Foster City's John Kiramis announces retirement tonight

Kiramis, who won a seat on the City Council in 2005, will depart Foster City after serving its residents for more than 34 years. His resignation becomes effective Oct. 1 barring any trouble with the sale of his home, which is expected to close escrow by the end of the week.

He has served as mayor this past year but announced he would not seek re-election in June.

Why is he leaving?

One simple word.

Love.

Kiramis married Kate Lossee May 9 of this year after a four-year courtship and was joined together in matrimony by Superior Court Judge Quentin Kopp at the Sausalito Yacht Club.

He met Kate, who is not related to Foster City’s famous goose chaser Henry Lossee, on Match.com just as he was ending his career as a police lieutenant about five years ago.

The two took it slowly at first, talking on the telephone for hours before deciding to meet. They’ve been together ever since.

But Kate’s mom is getting older and the couple plan to move to Southern California to take care of her.

"My wife’s mother is very important to her. If you love your wife then you love your mother-in-law,” he said.

When the couple first met, however, Kate had served on some advisory committees for the council in Foster City and as their relationship blossomed she shared her interest in city politics with Kiramis. In fact, Kate had even considered making a run for Foster City Council.

It was Kate’s interest that caused Kiramis to say, "why not me.”

So, he had a talk with Councilman Rick Wykoff, who told the retired police officer if we wanted to run for office, he better be prepared to walk the streets of Foster City for the next three and a half months.

After his talk with Wykoff, Kiramis decided to run for office and told Kate, "see you in three and a half months.”

"My campaign was inkjet cartridges and Kate printing fliers,” he said. "I realized that unless I arrested you or gave you a ticket, no one in Foster City would know who I was.”

He visited about 90 homes a day, some 6,500 homes in all during his campaign. When he would knock a door and no one would answer, he would leave a heartfelt message to people who were not home. At the end of each day Kiramis would draw lines in red ink on a big map of all the streets he had walked until the map was completely covered in red.

He did not have a campaign platform but developed one as he went door to door. He also developed something he called "recurring bouts of deja vu.”

Just about every door he knocked on brought back some memories of his time as a patrol officer in the city in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kiramis is leaving a city that has suffered less than it neighbors with the current state budget crisis. Foster City has about $16 million in reserves and has a strong history of producing balanced budgets.

He hopes the next council continues to be fiscally conservative.

In recent months, the council and San Mateo-Foster City Elementary School District butted heads over school overcrowding and how to address the issue. The mayor, along with the rest of council, shot down any attempts to turn any of the city’s parks into a new school.

Kiramis personally blasted the school district for not having the foresight to deal with the problem sooner. The school district, however, still has hopes of negotiating for part of the 15 acres adjacent to City Hall when an exclusive-rights agreement expires with a developer in April.

"If I was re-elected, there is no way I would vote to turn over any part of that property to the school district. It’s a valuable piece of property that could net the city $3.5 million a year,” Kiramis said. "I’m convinced they (the school district) live in an illusory world.”

The couple spent this past weekend packing up their home and Wednesday Kiramis will drive his boat, the Azu Luna, to Ventura County on a three-day trip on the open ocean.

He does leave behind some future opportunities in county politics his name has been associated with, including the county sheriff and coroner’s office. But those ambitions are behind him now. His life is about to start anew in Southern California.

"I love my wife. She is the love of my life. I’m very fortunate to have found her at this point in my life. She compels me to strive to be the very best I can be, to make me worthy of her love and affection. And even though Kate would have never asked me to make the move, her love of her mother is significant enough for me to make the move. She tried to talk me out of it,” Kiramis said.

Kiramis has a 21-year-old daughter from a previous marriage who will stay behind in the Bay Area to pursue her modeling career. The couple plan to continue working in real estate together in their new life.

The Foster City Council meets tonight, 7:30 p.m., City Hall, 620 Foster City Blvd.

Bill Silverfarb can be reached by e-mail: silverfarb@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.