Mark Kersey
Member of the
San Diego City Council
for the 5th district
In office
December 2012 – December 10, 2020
Preceded byCarl DeMaio
Succeeded byMarni von Wilpert
Personal details
Bornc. 1976 (age 47–48)
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (until 2019)
Independent (2019–present)
EducationNorthwestern University (BA)
WebsiteCity Council District 5 website

Mark Kersey (born c. 1976) is an American politician who was a member of the San Diego City Council for District 5 from 2012 to 2020. He was elected in June 2012 and re-elected in June 2016. Kersey was council president pro tem in 2016 and 2017. Initially a registered Republican, Kersey left the party in 2019 and became an independent.[1]

Early life and education

Kersey is a native of Columbus, Ohio, and moved to the San Diego area in 2001.[2] He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Northwestern University and took courses in entrepreneurship and management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Career

Before his career in politics, Kersey worked as a telecommunications analyst and formerly maintained his own consulting firm.[3]

2004 Solana Beach city council election

Kersey unsuccessfully ran for the Solana Beach City Council in 2004.[4] His candidacy was supported by the Beach and Bluff Conservancy, a local homeowners' group that supported building seawalls to protect their property. Their political action committee spent $18,800 in his behalf during his unsuccessful effort to win a seat on the Solana Beach City Council.[5] In 2008, he was the president of San Diego Young Republicans[6] and was elected to the San Diego County Republican Central Committee.[7]

San Diego City Council

In 2011, Kersey announced that he would run for San Diego City Council in the 2012 election. He was part of a co-ordinated three-person slate supported by the local Republican Party in an attempt to gain a Republican majority on the nine-member board.[8] He ran unopposed for the District 5 seat being vacated by the retiring councilmember Carl DeMaio.[9] District 5 includes the neighborhoods of Black Mountain Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Encantada, Rancho Peñasquitos, Sabre Springs, San Pasqual Valley, Scripps Ranch and Torrey Highlands.[10] He was elected in the June primary by receiving more than 50% of the vote.[11]

Kersey took office on December 3, 2012. He chairs the Infrastructure Committee, is vice chair of the Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, and is a member of the Budget and Finance Committee and Charter Reform Committee.[12] Kersey is also the city's representative to the California League of Cities.[13] He has been called San Diego's "open data and infrastructure guy".[14]

Kersey was elected to a second term in June 2016.[15] In December 2016, he was appointed council president pro tem.[16] He held in this position until December 2017, when he was succeeded by Barbara Bry.[17]

In April 2019, Kersey declared that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent, stating that he would work toward bipartisan solutions to the city's issues during the remaining two years of his term.[18]

Kersey was unable to seek re-election to the city council in 2020 due to term limits. He left office on December 10, 2020, and was succeeded by Marni von Wilpert.[19]

Infrastructure

Kersey was chosen to chair a newly formed infrastructure committee to address the city's backlog of needed repairs which had built up over decades.

As chair of the committee,[20] he spearheaded a plan to address the City of San Diego's approximately $2 billion backlog of infrastructure projects.[21] The plan called for assessments of city infrastructure, streamlining of processes, gathering of neighborhood input and the creation of a long-term infrastructure investment plan.[22]

With Kersey's leadership, the city completed its first-ever comprehensive sidewalk assessment[23] as well as its first multi-year capital plan, which identified $1.7 billion in unfunded infrastructure projects over the next five years.[24]

Kersey also sponsored an ordinance to create a neighborhood input policy which was approved in July 2013. The policy formalized community input as part of the infrastructure prioritization process.

Kersey authored Proposition H in 2016 devoting over a billion dollars in future sales tax growth and pension savings towards repairing the city's infrastructure without raising taxes. Named "Rebuild SD", San Diego voters passed the measure with 64% of the vote.[25] During his tenure, the city's investment in infrastructure increased by hundreds of millions of dollars annually, resulting in half of the city's entire 3,600-mile street network being repaved by the end of December 2020.[26] Additionally, ten city fire stations were built or rebuilt during this time.[27]

Open data

Kersey supported an open data initiative to "increase accountability and spur innovation" by putting the city's data online for the public. He co-authored a draft open data policy and voted to create an ad hoc committee to review and develop a formal policy to be adopted by the City of San Diego. The final policy was approved by the Council on December 16, 2014.[28]

He also proposed creating a centralized communications point for San Diego City services, known as a 3-1-1 system. Kersey said that 3-1-1 would be a number that people could call if they have potholes on their street, broken traffic lights or spot water leaks in the city.[29]

Other work

In September 2013, he sponsored an ordinance to streamline the permit process, meant to help reduce costs and the time associated with completing city construction projects.[22]

In 2018, Kersey sponsored Measure L, which amended the City Charter regarding ethics and compensation for elected city officers. The measure proposed restricting benefits for elected city officers, restricting lobbying and campaign activities of elected city officers and removed the requirement that councilmembers set their salaries and those of the mayor and city attorney, providing instead that their salaries be set as percentages of the salary set by the State of California for Superior Court judges.[30] The measure also banned council members or the mayor from lobbying the city for two years after leaving office, outlawed city-paid mailers during election campaigns and did away with free use of the city's luxury boxes at Petco Park or at the city's Mission Valley stadium. The measure passed overwhelmingly, winning 77 percent approval from almost 250,000 voters.[31]

