The Town Hall Dilemma and Historical Retrospective

By Nancy Knight

When the small group of residents took private control of the Town Hall, it was a sustained, morally wrong action against the people of our community. The City Council negotiated the purchase price at $750,000. I will seek State and Federal help to revoke the non-profit status of The Murrieta Town Hall Association and return our tax dollars to our reserve account.

Imagine you lived here in the 70s. Life was so simple all we had to worry about were County and Temecula developers who thought Murrieta was ripe pickin's for cheap land that could provide infrastructure, cement batch plants, and an airport to serve Temecula'a economic development needs. After all, no one of any consequence would actually want to live in Murrieta.

But we had Dorothy Renon, a crusader who was bent on keeping Temecula at bay and protecting Murrieta's interests. Surprised that I would remember Dottie in somewhat of a fond light when today so many adamantly condemn her for taking control of our Town Hall? Well, in this small town atmosphere, many can reflect on both sides of this fiery protector of our little township.

One of the really big rally's Dottie instigated was in opposition to the County and Temecula developer's desire for an airport to serve the needs of Temecula's industrial development. The County was ready and willing to allow the airport on the western plateau known as "Mesa de Burro". The flight pattern was directly over the only elementary school in town and we knew too well how the wind currents in our valley would affect aircraft flying in and out of this site. Then of course, a road through Murrieta and up the mountain would be needed for transporting Temecula goods to and from the airport. Hence, our first vivid vision, of our long battle to restrain the County and Temecula from making Murrieta its dumping ground. That is how it was in the late 70s.

By the 80s, Murrieta was starting to develop and our town grew from a population of 2,200 to over 20,000 in ten years. With population growth came commercial growth and the little town had the potential tax base to pull away from County control. We'd had enough of the Cinderella treatment. We voted in Cityhood in 1991 and turned down the County contract for Sheriff services in favor of local control of our own police department, another stark contrast to the Temecula government profile. Then in 1997, we wanted our tax money for our own public library. Of course, Temecula officials were adamantly opposed to such an idea. They had the prestige and benefits of the big County Library in their city and competition is the name of the game.

Our decision to get our $320,000 in Library funds out of The Riverside County Library System made big news. And I remember well the article in The Californian citing Temecula council member Jeff Stone's sentiments that Murrieta's decision to withdraw their money from the Temecula based facility would only serve to damage the two cities' efforts to build a comprehensive full-service library. Jeff Stone was quoted as saying, "They [Murrieta] will end up with a storefront operation and a limited collection". Well, Jeff Stone, we are very proud of our light, bright, beautiful award winning library. With limi

We do not march to the beat of someone else's drum We do not settle for second best. We strive for excellence. We are the Gem of the Valley.

With that tidbit of history regarding our relationship with the city to the south, is it any wonder why, when I am asked how we could build better relationshjps with Temecula, my answer is "With the historically proven method for getting along with your neighbors. Build good fences and don't let your dog poop in your neighbor's yard". Don't get me wrong, I do believe that someday, we will live without this rivalry that exists between the two cities. But our city council's first priority is not relationship building with our competitor. It is to build our own economic base while protecting our city's quality of life.

Now for the moral dilemma and the Town Hall purchase. After the death of the matriarch of the Town Hall Association, it became apparent to most that usage and maintenance dropped off considerably. Probably no one, other than Dottie, would ever have the same degree of interest, power and control over that edifice. And so the dilemma that was presented before our city council was "buy the property or risk the threat of sale to someone else". What would you have done in their shoes? Ask for a vote of the people? Let them sell it to someone else? Negotiate a deal?

As a 25 year resident of this community I understand that this is an issue that is felt more strongly for those in the community who volunteered many hours of time, money and hard labor to support the Town Hall in the pre-80s. Our current city council members do not have that emotional attachment. We worked for the Town Hall and looked forward to our children's wedding receptions there, our children's graduations and theatrical performances, and the family oriented activities that served to raise funds to support the Town Hall. After private control, the price to rent the Town Hall had risen beyond our means and Bingo became the primary activity at the center. We remember our former Superintendent of Schools signing documents that were needed to secure HUD funding for the Town Hall building, citing need for a site to serve Senior Citizen meals and for graduation ceremonies. What the community worked for and envisioned was a place for our senior citizens to have regular meals. What our seniors got was an occasional holiday meal and the thanks for that goes to The Garden Club. What we got for youth performances was not for our elementary school children's plays as we had expected. The Town Hall fulfilled that obligation with the help of Christian Youth Theater ticket sales. And we remember well the eighth grade graduation class whose festivities were abruptly brought to a halt when one child sat on the stage and rested his foot upon the edge of a table. Everybody was immediately thrown out.

