by Mark McDermott
During candidate forums that tend to be long on verbage and short on actionable plans, Karen Komatinsky likes to remind herself of something outgoing Councilperson Steve Napolitano once advised her.
“Remember,” he told her, “you’re going to govern very differently than you’re going to campaign.”
This doesn’t mean Komatinsky’s campaign promises are empty. She means it when she says she will prioritize infrastructure and public safety, and find ways to streamline City processes and curb scofflaw e-bike activity on city streets, among other things. What it means is that Komatinsky’s bread and butter will be the actual nitty gritty of small town governance, which is the reason she is running and what she believes she brings to the table. She spent 10 years as a trustee for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, where she proved adept at managing large budgets, working with other elected colleagues, and tending to the many things that crop up that no candidate foresees when they first run for office.
Komatinsky believes she knows how to do the work. And she believes that with a council about to lose its two most experienced members, Napolitano and Richard Montgomery, she could hit the ground running.
“Why do I want to do this? Because I love this community and I’ve already had a very wonderful real life experience in which I was able to serve as a public servant,” Komatinsky said. “And I loved every silly, crazy ounce of it, even in the messy, uncomfortable stuff. I loved every piece of it. I worked with some fantastic people, some who are now my dear friends, because of everything that we went through together and that we created together. Out of all that, I influenced property values in this town through the completion of three successful bond campaigns. So I know what it means to serve in a public role. You could look at MBUSD as a mini city. I know what it’s like to manage a $90 million budget. Yes, the City’s budget is twice that size, but I know what the fiduciary responsibility behind that is.”
Komatinsky, who works professionally in human resources, began her public service career as a PTA mom, then PTA president, and eventually served twice as school board president during a transformative time for MBUSD, in which the district addressed long-overdue infrastructure needs and saw student academic performances soar, all while navigating some of the most challenging financial circumstances in its history due to the cratering of state funding for local schools.
“I have a background that really fits with what the city needs,” she said. “I think the city needs people who are tried and true seasoned people in those kinds of roles with Richard and Steve leaving. They’re huge shoes to fill, and we can ill afford to have three inexperienced people, or people with no backgrounds in some of these areas, because there’s a lot of history of walking out the door.”
Komatinsky also believes her 30 years experience working in human resources, strategic planning, and organizational structure is something she could bring to the City. She’s also served on the City’s Parks and Recreation Commission the last two years and has growing familiarity with the city’s staffing and structure.
“The fact that we are hiring a city manager and a new head of finance soon, you know, that’s my wheelhouse,” she said. “And I have bigger questions, relative to — do we have the right people in the right job? Do we have the right job descriptions? Are we delivering on the things that those job descriptions are supposed to be doing? Because the one theme that I hear on the campaign trail is the city’s lack of execution on things. And so my question, ever since I’ve been a commissioner, is, why does it take so long to do things? Why has the Scout House been sitting here for 10 years? I am confused, and I feel like I can’t ever get a direct answer. If I were sitting on the dais, I would be completely comfortable asking those uncomfortable questions.”
Komatinsky has already begun the work. A year and a half ago, she was asked to work on a commision subcommittee tasked with creating a revenue-generating source to help pay for recreational equipment and facility upgrades at City parks. What came out of that is the launch of a nonprofit called the Love MB Foundation, which is similar to the MBX booster club that pays for MBUSD athletic facility upgrades. The foundation has already been certified as a 501(c)3, Love MB logos and merchandise have been created, and a board of directors is being established.
“I’m really proud that over the time that I’ve been on the commission that we got that off the ground, because that’s been a program that has been flailing for probably 10 years,” Komatinsky said.
On the larger question of infrastructure, Komatinsky would like to work towards something similar to the Facilities Master Plan she helped establish for MBUSD in 2014. She thinks the current council has been highly effective in getting the ball rolling in addressing infrastructure needs, and does not think the emergency closure of Parking Lot 3 is due to any kind of negligence.
“Parking Lot 3 has been a problem for double digit years,” she said. “This council has only been working together for the last two to three years. This is a problem much older than that. We have a lot of aging infrastructure in this town. It’s not just Parking Lot 3 or the Scout House not being done. The Joslyn Center needs help. Manhattan Heights needs help. There are a lot of things we need to start thinking about on a larger scale.”
“We have to generate revenue first. But even before that, we’ve got to have a plan.”
Regarding public safety, Komatinksky lauds the current council for adding seven sworn police officers, but would like to see more community service and bike patrol officers. Among other things, she believes these additions could help confront the e-bike problem the City has grappled with.
“If we started seeing more citations, and parents are looking at their kids like, wait a minute, why do you have a $1,000 citation, maybe behaviors would start changing,” she said. “And if those behaviors start changing, the community is going to be more accepting of e-bikes. But right now, people are not happy about e-bike usage, and we’ve got to do something about it.”
Komatinsky’s refrain is that none of this happens without experienced, knowledgeable leadership, and hard work.
“I want to do the work,” she said. “I feel like I’m ready to do the work.” ER
