(Tammy) Gates

BIOGRAPHY Damien R. Arrula City Administrator City of Placentia Damien R. Arrula is the City Administrator for the City of Placentia since March of 2016. Placentia is a full service city in northern Orange County and is comprised of approximately 52,000 people with 116 full-time and 105 parttime employees. The City’s 2017-2018 total general fund budget and capital improvement program is approximately $66.6 million. Mr. Arrula’s current responsibilities include management and oversight of all city operations and departments. Within the first month as the official City Administrator for the City of Placentia, Mr. Arrula was faced with a $5.2 million embezzlement by a former City finance employee. Mr. Arrula and the City’s management team worked diligently to recover over 95% of the embezzled funds while also managing several special projects. This includes Mr. Arrula’s partnership with the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) to secure over $34 million in funding for the construction of a new, state-of-the-art Metrolink Station and 246-space parking structure. Construction is set to begin in the summer of 2018 and operational by 2020. To take advantage of the upcoming Metrolink Station and parking structure, Mr. Arrula led a team of City Staff in the successful adoption of two major master plans for the preservation and revitalization of the City’s original Old Town and Packing House District areas. This includes the restoration of historic buildings from the 1900s, the development of mixed-use, transit-oriented development, residential and commercial buildings, and a vibrant, multi-modal environment. Collectively, these project areas will create significant economic development impacts to our local, regional and national economies. Prior to working for the City of Placentia, Mr. Arrula held the positions of Economic Development Director, Administrative/Economic Development Officer, Senior Management Analyst, and Management Analyst with the cities of Claremont, El Monte and Sierra Madre. Within those cities, Mr. Arrula developed a variety of new programs and economic development projects, including the revitalization of two downtowns, the development of several hundred thousand square feet of retail centers and two hotels, completed unique transit-oriented development projects, recruited car dealerships and established a variety of award-winning housing developments. He has also managed several capital improvement projects and programs, including development of an emergency operations center, construction of a CNG fueling facility, and development of one of California’s first municipal thermal-solar pool heaters, which received national recognition. Mr. Arrula holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Minor in General Management from Cal Poly Pomona. He has a Masters of Public Administration from the University of La Verne and a post-graduate leadership certificate from Claremont McKenna College. Mr. Arrula is a former member of the League of California Cities Community Services Policy Committee, former Vice President of the Municipal Management Association of Southern California, prior Committee member of the California International County/City Management Association’s (Cal-ICMA) Education and Professional Development Committee and is a currently a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the California City Management Foundation. Mr. Arrula has received various awards for his contributions toward the field of municipal government including the most recent “City Manager of the Year” award in 2017 by the Association of California Cities Orange County (ACC-OC). Mr. Arrula has also received awards in the field of economic development and public administration including the George P. Hart Award from Cal Poly Pomona, the Claremont Chamber of Commerce Award of Excellence, the Good Guy Award from the El Monte/South El Monte Downtown Merchants Association & Chamber of Commerce, and the American Planning Association’s Excellence in Planning Award.