He’s done a lot in his 71 years of life. But he wants to do more.
He wants to become Coronado’s mayor.
Councilmember Mike Donovan has been serving on the City Council for almost eight years, but he’s been on the island for much longer.
Donovan came to Coronado just shy of 50 years ago in 1976 with his wife, Christine, when he was stationed at Naval Air Station North Island.
He spent the next 30 years in the Navy, 10 years of active service and 20 years in the reserves. His years in the reserves overlapped with his 30-year-long career of working in the corporate field doing everything from engineering to project management at Solar Turbines Inc.
He always loved ships and being on the water, so why not the Naval Academy, he thought, when he initially set out for a career in the Navy.
And the Navy granted him his dream of working on ships, Donovan said.
He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1974 and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975, receiving both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering with a focus in ship design and naval architecture, and Donovan and his wife then started the long trek from the east to the West Coast.
“One thing about the military, you get a lot of responsibility early on. I was literally 26-years-old and I was in charge of 65 enlisted personnel and responsible for all the mechanical equipment and two nuclear reactor plants,” Donovan said to The Coronado News.
Donovan was on surface ships – the USS Bainbridge and the USS Long Beach – nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers, before he received his shore tour assignment in Washington, D.C., to work on the preliminary design of the Arleigh Burke destroyers.
“I’m a naval architecture major. I’m interested in ship design. So, that was like a dream job,” Donovan said.
After 10 years of active service, Donovan decided to go into the reserves for the next two decades while starting work at Solar Turbines Inc. where he spent the next 30 years learning about himself and his job, and preparing for something he didn’t even know he would strive for.
And so Donovan found himself ready to pursue his next role in life as a councilmember after he retired from Solar Turbines Inc. in 2016.
It gives you a great basis and a foundation for being a good leader…So I credit the Navy and my job at Solar as well to that.
Mike Donovan
“It gives you a great basis and a foundation for being a good leader,” Donovan said about his role as an officer in the Navy. “So I credit the Navy and my job at Solar as well to that.”
And this is when Donovan decided to take a step into the wide world of local politics.
Donovan on city council
Donovan spent the year after he retired attending every single meeting there was to be had on Coronado— city council meetings, the planning commission, the historic research commission — in order to prepare for his run for council.
“I always kept an eye on the politics in Coronado because we love living here,” Donovan said.
After a total of 40 years in the military and workforce, 10 in active duty, 20 in both the Navy reserves and corporate work and 10 more in just corporate work at Solar Turbines Inc., Donovan was elected to city council in 2016. He was thrown into the nuances of helping lead the city he called home for the next eight years.
Even though it took Donovan about a year of observing and learning from those around him, he hit the ground running.
He helped put together the city’s policy for grant programs, started a subcommittee for the city’s historic preservation ordinance, became a member of the board of directors for the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) and became an alternate member of the board of directors for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG).
Throughout his time on Coronado’s City Council, Donovan really learned how politics worked on the island.
I think we’re very mature in how we run our council.
Mike Donovan
“One thing I like about the people…I feel like we can disagree but not be ugly about it. You have an adult conversation.” Donovan said. “I think we’re very mature in how we run our council.”
And Donovan wants to continue that into his run for mayor.
So far, Donovan and Councilmember John Duncan are the only ones that have filed to run for mayor. The Coronado News published a profile story on Duncan once he announced he was running, which can be viewed online.
“The thing that I figured out very quickly too, being on the council, is that there are a lot of agencies that have power over us,” Donovan said, referencing outside organizations like SANDAG, the Coastal Commission and CALTRANS that work alongside Coronado.
“It occurred to me that all these different agencies are laser focused on very narrow issues,” Donovan said. “I say, we’re running the whole city here. The city council and the city staff, we’re the only ones that have the entire city that we’re worried about.”
Donovan said that the city has to cooperate with all the organizations that have a more narrow focus and meet their requirements, but still balance that with what’s best for the community.
“I find that not only very challenging, but it’s a very interesting way to run a railroad,” Donovan said.
Donovan’s plans for mayor
Donovan’s plans to continue with the way the city is being run is a big reason why he wants to run for mayor.
He said he hates to say it this way, but that the city was blindsided by the way this issue turned out.
This happened a few times to the city where a weighted vote utilized by SANDAG was used to overrule Coronado in order to place more affordable housing units on the island, even when city officials objected to the point of suing SANDAG.
However, the court sided with SANDAG and the city lost.
The next time SANDAG comes out with an update for the cities in a few years, as mayor, Donovan hopes to be ready for it, he said.
Donovan also wants to be involved with the Navy’s supplemental environmental impact study as it’s being conducted until the end of May 2025.
The Navy is testing out three NIMITZ-Class Aircraft Carriers simultaneously for 180 intermittent, non-consecutive days at Naval Air Station North Island. It would potentially have impacts on aspects of the community, such as traffic, air quality and environmental justice.
Donovan is also interested in looking into a way of getting the use of recycled water in Coronado.
“Several years back, we looked at what’s the best way to use recycled water for irrigation and we concluded our best option was to build our own recycling plant,” Donovan said.
This was so recycled water could be used to water parks whenever there was a drought.
The project was put out to bid as COVID hit but with the pandemic, supply chain problems arose and it became too expensive, Donovan said.
And so Donovan plans to pursue these routes with his run for mayor as his second term comes to an end at the end of 2024.
I don’t have a political agenda. I am focused on what’s best for Coronado.
Mike Donovan
“There’s still things that we need to finish up,” Donovan said. “I don’t have a political agenda. I am focused on what’s best for Coronado.”
