LAGUNA BEACH : Deputy City Manager to Take Avalon Post

Deputy City Manager Rob Clark, who began working for Laguna Beach 13 years ago, has accepted a job as city manager of Avalon.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity,” said Clark, who visits Catalina several times a year. “It should be a real adventure. We’re really looking forward to it.

“At the same time, I’m really going to miss Laguna Beach. It’s been very good to me and I have lots of friends here. But if I get a strong telescope, I’ll know what’s happening.”

Clark, 40, was hired in 1981 as assistant to City Manager Kenneth C. Frank.

Later, as director of recreation and social services, Clark was involved in the development of Moulton Meadows, Alta Laguna and Fred Lang parks.

In his current role as deputy city manager and director of administrative services, Clark is in charge of finance, personnel and labor relations.

Frank said it will be tough to lose Clark.

“He’s really been invaluable in the time he’s been here,” Frank said. He praised Clark for his work as a labor negotiator, “which allows him to be the bad guy and saves just an incredible amount of my time.”

Clark, who is married and has four children, said he was contacted by a job recruiter several months ago about the Avalon position.

Clark said he was interviewed by the Avalon City Council on May 27 and notified later that day that he had landed the job.

“It’s going to be a great move for me,” he said. Clark’s last day of work will be June 24.