Bob Magee Appointed To Serve As Lake Elsinore Mayor

Lake Elsinore Councilman Bob Magee will once again serve as mayor of the city.

During Tuesday night’s regularly scheduled Lake Elsinore City Council meeting, council members voted 5-0 to appoint Magee to the top spot. He was reelected last month by Lake Elsinore voters to his third, four-year term on the council.

During his eight years with city, Magee has served as mayor on more than one occasion. Annual appointments are standard practice for the city. At the end of each calendar year, city council members newly appoint a mayor and a mayor pro tem.

In a 3-2 vote Tuesday night, Councilwoman Natasha Johnson was appointed mayor pro tem. The dissenters were council members Steve Manos and Daryl Hickman, who both voted to appoint Manos to the number-two spot.

Johnson and Manos were newly elected to the city council last month. They replace former City Councilman Peter Weber (who lost his election bid after being appointed to the council last year following the resignation of then-mayor Amy Bhutta) and Councilwoman Melissa Melendez, who was elected to serve in the State Assembly for the 67th District, which includes Lake Elsinore and Wildomar, among other jurisdictions.

During Tuesday night’s meeting, Melendez and Weber were on hand and were honored for their service to the city. 

Manos, Johnson and Magee were sworn into office Dec. 4.

Since September 2011, Councilman Brian Tisdale has served as mayor of the city following the Bhutta resignation. He was again appointed by his colleagues at the end of that year.

Councilman Daryl Hickman has served as mayor pro tem for the last 12 months.

Appointments to 28 governmental agency committees were also made Tuesday night. Tisdale suggested the appointments, which were approved by a 3-2 council vote.

Hickman and Manos were the dissenters. They questioned the appointment of former Lake Elsinore City Councilman Thomas Buckley to serve another term on the committee overseeing the Northwest Mosquito and Vector Control District.

“I lost a little sleep over it,” Manos said, noting he would be willing to sit on the committee.

In arguing in support of Buckley’s appointment, Magee praised the former councilman’s service to the community and his work in bringing Lake Elsinore into the district so residents could receive vector control at a cost of $9 a year per household.

“I think he’s earned another term here,” Magee said.