Promoted post submitted and paid for by Committee to Elect Mike Donovan Coronado Mayor 2024
As a two-term City Councilmember, serving from 2016 to 2024, I have the requisite Council experience to lead Coronado as your next Mayor. During my 8 years on the Council, I have served on 6 Council committees/subcommittees; represented Coronado at 6 community organizations; and served as Council representative on 10 boards and committees for 4 San Diego agencies.
My City Council experience is broad and deep, and I take a balanced, “big-picture” approach when it comes to Council decision making. This means I try to keep Coronado’s various – and varying – priorities in mind at all times. Since almost every decision the Council makes involves money, either outright or in terms of staff time, it’s our job to make sure we balance all of the community’s differing interests and priorities as best we can.
In addition to my Council tenure, I’m the only Mayoral candidate with both Navy and corporate executive experience.
As a retired Navy Captain, I served aboard two nuclear powered cruisers during my 10 years of active duty, and I held command positions during my 20 years in the Naval Reserves. While on the Council, I have served as chairperson of the Coronado Naval Complexes Coordinating Group; as a member of the San Diego Military Advisory Council; and I attend SANDAG’s Military Working Group meetings. As a result, I understand Coronado’s Navy base operations, especially as they relate to ship activity.
For instance, the Navy’s plan to extend NASNI’s nuclear carrier in-port time from 29 to 180 days (for 3 carriers), would impact residents with an increase in traffic, congestion, pollution, and an added demand for parking. In order to try to mitigate these effects early on (the Navy is currently in the environmental review stage), as your Mayor, I propose heading up a taskforce of retired senior Coronado Naval Officers to address this with Navy personnel in Coronado, San Diego, as well as in Washington, DC. The time to act is now, before the Navy’s plan is put into place.
As a 30-year corporate executive for Caterpillar, Inc., I managed both operational and capital budgets in excess of $100M, and on the Council, I put this fiscal management experience to good use, serving on the City Audit Committee; the subcommittee for Capital Improvement Program (CIP); and the Coronado Financing Authority for the Successor Agency to the Community Development Agency. I was also instrumental in initiating a more budget-based City grant program, which also allowed for an increase in the number of nonprofit organizations submitting grant applications, as well as the number of grant recipients.
On the Council, I have also been able to call upon my corporate experience as it pertains to program management. For example, as a member of a Council subcommittee to select a Golf Course concessionaire, I introduced a quantifiable system for evaluating contractor proposals. This not only produced a measurable way to compare final proposals, it ensured a publicly-transparent process and a more objective result.
In conclusion, I believe my 8 years of experience on the Council, along with my Navy and corporate experience, make me uniquely qualified to lead Coronado as your next Mayor. I thank you for your consideration, and I hope to earn your vote this fall. I can be reached at www.MikeDonovanCoronado.com; [email protected]; and 619.518.4730.
Mike Donovan
Paid for by Committee to Elect Mike Donovan Coronado Mayor 2024.
