Temecula council appoints Rahn and Kalfus to new terms, cancels November elections in Districts 1 and 3

The Temecula City Council voted 4-0 on Aug. 20 to appoint the only candidates who filed in Districts 1 and 3 and to cancel the Nov. 3 election for those two seats.

Action minutes of the special meeting say the council appointed Matt Rahn to District 1 and Brenden Kalfus to District 3. Council Member Stewart made the motion and Kalfus seconded it. Mayor Jessica Alexander was absent.

Rahn, the mayor pro tem, opened the meeting at 9 a.m., and it adjourned at 9:05 a.m. No one spoke during public comment, the minutes show.

Why there will be no vote in two districts

Temecula has five council districts. Districts 1, 3 and 5 were due on the November 2026 ballot, and Districts 2 and 4 are due in 2028, according to a staff report from City Clerk Randi Johl.

When the nomination period closed at 5 p.m. Aug. 7, the report says, District 1 and District 3 each had one candidate, the incumbent. District 5 had four candidates, including the incumbent.

The report cites state Elections Code Section 10229, which covers uncontested city races. If a district draws a single nominee, the council may appoint that person or let the election proceed.

Before an appointment, the law requires the clerk to certify the facts, a public notice, a five-day wait and action more than 75 days before the election. The report says the city published the notice Aug. 13 in both English and Spanish.

After an appointment, the seat is closed to write-in candidates, the report says.

The resolution states that the appointees serve four-year terms and take office "exactly as if elected at a municipal election."

District 5 still on the ballot

The cancellation applies only to Districts 1 and 3. The report says one district's appointment has no bearing on another district's election, and the resolution states that District 5 "will proceed to election."

The staff report gives no dollar figure for savings. It says the city had not received a cost estimate for the November election from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, but that savings were expected if the council chose appointment.

Earlier meeting

The council first took up the question at a special meeting Aug. 11. Action minutes for that session say the council gave general direction only and took no action. Rahn was absent from that meeting.

Two discrepancies appear in the records. The draft resolution attached to the Aug. 20 agenda lists Kalfus under "District 2," while its title and the staff report identify Districts 1 and 3 as the uncontested seats and the action minutes record his appointment to District 3. The action minutes also spell his name "Klafus" in the motion; the roll call in the same minutes and the draft resolution spell it Kalfus. The signed resolution is not among the records reviewed.