Menifee City Council faces 'rare' absence of deployed mayor

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The Menifee City Council will be faced with a situation rarely encountered by such a governing body when it operates for up to six months without a sitting mayor in the country.

Mayor Ricky Estrada, a member of the U.S. Air Force reserves, announced on Monday that he will be activated and deployed overseas for six months, beginning in October. Estrada is eight months into his first term as mayor and will be allowed to return to his civic duties following his release from deployment.

Meanwhile, the City of Menifee announced, Mayor Pro Tem Bob Karwin will serve as acting mayor during Estrada’s absence. Karwin, whose profession is as an attorney, is in his second term as District 1 representative on City Council.

That will leave the City Council with four voting members for half a year, creating the possibility of 2-2 ties in voting on city issues. According to City Public Information Officer Phil Southard, there is no provision for naming a temporary fifth member to the council during Estrada’s deployment.

“During my deployment, I will continue to communicate with our City leadership and stay updated on local activities,” Estrada said in a prepared statement on Monday.

According to Southard, “Federal Law, the Military and Veterans Code, says that ‘any public officer … of any city … who being a member of any reserve … is or was ordered duty therewith … shall have a right … to return to and reenter upon the office or position within six months after termination of their active service … if the term for which they were elected or appointed has not ended during their absence.’

“Under this Code, the mayor has the right to return to his position after his deployment ends. Neither State Law nor the Municipal Code allows for the selection of a City Council member (or mayor) on a temporary basis. Accordingly, the position should be held open until Mayor Estrada returns from his deployment,” Southard continued.

There is no item on Wednesday’s City Council agenda pertaining to this issue, but it surely will be discussed at some point during the 6 p.m. meeting.

Research indicates that it is extremely rare for a mayor to be deployed during his/her mayoral term. Pete Buttigieg was mayor of South Bend, Indiana and was serving as a Navy reservist when he was deployed to Afghanistan for seven months in 2014. He went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under the Biden administration.

There are only two other recorded incidents of a mayor being deployed during his mayoral term. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Jacob Day was the mayor of Salisbury, Maryland and a member of the Army National Guard when he was deployed to Djibouti, Africa for a year in 2020-21. City administrator Julia Glanz served as acting mayor during his absence.

In 2023, Day was named Maryland Secretary of Housing and Community Development.

Brent Taylor was mayor of North Ogden, Utah and an Army National Guard officer when he was deployed to Afghanistan in January, 2018. Minutes of that City Council show that upon Taylor’s recommendation, Brent Chugg was named temporary mayor during Taylor’s absence. North Ogden’s City Council structure included a mayor plus five other council members.

On Nov. 3, 2018, Taylor was killed in action.