City Manager Essex Retiring After 34 Years

When he took the city manager position in 1962, Cypress was a tiny crossroads with 4,000 residents.

“It was a community made up of dairymen and chicken ranchers, but they knew things were changing,” said Darrell Essex. “So they hired me to be city manager.”

“When they asked me how long I expected to say, I remember I told them it would probably be for four years because I knew four years is the average stay for a city manager.”

Essex, however, stayed much longer than he predicted.

Cypress today has 46,400 residents, and thousands of homes and businesses now cover what was once farmland. And after having overseen that change through the development and implementation of a master plan, Essex, 64, will retire in June after 34 years as city manager.

“If it’s not a record, it’s very close to it,” said Janet Huston, executive director of the Orange County Division of the League of California Cities. The league said that figures don’t exist for a statewide comparison.

Said Huston of Essex: “He’s been an asset not only to Cypress, but also to all the cities throughout the county and state. As Orange County has grown and changed, he’s never hesitated to lend his expertise and his time to help address the critical issues that go along with growth and change. . . .

“Personally I’ll miss his sense of humor, which has always helped him keep events and issues in proper perspective.”

Essex was born in Colorado Springs, Colo., and grew up in nearby Pueblo. While attending a junior college there, he was part of a debate team that won the national championship. “USC then recruited me to be on its debate team, and that’s how I came to California,” Essex said. He majored in public administration, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1954 and his master’s degree in 1957. Part of his college education was interrupted by two years of service in the Army.

In 1957, he became assistant city manager of Santa Fe Springs. He served there until 1962, when Cypress offered him the top job. He and his wife, Clare, moved to Cypress in 1963. They raised three children and now have four grandchildren.

Essex is such a part of the community that the city has named a park in his honor. “That was one of the highlights of my life,” Essex said. “I’m particularly proud of having a park named for me. One of the things I tried to do as city manager was to get bond issues for parks and open space.”

The city will throw a party in his honor June 21 at the Hyatt Alicante Hotel. Other rounds of farewells and testimonials are already beginning.

But leaving the job doesn’t mean Essex is leaving the city. “We’re staying here,” he said. “I’m retiring, but I’m not moving from Cypress.”