NEWPORT BEACH : Assistant City Manager Ken Delino to Leave His Position in January

Assistant City Manager Ken Delino, who for more than a decade helped direct the city’s economic growth, is leaving to take a management position at CH2MHill, a consulting firm known for its expertise in waste water and hazardous waste management.

Before going to work for Newport Beach, Delino had been a senior project manager for CH2MHill in its Southern California regional office in Santa Ana. He will be responsible for creation and follow-through of projects.

Delino, who turns 49 today, was hired by the city in 1982. He developed and coordinated the implementation of the West Newport Comprehensive Plan, which aimed at improving the quality of life of the area’s residents.

He was also instrumental in crafting a proposal to convert El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a commercial airport and helped to reorganize the city’s planing and building departments, of which he became director. “More work for less and a lot smarter” was his motto, associates said.

His last day on the job will be Jan. 26.

“He was a Jack-of-all-trades during his tenure with the city,” City Manager Kevin J. Murphy said Friday. “We are going to miss him.”

Murphy said the city has retained executive-search firm Ralph Andersen & Associates to help find Delino’s successor.

In creating economic development policies that would revitalize the principal commercial zones of the city, Delino was the city’s main liaison with the business community.

John Noyes, a business owner on Balboa Island, said he was shocked to hear of Delino’s departure. “I wish him the best, but I’ll be sorry to lose him,” he said.

Delino said, “I’m going to miss a lot of the business people that I’ve come in contact with.”