He sits down in his seat at the City Council Chambers, a fellow councilman to his left and the city manager to his right.
This City Council meeting is his fourth today for city business, and this particular one will last five hours.
Councilman John Duncan averages about four meetings in a day, he says to The Coronado News, whether it’s an official board meeting or serving on a subcommittee or being active as a community member.
For all that work, he – and other council members – receive a monthly stipend of $913.50 a month, city records show.
Potential candidate for mayor
He’s not complaining, and he may be adding in another role in the coming year.
Duncan has been flirting with, or more so seriously dating, the idea of running for mayor once Mayor Richard Bailey finishes out his term at the end of 2024.
“I’m leaning very strongly to running for mayor,” Duncan says. “When people come to you and say, ‘We really like what you’re doing, we’d like you to consider running for mayor,’ that means a lot to me.”
And his background for running for mayor?
Lawyer and Councilmember
A lawyer for more than two decades, Duncan had his law license active in four states and Washington D.C. to practice in federal courts all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But in the last decade or so, he’s been transitioning slowly to local politics and community efforts.
“I really approached this job almost like a full-time job. You know, I ran on that. I wanted to work hard and I wanted to represent Coronado and outside agencies,” Duncan says.
He ran for city council in 2022, and after winning was sworn in that December.
Since then, he has been mainly focusing on a few key issues.
And the Tijuana sewage crisis is one problem he’s determined to try and find a solution.
Key issue: Tijuana sewage crisis
“With the sewage, I’m on the city’s subcommittee on that issue and that is a long and painful issue,” Duncan says, referencing a call for action that’s been occurring over the last several months. “I really believe that the next budget is maybe almost one of our last chances to resolve this issue.”
The last few months have seen key officials such as California’s U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla and U.S. Rep. Scott Peters requesting emergency federal supplemental funds as well as local and federal officials repeatedly calling for Gov. Newsom and President Joe Biden to declare the problem a state of emergency.
Duncan had expressed in an April city council meeting the need for Coronado to be fully involved in helping solve this crisis as the sewage directly affects the city’s beaches.
An “AD HOC” subcommittee was created with Mayor Richard Bailey and Duncan to lead the efforts.
Key issue: housing allocation
One of the other key issues that Duncan has involved himself in is being on the SANDAG Board of Directors, representing Coronado, and being a member of the SANDAG Transportation Committee, representing the South County cities of Coronado, National City, Imperial Beach and Chula Vista.
SANDAG and Coronado have had their fair share of drama in the last handful of years.
The most recent and controversial was the housing allocation issue to find new affordable housing in Coronado.
“The biggest issue really was not just the number of housing units that were allocated to us, but the basis for it was including all the military jobs as part of the calculation, but not including any of the housing on the base,” Duncan says.
Through a legal settlement, Coronado was able to get the housing on the military base counted, Duncan says.
And that’s a big factor in his role as Coronado City Council member, and many other roles he holds in the community and outside of it, he said.
Duncan added he’s able to apply his legal knowledge and skill set to help with leadership roles.
“I’d like to use my negotiating skills, my analytical skills as an attorney to try to help the city, and maybe I can make a little difference,” Duncan says.
And his erudite mind doesn’t end here.
The Duncan family
Duncan met his wife, Peggy, at the University of San Diego School of Law, where she graduated ahead of him.
And, he credits their four children’s academic success to her.
Duncan also loves to rave about his four children: His oldest, Connor, is a senior at USC and his three triplets, Colin, Tara and Emma, are seniors at Francis Parker School.
His son, Colin, scored a perfect score of 36 on his ACT national academic exam and will be named a National Merit Scholar while also playing the trumpet in the Mozart Youth Orchestra.
Tara was named MVP of the high school softball team her junior year and this year has won the CIF Division One championship with her volleyball team.
Emma interned with the Coronado Island Film Festival and Duncan says it was really cool for him to see his daughter connected to the community separate from what he does.
And his oldest son, Connor, was named the Renaissance Scholar at graduation and just took the LSATs, getting ready to follow in his father’s footsteps and apply to law school.
With everything that Duncan is involved with in Coronado, he is excited to talk about his family and to play a part in singing his children’s praises.
But his children are just as supportive of their father, Duncan says, as they have pushed him to run for mayor.
“My son Colin said, ‘Dad, we’re graduating in May, the election is in November, we’re not even going to be here when that happens. We want you to run, you should run,'” Duncan says.
A correction to a previous statement in the article has been made to note Coronado city council members are paid.
