Longtime resident roaring toward full council term

Deirdre Newman

Mike Scheafer’s roots in the city run deep.

His father, Conrad “Shorty” Scheafer, worked for Mesa Consolidated

Water District for 30 years. The incumbent city councilman was one of

the first to be born at Hoag Hospital. He has lived in the city for

close to 47 years and has worked here for 31 1/2 years.

His intense hometown pride and the desire to make a difference are

fueling his run for the council as he attempts to keep the seat he

was appointed to when former Mayor Karen Robinson left last spring to

become a Superior Court judge. He also ran in 1994.

“I see a lot of things coming to fruition that I would like to be

a part of,” Scheafer said. “I would like to help the city maintain

its financial stability. I’d like to market the city. I’d like others

to see how much I like Costa Mesa and have them live and work here.”

Scheafer grew up on the Westside, lived in Halecrest and now lives

in Mesa Verde. He originally considered the fields of architecture

and drafting but took a job with State Farm Insurance soon after high

school and cherished being allowed to go to school while working. He

married his wife Sandi when he was 19.

At State Farm, he immersed himself in various activities such as

talking to high school driver’s education classes and starting a

Toastmasters club, which has taught many people how to speak in

public. The experience paid off, as Scheafer often speaks at events,

including the recent groundbreaking of the city’s skate park.

Scheafer had been pushing for a park for more than 15 years.

His career selling insurance for more than decades has provided

financial stability and enabled him to help his clients deal with the

crises in their lives, he said.

“I’ve gone to homes in the middle of the night where there have

been fires,” Scheafer said. “I’ve gone to hospitals to see customers

in bed after horrible traffic accidents. I’m not just selling

insurance but seeing it come to fruition.”

He joined the Lions Club in the mid-1980s. His father had belonged

as well. Shorty Scheafer was also on the Girls Club board and was a

member of the Knights of Columbus.

“He showed all five of his children you could still be successful

with your family and do the community good,” Scheafer said of his

father. “He was a role model.”

Around the same time he joined the Lions Club, Scheafer and some

other parents decided the time was ripe to start Little League

baseball in the city. The hardest part, like today, was finding

fields, he said. But they prevailed, and the enthusiastic cheers of

youth baseball have been reverberating throughout the city ever

since.

“It was really cool to see you could pull something off like

that,” Scheafer said. “The first year, we had several kids playing.

We had people telling us, ‘You’ll never get fields; you’ll never be

able to do it.’”

And it means a lot to him to have seen the first Little Leaguers

grow up to become adults and sometimes even customers of his

business, he said.

Scheafer was appointed to the council last year after a

competitive finalist showdown between himself and Planning

Commissioner Eric Bever, who is also running for council. The council

deadlocked a few times between them and a special election was

looming when Bever bowed out, leaving Scheafer to inherit Robinson’s

seat.

As the new kid on the block, Scheafer said he was privileged to

have been helped by Mayor Gary Monahan and Councilwoman Libby Cowan.

“Monahan has been a mentor to me,” Scheafer said. “We don’t always

agree. He is so knowledgeable about all this stuff -- he and Libby

both. I have such a profound respect for Libby Cowan. She really is

the epitome of what I think a good council member should be.”

He has enjoyed the last year on the council but said he was

surprised at how intensive the budget process is. He sees his work as

a councilman as the natural evolution of devoting his life to serving

others through his job and his involvement in the Lions Club.

“It has been said Costa Mesa has too many charities,” he said.

“Costa Mesa needs those kinds of things. [Recently], I was at a

school outside of Mexico with the Lions Club. I wish I could take

people who criticize others for being here down to an area like that

and show what little they have. Why wouldn’t they want to better

themselves? They should do it legally, but there should be

opportunity for everyone.”