09/30/2026
PRESS RELEASE - City of Hemet Announces Ernie Reyna as City Manager
HEMET, CA - September 29, 2026 - The Hemet City Council on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, unanimously approved an employment agreement appointing Ernest N. “Ernie” Reyna as City Manager. Mr. Reyna, who currently serves as Assistant City Manager for the City of Perris, is expected to begin his service with the City on November 2, 2026.
Mr. Reyna brings more than 25 years of progressively responsible leadership in city management, municipal finance, and regional government, all of it in service to Riverside County communities. He joined the City of Perris in 2019 as Director of Finance and City Treasurer and was promoted in 2021 to Deputy City Manager and later Assistant City Manager. In that role he serves as the principal operational assistant to the City Manager, with executive oversight of Finance, Public Works, Information Technology, Emergency Management, Municipal Enforcement Services, and Public Safety contract administration. He has been directly involved in budget development, labor negotiations, and long-range financial planning, and in 2026 he led the executive effort behind Measure B, a voter-approved local sales tax measure that will strengthen Perris’ long-term fiscal position.
Before joining Perris, Mr. Reyna served as Finance Director and City Treasurer for the City of Eastvale and, for more than seven years, as Chief Financial Officer of the Western Riverside Council of Governments, a regional agency serving 17 cities, the County of Riverside, special districts, educational agencies, and tribal governments. At WRCOG he managed an annual operating budget of more than $65 million and an investment portfolio of more than $80 million, and he founded and chaired the agency’s first Finance Directors Committee. He began his career with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, where he spent 13 years in accounting, audit, and financial administration roles, rising to Assistant Controller.
To read the full Press Release, please visit, hemetca.gov/1145/Press-Releases.
