City manager to retire

City Manager Ken Frank on Tuesday offered a rare glimpse of his personal life, then made a big announcement to the City Council Chamber.

Frank said cryptically that he has made the last payment on his house and that he will not be spending his next birthday in the council chamber. He turned 66 Wednesday.

“In light of the fact that I have paid off my house and I am turning 66 and I have been doing this [job] for 30 1/2 or 31 years, I am announcing my retirement at the end of November,” Frank said.

Frank has served as city manger since 1979, almost half of his life. He was 35 when he was hired.

Councilman Kelly Boyd was on the council at the dawn of Frank’s career in Laguna.

“To me, he has always been fantastic — he was always able to keep us to the budget,” Boyd said. “I will miss him tremendously.”

Frank’s memo to the council in the 2010-11 preliminary budget gave astute readers a hint of his intention to retire.

For years, his memos have begun with a diatribe against the state for what he has termed its “abrogations” and worse.

However, this year, he recapped changes he has seen in the three decades in Laguna.

“In April of 1980, I delivered my first budget message to the City Council,” Frank wrote. “In the ensuing three decades:

“The city’s population has grown by 65%, mostly through annexations [South Laguna and Laguna Canyon];

“The number of career employees had risen by 40% from 186 to 260, although next year’s budget has only 254 positions;

“General Fund expenses have escalated from $6 million to $46 million;

“Property tax receipts have jumped from $2 million to $24 million;

“Hotel revenues have risen from $500,000 to almost $9 million;

“The budget document was only 121 pages, compared to 220 today!”

Capital improvements cost the city $44,000 in 1980-81, called paltry by Frank, compared with the $4.6 million proposed in the 2010-11 budget.

In 1980-81, the city spent $5,000 on beach access improvements, $6,000 on Heisler Park walkways, another $8,000 on the park picnic area and $25,000 on Riddle Field.

The least expensive project proposed in the 2010-11 preliminary budget is the construction of a handicap ramp on the ocean side of Coast Highway at West Street, at a cost of $50,000 — $6,000 more than the entire 1980-81 capital improvement budget.

“Over the past 30 years, the city has expanded public service facilities and now maintains that infrastructure in an exemplary manner,” Frank wrote in the preface.

“Moulton Meadows Park, Alta Laguna Park, Lang Park, Crescent Bay Park, the Community Center and the new Corporation Yard (ACT V) have all been created.” He didn’t even mention the acquisition of Laguna Canyon and other parcels dedicated to open space.

“The council is channeling $6 [million] to $8 million a year into capital improvements, with about half that revenue emanating from the Montage Hotel,” the memo continued.

“While the service level in our community is robust and our capital facilities are well maintained, the city continues to confront the stagnant economy: reductions in staffing service and employee compensations are essential.”

The November retirement date permits Frank to wind up the fiscal year and to present the annual mid-year accounting, including an update on the next fiscal year.

“I think he wanted to see us though this,” Councilwoman Verna Rollinger said.

Frank will also make recommendations in his final mid-year report for a financial blueprint that will see the city through the next several years until the economy improves.

Further, he asked the council at Tuesday’s meeting to support a proposed initiative that would place more constraints on the state’s ability to take revenues from cities and counties thought to be curtailed by the vote of the people several years ago.

But state legislatures and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have found some loopholes, Frank said, that he wants to see plugged. The council unanimously approved his request.

Frank’s efforts to stop the state from siphoning off city funds is well known. He is also known to keep a close eye on expenditures within the city.

One man who worked closely with Frank over the years said he would listen to requests and carefully evaluate them.

“When I wanted to spend money, Ken would say, ‘Uh, I don’t know,’” and I’d say it’s really important,” said retired Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. on Thursday. “Then a couple of days later, I would get a phone call and he’d said, ‘You wanted 12, would you settle for eight?’

“When it came time to make cuts in the budget, he would say ‘You have to get $100,000 out of your budget — you figure it out.’”

Purcell, who retired in 1997, said he is sorry that Frank is retiring, calling it a great loss for the city.

“I had one of the closest working relationships with Ken, but I really didn’t know what to make of him when he first came to Laguna,” Purcell said.

Purcell had been with the Laguna Beach Police Department for 12 years when Frank was hired in 1989 after serving as assistant city manager for Berkeley, and had worked for four previous city managers.

“I’ll never forget Ken’s first staff meeting,” said Purcell, who was acting chief at the time. “The first thing he said was ‘I don’t care much for Southern California,’ and I thought, well that is number five in a couple of years.”

Today, Frank is second in longevity for city managers in the state, exceeded only by the city manager of Lakewood, Purcell said.

Frank has outlasted numerous local elected officials who were endorsed on the condition they would oust him, only to end up praising Frank’s commitment to the city.

“He always supported the council,” Purcell said. “He could count to three.”

That doesn’t mean his style of management made him friends.

“He is not a glad-hander,” Purcell said. “But when he told me ‘good job’ that meant more to me than from a person who is always praising you.”

The city manager in Laguna is the council’s only employee — all other hiring and firing is done by the city manager. Frank runs a tight ship, and he has a temper, rarely seen in public. Purcell recalled one time when Frank told then-Public Works Director Terry Brandt to remove a large tree.

“The first thing in the morning here comes Mayor [Phyllis] Sweeney and she told Terry to quit right now and he did,” said Purcell. “Ken wasn’t around at the time and when he came back, the tree was still there. He exploded.”

Frank informed Brandt that nobody gives orders to city employees but him. The tree was gone the next day, Purcell said.

“Ken is fiercely protective of the employees and the department heads,” said retired Police Capt. Danell Adams.

“As a subordinate, I always found him accessible, despite his heavy schedule,” Adams said. “And his financial ethics are exemplary. He was tight, very tight about gratuities. I once sent him a small gift. He thanked me, but he sent it back.

“And he plays a good game of poker, literally as well as figuratively.”

Frank takes the heat for unpopular City Council decisions and none of the credit for popular decisions, even if they are based on his recommendations, with equanimity.

“Ken never looks for praise and his dedication to the city’s welfare cannot be overstated,” Purcell said.

During the 1993 fire, Frank was in his City Hall office, already at work on financial assistance for the city as his house burned down. He was one of the few property homeowners who did not take advantage of the council’s sympathy vote to allow expansion without the usual red tape.

“When I am out and about in the county, I get pulled aside and told, ‘You do know you have the best city manager in Orange County?’” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson said.

“Of course, I know it,” she continued. “He is recognized throughout California. He is regarded as a fount of knowledge by other city managers, and he is well liked by them.

“An extensive search will be held for a new city manager. We will retain a firm to help us identify candidates and outline criteria.”

Frank’s successor will have tough shoes to fill, Purcell said.