Interview with Kelly Bennett, Proactive Mayor of Murrieta
By Karen Robertson
When I sat down with Mayor Kelly Bennett, I was glad I’d finished my lunch because it took all my concentration to keep up with her energy and enthusiasm. Just getting the time together was tough as Kelly is involved in a multitude of endeavors. Our time was limited and we stuck to the facts.
Q. What are some of the projects the City of Murrieta has undertaken that excite you?
A. In no particular order, let me mention a few.
Farmer’s Market: We had a Farmer’s Market last year that wasn’t quite as successful as we’d hoped. In the spring we’ll have a new and improved Farmer’s Market under new management.
Health Care: You have seen the construction on the Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta south of Scott Road, adjacent to the I-215 freeway. This State of the Art hospital is a joint venture between Loma Linda University Medical Center and Physician’s Group, LLC. It will be a teaching hospital with a full service ER, six surgical suites, laparoscopic surgery center, imaging center, general and acute-care service. The featured medical specialties include interventional cardio-vascular, obstetrics, pediatrics, urology and orthopedics. The planned opening date is early 2011.
We are in the process of rezoning the corridor around the hospital from Clinton Keith to Scott Road as a medical and bio-tech business corridor. We anticipate that the hospital alone will provide 500 new jobs.
The Murrieta Education Center: In an effort to bring more opportunities for higher education, this five-story education center will offer a variety of programs by private and public universities and community colleges. The campus will be located on Monroe Avenue, between Fig and Jordan Lane (adjacent to the I-15 freeway) and will serve the entire Southwest region.
Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation Improvements Financing Program: The newly passed Assembly Bill 811 allows jurisdictions and joint powers authorities to provide special financing to home and business owners seeking to install energy and water efficiency improvements on their property. This allows property owners to get financing at reasonable rates for things like solar panels, and attach the financing to their property through their tax bill (like a special assessment). This is an advantage in an economic climate where it is difficult (if not impossible) to obtain financing through private lenders or home equity lines. Property owners making these efficiency improvements get tax advantages and discounts on their energy bills. If the owner sells the property, the financing remains with the property, with the subsequent buyer assuming the payments. I’ll be going to Washington with WRCOG colleagues to lobby congress for more federal funds to implement that plan.
Produce for People Community Garden: In Portland, the city has a community garden where citizens can come and farm their plot. In each garden, they donate one row to the Food Pantry. We thought, “Why not develop a community garden where 100% of the produce would go to our food banks to feed our families?” The city identified and designated a parcel of property off of Alta Murrieta behind Burlington Coat factory near the 215 freeway. Presently it sits behind a ball field and is totally unused.
David Neault is an area landscape architect who has volunteered his skills and has provided the design plans for the garden. We have partnered with the Salvation Army to oversee the garden operations and have leased the garden site to the non-profit organization for $1/year. In addition, farmers in the region, as well as master gardeners from the UC Riverside extension and irrigation specialists, are donating their time and talents to get the garden installed. We are currently seeking corporate sponsorships and contributions to provide some of the materials needed to get the garden going. Key to this endeavor will be community volunteers, and I encourage anyone with interest to contact City Hall or the Salvation Army to get involved in this exciting project!
This garden is going to provide educational and philanthropic opportunities for students as well as being accessible to seniors and the disabled. The big payoff will be the much-anticipated healthy fresh produce for distribution to our area food banks.
Military Family Project:
We have a council and community that are very sensitive to those serving in the military and to veterans, as evidenced last November at the Veteran’s Day Parade and ground-breaking ceremony of the Murrieta Veteran’s Memorial at Town Hall Square. It was so moving to see the hundreds of flags flying in the park representing our resident veterans, as well as loved ones in our community’s families.
Most recently, we attended a luncheon with the commanding officer and his top-level staff members at Camp Pendleton to discuss the needs of our own local military families. We talked about the number of military spouses who are keeping the home fires burning, working, and raising children while the other parent is serving overseas. He identified three areas of concern:
- Smaller holidays like Mother’s Day present a feeling of loneliness for many of the military spouses. To address this, I will be hosting a “Mayor’s Military Mother’s Day” event in concert with volunteers from some of the local churches and anyone else who has a heart for these Moms. The goal is to express our appreciation for these special moms and give them a special time to celebrate their achievements.
- Mentoring and tutoring for youth/teens of families with a deployed parent.
- Handyman services. There must be all sorts of minor fix-it jobs that volunteers could do for these wives, and we’ll be looking for a volunteer to coordinate those efforts.
Youth Court:
In 2007 Police Chief Mark Wright and I began discussing the need in Murrieta and Temecula for a first-time, low level juvenile offenders diversion program. We wanted immediate intervention to give kids who were in danger of running amok a wake-up call with meaning. After a year of planning, the Murrieta Youth Court started hearing cases in March 2008. In 2009 Temecula came on board and we now have a joint Murrieta/Temecula Youth Court called Southwest Valley Youth Court. Working in concert with the County Probation Department, Murrieta and Temecula Police Departments select juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 who qualify for the program. They are offered a “second chance” and opportunity to go through this special program instead of appearing in the juvenile court system.
Q. Is this open to the public?
A. Yes. The court meets once a month at the Temecula Court House (which serves as a Small Claims Court by day). We have partnered with the Riverside County Superior Court and their judges, who volunteer their time to preside on the bench at the Youth Court hearings.
