Council to Vote on Purchase Despite Conflict of Interest

The Temecula City Council will take an unusual step in its meeting tonight to skirt a conflict of interest. They will draw names from a bowl.

The council will decide at a meeting at thewhether to buy the Welty Hotel, a historical site in Old Town.

Rancon Real Estate represents the seller, and this poses a problem for a majority of the council.

Three of the five council members have connections to the Rancon Group, a group of real estate-related businesses based in Murrieta.

Councilmember Jeff Comerchero is the president and CEO of the group, and Councilmembers Mike Naggar and Chuck Washington both invested in companies under the Rancon umbrella. Naggar also worked as a consultant for them.

Rancon Real Estate works as a separate company legally independent from the parts in which Washington and Naggar have vested interests, City Attorney Peter Thorson wrote in a report.

The connection – though tenuous – is still enough to necessitate taking action to avoid a conflict of interest, he wrote.

Since only five members make up the council, and voting with only two is barred by law, one member with a conflict of interest must vote.

So, the three council members will put their names in a bowl and the city clerk will draw one out. Whichever name she picks, that person will vote on the purchase.

The hotel was built in 1891 as a hotel, though it’s currently a private residence on Third Street. It's on sale for $3.4 million.