Leading up to the November elections, SWRNN.com will run a series of candidate profiles describing each potential contender for this year’s open City Council seats. Stay tuned for continued Election 2012 coverage.
Murrieta residents will vote to fill two open City Council seats, each with a four-year term.
Murrieta City Council candidate Randon Lane (Courtesy photo)
Incumbent Randon Lane is one of six candidates campaigning for City Council.
Lane, 43, is seeking re-election to office in order to continue improving Murrieta’s job scene, roads improvement and safety, healthcare accessibility and quality and a strong infrastructure.
“Infrastructure has really been my passion,” Lane said. “They used to build houses first, and then infrastructure would come later. I said, ‘Let’s take care of the people living here first.’ We now have an infrastructure first policy as part of how we do business in Murrieta.”
Lane first joined the council in 2008.
“That was the beginning of the decline of the economy,” he said. “We had a pretty fiscally conservative council, operating with about a 25 percent reserve in the fund.”
Lane said there were cutbacks, but feels the community hasn’t had to see many changes.
“We still do concerts in the park and movies in the park and programs for our seniors and kids,” he said. “We are not cutting back on the essential services.”
Lane’s focus in 2008 was the economy, infrastructure and public safety.
Today, the focus is much the same.
“I think we’ve done a good job,” he said. “When you look at our economic development team, we’ve brought developers into the city, we’re talking about international trade through Murrieta, we’ve brought in different governments from Vietnam to Malaysia to China.”
On the economic development side, Lane said the council has worked hard to bring more businesses and jobs to Murrieta.
“We’ve seen an increase in business and sales tax in the city,” he said. “And we’ve been ranked as one of the safest cities in the state.”
Lane said he hopes to make Murrieta part of the governor’s iHub innovation program, which could improve innovation infrastructure through partnerships and collaboration. San Diego is the only nearby city currently participating in iHub.
Lane is married with three children, including a 20-year-old daughter, and eight- and four-year-old sons. He works as public affairs manager for the Southern California Gas Company.
“They have been very supportive during campaign season,” he said of his family. “I couldn’t do it otherwise. I have a day job and politics in the evenings. I have to balance everything.”
Jennifer Dean is a local writer and regular contributor to SWRNN.
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