In somewhat of a departure from precedent, the Murrieta City Council voted at its Dec. 17 meeting to put recently-appointed council member Gene Wunderlich in the mayor’s seat for the next year.Wunderlich was appointed just two months ago by the rest of the city council to fill the spot vacated by Randon Lane, who left at the end of August to take a position with the communications department of the U.S. Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C.In the city of Murrieta, as in many general law cities, the position of mayor is rotated among the five city councilmembers on an annual basis. The Murrieta City Council’s existing policy is that a mayor must have served at least two years on the city council and have previously served as mayor pro tem. Per that same policy, a mayo
