City Council - Regular Meeting

We're going to call this meeting to order. This is a special, this is the City of Eastvale City Council special meeting, Wednesday, August 18th, 2026. Just after 5.30 p.m., we're calling this meeting to order. Mr. Donahue, if we could please have roll call.

Council Member Dinko? Here. Council Member McMinn?

Here.

Council Member Rigby? Here. Mayor Pro Tem Lorimer? Here. Mayor Yow is absent.

Okay, excellent. We're going to be moving on to our Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance tonight will be led by Council Member Dinko. Thank you. Please hand over your heart and repeat after me. Okay, thank you. That brings us to our public comment. You may submit a public comment by filling out a public comment card or raising your hand online. Individuals online should use raise hand feature to indicate that they want to speak and will be unmuted when it is their turn to speak. Public comments are allowed a maximum of three minutes per individual comment. Please note that during public comment, the City Council is not able to respond to inquiries or engage in dialogue. Mr. Donahue, do we have any public comments?

We do not have any general public comment.

Okay. That brings us to our city council business. For this item, I'm going to be stepping away.

Council Member Rigby will take over since he's the senior council member.

Perfect. Council Member Rigby, the meeting is yours. Thank you, sir.

Starting with item number five of City Council Business 5.1, Discussion to Appoint or Hold the General Municipal Election in District 3. I'm gonna turn to Mr. Mark Donahue to present this item.

Thank you, Council. So in June of 2026, City Council adopted a resolution calling for a holding of a general municipal election to be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2026 for three members of the City Council and requesting the Board of Supervisors of the County of Riverside to consolidate and render specified services to the City of Eastville related to the conduct of the statewide general municipal election. The filing deadline was Thursday, August 6, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. for Districts 1 and 3. The deadline for District 4 was Wednesday, August 12, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. At the close of the nomination period, the city received filing papers for three individuals in District 1, one individual in District 3, and three individuals in District 4. Elections Code Section 10229 provides three options to be considered by the governing body, in this case the City Council, in the event of one or no nominees filed by the close of the filing period. Those options include appointing to the office a person who has been nominated, Point to the office any eligible voter if no one has been nominated and third hold the election of either no one or only one person has been nominated Given that any election which would be held in November would be uncontested for district 3 Staff finds no value in pursuing the third option additionally the city would incur costs of approximately $30,000 in order to continue with the election in district 3 The appointment of a city council member must be approved by a majority vote of the city council. The person appointed shall qualify and take office and serve exactly as if elected at a municipal election for the office. After the appointments are approved, the city clerk shall not accept any filings for a write-in candidate. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. Donahue. Any questions from council?

councilmember Dingo and just confirming there's only one for district 3 and if we were to go ahead with election it would cost an additional $30,000 for the filing correct okay thank you I do have a question since the closure of the filing date have you received any other interest from district 3

So we didn't receive any interest during the nomination period. I did receive a phone call from somebody yesterday in District 3 who indicated that they were interested in being a write-in candidate if the election is not canceled. I've only had one resident reach out to me.

He told you he was interested or was not interested?

He was interested if the city council did not cancel the election.

I think that same person told me he was not interested, so that's interesting.

Was there any discussion from that person as to why they did not file within the time that was allotted?

My understanding was that he was confused by the nomination period date.

And there were no questions that were brought up before that?

For District 3, during the nomination period, I didn't receive any questions or interest besides the incumbent who filed.

Okay. Any other questions from council? Do we have any public comments on this item? We do not. All right, council, any further discussion?

Interesting I talked to a gentleman that was interested in running for council. He told me that he was inquiring about that the time I advised him to contact Georgia Donahue and inquire find out if there's another route for him to file and Although I understand the rules, I want to make sure he has it from the official person overseeing the election here in Eastville. I mean, it's a county-run election, but the filings through the city of Eastville. I did speak to him after the conversation with the city He expressed to me something different that he would maybe be interested and the next time but Not in this time. So it leaves me with knowing what I know I I think I have all the answers that I need with that information, but that was just my statement

Thank you.

Any other, council member? I feel like people had ample amount of time to do it and they also could have done a public comment today also if they're really serious about it and said, hey, I'm really interested in running. Please help me. What can I do? And no interest again.

And for context, I did make the gentleman aware of the meeting today that the council was considering this and I informed him that I would call him after the meeting concluded to tell him what the council's decision was.

Yeah, it's the same person, clearly, because he had called and says, yeah, Mark Downo told me that you guys are going to be talking about it tonight, and we discussed it. And I know the way our conversation finished, he'd be looking out for the filing for next time. That was what my conversation was. That's what's going to help steer my opinion. If I had someone that was 100% saying that they wanted to continue with a write-in, that would also steer my opinion. But I don't have that on my personal information.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. And if we can vote, please. And just for clarification, the motion is to approve staff's recommendation.

Motion passes 3-0.

Great. Thank you. And so from here, do we, is that done at our next council meeting or not till December for him?

Not till December because the term of office will begin in December. Okay. He's still in his previous term right now.

Great. So should we bring him back in or just close the meeting?

Yes, we can. And we can just all leave.

And he just stays out there. All right, so do we need to do a recap, Mr. Donahue, or? No, just for the, okay. All right, then we will, this meeting is now adjourned. The next regular city council meeting will be on September 9th, 2026 at 6.30 p.m. This meeting is now adjourned.