Mike Detoy, one of three candidates running for City Council in the November election. Photo
In the summer of 2017, Mike Detoy found himself involved in Hermosa Beach’s local government through a happenstance of timing.
Detoy, who is one of three candidates running for two open seats on Hermosa’s City Council in the November election, had just learned that his wife Megan was pregnant with their first child. At that point, Detoy had lived in Hermosa for about seven years, but spent many of his free hours at volunteer opportunities close to his job as a firefighter for the city of Riverside. He helped lead the department’s muscular dystrophy fundraiser, and performed community service in the Inland Empire region.
So, when term expirations meant that two spots had opened up on Hermosa’s Emergency Preparedness Advisory Commission, Detoy and his wife had a conversation about the future. It was never a matter of whether the growth of his family meant that Detoy would curtail his civic spirit, Megan said. The question was where his energies ought to go.
“It was an opportunity. I said, This is what you love to do: You love to be active where you are. You’re very invested, you’re passionate about it. So what if you thought you weren’t ready for it for another couple years? Life’s not going to slow down, you might as well just do it now,” she said.
Detoy joined the EPAC, and two years later, life has not slowed down. He is now vying for another opportunity, this one with more influence and a far greater commitment of time. The council spot — a five-year term rather than the usual four, so that Hermosa can realign its elections to comply with a state law — represents a chance to continue working on public safety issues, which he has made an emphasis of his campaign, and to focus on issues that interest him but were beyond the purview of the commission, such as the quality of city parks.
It is also an opportunity for enhanced scrutiny. Detoy got a hint of what that might look like earlier this year. The council had voted to examine the role of the EPAC, amid what Emergency Management Coordinator Brandy Villanueva described as an increasingly complex set of state and federal mandates for disaster preparedness. After recommending changes to the commission in January, in May the council followed staff’s recommendation to “retire” the commission and replace it with an informal advisory board.
The decision was criticized as a reversal of previous pledges to preserve the commission. Detoy’s time on the EPAC had put him in touch with people who had decades of experience in Hermosa, and at the time, Detoy criticized the move as a slight to long-time volunteers, saying “removing a group whose passion is disaster preparedness is a mistake.”
In the intervening months, during which time he announced his entrance into the council race, Detoy said he has come to better understand the argument for retiring the commission: that the change in format would allow for greater participation from outside groups, like business owners. But he remains conflicted about the decision.
“I think about that vote a lot,” Detoy said.
Detoy’s firefighting experience taught him that businesses face unique challenges in recovering from disasters, and he focused on business preparedness in his time on the commission. If elected to the council, he’s hoping to translate that focus into improved outreach to and communication with the city’s small business community.
He said he’s been sitting down with small business owners, and having conversations about how local government can help them, or at least stay out of their way. He pointed to better coordination for special events, and reducing or eliminating fees for business permits like those needed for A-frame signs, or periodic, off-night entertainment.
City staff have said that the costs associated with these permits reflect the costs associated with the time employees spend processing them. Detoy said that bearing those costs is a conversation worth having, speculating that it could ultimately save money by boosting business activity and sales tax receipts.
“The number one goal of local government is to keep people safe. An acoustic guitar player at a brewery is not going to cause a massive riot. But if it brings in more customers for them, it’s going to be important,” he said.
Gila Katz got to know Detoy during their time together as EPAC commissioners, and said that although they were often working in areas in which Detoy had expertise, he never acted as though he had all the answers. It reminded her of her husband, Julian, whom Detoy got to know before he passed away in June 2018.
“One of the things everybody loved about Julian is that he listened, then responded carefully. Mike has that same quality,” Katz said.
