Manhattan Beach Council Elections 2022: Responding to the call — After 35 years in public safety, Frank Chiella still seeks to serve
by Mark McDermott
Frank Chiella knows Manhattan Beach in a way no other candidate can know it. He’s been in people’s homes at their times of greatest need, in medical emergencies or fires. Chiella spent three decades as a member of the Manhattan Beach Fire Department.
But even in retirement, Chiella feels the pull of public service. He’s been doing it most his life, beginning in Junior Lifeguards, then becoming a lifeguard and eventually a firefighter. He still serves as the director of the Citizens Emergency Response Team.
“I actually worked on the beach as a lifeguard up by Dockweiler,” he said. “I think that’s when I really started falling in love with public safety and helping people, making rescues, making a difference, saving somebody’s life. I just got hooked.”
Chiella left California for Alaska to attend college, and that’s where he began firefighting, eventually making his way back to Manhattan Beach. He was a firefighter/paramedic and retired seven years ago as a battalion chief. The experience gave him a strategic mindset that he believes has some relevance to serving on the council.
“Being in management in a fire situation, especially as a battalion chief or a captain, you have to take what you see right there in front of you and quickly make decisions and a plan of action, and then make that happen,” Chiella said. “So in doing that in my work over all these years, it seems like, gosh, [on council] I won’t be under a timeframe of minutes to do all the information gathering, make a plan and execute that plan, evaluate, and then change that plan as needed. So this just seems like a natural for me.”
That said, Chiella said he’s grown a bit weary over the course of the campaign of all the candidates touting their experience.
“Everyone is saying I did this and I did that,” he said. “Yes, that’s nice. Everybody does good things. But what really matters to me is what are the problems in the city? And what’s your solution to fix the problem?”
Chiella sees several problems. Foremost is public safety. He believes both MBFD and MBPD are understaffed. He said that last year two departments combined overtime cost the City nearly $5 million. The result is not only excess overtime, he says, but lower quality public service.
“Working all those hours is bad for them, and it’s bad for us as residents,” Chiella said. “Because you get tired, you get worn out. You are not as sharp when you work all those hours in a row. So my solution is to hire more people, using most of that overtime [funding] to pay for it.”
Chiella proposes hiring seven MBPD officers, six in the patrol division and one in traffic, and seven firefighter/paramedics.
“This is up to the fire chief, but if it were up to me, I would man a second rescue unit and put it out in the east side of the city at Station #2,” he said.
Though Chiella has repeatedly emphasized he is not running as a representative of MBFD, he does believe he could help broker labor peace.
“My role would be trying to help both sides reach a fair agreement,” he said “They had an independent study done, with the factfinding results that came out, and they seem pretty right on to me…I wouldn’t say that you would have to accept that report as is, but it would seem to me like it would be a really good spot to start reopening negotiations and come up with an agreement that works for everybody.”
Another issue is local control over zoning. Chiella has spoken against the HighRose/Verandas project, and believes ultimately it will not be built due to a new state law restricting how close low income housing can be to an oil refinery. But the larger issue, he said, is the City Council needs to proactively address the state’s aggressive approach to create more housing. He suggests working with the Independent Cities Association (ICA) to fight back the imposition of locally incompatible housing, taking matters to the courts. But he said the City must also actually build some housing, as well.
“Because you can’t go in front of a judge and say, ‘Hey, we want the state to stop overstepping our authority and then on the same hand say, ‘But we haven’t done anything,’” Chiella said.
Chieilla said that the job of a councilperson isn’t to engage in ideological fights but simply to solve problems. His pitch to voters is that solving problems is what he has always done.
“I’m not a politician,” Chiella said. “I’m not going to be a politician. I’m only going to run one term. I’m not getting any younger, I still have a life to live. I see this as another part of my public service, to try to do something in these four years. But I’m not going anywhere as a politician, that’s for sure.” ER