Kilroy, Solomon vie for city treasurer
by Garth Meyer
Two candidates seek the city treasurer position in the March 7 Redondo Beach municipal election.
MATTHEW KILROY
He goes by Matt or Matthew.
“Depends on the situation,” said Mr. Kilroy, who hopes to be the next treasurer for Redondo Beach, the city which he has served as a District Five councilman, and on commissions, for more than 30 years.
He still coaches and referees AYSO soccer.
The Granada Hills native earned an engineering degree at UCLA and worked for 20 years in aerospace, including 15 at Chromalloy Gas Turbine in Gardena, which repaired turbine engine parts, specializing in particular pieces, most no bigger than the size of your hand.
Kilroy and his colleagues used lasers, heat treatments and electron-beam welders on airplane engine parts needing to withstand 2,000-degree fuel.
He left aerospace in 2000, and became a science and math teacher. Kilroy first got an emergency credential, substituted and then spent 13 years at Adams Middle School teaching science and algebra.
“I love science, I love working with kids,” he said.
He retired six years ago.
Kilroy’s time at city hall began with an appointment to what was then the environmental/public utilities commission – later called the public works commission. He served for eight years, then for three years on the public safety commission. The city planning commission followed – for another eight years – before Kilroy was elected to two terms on the city council.
He ran for mayor in 2013, losing to Steve Aspel.
What did he think of his time on the council?
“I thought it was a very respectful, productive time among council members,” Kilroy said.
In January, he was in the chambers for the Christian Horvath domicile meeting – during which District Three representative Horvath’s status as a Redondo Beach resident was questioned.
“I thought it showed the absurdity and ridiculousness of the three (other) councilmembers,” Kilroy said, referring to Councilmen Nils Nehrenheim, Todd Loewenstein and Zein Obagi, Jr.
City treasurer incumbent Steve Diels decided not to run after eight years in office. The position has no term limits. Kilroy or opponent Eugene Solomon will succeed Diels.
“As treasurer, you implement city policy, you don’t make policy,” Kilroy said.
He has also been on the harbor commission the past six years.
“I encourage voters to look at the experience and background of the two candidates and make their best decision,” he said. “All of the qualifications in the world don’t matter if you don’t have integrity.”
EUGENE SOLOMON
He stepped to the podium in a camouflage Florida State University sweatshirt.
“Team Eugene. I am the man who helped save Redondo Beach $100 million,” he said during public comment on non-agenda items at a January city council meeting.
Eugene Solomon is the chairman of the city’s budget and finance committee, for which he tells of creating a subcommittee that made a recommendation to the city council about debt obligations to restructure pension debt.
In 2021, the city refinanced it, cutting payments by nearly $100 million over the next 28 years.
Solomon has been on the budget and finance committee for six years, as well as the General Plan Advisory Committee for five years and the new Charter Advisory Review Committee, since 2022, for which he is the chairman.
The job of the Redondo Beach treasurer is to oversee its $110 million investment portfolio, which is managed by a consulting firm.
“There’s a lingo, there’s acronyms, there’s nuances in the market, and you want someone who’s worked as a financial advisor, who’s ready on Day One,” said Solomon. “Continuing education I have to do on an annual basis keeps me up to date and fluent.”
He noted that the main focus of a treasurer is an oversight role and auditing.
A Redondo resident since 1985, Solomon first settled here after driving across country post-graduation from Florida State, with a bachelors in public policy and history, along with a minor in business administration. While in Santa Monica, by chance he ran into a college friend who needed a roommate, living in Redondo Beach. Solomon moved in.
He was sold on the town after a few Sunday afternoons at Beach Bum Burt’s.
In 1995, he started the Gene J. Solomon Insurance Agency in El Segundo.
“One of the greatest attributes a person can have is curiosity,” he said. “Another attribute is to be proactive.”
A licensed financial advisor from 1994-2009, as part of Solomon’s insurance practice, he offered financial advising in that timeframe.
“I want to create the most efficient and transparent city treasurer’s office in the history of Redondo Beach,” he said. “I’m task-oriented and I have the tactical knowledge to get this done.”
Solomon states that he would like to clarify roles between the city treasurer and finance director.
“They’re ill-defined now,” he said. “Who’s responsible for what? We want to clear that up.”
He ran for treasurer in 2019 against Steve Diels, who has decided not to run for re-election this year. During the previous campaign, a judge ruled Solomon, in his ballot statement, included three statements that were misleading or improperly critical about Diels’ work as treasurer. Solomon did not mention him by name. The judge ordered that the language be changed.
Solomon’s endorsements for his 2022 run include Mayor Bill Brand and city councilmen Nils Nehrenheim, Todd Loewenstein and Zein Obagi, Jr. ER