In the Southwest Valley Youth Court, the juvenile offenders are sentenced by a jury of their peers for infractions and non-violent misdemeanor crimes. As a pre-requisite to entering the program, the kids must admit guilt, and the focus at the Youth Courts is on rehabilitation through creative sentencing and education. This unique program employs concepts such as positive peer influence, accountability, competency development, and youth involvement to offer communities a prevention and early intervention program.
There are two volunteer real attorney advocates; one for the prosecution and one for the defense. Depending on the crime, the punishment/sentence can consist of a variety of requirements. A tour of the jail is mandatory. They are often asked to write letters of apology to those they’ve wronged, read a book by Sean Covey titled The 6 Most Important Decisions You Will Ever make: A Guide for Teens, and write a report on one of the chapters.
Offenders are often asked about their aspirations and career goals. They are then asked to interview someone in the profession of their choice. They often discover that in order to reach their goal, they have to have a clean record, good grades, and some involvement in extracurricular activities that are noteworthy ― and legal.
School Counselors serve as jury coaches and past offenders are required to serve as Youth Court jury members. We track our effectiveness and our most recent stats report that we are at a 92.87% success rate. This program makes a positive impression. I bet some of these kids will go on to be attorneys, but they won’t go on to be criminals ― all a part of why Murrieta is a safer place to live and crime is down.
Q. What is a major concern presently?
A. Budget. Our staff has done a phenomenal job of cutting costs and finding creative means of getting the job done with minimal expenditures. However, we know without a doubt that the next few years will be extremely challenging. Many people think that the city gets all its money from property taxes, but truth is that the city only gets around $.07 of every dollar collected, with the balance going to the county and state. Retail sales are one of our largest funding sources. But with the sagging economy, retail sales are down and businesses are challenged. With the foreclosures we have seen in the last few years, unpaid tax bills, property value reassessments, the credit crunch, and lenders not lending, it is very tight.
The good news is that we have outstanding “team players” at every level, from the fire and police departments, to planning, technology and upper level management. These fine people are working hard to find a way through this budgetary crunch to maintain quality service to the community and doing more with less.
Q. What goals do you have as Mayor?
A. As a non-elected, rotational, appointed Mayor, my goals are my colleagues’ (City Council’s) goals. Although I am temporarily the face of the city, I only have one vote. When I was elected, what I wanted more than anything was a cohesive council that worked well together. We now have a fully engaged council that works together beautifully. It is exceptional and because of it, we are able to accomplish great things.
Q. What are you involved in besides the Council meetings?
A. There are a few “extracurriculars” in addition to the twice a month council meetings.
All of us on the Council serve in various capacities on focused workgroups or subcommittees. These are a few of the subcommittees I’m involved in:
The Murrieta/Temecula Subcommittee to work on projects of common interest between the two cities, such as the Jackson Street/Ynez connection (bridge and roads); access to quality healthcare facilities in our cities; and promotion of higher education institutions in the region.
The Economic Development Committee where we invite leaders in targeted industries to advise on approaches to jobs creation, business expansion and attraction.
Councilman Doug McAllister and I served on the “Fast Track” Planning Committee, which allows qualifying projects (with high retail sales potential and/or high jobs creation) to move to the “front of the line” in the planning process in order to get the business up and running at laser speed. Our first project that went through the new Fast Track program was the BMW-Murrieta dealership set to open its doors in October of this year.
The Produce for People Committee is responsible for the new community garden project mentioned above, and the Heaven on Earth Committee is about the annual regional food drive we started in 2008.
Regionally, Councilman Rick Gibbs and I serve on the Southwest Cities Coalition which includes the mayors, a council member, and the city manager of Murrieta, Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake, Wildomar, and Menifee. Collectively, the group’s recent goals include access to quality medical care and higher education opportunities.
I also serve on the WRCOG – Western Riverside Council of Governments. This “super-council” includes 17 western Riverside County cities, two water districts, and four county supervisors. At WRCOG it’s all about regional issues, and providing a collective voice in Southern California and Sacramento about the issues of import to all of us in the region.
In addition to the government-related work, I currently serve as President of the Southwest Riverside County Bar Association and have served on its board in various roles (past President and Vice President) over the years.
I have my own business as a mediator and arbitrator (Mediation Law Group, Inc.), resolving business real estate and family disputes, and handle an intentionally small number of family law cases as an advocate.
Q. So what do you do in your “spare” time?
A. Ha! I love to garden and be with my family. My husband, Greg, fondly known by my council colleagues as Murrieta’s “First Dude,” is a Business and Real Estate Attorney at our law firm, Bennett & Bennett. He is very patient with my crazy schedule. Our oldest daughter Rachael is a sophomore at Pepperdine University presently studying in the Heidelberg, Germany program. The interesting thing is that Greg and I went through that same program when we were students at Pepperdine (in fact, we met in Heidelberg!). Rachael is not only living in the same house where I lived, but in the same dorm room!
We’ve only lived in Murrieta seven years, but my grandfather and father farmed land in the Murrieta Valley years ago, so I have roots that go back 55 years.
If Kelly Bennett is the face of Murrieta, it is a pretty face with genuine enthusiasm and drive to make Murrieta “The Gem of the Valley”; “where it all comes together”; “a great place to grow”; and most recently, ”the future of Southern California.”
Thanks Kelly, for everything you do.