Committee assignments

  • Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (chair)
  • Economic Development and Intergovernmental Relations Committee
  • Rules Committee

SDCRAA Board

Kersey was appointed to the Board of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer.[32]

2017 State Senate candidacy

In December 2017, Kersey formally announced his candidacy for the California State Senate to succeed fellow Republican Joel Anderson, who is barred by term limits from seeking another term.[33] In March 2018, he announced that he was ending his campaign due to family health issues.[34]

Personal life

He lives in Black Mountain Ranch.[35]

Electoral history

San Diego City Council District 5 election, 2016[36]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Kersey 23,858 71%
Democratic Frank Tsimboukakis 6,784 20%
Democratic Keith Mikas 3,157 9%
Total votes 33,799 100%
San Diego City Council District 5 election, 2012[36]
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mark Kersey 24,869 100.00
Total votes 24,869 100

References

  1. ↑ "San Diego City Councilman Mark Kersey announces switch from Republican to Independent registration -". McKinnon Broadcasting. April 29, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ Davis, Rob (April 24, 2012). "The Inevitable Councilman: A Reader's Guide to Mark Kersey". Voice of San Diego. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  3. ↑ "About Us". Kersey Research Strategies. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Heebner, Kellejian, Roberts apparent SB winners". North County Times. November 4, 2004. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  5. ↑ Frumin, Ben (November 7, 2004). "Solana Beach residents turned off by negative campaigning". North County Times. Archived from the original on September 8, 2012. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
  6. ↑ Maass, Dave (March 30, 2011). "Mark Kersey also weighing District 5 bid". San Diego CityBeat. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  7. ↑ Results from 2008 San Diego Republican Central Committee, Assembly District 74 election from the League of Women Voters
  8. ↑ Gustafson, Craig (November 19, 2011). "Related: News» Republicans seek majority on San Diego council". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  9. ↑ "A San Diego City Council Winner Before Votes Are Cast". KPBS Midday Edition. May 30, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
  10. ↑ "Communities". City of San Diego.
  11. ↑ "County of San Diego, Presidential Primary Election, Tuesday, June 5, 2012" (PDF). San Diego County Registrar of Voters. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  12. ↑ "City Council Committee Meetings". City of San Diego. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  13. ↑ "About us". League of California Cities. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Councilman Kersey is San Diego's open data, infrastructure guy". KPBS. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  15. ↑ Handy, Shannon (December 12, 2016). "New and re-elected San Diego city leaders take office". CBS8. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  16. ↑ Garrick, David (December 20, 2016). "Republicans match Democrats in San Diego council committee posts". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved December 22, 2016.
  17. ↑ City News Service (December 13, 2017). "San Diego City Council Approves Committee Chairmanships For 2018". KPBS Public Media. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  18. ↑ Jennewein, Chris (April 29, 2019). "Another San Diego Republican Leaves The Party Amid Political 'Polarization'". Times of San Diego. Retrieved April 29, 2019.
  19. ↑ "Marni von Wilpert officially joins the San Diego City Council". Pomerado News. December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Gloria creates panel to tackle infrastructure". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  21. ↑ "What you need to know about the City's big streets plan". Voice of San Diego. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Paradise in Progress: San Diego's Need for an Infrastructure Plan". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  23. ↑ "City needs to spend $46M to repair sidewalks, study finds". Fox 5. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Fixing City of San Diego Infrastructure to Cost $3.9 billion". Pomerado News. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Prop. H would pay for infrastructure repairs". San Diego Union-Tribune. May 31, 2016. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  26. ↑ "City of San Diego repairs more than 1 700 miles of streets". SD News. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  27. ↑ "San Diego opens new fire station in University City". San Diego Union-Tribune. November 25, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  28. ↑ "San Diego City Council Approves Open Data Policy". KPBS. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  29. ↑ "Councilmember Proposes System to Make it Easier to Reach City". Fox 5. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  30. ↑ "San Diego Voter Pamphlet November 2018" (PDF).
  31. ↑ "Ballot language for Measure L didn't mention its most eye-popping outcome — doubling the pay of San Diego mayor, council". San Diego Union-Tribune. November 13, 2018. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  32. ↑ "Board Members". San Diego International Airport. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  33. ↑ Hargrove, Dorian (January 16, 2018). "Councilman plans for Sacramento". San Diego Reader.
  34. ↑ Garrick, David (March 5, 2018). "Mark Kersey won't run for state Senate, citing family health issues". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  35. ↑ "Bernardo Fire Spreads to 800 Acres". Rancho Bernardo-4s Ranch Patch. Retrieved September 6, 2015.
  36. 1 2 "Election History - Council District 5" (PDF). City of San Diego. Retrieved January 12, 2013.


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