County's New Supervisor Takes His Seat

Former Temecula City Councilman Charles “Chuck” Washington will formally assume his duties Tuesday as a Riverside County supervisor.

Washington, who was appointed last week by Gov. Jerry Brown to fill the vacant Third District seat, will take a ceremonial oath and deliver his first remarks as a supervisor Tuesday morning.

The Third District has been without a supervisor since Jeff Stone was elected to the state Senate in November. It includes the communities of Hemet, Murrieta, San Jacinto and Temecula.

“It is wonderful to once again have a full complement on the Board of Supervisors ... and it is truly momentous because Chuck is the first African- American to sit on the board,” Chairman Marion Ashley said after hearing of Washington’s appointment.

The 62-year-old Washington, who will also be the board’s only Democrat, has served on the Temecula City Council since 2003 and has been mayor twice -- in 2007 and 2012.

He worked as a pilot for Delta Air Lines between 1987 and 2014, with an intervening career as a bank executive between 2005 and 2008. He also served on the Murrieta City Council from 1995 to 1999 and was a U.S. Naval officer from 1981 to 1990.

The three-month gap during which the board had only four supervisors was reminiscent of 2009, following the death of Supervisor Roy Wilson, who represented the Fourth District. Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took just over two months to formally appoint John Benoit, then a state senator, to fill the seat.

The board ran into difficulties back then and more recently, when there was no quorum to handle county business. It takes three supervisors to form a quorum.

Ashley, who represents the Fifth District, was appointed oversight agent for the Third District when Stone departed for Sacramento in late November. The district encompasses the Temecula Valley and portions of central Riverside County.

Washington has appeared before the board on multiple occasions and was among hundreds of people who testified during public hearings at the County Administrative Center in 2011 and 2012 to express opposition to an unpopular mining operation proposed on a 414-acre space just west of Temecula. The plan was scrapped after the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians bought the property.

Washington will serve out the balance of Stone’s term, which expires Dec. 31, 2016. He will be paid $147,688 a year.

– City News Service contributed to this report.