Yes, there were two grand jury investigations but remember these are County Grand Juries and the decision rested with County officials. In a grand jury summary dated March 1992, it was reported that the Murrieta Town Hall Association was founded in March 1956. It was established to provide "a meeting place for the residents of the Murrieta Valley and to encourage educational, charitable and literary activities". On August 22, 1956 MVTHA was duly organized as a non-profit corporation and approximately one month later Inez M. Hunt granted a five-acre parcel of land to the MVTHA. In the first twenty years of existence, the township operated its Town Hall just as specified. We used the small home on the property for our meeting place and we held an annual auction and pancake breakfast for our major fund-raiser event that supported the Little League field and property maintenance.

Then came the opportunity for HUD funding to create a fully functional Town Hall facility. It was designed with a full kitchen, a revolving stage (well it was supposed to revolve), and high ceilings for youth sports. The original management plan of the MVTHA as reported in the Grand Jury summary stated, "The MVTHA proposes to construct a multi-purpose community center on approximately five acres of land. The building will be 5,000 to 7,200 square feet and will be used by the entire community. We are projecting the center will have the following specific purposes: Vocational training (adult education and job training day and evening), Youth activities (Summer recreation, job referral, hot lunch school program, graduation exercises), Senior citizen activities (senior job rehabilitation referral and senior meals program), Child care project (pre-school activities and day care program), Health care (medical clinic care)".

The township envisioned a fully functioning community center much like other Riverside County community facilities. To this end, the community stood in support of this endeavor just as many members of our community support other non-profit clubs and organizations today and work hard on the community's behalf. We trust the officers and volunteer directors and give them praise and recognition. But this one went awry. This one never accomplished its community oriented goals. This one became a closed society that profited from the generous donations of community members and Bingo. They walk among us today too and many are looked upon still as heroes or have their name immortalized by their peers. Beware my Friends, lest your benevolent labors end as ours did, profiting the few unconscionables.

And so in the summer of 2001 the moral dilemma was presented to the City Council and someone provided an appraisal of one million dollars for the Town Hall property. The negotiated purchase price was set at $750,000 (adjusted downward to compensate for the HUD funding of the Town Hall building). $500,000 is to be held in benevolent trust accounts for which only the interest can be drawn for scholarships and library goods. Lastly $250,000 goes to the ongoing activities of the Town Hall Association directors. This purchase by our city council sent a message that immoral behavior is acceptable. When the small group of residents took private control of the Town Hall, it was a sustained, morally wrong action against the people of our community. For this reason, the council's decision to negotiate the purchase, not only contributed to the financial benefit of these individuals with our tax dollars but sent a message that our elected officials can be influenced by exercising fear tactics and political pressure regardless of the immoral behavior connected to their special interests. Taking private control of the Town Hall was a sustained, morally wrong action against the people of our community and for this reason I would never have contributed to the financial benefit of these individuals with taxpayer reserves.

But the deed is done, so now what? Well the center is not fit to use and we are told we don't have a specific use in mind yet anyway. So bottom line is we have a tax and spend policy at work here. There was money in reserves and tax money is free, right? Why not spend it on something we don't want, something that needs a lot of repair, and tie up a lot of our funds in trust accounts that we can never touch except for the interest it will pay each year. Then we can spend more taxpayer dollars to clear asbestos, lead paint, redo floors and repair the parking lot for a building that is outdated, too small, and is one of the ugliest buildings this side of Temecula's industrial park. Who appraised this property at $1 million anyway, one of the Town Hall Directors? Hey, maybe the plan is actually to fix it up and sell it back to them at a loss. Actually, it would not be a bad looking facility for a YMCA. That's it, let's see if we can negotiate a deal with the Y and use our money for a real community center. Or better yet help in the effort to get their non-profit status revoked. Then all the money we paid into this deal will come back to the taxpayers and justice will prevail after all. It all begins with letters to the Attorney General's office demanding an investigation.