” Mayor Kalfus said. “If we brought a few back out of that list out of the REDI Commission and we leave a few out like, well now you're just leaving these out, and it creates that viewpoint of exclusion even more so than what it is now.”
Approval of the 2025 Legislative Platform.
Adoption of the annual Citywide Records Retention Schedule and authorization for records destruction.
Community Services District (CSD)
Following a recess, the CSD meeting was led by President Schwank. Routine items such as approving minutes from December 10, 2024, and extending an agreement with Advantage Mailing, LLC for printing services were addressed.
Homeless Outreach and Prevention Manager Lacy Sissler gave a presentation in lieu of a directors report.
“I just will kind of briefly go through some of these high level updates but basically through this process we identified 50 unique individuals experiencing homelessness in the city of Temecula,” she said. “In 2023 we surveyed 56 individual and individuals and this reflects a 10% reduction in experiencing homelessness in our city.”
“Our census and pit count outcomes since 2017 … you can see we continue to see a decrease in the number of unhoused individuals in Temecula year over year which we believe demonstrates that we're on the right track,” Sissler said. “Revisiting the localness of the issue, our data, as we said before, reveals that 70% of those surveyed have been homeless in the City of Temecula for more than a year 64% reported their last permanent address as being in the Temecula Valley region and 70% within Riverside County. So while we do see transient individuals from other areas these findings show that homelessness in Temecula is largely a homegrown issue rather than an influx from outside areas.”
Successor Agency to the Temecula Redevelopment Agency (SARDA)
Chair Kalfus oversaw this session, which focused on approving minutes and adopting resolutions for the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule and Administrative Budget for the fiscal year 2025–2026.
Business
The council considered and finalized appointments to City Council Committees for 2025, approving a related committee appointments list.
Items for Future Agendas
Council members were allowed to propose items for future agendas, adhering to policy.
Manager and Attorney Reports
The City Manager and City Attorney provided their respective updates.
Adjournment
The meeting concluded in the memory of three people who recently passed away.
“Tonight with great sadness we're going to adjourn this meeting in the memory of three different individuals who recently passed,” Kalfus said. We know there are other people in the audience people watching and people throughout the entire community in Temecula and beyond that have been touched by the lives of these three individuals
“The first one being Bradley Sullivan, the Traffic Safety Commissioner for the City of Temecula, Joan Sparkman, and Deputy Timothy Corlew. May they rest in peace.”
The next regular session is scheduled for Jan. 28, 2025, at 6 p.m. in the Temecula Council Chambers.
You can get all the city council meeting agendas at https://temeculaca.gov/129/Agendas-Action-Minutes
